How to price commissioned crochet projects and custom orders

I just read the saddest, most frustrating thing in an Instagram post. I have to tell you about it.

This chick who was a super talented crochet artist with very cute posts said she was asked to make a custom item. She bought several skeins of expensive yarn and spent many hours making the thing.

She finished the WHOLE PROJECT before she quoted a price to her customer.

And guess what? The customer didn’t like that price and they didn’t buy it.

Nooooo!!! My stomach!! I just couldn’t believe it. I am still so mad this happened that my daughter Ella is asking why I’m typing so loud.

But really, this is just heartbreaking. What a terrible waste of time, money, energy. I know this was not a happy, satisfying, relaxing project for her; she crocheted the whole thing being worried that this person wouldn’t end up buying it from her. And she was right!

There is absolutely no reason you should EVER go through this. We have enough struggles as business owners; we don’t need these things happening to us too. I got so mad about this partly because I have done it myself (you may have read my own tragedies in my other blog posts) and because now I know about an easy solution. You deserve to crochet satisfied. So from now on, here’s how you handle custom crochet orders and commissions. Plenty of people will ask you for them, so better be prepared.

You need to estimate your labor cost before you make the plushy, and then you price it based on your fair labor rate (I’m talkin’ $20+) and the cost of materials. Easy.

Okay, I know. You’ve never made one of these plushies before. So how the heck do you know how long it’s gonna to take you? How can you know how much you will really need to charge?

Answer: If you know how many stitches are in your pattern, you can literally just type that number in to this amazing calculator (keep reading), and it will spit out a price for you. IT WILL TELL YOU. The price is based on how long it will take you to make it. Even though you haven’t made it yet. And yes, it’s accurate!

I just priced a commission the other day this way. An old customer messaged me, asking if the Flower of Life could be crocheted. I thought “duh anything can be crocheted” but before I jumped and said YES I’LL DO IT FOR WHATEVER YOU’RE WILLING TO PAY, here’s what I did:

• Found a pattern on Etsy that my customer liked
• Messaged the seller to make sure of the stitch count for the pattern
• Plugged that stitch count into my calculator
• Instantly got a price to quote my customer (and the price included labor, materials, a shipping mailer and label, and the Etsy transaction fee, all built right in to the calculator)

The whole process took 5 minutes, not including the time between messages. And I didn’t fret over it. I didn’t panic and stress and worry that he was going to reject my quote. Because I wasn’t trying to guess a number that my customer would like. I was estimating a number that I liked. I knew the quote was fair to me. And that is worth everything as a business owner.

I’m still waiting to find out if he’s willing to pay my price. And I’m okay if he says no, because I’ve got plenty of other inventory for markets that I know will pay me fairly for my time. I’m not hustling nearly as much as I used to. And it’s all because of my pricing mindset, not how many sales I’m getting. I’m not desperately chasing every opportunity that comes to me anymore.

You don’t need to be taking hits on custom orders and commissions; this should be a PREMIUM service that you offer, not a “good deal” for your buyer.

TLDR: Do your customers want to know how much something is going to cost before they commit to buying it? OF COURSE they do! And don’t you want to have a confirmed order and collect payment from your customer BEFORE you make their order? OF COURSE you do! If you don’t, your business won’t make it. Turn things around now and buy this calculator.