Small business enthusiasts and indie maker supporters have noticed that some of their favorite Etsy sellers are raising their prices. Here’s why.
Here in the United Kingdom, things have changed since June 2016. Once the Brexit vote happened, the value of the pound has been fluctuating up to and around about 20%. For small businesses and indie makers, this can make a huge difference.
Here’s the thing: indie makers aren’t “greedy.”
I’ve seen some arguments flying around the internet that we’re using the Brexit vote as an excuse to fleece our customers and make a bigger profit. That’s not correct. Let’s do some (very simple) math to look at what’s happening.
Let’s say that an indie maker gets their raw material for their product for £10, imported from somewhere else. Let’s also admit that most things have to be imported, because they aren’t produced here or there isn’t enough produced here to fill an entire indie market (for the record, this is also true for yarn. There’s not enough “British wool” to support every knitter and crocheter who lives here).
This indie maker retails their product for £20. Included in this cost is the raw material, their time, skill, expertise, and any sales, discounts, or shipping costs (like packaging, trips to the post office, and so on).
Suddenly, their raw material is 20% more expensive, and thus costs £12 instead of £10.
Suddenly, their postal costs go up incrementally, let’s say by £1 per sale.
The indie maker was already not making much, and now are probably not even making ends meet. If they don’t raise prices to reflect the market, then they will go out of business and stop making the thing you love. There will be no more things to love, because they can’t afford to make them.
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| Actual depiction of how much indie makers make on a sale |
We’re doing this because we love it, not because we’re making bank.
I don’t know anyone in the indie maker industry who is sleeping on a pile of money at night, if you catch my drift. We create because we feel called to it, we love the entire process of being an indie maker, from the creation to meeting the people who love our creations enough to buy them. We get a surge of glee every time someone tags us on social media to say they love the thing we made. It’s why we work incredibly hard to make it happen!
If you haven’t figured it out yet, prices in my Etsy shop have changed slightly. They haven’t even increased the full amount of my back end cost increases yet, but they will eventually have to rise to meet that or continuing to dye yarn and make things won’t be a viable career choice anymore.
Shipping costs have changed slightly: for UK customers it’s 10p more as the courier service raised their prices. For international customers, additional items will incur additional charges as I was actually losing money on some sales due to shipping costs. I never charge more than it costs to ship things, in fact I’ve charged far less in the past.
ANYWAY. A blog overhaul is in the cards in the near future to freshen things up around here and move to a new platform that allows for more flexibility. Follow GamerCrafting on Facebook for patterns, yarn discounts, and FUN!
Looking for the Etsy shop? It’s here. (And there’s new DISNEY VILLAIN themed shades available!)
