How much would you charge/pay for this?

Kaye1

I think you should disregard Snapfish comment. If she wanted to go to Snapfish, she would have.

Here is how I would approach this.

80 cards at 30mins per piece = 40 hours.
Plus say 5 hours working out how to do it, sourcing material etc, so in total, a full working week.

Say you charge £3.50 per card but minus your costs of £1.60, your profit is £1.90 per card.

£1.90 x 80 = £152. So is £152 for that amount of work enough for you? I realise you may get quicker but there is no factoring of packaging, postage, time spent research how much to charge etc....

Personally, I think £3.50 is very cheap, and as you say, your friends are students, so low price is an option. If your client wanted 'average,' she would have gone to the high street-she wanted handmade and she has comissioned you to do so.

Good luck!

nannyboo1

Firstly let me say they are beautiful and I've not seen anything like this before (as for charging sorry no idea but please don't undersell yourself).

The trouble is people on here know the time and effort that it takes to produce something like this so most would be willing to pay that (unlike non crafters).

Would it be worthwhile to have a list of websites with similar examples to show the bride how much she would be paying elsewhere to show you are asking a fair price.

PootleFlump_3

I think they are quite unusual and well done on the design etc but Im afraid wouldnt pay anywhere near £3 each for them, particuarly if they are going to be handwritten.

gythalodge

I find it very strange, and a little intriguing, that "propper printed" invitations would be held up as a standard, to which handmade ones fall short. Proper printing comes in all manner of shapes and sizes, with a huge variation in quality. Services such as VistaPrint offer an affordable printing solution if you don't want the high quality or interesting design of a hand-crafted or textured card invitation. It's around £0.99 to print your invitations, and you get what you pay for, as they are clear about: a thin, non-textured card, and a design without any flourishes, embellishments or interesting shapes to it. But it's good and cheap, so it's always about what you want for your wedding.

I run a wedding stationery company and all our invitations are hand-crafted to some extent. Some are only hand-folded or ribbon-tied, so for a custom foiled invitation we would charge £2.60 ish for this number. At the upper end of the handmade spectrum, our immensely popular Lace and Pearl Pocketfold Invitation (part of our Signature range) would be around £3.60 each for 80, and includes an RSVP card and envelope.

Out of interest, do you print in-house or outsource? We use a mixture depending on whether specialist skills are needed, but due to the immensely affordable nature of in-house printing, we offer a printing service for invitations as well and are able to compete with large-scale printers. Our machines take thick smooth or textured card and we're looking to get a vellum and metallic ink printer as well.

lorriellah

They won't be hand written, they will be printed on my printer.

yes an in-house printer. I have sent the sample off to the bride to be today along with information. I have said if she wants the invitation to have printed and leave a blank for her to add the guests names herself then it's £3.50 and for her to have me add the guest names (so it's all printed and no hand writing involved) it's £3.75. The card at the moment is sitting in an envelope waiting to be posted. Do we think this is reasonable? :S

elysia2003

I do, but she can only say no - If she wants to haggle with you, that's up to her. I wouldn't accept less than £3 though.

LJM

i would personally stop worrying about it now post it off and let her decide the worst she can do is say no but that doesnt mean your work isnt great xx

PootleFlump_3

lorriellah wrote: »

They won't be hand written, they will be printed on my printer.

yes an in-house printer. I have sent the sample off to the bride to be today along with information. I have said if she wants the invitation to have printed and leave a blank for her to add the guests names herself then it's £3.50 and for her to have me add the guest names (so it's all printed and no hand writing involved) it's £3.75. The card at the moment is sitting in an envelope waiting to be posted. Do we think this is reasonable? :S

Sorry, I just read the bit under the photo that says they would be written. Good luck with it anyway.

tirlittan

Just send it off with the prices you discussed in your last post. If she really wants it, she'll either pay or enquiry if you could do her a deal, then you can negotiate. Go for the higher price, she might think she's getting a bargain, you never know before you try. Please come and tell us how it went, will be very interesting to hear. Good luck!

*Louise*

I certainly wouldn't ask for less than 3.50, and when I sent it to her I would list the materials, emphasising the quality of the cardstock and the fact envelopes are handmade, etc etc so she know she is paying for quality.

No harm either in dropping into conversation with her or mutual friends that each card takes half an hour to make....:)