Fair price?

Recently I had to move my 95% resored 1958 Alumacraft Queen Marie to the marina, It turns heads and really gets a LOT of attention,
I heep my Softies and spinner rigs on dashand keep getting asked if I sell them
I would but don't know how much to ask, I know what it costs to make each one
What do you guys with way more experience think?
A good friend of a good friend asked if I could do custom colors, annd I lucked out on the 1st try the guy gave me $5.00 for a dozen Midnight Purple 1.75" Screw tails, and got kinda pissed when I told him it was way too much money!
So I whipped up a couple of dozen more and tried to give them to him....That went over like a fart in church
I can't post pix so its hard to explain the sizes and styles

A fair price is what the customer is willing to pay. People will not make a lot of money making soft plastics unless the customer is buying them by the thousands like some of the brick and mortar stores. You should get paid the cost of the materials to make your product, the cost of postage and shipping, the cost of your time and the cost of your talent. having said all that, people will never want to pay you what your product is worth.

Thanks Ship,

I've tried several times selling crappie baits to the public. Nope and nope. Not worth my time and effort. Only a select few get my baits now.

i wouldn't think a hoodlum would be worried about such...;). perhaps consider a name change to "ruffian" or something?

Thanks guys!
When I hit the river its Walleye, Northern, and Basses baits on the dash....3.75-4.25" My version of the Stinger leech (As close as I could get from the pix) they catch fish as Wicklundh said ....4.75" Lucky Dog (big bodied 4 legged beast ) and an assortment of "Johnson" styled beetle bodies from 3.5 -6" ( which also whack the walleyes and small mouth bass this spring) There is one of each type set up with spinner rigs ready to toss since I haven't had time to really test them to have the "GO TO" color and spinner rig combo yet!
I should add that the Spinner rigs range from 1 Colorado or Willow leaf to combos of tandoms of both (4 blades on one rig)

So I feel kinda guilty selling someone an unproven combo...when I started selling my hand carved cranks I only asked the price of the hardware...but once they were pulling big fish I was getting up to $10 a pop on the lake
Off to the lake to test out some Crappie rigs today
Hammer...maybe HANDSOME HOODLUM...THE LADY FISH KILLER...HE HE HE

its not what it cost.its what it costs to replace.

I have to agree with Dr.Nip its just not feasable unless you can mass produce them i have sold them on ebay and its very time consuming just packaging the baits themselves

if you do it is a hobby it will be more enjoyable. if you are going to try to make a business out of making plastic baits think twice.

You guys are right on as doing it as a business, I made that mistake before with my mobile BBQ, there was demand for it and some money was made....But...I don't enjoy cooking like I used to...Still make Jeky, Hams,Bacon, and Smoked fish for myself and a few others but no longer advertise or take on new customers...
Mass production for me, isn't possible. Since all my baits are coming out of plaster molds, with most of them being hand carved or clay masters...heck...I use pill bottles for injectors built into the molds, so when they get a core shoot no 2 batches turn out exactly the same, or when accent stripes are drizzled in each bait is the only one like it
Soft baits are so much fun to make! When people approach me Id like to sell a few...Just enough to keep getting materials

Quote:

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Originally Posted by HOODLUM

You guys are right on as doing it as a business, I made that mistake before with my mobile BBQ, there was demand for it and some money was made....But...I don't enjoy cooking like I used to...Still make Jeky, Hams,Bacon, and Smoked fish for myself and a few others but no longer advertise or take on new customers...
Mass production for me, isn't possible. Since all my baits are coming out of plaster molds, with most of them being hand carved or clay masters...heck...I use pill bottles for injectors built into the molds, so when they get a core shoot no 2 batches turn out exactly the same, or when accent stripes are drizzled in each bait is the only one like it
Soft baits are so much fun to make! When people approach me Id like to sell a few...Just enough to keep getting materials

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Just an idea for you Hoodlum:

Like with your previous experience, you found it to NOT be enjoyable once you started doing it as a business. You have to remember that your are not just making baits. You are actually creating them. You are hand carving your molds. You are doing it not just to make the bait, but the entire process. Once you start making baits for others and selling them, it turns in to a job.

So, here is what I would suggest. When you make some baits up for yourself, make up a few extras. I wouldn't put a dollar amount on any of them. When you are approached by someone that likes you baits and wants to buy some, ask what he would like to trade you. Keep in mind, they like what they are looking at right this second, not what you "could" create. If you don't have it on hand, don't go and make it.

For trading, you would be surpised what people want to trade. As long as both parties are happy, then it doesn't matter of the dollar value of each product. You may just find that someone else makes hand made products of a different caliber. A friend once told me that if he had a $200.00 knife, and you had a steak, and he traded that knife because he wanted a steak, then it doesn't matter what the knife cost. As long as both people are happy with the outcome.

You may just find a whole different level of enjoyment. It becomes a business however when people ask you to do them in pink, orange, blue or anything other than what you current have on hand to trade at the present time!

We just had a yard sale we are moving.Put our baits in the yard sale Friday and Saturday.Put several boxes of baits we did not want to move no room and baits we first started making thought they would not sale!!LOL. opened up Friday morning sold every box of baits in an hour.Opened up Saturday morning guys,gals standing in line bought everything we had and ordering more. LOLMy wife and her yard sale friends made me go fishing so they could sell something. LOL Need to open back up. LOL cannot get these baits at walmart and at that price..Keep it fun keep it a hobby."its not what it worth but what it cost to replace it"Think we need to have more yard sales.LOL

Wicklundrh you made great point!!
Things tend to get out of hand on me quickly, trading may help to keep me in check...the barter system has worked well for me in the past with smoked goods, and pickled goodies
Jackie that's a great idea!
I have boxes of my cranks that have never been wet....My old faithful standby rigs keep pulling fish, and the ones that got created during the winter months just get dusty in the closet...The wife gets on my case cuz between the cranks and softies are taking over the house....Time for a garage sale!!!
Thanks for the input guys!