Etsy con

[Cobbs]

Anything is worth exactly what someone is willing to pay.

 

[Rhossydd]

The actual costs involved are, although never neglible, minimal to say
the least.

Give it some consideration;
Etsy fees - just over £2 per item
PayPal fees - about the same
Jiffy bag 50p
Postage ? even Evri will charge about £3
So that could be more than a quarter of the price paid just gone in selling and shipping fees before any costs of materials and manufacture are taken account of, hardly 'negligible'

 

[johnnyb]

My post was about exactly the opposite. How people are basically making stuff for free. Someone comes along and says " that's far to expensive" "I'd never buy that" but I'm convinced it is worth that but to the right person. Does enough of this person use etsy? That's another question.

 

[Terry - Somerset]

The big extra cost is time - packaging the product, taking it to the courier; updating website, looking at competition; sourcing material; responding to enquiries, queries, complaints; managing insurance, banking, invoicing, etc.

If you are operating a machine shop processing large batches the cost per hour may be significantly less than £150 per hour. Producing items in small batches with lots of downtime creates the illusion of a high rate per hour - taking account of overheads changes the picture completely.

 

[Daniel2]

Are you suggesting it's to much or to little? Not really clear sorry.
Anyway if I wanted a sanding block I would prefer his at £25 over a plastic one at £10! If your suggesting premium tools don't have any need to exist...well I beg to differ(as do most on this forum I'd wager) start by halving £12.50 seems OK to me?
I personally feel Cork is an almost magical material for sanding blocks. Being strangely rigid and not distorting but also light and absorbant.

I am saying, only in my opinion, that it is far too much for a sanding block.
If people are happy to pay that price, for that particular product, then that's
wonderful for the maker, naturally.
In no way did I imply that premium tools have no need to exist, that is
gaslighting, and you would only need to look in my workshop, or ask my
long suffering wife, to see that I could never, in all conscience, suggest that.
Half of £12.50, by my calculation, would be £6.50, which starts to sound a
lot more sensible for a glorified block of wood. I don't really sand anymore
either, preferring planing and scraping, so that also probably skews my
perspective a little, but, even so...
Incidentally, I am also a bit of a fan of boutique toolcraft makers, and have
amassed quite a few little gems over the years. But, they would always have
to satisfy some basic criteria, such as working at least as well, hopefully
better, than their counterparts, being particularly aesthetically pleasing, etc.
More than happy to pay a premium for that, but the example of the sanding
block, in my eyes, just goes too far.
Brings to mind the tale of The Emporer's Clothes.