how to respond when someone challenges your jewellery pricing

Undercharging for your work is not sustainable and harms your business. But how do you respond to people who say your prices are too high? And what do you do if you secretly think they are too?

Pricing is both an art and a science. There are calculations that you can do to feel confident that you have the right price for the market and you can find a full masterclass on pricing plus spreadsheets that you can use to calculate your pricing here >

Why do we undercharge?

There may be many reasons that you have been undercharging. At the core of the issue, there are two thoughts - I am not good enough and my work will be rejected. When you’re starting out with handmaking you may have fallen into the trap of thinking ‘I’m not good enough yet to make a profit from my work’ or even ‘I really enjoy doing this. I shouldn’t charge for my work’.

So let me be clear - wherever you are and however much experience you have:

you deserve to make a good living from your work

And, if you are not charging correctly you are doing yourself and the whole industry a disservice. If you would like to make a living from jewellery making you need to be charging for your time as soon as you start selling.

But, I am afraid of losing sales if I put my prices up.

Firstly, you don’t know that this will be true. In my years of experience working with jewellers, I have found that it is often the opposite. The perceived value of an item is important, and that is especially true with jewellery. If a piece is priced too low then a customer instantly thinks that there must be something wrong - that it’s not handmade, it’s not made from the material you say it is etc. And you will lose the sale anyway.

I wouldn’t pay that price

This is an interesting one. If you have done the price calculations, looked at the price it should be and thought ‘I wouldn’t pay that price’ then that often goes back to that old feeling - I’m not good enough.

But also remember, you may not be your ideal customer. There are customers who value handmade work, who want the opportunity to invest in their jewellery and who are happy to pay thousands of pounds/dollars for jewellery. So just because you may not be willing to pay that amount does not mean that you won’t have customers who will.

The key to attracting the right customer to you is to make work that you believe in and communicate your value to your customer through your website descriptions, social media, email marketing etc.

So what should I say when someone objects to my prices?

the price is too high

Thank you for your honesty. I can understand that this piece may be outside of your price range. It is made from gold and precious gemstones and these materials have a premium cost. In addition, the piece has taken me many hours and a lot of skill to design and hand make. Perhaps you would prefer another item from my range (give a link to a different item)

The key here is not to apologise for your pricing - your pricing is correct. If the customer can’t afford it then that is fine, they don’t have to buy it! Be clear about the benefits of the product and check and update your website description to ensure that the materials and the amount of work in making the piece is communicated clearly.

i can get that cheaper elsewhere

Thank you for getting in touch. I source my own materials and hand make my designs. I have worked hard on my pricing and use an industry-standard price calculator. I do appreciate that this piece may not be for you but thank you for your interest.

This is a difficult one because if someone is price sensitive and values that over and above all of the benefits of buying a handmade item they are definitely not your customer and you don’t want to waste much time trying to persuade them to buy.

I love this piece but it is too much for me. Can you give me a discount?

Thank you, I’m so glad to hear that you love this piece. You’ve made my day!

I price my jewellery fairly based on the cost of the materials and my time and skill in designing and making the piece so I don’t offer discounts. If you would like to pay in instalments we could discuss a payment plan that works for you.

Some people will always try to get a discount! Be polite but firm about holding to your pricing.

The key things to remember are:

Not everyone will be happy with your pricing and that’s OK!
If you are using our pricing guidelines your price is not unrealistic, you are charging what the item is worth. So what they are likely to be saying is that the price is too high for them and that is not your problem
Be kind when responding. The customer may not have the money now but they do love your work so may be back in the future (or ask for a piece as a gift) so bear that in mind when interacting with them

This is an issue I feel very strongly about so I have just launched a campaign that I would love you to get involved in - Handmade and Well Paid

Handmade & Well Paid is a campaign to help ensure makers are well paid for the work they do whilst helping customers to make good decisions about which makers to buy from.

Makers need a sustainable income in order to keep running their businesses and making their crafts.

Customers value and admire the work of handmade artists and want to support them fairly to ensure they are making a good living wage for themselves.

We at Jewellers Academy are committed to promoting this campaign and we want to invite you to do the same.

You can find out more about the campaign and sign the Handmade and Well Paid Pledge here >