Do You Think Handmade Items Cost To Much? - Scrubbies

So... Have you thought about the title of this post?

Do you think they cost to much?

How about we break this down...

Lets take the scrubbies that we sell in our Etsy Shop...

TIME:

• The round ones take JoElla about an hour to make.
• The shape ones about an hour and forty-five minutes.
• Driving to the store to get the material.
• Waiting in line to buy the material.
• Driving back home.
• Cutting the material into the strips so she can crochet them.

• It takes me about half an hour to get it listed on Etsy.
• Manage the Etsy shop.
• Then if any are bought, another forty-five minutes to get the package together (print shipping label, print packing slip, attach the shipping label to the outside, check to make sure everything is in there, then seal it up), drive to the post office, walk in to drop it off, walk back out to the car, and then drive back home.

MATERIALS AND FEES:

• JoElla buys the material to make the scrubbies.  
• Any crochet hooks or yarn needles she needs.
• Her gas and wear on her car.

• I pay for the packaging that they are mailed in.
• The computer I use for everything.
• The printer to print the shipping label and packing slip.
• The paper that the shipping label and packing slip are printed on.
• The ink used to print the shipping label and packing slip.
• The tape to attach the shipping label to the package.
• The 8% + $.45 that Etsy charges to list and sell your items on there.
• My gas and wear on my car to drive to the post office.

The scrubbies sell for $6.50.  We split that in half.

So that means we each are making about $3.25 an hour... if you don't include all the money we put in to selling them.

That is LESS than Minimum Wage!

How much do you make an hour? Isn’t your time precious and worth a lot?

Also, We have to charge for shipping, or we basically would be giving them away.  It costs over $3.00 to ship.  Etsy also charges me (the seller) a 5% fee on the amount that the customer pays for shipping! Yeah, seriously! So we would end up with about $.08 a piece!

So why do we want to do this?

Because JoElla loves to crochet and I thought it would help JoElla and Frank get some extra money!

In conclusion... Do you still think handmade items cost to much?