Pricing

[Ocelot55]

I've been racking my brain lately trying to decide how to price the pipes I make. I just sold two to a retailer in town. This may be opening a can of worms, but how do you guys settle on a price? Is there any formula you use? How about sales to retailers?

[e Markle]

I've been racking my brain lately trying to decide how to price the pipes I make. I just sold two to a retailer in town. This may be opening a can of worms, but how do you guys settle on a price? Is there any formula you use? How about sales to retailers?

Yeah, you're going to get about 14,000 different responses on this topic. Do a search for pricing threads. Tyler had some good comments in a thread not too long ago (in the last year maybe?).

[SimeonTurner]

I ask myself "how much would Mike Messer charge for this". Then, I drop 3 zeroes off the end and call it good.

[Sasquatch]

Pricing's impossible.

There's no set method or formula.

Offset the fact that our pipe is one-of-a-kind and hand made against the fact that it's probably a lumpy piece of garbage compared to a factory-made Stanwell that sells for 65 bucks.

Personally, I've just always tried to sell pipes at rates I thought were fair compared to other carvers, other name brands. Some pieces are better than others, you try to get a little more for those.

But I don't think you can just hit the scene selling $500.00 pipes one after another. I can't anyhow

It also depends on how bad you need to sell each piece, if you can sit on them for a month or two, etc.

[Ocelot55]

I ask myself "how much would Mike Messer charge for this". Then, I drop 3 zeroes off the end and call it good.

When I saw Mike's prices I about gagged! I'm sure they're worth that to someone, but not a broke college kid like me.

I read some of Tyler's posts this morning. He had some sound advice.

I'll just tell you guys what I'm pricing right now:

Unsigned seconds: $20 (just enough to cover materials, I've sold a mess of them)
Signed standard shapes: $35 to retailer $40-$60 to a private individual
Plateau or pipes I think are special: $80-$150 (I've only sold one of these)

My logic is this: the average Joe is just looking for a good smoking pipe. To me "good smoking" means wide open draw, good engineering, & nice ergonomics. I don't want a potential customer to buy one of my pipes for a large sum and then think "this smokes as well as my Dr. Grabow, so why did I pay more than $30?"

My friends are livid because they think I am pricing them too low. I just tell them that I am trying to be competitive. I'm not in this to make money right now. I enjoy it and I feel a sense of accomplishment. I would love to do nothing but make and sell pipes, but frankly I do not have the talent at this time.

Any thoughts?

[Alden]

I'm sure they're worth that to someone,

No, no they're not.

[d.huber]

I'm sure they're worth that to someone,

No, no they're not.

Just checked out Mike's site for the first time. Is he serious? Those prices are outrageous based on what I saw on the site. Is his quality beyond imaginable? Some of those look like Boswells.

[d.huber]

My logic is this: the average Joe is just looking for a good smoking pipe. To me "good smoking" means wide open draw, good engineering, & nice ergonomics. I don't want a potential customer to buy one of my pipes for a large sum and then think "this smokes as well as my Dr. Grabow, so why did I pay more than $30?"

My friends are livid because they think I am pricing them too low. I just tell them that I am trying to be competitive. I'm not in this to make money right now. I enjoy it and I feel a sense of accomplishment. I would love to do nothing but make and sell pipes, but frankly I do not have the talent at this time.

Any thoughts?

I think that you're smart to start by pricing low. You get your product out into the market and if people believe that they're worth their salt, they'll keep coming back and they'll spread the word. Creating value through word of mouth is invaluable. Look at Boswell. Do they create the best pipes in the world? Certainly not. Have they generated an enormously loyal customer base because of their quality to price ratio. You bed your butt they have.

With that in mind, I think you might be pricing a tad low. If you set the bar low price wise at this stage, raising your prices as you improve will be a battle. As a collector, I feel pretty comfortable letting $100 go to a new pipemaker who's just getting started if I can tell that they're creating quality work. If I'm right and those pipes are well made and smoke well, I'm willing to drop a good deal more in the future. Incrementally of course. I'd say you should try selling a few closer to $100 and see what happens. When I see three digits, I take the work that I'm seeing more seriously because the maker believes his work is worth it. You just have to make sure that you're putting out the best you can so that when people drop $100 on one of your pipes, they believe they got a steal of a deal. And that, sir, is what you want.

Don't look at the pricing of your pipes so much as how much money your customer will pay, but as a measure of the quality that you're putting out. And be honest with yourself when you do this. If you follow that, I think you'll do fine.

That's just my 2 cents. I may be over stating this in my posts, but: I'm a newby, so please take my thoughts with a grain of salt.

[e Markle]

I ask myself "how much would Mike Messer charge for this". Then, I drop 3 zeroes off the end and call it good.

Priceless

[e Markle]

Just checked out Mike's site for the first time. Is he serious? Those prices are outrageous based on what I saw on the site. Is his quality beyond imaginable? Some of those look like Boswells.

Being serious and being *taken seriously* are totally different things. To answer your first question: yes, he is. Your second: no.

[Sasquatch]

My friends are livid because they think I am pricing them too low. I just tell them that I am trying to be competitive. I'm not in this to make money right now. I enjoy it and I feel a sense of accomplishment. I would love to do nothing but make and sell pipes, but frankly I do not have the talent at this time.

Any thoughts?

Here's the deal: everyone you ever show a pipe to who is not a "serious" collector or another pipe maker, EVERYone is gonna say "Wow those are awesome, you are pricing them too low." When they say that, ask 'em what they think the price should be. When they say "At least X dollars" you say "Okay, here's the pipe, gimme X dollars." and see if their opinion stays the same.

The difference between "Wow that's awesome!" and "Wow that's awesome, and I want to buy it." is all important here.

[andrew]

I'm sure they're worth that to someone,

No, no they're not.

Just checked out Mike's site for the first time. Is he serious? Those prices are outrageous based on what I saw on the site. Is his quality beyond imaginable? Some of those look like Boswells.

Just go back through some of the pricing threads. Mike's posts will show up. He made quite a splash... anyway, lesson for everyone.

[andrew]

Any way you do this pricing thing, it will drive you nuts . So it if it's giving you fits you're probably doing it right . Selling a pipe is great, pricing a pipe... not so great. I'm just starting out and it doesn't seem to be getting easier... seems like it will get harder.

[Alden]

I think in the end, your customers decide what your pipes are worth.
Take Bo Nordh. The story I have heard is he had no idea (at first) that his pipes were fetching many thousands of dollars on the Japanese market.
So, Bo didnt decide his pipes were worth $5,000 each, paying customers decided they were.
You can set a value on a thing, but its only that valuable if your consumers agree.
Its easy to make or break a reputation based on pricing.
If your prices are lower than your quality, your reputation as a great bargain could establish you in the market.
Prices too cheap, and you may never get past the "Value" label people associate with your brand.
Prices too high, and you may never get your product out there in the first place.

[flix]

I ask myself "how much would Mike Messer charge for this". Then, I drop 3 zeroes off the end and call it good.

Yeah, but he does have a cheap one! $1,200
The most expensive one is a little out of reach at $6,500, though...
What a dope! How on earth does the guy get so much gall?