Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Around the Campfire => Topic started by: FilipT on May 13, 2017, 02:10:02 pm
-
Hey guys,
I really want to sell couple of my bows and if interest is good, do it also in the future, maybe offering somewhere a custom making. Problem is that I really don't know what price to put on my bows.
How do I assess my bows without putting price too high or too low? How do you guys do it? Do you measure price according to time you spent making particular bow, according to shape, or even according to draw weight?
Advice is greatly appreciated.
-
Don't sell bows I doubt anyone would buy mine but I have sold other things
Pricing has nothing to go with time, materials, or the like, as absurd as that seems. They have to do with profitability. As Warren Buffet says a stock isn't worth what you paid for it but what you can sell it for. The same applies a bow isn't worth the time effort and materials you have in it but what you can sell it for
Figure out what a comparable product is selling for and what, if anything, differentiates you from that and use that to develop your baseline. If five comparable bows by different makers average x dollars then yours should also sell for x maybe the low end of x until you build a name
Once you determine x you then plug in your time and materials to see if it is viable to sell them
-
Thing is that we have this website in Croatia where you can sell anything or buy anything. Regarding archery subsection of website, most of the stuff you can buy are either compound bows or fiberglass ones. Just couple of self bows.
So, regarding self bows, I would have small number of "rivals".
Regarding selling bows or not. A small influx of money would be great for me, as a jobless student. I love my creations but I am not so much attached to them so I wouldn't feel sorry for selling couple of bows.
-
If the website lets you search past sales look for comparable bows and use them to determine the price.
As I said once you have the price you can determine if it's worth selling for you. For instance if you enjoy making them you might want to sell for materials cost and a small amount over that for some extra cash. So you might then price yours below another's price and be happy with it. All looking at the other bows does is determine a price baseline sort of a small version of market research.
I used to buy and sell a lot of collectibles on eBay. We used to use the idea that the third highest bid determines what you could sell a comparable item for or resell it for if you bought it
In Example
High bid $250
2nd high $245
3rd high $195
I would price at $200
-
It's a tricky question...
Self Yew ELBs and Warbows from professional bowyers can be £500 -£600
On the other hand there are some dodgy quality bows On the auction sites at moderate prices say £150 - £200 which is why I would never sell one on there.
I don't sell many and I prefer to sell to people who will visit, I also will maintain or replace bows and I tell people my guarantee is the pride in my workmanship and I will have no qualms about refunding or repairing if there is a problem.
Basically I have to be happy with the price as does the customer so I tend to go for a nice round £300.
I take no deposits and I tell people it's a gentlemen's agreement. I undertake to try and make a bow and if they want it they can buy it, but they are under no obligation to do so.
I've had very few no shows, but I have had to replace one and refund one which developed an irreparable problem.
Now I've retired I'm more inclined to only make them for people close at hand, friends or people who take the trouble to visit.
Beware of having bows out there which you can't maintain, that's why I won't ship overseas.
To me it's about the fun of making them, the money is very much secondary, although I wouldn't want to be depriving professionals of their livelihood.
Dunno if that's any help.
Del
-
Priceless! 8)
-
Very good advice from you guys.
But I must say that even 200$, which is for you guys maybe smaller amount of money, translates into 1/3 of the average Croatian monthly salary. I must think of price even lower but not so low enough. After all, I have to earn something.
To illustrate, one guy I saw on that website sells his bow for about 260$ and I guarantee you he will never sell that bow. That small number of Croats interested in archery would rather go to one particular hunting website and buy a fiberglass one, or buy a Samick from olympic archery shop (*vomit*).
It will probably be under 200$ for one of my bows.
-
I have always priced my bows so the average person could buy one. I started at $150 20 years ago, raised the price to $300 over the years but never went higher except for the price of snake skins.
When my price was $150 you could by a custom recurve made by a reputable dealer for $250. Now a custom recurve could cost $500 and up. My price would still be $300 if I were to sell one but I have stopped offering them to the public.
My advice is to start low on your price, develop a customer base and gradually raise your price. If you make great bows, the word will spread and people will seek you out. I was turning down up to a dozen people a month when I was at my peak making bows, I could only make so many working full time at a regular job.
I never advertised but sold bows all over the world, people in other countries found out about me somehow. Word of mouth is a powerful advertising tool, especially if you are a stand up guy, offer a great product, replace broken bows no questions asked and refund money if the customer is not happy with a bow like I did.
Think of a fair price to charge archers in Croatia and don't base it on what we pay here in the states, your economy is vastly different. Establish your good reputation first and the orders will come flooding in.
-
Stalker....what I've done is hand them over to a bow shop owner friend of mine to sell that loves the primitive aspect of bow making.He makes some himself too.
-
Hi,
The $200 was just demonstrating a method to use online auction sites to determine pricing not a recommendation of what to charge. My main auctions buying and selling was coins and collectible knives and this worked well for that. The thinking being if I buy at auction i need to beat the next higher bidder but if I then go to sell it he only needs to beat the third highest bidder as the first (me) is no longer in the buying pool. So if I buy at $250 he only needs to beat the third bidder ($195) and doesn't need to go to $245 again.
If the site you have in Croatia is an auction style this can also help to determine the market by gauging the number of bidders.
One other consideration if there is a public archery range or club near you join and bring your bows and shoot them. See what people offer you for it or for making them one like it
-
Its not auction site so there is no bidding. You just put your ad of product you want to sell.
I think I got enough good advice here. I am gonna start low, and see if the word spreads. Thanks all. I am going to leave this thread open for other potential advice.
-
Are you sure you've made enough successful bows to be sure of their long term reliability?
-
Ask yourself, "what can I afford to pay for the bow, and of course, back it with a guarantee. Can another student afford one of my bows?" Many of us have been in the broke student mode at various times so we know that part of the situation. The difference in economies is important to consider.
Hawkdancer
-
how about some sunshine?, Pat
-
Things grow best when it rains.
-
Of course they will be backed with guarantee. But, first I plan to sell one used bow that behaves well after couple of hundred of arrows. Then I will see further about maybe doing custom bows.
The thing is there is no market for people like me. Those who do archery, do it Olympic style. So there is no traditional archery present with people using self bows.
Only thing I can remember is this medieval reenacting archery group from my city, but I see they order all their bows from the internet, also using fiberglass for the 15th century battle reenacting (???). They are completely ridiculous and I had bad experiences with them at first with couple of their senior members telling me that you cannot make bow at home and stuff like that.
-
I don't sell very many, mostly gift them to someone I want to have it, but when I do sell one it goes pretty high, [ in my mind] 4 to 5 hundred at least. It is usually someone I really don't plan on gifting one to and they worry me until I agree, so I price it high hoping they won't want it, problem is they usually do. ;) :-\
Pappy
-
Pat has a valid point; I have seen fledgling bowyers get stars in their eyes and sell a junk bow for an exorbitant price so some sucker with little knowledge of archery and wood bows.
Post some pictures of your bows and your craftsmanship.
-
This is last one I put here: http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,58467.msg809594.html#msg809594
Bow I plan to sell is on Paleo Planet website
-
In my opinion a generic online shop is not a good option for a custom product unless you're planning to sell at very low cost.
The chances you will find someone that really understand (the value of) what you are selling are slim
At least make yoursef a dedicated site (there are many easy and cheap ecommerce solutions even for non experts) with lot of informations and have a professional look
-
Pat has a valid point; I have seen fledgling bowyers get stars in their eyes and sell a junk bow for an exorbitant price so some sucker with little knowledge of archery and wood bows.
Post some pictures of your bows and your craftsmanship.
And that's a HUGE peeve of mine. All that accomplishes is added fear amongst those who don't know self bows. They buy a piece of junk on-line and assume that's what self bows are.
If you haven't made at least 50 rock solid, proven bows, I would wait to sell anything. You have to have plenty of history behind your bows to know how good they really are. Thousands and thousands of shots tell the real story.
-
Pat has a valid point;
yes he does, but it is also a bit off topic from an objective question about pricing, and leading into a more personal question, perhaps better asked by PM.
-
Pricing is related to durability and service.Diversity of designs is too,and you hav'nt even got into the insurance part yet either.Which is related too.All these things go into it as far as a business proposition goes which is what pricing is all about.Without the be aware of advice this would'nt be called a teaching site.Looking out for our own.
-
I've designed a couple of sites for bowyers. One of them used to post here.
Did you say you're not in the US? If so that may hurt some of your business because it'll be more trouble than it's worth shipping out of country as bows require some serious packaging and insurance if you're shipping to the US or Canada.
You've got it right on the testing part. The two people I helped out with their sites both made sure to fire their bows 100 times before shipping.
As for cost, I've always been a fan of the "take your wage/hr and multiply it by how many hours it takes to make a bow, then add 15% for shipping and insurance.
Also you'll need to look into an LLC or something similar and insurance on your bows should they blow up and hurt someone, or you'll have to have a disclaimer that's agreed to by the purchaser stating you're not liable for any damage other than repair of the bow itself.
Just my .02
-
Again very good advice. For now I just plan to sell my used bow that had hundreds of arrows through it and it didn't lose much poundage or got set. I will say that its used bow, I am not going to pretend its come just out of the shop. That bow will hold out and its completely secure.
As for custom making, websites, marketing and shipping outside Croatia, that is something for a far future!
-
Ask yourself, "what can I afford to pay for the bow, and of course, back it with a guarantee. Can another student afford one of my bows?" Many of us have been in the broke student mode at various times so we know that part of the situation. The difference in economies is important to consider.
Hawkdancer
Guarantee, yep, those are the words I distain. Can the customer assure you with any accuracy they won't, didn't, and never allow their "friends" to draw the bow built for them to be drawn only by them? You assume liability for people, even people that were never intended to draw the bow you made specifically for that customer. I have lived this! 27 inch draw bow given to a guy that overdrew the bow considerably by a friend. Lucky not to get sued, never again! That's the reason large companies moved on to glass.
If you are using ALL natural materials, the best bowyer can have failures. There is no way you can guarantee natural products, I know people do, but they take major liability concerns that go along with it. The ability of the bowyer without doubt should be judged by the consumer. The consumer should also educate themselves on the basics of all natural bows well before picking their bowyer of choice. Obviously the bowyer should have talent, but the consumer should bring knowledge to the table and pick flaws before a purchase. My opinion.
-
OK, I will be straight forward; The bow in your picture has a hinge in the top limb and is not bending out of the same limb's fade very much. Your general workmanship is very good but tillering is everything on a bow you plan to sell.
I wouldn't sell a bow like that until these problems were corrected.
I made 40 bows before I sold the first one.
-
OK, I will be straight forward; The bow in your picture has a hinge in the top limb and is not bending out of the same limb's fade very much. Your general workmanship is very good but tillering is everything on a bow you plan to sell.
I wouldn't sell a bow like that until these problems were corrected.
I made 40 bows before I sold the first one.
I wouldn't too, I am aware of its errors.
-
I should have added "and a disclaimer" to insure CYOA. Normal useage and all that. Good legal "stuff"
It does seem like anything that happens nowadays is always some one else's fault, but people forget there is no protection against dumb attacks. Maybe, we shouldn't sell anything we wouldn't give to our worst enemy who is a lawyer!
Hawkdancer