Want to understand how to price a bow

[huisme]

I know it's controversial. I know we should all make bows for the love of making bows or put the rasp away. I know making bows for the money isn't right. I know I can't and will never convince anyone who hasn't shot my bows that I'm qualified.

All of that aside 

I've seen bowyers charge six hundred dollars for a simpler design than that for which I charge three fifty. I know some of it comes from the bowyer's experience and superiority in comparison to that one guy from that one site, huisme or something, but besides that how can a bowyer come to a conclusion on how much a bow is worth in US dollars?

Right now I usually figure two hundred to tiller a black locust stave and one fifty for vine maple, ten dollars per every ten pounds over twenty for draw weight and fifteen per five over sixty, forty for bows under fifty inches, twenty dollars for recurves.

All of this is on top of design (I don't do longbows for now due to lack of appropriate wood, and they wouldn't add to the above). Flat and pyramid bows are fifty, paddle bows are seventy five, holmegaardes are one hundred, and mollegabets are a hundred thirty. I'm working on reliably steaming and tillering R/D bows, but I've no idea where they'd fall in the spectrum.

Now my best BL recurved ~70" mollegabets have been fiberglass-competition bows, but according to my current formula they come to $350 plus shipping.
I almost sold this bow for two eighty before I heard him mention the sucker he's buying a bow from, which just makes me that much more confused about prices  : http://imgur.com/a/fCEHf

Is that right? What should I change?

If this belongs elsewhere feel free to move it, wasn't sure about that.

[wood_bandit 99]

You can charge whatever you think is a fair price. One that you make a buck and for the quality and time put in. I charge $400 for a bow. I am raising it ever so slightly every time I feel I have the right to.

[soy]

I have pretty much paid people to take mine Lol I would not even begin to know how much to charge

[huisme]

I have pretty much paid people to take mine Lol I would not even begin to know how much to charge

Seriously would not have guessed: http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,39418.msg524774.html#msg524774

One of my all time favorites to

[soy]

Thanks   that one cost me a lot of money to get rid of Lol

[Del the cat]

It's a good question.
A price that both parties are happy with, and you don't feel guilty about. Also one you wouldn't have a problem handing back if the bow exploded!
I do it for the fun of it anyway, if someone wants a bow which pushes my experience in a new direction they will get a better price, also if they come and visit, discuss it and/or really know what the want.
I've just about finished a 130# self Yew Warbow. Now a commercial bowyer would be asking £600-800 but they have overheads, maybe employees, taxes, insurance etc.
I keep accounts and manage to avoid making enough profit to be of interest to the tax man (spits on floor).
Generally my Yew bows are a tad under £300, much less for other woods say a tad under £200. The warbow is a bit more.
For special cases the bows are V cheap or given away... mind giving stuff away can just mean the stuff isn't appreciated. I've given away coutless staves, I think only one ever became a bow! If some one had to pay for a stave, even just £10 maybe they'd value it more?
A couple of bottles of wine is a good payment for a repair, string, reducing draw weight etc . I generally wouldn't want to touch another bowyers work, but sometimes it is a sensible option...
Look at the auction sites on the web, bearing in mind most of the bows are rubbish.
I was tempted to put a couple of my primitive bows on there as I was running out of room. I didn't because I didn't want my bows alonside that cr4p.
I have seen a couple of Yew longbows bought on the web from Eastern Europe, they were ok... ish. Poor detail round the nocks and poor work on knots IMO.
Del

[toomanyknots]

I keep accounts and manage to avoid making enough profit to be of interest to the tax man (spits on floor).

 

Generally my Yew bows are a tad under £300, much less for other woods say a tad under £200.

I think your under selling yourself. Seriously, just a piece of yew over here can cost 200 - 250 USD sometimes, let alone a piece yew that can shoot arrows.

I second that statement that if someone pays for something, they will be more likely to appreciate it. And the bows made on here are all functional works of art, IMO any person who makes a working bow is somewhat of a craftsmen, no matter what quality of bow. My first bow looked ridiculous I am sure, but I put my heart in it, and if someone bought it for 25 bucks and broke it because they didn't care because it was cheap, than that would of freakin hurt at the time. IMO, if you sell your bows for cheap (50 bucks is cheap) some people are going to treat them like they are cheap, so be prepared for that heartache.

I was tempted to put a couple of my primitive bows on there as I was running out of room. I didn't because I didn't want my bows alonside that cr4p.

Hey now, at least you would of set a nice standard and brought along some class,  . I think I have seen Gordon list a bow or two (could be wrong, please correct me if I am wrong), and his bows are the anti-thesis of crap.

No, but Huisme, I think you should price your bows however you want and feel good about in the end, ain't nobody needs to tell you nor can they tell you what to do with your own bows. 

[PEARL DRUMS]

After the bow is tillered properly its all about exceptional leather work, exceptional finish work and an exceptional wallet for self promotion. Keep in mind when you see people bragging about what they charge on here? Odds are they are selling to family members. That runs out eventually.

[Del the cat]

@ Toomanyknots.
For comparison, at todays price £300 is $483.33
Del

[BOWMAN53]

i sell my bows every once in awhile and i charge $180 for a hickory board recurve.  its not too expensive as to put people off and its fairly simple and quick for me to make and the materials are cheap so i make a good profit. your the bowyer, you decide how much your willing to charge for your time, sweat and blood.   

[wood_bandit 99]

Yes, i made a couple board bows recently and charged 100-175$ for them. It is like I was saying, whatever feels right according to effort and, really a lot of it is opinion.

[scp]

I have no experience in selling or even in finishing a bow properly. But I would study the 3Rivers Archery catalog and add a certain percentage for customization. If it takes you hundreds of hours to make a bow, you should charge thousands of dollars if not tens of thousands, especially if it is a record breaker. BTW I only spend several hours for each unfinished bow.

[Eric Krewson]

I have officially stopped selling bows, I now give them away to good friends as well as donating them to charity auctions for children's causes.

I always gave away more bows than I sold but my pricing structure was $300 for a basic osage or bamboo backed osage  bow, add snake skins for the actual price of the skins and $50 to put them on. Later on I added all kinds of exotic burl wood to my bows but never raised my price.

Later on people who saw my bows said I was selling much too cheaply, I never was into it for the money and probably spent more on logging bow wood and shop equipment than than I ever made off bows.

 I was into it more for the work and to advance the craft than to make money. I definitely got the work and possibly advanced the craft with some of my bow making innovations.

[BowSlayer]

the guy at the club who im selling the bow to only wanted to pay 80 for the bow but i said 100 minnimum. he agreed. not bad scince the wood was free.

[PatM]

the guy at the club who im selling the bow to only wanted to pay 80 for the bow but i said 100 minnimum. he agreed. not bad scince the wood was free.

You won't be patting yourself on the back when it whacks him in the head and you have to give him his 100 back plus damages.