I paint pet portraits. I want to make more $$$. Who doesn’t?
What are your opinions about tote bags and purses with pet portraits on them? I sew too.
Do you think that they would sell and if so, what do you think a good price would be?
Think about a regular canvas tote bag with a washable, hand painted portrait of your cat or dog or hampster (whatever) and sequins and rhinestones sewn on for glitz. What do you think I could charge?
Think about a canvas Hobo bag with a pet portrait and glitz (Sequins and rhinestones) What would you pay for that?
Now, if the bags were premade, if I painted them with generic dog and cat breeds to supply a boutique what would you pay versus a special order with your own dog or cat or whatever on it?
What would a good price be? I don’t want to be unreasonable to my customers or to myself. So, your feedback is appreciated!
Thank you 
I recommend starting with Marketing 101: C and the 4 Ps.
C is your Customer. Who is she? Age, geographic region, income level, educational level, family status, etc. While you’ll certainly sell a bag to anyone with the cash, who is your primary customer – the one most likely to buy your product? You may have more than one target customer, e.g. direct consumers and also area retailers. You’ll need to define each customer and rethink the 4 Ps for each of them.
The first P is Product: you’ve got that pretty well defined. Although a survey of likely customers is always a good idea to look for ways to refine your product. What colors, materials, sizes, etc. are most preferable?
The next P is Price: This should be determined by three factors: (1) what the going rate for similar products is, (2) what your cost to produce is, including your time, and (3) what your customers expect to pay. If your main customer is women earning $100,000+ annually, you don’t want to price it cheap. If she’s a Wal Mart regular, you don’t want to price it high. You get the idea.
The next P is Place. Where will you make these? Where will you sell them? Out of your house? Online through eBay? Local gift shops? Art fairs? Where do customers seek out similar products currently?
Finally, the last P is Promotion. How will you make customers aware of this product? Personal selling? Magazine or Newspaper ads? Through other retailers? Don’t forget the power of public relations here: sending out press releases can pull in a mountain of free advertising if done right.
Two last recommendations:
Make a list of all known competitors. Determine what competitive edge your product has over each of them that will make customers buy from you. Price? Quality? Selection? Availability? Appearance? If you can’t identify that advantage, you need to rethink the product.
Make a 12 month revenue and expense projection. List all of our monthly costs – variable ones like materials utilities and advertising expenses as well as fixed ones like internet, cell phone, insurance, etc. Add in your (conservative) estimates of how many products you’ll sell and at what price. This helps in determining how much money to spend (and where), and to verify that this will be a profitable venture!
Good luck! Have fun!
i think that is great. I’d like to start doing the same thing, but i procrastinate too much. you can sell your products on consignment at. just contact the lady who runs it.
try also ebay, or set up your own website with shopping cart (www.godaddy.com). and then write to a bunch of magazines and/or send them your product (lucky magazine, etc) and maybe they’ll feature you in a story.
you can also take your product into boutiques and ask if they’re interested in trying it out on consignment.
go for it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!