100% percent markup is typical in the gift basket industry. You can go higher but the only thing that stopping you is your customers. You can go lower but do you want to sell your masterpieces at a loss? So in essence it’s a balancing act.
What can help is to have a diligent accounting of your expenses. Do not short change yourself by not having the exact duration of your labor. In the beginning, it’s a good idea to have meticulous records of your process. This will be the basis of your pricing structure.
Timing is key however. Buy low and sell high – just like the stock market. Buy your products during the off-season. Buy enough during wholesale and discount situations. You will gain enough insight through the years experimenting with your niche markets.
A strategy is to test your prices in a very liquid market like eBay. You can experiment fairly quickly with different pricing levels. You can also watch how other eBay sellers price and how well they do with eBay’s versatile market reporting services.
