What would you charge?

[kaddjr]

Wishblade, craftrobo, and cricut owners- If someone asked you to cut a bunch of letters/words for them, how much would you charge to do it? A scrapbook store in my area charges .20¢ for each die cut letter and small shapes (using their paper that they provide). What would you charge (w/you providing paper and w/them providing their own) and for what size? WB/CR owners- what would you charge for a welded word (with and without mat)? What about shapes, animals, etc.?

Thanks for all input!

 

[rlovew]

I think it would depend on the size of the file and whether I had to create the file or not as well as the type of paper and the size or the item- all of those make a difference in the wear on the machine (Brazzill for example takes a lot more work for the machine to cut then other cardstock.

If I was going to charge I would probably charge in 2 ways. I would charge by the sheet for cuts. With my paper for a regular sheet I would think that $1-2 would be fair (if I was using less expensive cardstock. I would probably discount about 25 cents for their paper. I would charge an extra $1.00 for using there Brazzill because it has to be cut twice so it is actually like cutting the sheet 2 times. Now I have a pro and can cut 12 by 12 sheets and would probably set up 2 scales depending on whether the page was 8 1/2 by 11 or 12 by 12.

I can generally put 5 to 6 titles on an 8 1/2 by 11 sheet so I don't think that the amount is too much but I would be interested to hear what others say.

I would charge additionally for files I had to create or words that had to be welded because it is my time that I am using then. Designers charge at least $1.00 (simple welded words) and many times up to $3.00 (words with mats and a small picture)for one file. More intricat designs can be even more expensive. A simple shape that I can have my craftrobo software autotrace I would charge less for than if I have to hand trace with a mouse and add extra lines and other shapes into a file. If I already had the file created and only had to resize it I wouldn't worry about it.

That being said I don't charge and have no plans to start doing so. I have seen some things for auction on ebay that were probably made with a machine such as a craftrobo.

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

Don't forget to build the cost of mats and blades into your fee. The LSS can probably get the mats close to cost but you would pay retail.

 

[rlovew]

I took my blade and mat into account when giving some prices. If the design is really intricate though it is harder on the blade and mat and might cost more. Since I have been able to get my mats (larger size) for about $20.00 I would have to say it costs me less than $0.20 in mats for each cut. I have not had to replace my blade but from what I can find I can get 5 packs for about $15.00 a blade. It would actually cost me less than 2 cents per sheet to cut at that price. So I would actually be making at minimum 50 cents a sheet with a price of $1.00 for an 8 1/2 by 11, that would cover the time of getting the files together and actually cutting them out. Blades for the regular machine are about $30 and shipping from what I can see but the small cutting mats are $10 and shipping each.

Rebecca