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You're absolutely right. I used to hand-knit hats to a particular nerdy gamer theme, and was very quickly overwhelmed with orders (even at US$65/hat, which is a

by liedra 15y ago

You're absolutely right. I used to hand-knit hats to a particular nerdy gamer theme, and was very quickly overwhelmed with orders (even at US$65/hat, which is a lot for a knit beanie!). I had to institute a "slot" system where I'd open up orders for a short time, get a bunch, then knit my way through them. Once they'd all been shipped out, I'd open up for more orders (if I wasn't sick of knitting the damned things by that stage ;). It worked pretty well and kept me in pocket money through the last stages of my PhD. One thing I decided was that I'd never compromise in quality - I used very fine wools (malabrigo for those who know) and each hat was made to order from a "menu" of options. Throughout the process I'd keep the customer up to date on what I was doing and where they were in the "queue". It worked really well, but I wouldn't want to do it for a living since I was underselling my time as far as labour costs go. And I got sick of knitting so many hats. :)

JoshTriplett 15y ago
Sounds like you needed to charge more. :) You wouldn't necessarily want to set the standard price significantly higher, since at some point you'll trip a large number of people's thresholds for "too much for a hat". However, you could leave the price and queue system in place as it currently stands, and introduce a higher "queue-jumping" price. Effectively, that would make the slot a coupon, but the concept of a queue seems much more appealing (especially to a gamer audience).
- liedra 15y ago
  Well, see it's weird, I already thought I was pushing the envelope at that price, given that you can pick up a knit hat from a shop for a couple of bucks. (I guess it's not the same sort of hat, but still - I've often had people ask me why I would knit something when I could buy it for so much less than it would cost to knit it.) If I were to do it again I'd definitely charge more, because a) I'm not desperate for cash, b) I have better things to do, and c) the exchange rate to the US dollar is not very favourable ;) I like the idea of a "queue jumping price" though. I think I might use that next time! I actually also got pretty good tips (which I'm not used to, not being American), which was flattering :)

by liedra 15y ago

JoshTriplett 15y ago

Sounds like you needed to charge more. :) You wouldn't necessarily want to set the standard price significantly higher, since at some point you'll trip a large number of people's thresholds for "too much for a hat". However, you could leave the price and queue system in place as it currently stands, and introduce a higher "queue-jumping" price. Effectively, that would make the slot a coupon, but the concept of a queue seems much more appealing (especially to a gamer audience).

liedra 15y ago
Well, see it's weird, I already thought I was pushing the envelope at that price, given that you can pick up a knit hat from a shop for a couple of bucks. (I guess it's not the same sort of hat, but still - I've often had people ask me why I would knit something when I could buy it for so much less than it would cost to knit it.) If I were to do it again I'd definitely charge more, because a) I'm not desperate for cash, b) I have better things to do, and c) the exchange rate to the US dollar is not very favourable ;) I like the idea of a "queue jumping price" though. I think I might use that next time! I actually also got pretty good tips (which I'm not used to, not being American), which was flattering :)