Custom Plush Pricing and Understanding The Process Behind It: A Guide
So there’s an adorable cuddly character you have in mind that you’d like to add to your plush collection, but cannot find it. Maybe it’s a creation from your own imagination, maybe its a favorite character from a film or series and you can’t find any existing merch for it anywhere. What is a plush collector to do? Plush artists all over the world are willing to help you solve your conundrum! But their expertise comes at a price, one sometimes that comes as a shock. Here, I’ll try to explain why custom-made plush toys are expensive, but worth the efforts if your budget can support the work.
So you’ve decided you’d like to commission a plush toy or soft sculpture from a plush artist. Great! Having a custom plush made is an experience that’s just for you; a creation that is the shape, size, and colors that you desire. Its a great way to acquire a unique piece for your collection and can be become a treasured momento.
But then you get the price quote and may think, “What?! I can buy a plush at ___ store for less than that! Why are you asking so much for a toy?” You might be tempted to berate the artist, accuse them of greed, or otherwise went your frustration.
This guide is to help you understand why a custom plush is priced the way it is and why you should consider paying an artist to create your vision for you. Please note that these thoughts are my own and may differ from other artists, but you will find there is a common thread here that is shared by many artists in the plush making field. Likewise, the methods, pricing, etc are my own and may not reflect those of another artist. That said, let’s move on.
But then you get the price quote and may think, “What?! I can buy a plush at ___ store for less than that! Why are you asking so much for a toy?” You might be tempted to berate the artist, accuse them of greed, or otherwise went your frustration.
This guide is to help you understand why a custom plush is priced the way it is and why you should consider paying an artist to create your vision for you. Please note that these thoughts are my own and may differ from other artists, but you will find there is a common thread here that is shared by many artists in the plush making field. Likewise, the methods, pricing, etc are my own and may not reflect those of another artist. That said, let’s move on.
The Wal-Mart Mentality
What I like to call the “Wal-Mart Mentaility” is the biggest factor in pricing a custom plush order. Clients are so used purchasing mass-manufactured good at retail prices; many do not realize those goods are priced the way they are due to several factors, the two main ones being:
A single artist cannot compete with a factory full of workers, so they have to charge more just to meet their bottom line. Keep in mind that a single artist has to pay their own living costs: bills for electricity, rent, utilities, food, etc. and all this is worked into their pricing as overhead. They have no large company over them that is paying a portion of those bills for them and no employer that is paying them wages for their time spent working. They must do all that for themselves.
Living costs aside, what effects most of the price of a single artist’s work are: materials (fabric, patterns, tools, etc), labor (time spent, pay rate, skill level, etc), taxes, and shipping costs.
Using these as a guide, let’s create an example of a custom order and go through the process, and I hope this will help you to understand it better. Here we go!
- Mass-Manufacturing. Consider this like buying in bulk at your local Sam’s Club or Costco. You get a better deal on a product because you are buying several of them at a time, so the store can afford to give you a lower rate. Mass-manufacturing works in the same way in that is less expensive to make several of the exact same item all at once rather than a single item at a time.
- Low Wages. The majority of goods we purchase these days are manufactured in a country outside our own. Ex: China, Bangladesh, Taiwan, Vietnam, India, etc. These countries have a large population that live below the poverty level and work for wages that no first-world-country’s citizen would consider. Companies take advantage of this in order to keep their costs down. Paying workers less means they can still charge a lower retail price while making profit on goods sold.
A single artist cannot compete with a factory full of workers, so they have to charge more just to meet their bottom line. Keep in mind that a single artist has to pay their own living costs: bills for electricity, rent, utilities, food, etc. and all this is worked into their pricing as overhead. They have no large company over them that is paying a portion of those bills for them and no employer that is paying them wages for their time spent working. They must do all that for themselves.
Living costs aside, what effects most of the price of a single artist’s work are: materials (fabric, patterns, tools, etc), labor (time spent, pay rate, skill level, etc), taxes, and shipping costs.
Using these as a guide, let’s create an example of a custom order and go through the process, and I hope this will help you to understand it better. Here we go!
Let’s Make a Plush!
For our example, let’s say a client has contacted me about making a standing plush fox made from minky fabric. We work out the details of how they want it to look and I decide I can use this pattern below, courtesy of Teacup Lion on Etsy. The client wants typical fox colors, as seen in the image below, on the left.
I estimate that I will need 1/2 yard of orange minky fabric, 1/3 yard of the white, and 1/3 yard of black fabric to make this fox. I will also need embroidery thread for the eyes and mouth, a safety snap-in plastic nose, orange and white threads to sew the body, and poly-fill to stuff it with.
I contact my preferred supplier for the minky fabric I need, which is only sold in 1/2 or 1 yard increments. I will need to buy 1/ yard of each color, so my cost breakdown is this:
I contact my preferred supplier for the minky fabric I need, which is only sold in 1/2 or 1 yard increments. I will need to buy 1/ yard of each color, so my cost breakdown is this:
- Orange minky, 1/2 yard: $6.50
- White minky, 1/2 yard: $6.50
- Chocolate Black minky, 1/2 yard: $6.50
- Shipping costs: $8.15 for USPS Priority
So, for the fabric alone, my costs are already at $27.65. Compare that to the $25-30 price tags you might find on a similar store-bought toy and realize this commission is going to go well over that price. Add in the costs of purchasing the pattern and the running total goes up to $47.65.
Could I make that pattern myself? Absolutely. But it would involve considerably more time invested as I tested out shapes that may not work the way I want them to the first time, so in the interests of keeping my rates lower for my client, it’s easier for me to start with a purchased pattern in this case. Plus, it’s good to help the artists who create those amazing patterns as well!
I’ll need thread and the other supplies mentioned above. For the sake of speed, I’m going to assume I got them all on sale and they only added another $10 to the total. We’re now at $57.65 for the supplies on this commission.
The significant costs of any commissioned order are labor, the hourly rate charged for my time and skills. I’ve been sewing for over 20 years and have multiple awards for things I’ve created, so I have a lot of skills that apply to my work. As such, I choose to pay myself a decent wage that reflects said skills. Keep in mind that the rates for one project may not be the same for another, based on a project’s complexity! I have bills to pay as well, so my income needs to be able to cover those for the time I spend working on this plush. For this scenario, I will pay myself $15 for each hour worked. I know from experience that it will take me 5 hours to make this fox plush from start to finish, so at $15 per hour, that’s $75. Add that to the $57.65 for the materials and we now have a total of $132.65.
Taxes are a part of any business, and any business owner will tell you so. I pay a portion of each payment I receive as taxes to the state I work in, but I also have to pay sales tax to the state for each time I sell within it. Sales tax rates vary from city to city, state to state, and mine happens to be 9.9% for each purchase. Add that to our running total and we are now at $145.25. I do not include shipping costs within my tax rates, so they are added on afterwards. For this example, I’m going to keep it simple and say it only cost $8 to ship the order to the buyer. This is NOT including any packing materials or the gas in my car that is spent driving to the post office.
Could I make that pattern myself? Absolutely. But it would involve considerably more time invested as I tested out shapes that may not work the way I want them to the first time, so in the interests of keeping my rates lower for my client, it’s easier for me to start with a purchased pattern in this case. Plus, it’s good to help the artists who create those amazing patterns as well!
I’ll need thread and the other supplies mentioned above. For the sake of speed, I’m going to assume I got them all on sale and they only added another $10 to the total. We’re now at $57.65 for the supplies on this commission.
The significant costs of any commissioned order are labor, the hourly rate charged for my time and skills. I’ve been sewing for over 20 years and have multiple awards for things I’ve created, so I have a lot of skills that apply to my work. As such, I choose to pay myself a decent wage that reflects said skills. Keep in mind that the rates for one project may not be the same for another, based on a project’s complexity! I have bills to pay as well, so my income needs to be able to cover those for the time I spend working on this plush. For this scenario, I will pay myself $15 for each hour worked. I know from experience that it will take me 5 hours to make this fox plush from start to finish, so at $15 per hour, that’s $75. Add that to the $57.65 for the materials and we now have a total of $132.65.
Taxes are a part of any business, and any business owner will tell you so. I pay a portion of each payment I receive as taxes to the state I work in, but I also have to pay sales tax to the state for each time I sell within it. Sales tax rates vary from city to city, state to state, and mine happens to be 9.9% for each purchase. Add that to our running total and we are now at $145.25. I do not include shipping costs within my tax rates, so they are added on afterwards. For this example, I’m going to keep it simple and say it only cost $8 to ship the order to the buyer. This is NOT including any packing materials or the gas in my car that is spent driving to the post office.
Order Complete, Now What?
So, now we are done with the plush order, have it boxed and shipped to the client. That’s the end, right? Well, not exactly.
The final total for our fox plush was $153.25, and out of that total, I will get to keep $56.25 as my profit after I deduct the income and social security taxes I must pay to the state and federal governments. Note that my profit is less than what I was paid for the hours I spent creating the client’s order. In many cases, an artist will have to roll their overhead costs for operation (electricity, internet usage, sewing machine maintenance, etc) into their rates to cover the costs of doing business. While I have not illustrated those complexities into this example, imagine how much more expensive a custom order can become when your chosen artist has a higher overhead cost in order to make any sort of profit at all! And the more complex a plush order is, or the higher the artist’s demand, the more expensive their work will be.
When the process is broken down like this, hopefully its easier for you to see why a single artist must charge as much as they’re asking in order to make a decent income. An artist may charge more for their services, but we all try our best to keep costs as affordable for our clients as possible.
The final total for our fox plush was $153.25, and out of that total, I will get to keep $56.25 as my profit after I deduct the income and social security taxes I must pay to the state and federal governments. Note that my profit is less than what I was paid for the hours I spent creating the client’s order. In many cases, an artist will have to roll their overhead costs for operation (electricity, internet usage, sewing machine maintenance, etc) into their rates to cover the costs of doing business. While I have not illustrated those complexities into this example, imagine how much more expensive a custom order can become when your chosen artist has a higher overhead cost in order to make any sort of profit at all! And the more complex a plush order is, or the higher the artist’s demand, the more expensive their work will be.
When the process is broken down like this, hopefully its easier for you to see why a single artist must charge as much as they’re asking in order to make a decent income. An artist may charge more for their services, but we all try our best to keep costs as affordable for our clients as possible.
In A Nutshell...
I greatly appreciate the time you’ve spent learning about the hows and whys of creative commissions. Hopefully I’ve given you some insight into the process and why things are priced they way they are when you ask an artist to spend their time creating something for you. We’re not greedy or looking to strip your pockets bare. The process is demanding and expensive, and we deserve to be paid for our work and unique skill sets, just like you would at your regular employment. I ask that you keep this guide in mind the next time you hear someone complain about an artist’s pricing structure, and perhaps you can help open their eyes as to the real reason prices are the way they are.
Artists are not machines and cannot work all day for pennies on the dollar. And if you can’t afford an artist’s work, THAT IS OKAY. We understand, and will not hold it against you! Custom work is a luxury and we get that. So instead of fussing about the price, it’s okay to ask if there’s a way the artist can lessen some of the expense. But if your artist says no, thanks them politely and part ways.
Thanks so much for reading!
Artists are not machines and cannot work all day for pennies on the dollar. And if you can’t afford an artist’s work, THAT IS OKAY. We understand, and will not hold it against you! Custom work is a luxury and we get that. So instead of fussing about the price, it’s okay to ask if there’s a way the artist can lessen some of the expense. But if your artist says no, thanks them politely and part ways.
Thanks so much for reading!