Pricing a Custom Request

Custom requests are usually the best money in a small shop and the easiest to get wrong. The item does not exist yet, so there is nothing to compare it to, and most sellers guess low and regret it somewhere around the second hour.

Price the time, not the thing

A custom is rarely expensive because of materials. It is expensive because it takes an evening, a specific wear, a particular set of photographs, or a trip to buy something you would not otherwise own. Add up what it actually asks of you before naming a figure.

Ask what they are really after

Half of custom requests are vaguer than they look. Two people asking for the same item can want completely different things, and the gap only appears once it arrives. A couple of questions up front costs you nothing and prevents the version where you make it twice.

Say what is included

Be specific about how many photographs, how long the wear, what happens if they want a change halfway through. Most disputes about customs are not about money, they are about two people holding different pictures of the same order.

Take payment before you start

This is the part sellers skip because it feels awkward, and it is the part that protects them. A custom is worthless to anyone else if the buyer disappears, which is exactly why it is the one order type that should never be made on trust alone.

It is fine to say no

Some requests are not worth the money, some are outside what you do, and a polite decline costs you nothing. Sellers who take every custom end up resenting the good ones.

Price it properly and a custom is the most profitable thing you will make. Price it in a hurry and it is an evening you gave away.