I get asked a lot by my fellow designers starting out, "How much should I price this file?" It's a good question to ask, because I know at the beginning I was short changing myself for sure. 

Looking around you may see a lot of files for one or two dollars, but what are these people really profiting on their designs? You need to factor in what charges you are incurring on each sale. 

For example, on the Etsy platform you are charged a 0.20 cent listing fee. They also take 5% off of the top of the charge price, plus whatever the shipping is. You can read more about Etsy fees here. 

When you really think about a $1 sale after listing you're at 0.80 cents, plus the 5% off the top puts you at 0.75 cents, and more than likely you will want to re-list which gives you a net profit of 0.55 cents. 

Doesn't really seem worth it, does it? Personally for me, when I was starting out, I was only charging $2-3 a file. I was seeing decent sales, but in all reality it could have been better. I asked for a few shop critiques and all of them stated my price point was too low on my Etsy shop. 

I then raised my prices so that no files were lower than $3.50 and noticed not only did sales increase, but clearly my profit margin did as well. When I see lower priced filed on Etsy or other stores, I immediately think that they are of lower quality or knock-offs. A lot of the times this is true. 

On my Design Bundles shop, I price my files the same, but keep in mind on DB, there are NO listing fees, however I only make 50% of the file price unless someone clicks on my referral link, and then I earn 75%. 

Let's assume it won't always be my link they click, a $4.00 file will net me $2.00. I may not make as much as my Etsy Store, but it is a second income stream and people go to Design Bundles looking for the things I'm creating. 

You can sign up here to apply to have a store. The review process it pretty quick, and you can use your Etsy shop as your portfolio. If you're not interested in that, you can also become an affiliate. 

Back to the point, pricing files can become daunting but here is how I generally price my products.

Digital Paper

For a single paper pattern I charge $3.00.
For a paper pack of 3-6 I charge $5.00.
For a paper pack of 6-12 I charge $8.00.

SVGs

Text only no images/designs - $3.50-$4.25
Text with limited images - $4.00-$4.25
Images, all black, some text - $4.00-$4.75
Images with color and text - $4.25-$5.00

Bundles are an entirely different ballgame. Right now I have a Twin Bodysuit Bundle  priced for $15. Each individual listing (two SVGs each) go for $4.50. There are 10 files in that bundle. Instead of paying $45 for each file alone, you can spend $15 to get all of the designs. 

Clipart 

Clipart is a tough one to gauge. It's subjective depending on how many elements/graphics you are supplying. If they are very intricate and well done you want to price accordingly. I always recommend browsing around and getting a feel for what everyone else is pricing at and start there. 

Conclusion

Those are the three venues I am familiar with. The long and short is, don't short change yourself. Make sure you are pricing your files appropriate with the effort and time you put in to them. Most people are using them to also gain a profit, so keep that in mind. I will get into license types in another post in the future. 

If you would like a shop critique (which includes pricing) I can provide one for a flat fee. You can always drop a comment below and I am more than happy to give my input on anything. 

As always, thank you for reading, please go over to Facebook for updates and new blog posts. Hit the share button if you found value. Comment below if there is something you gained from this. 

Cheers
Tanya