Pricing items!

[swirlyarts]

I k now it's probably been asked before but I wanted to ask - do you have a definitive way of pricing items for sale/wholesale. I need to re-vamp my prices etc but I just want a rough idea about the kinds of 'formula' you use to price up.
Thanks

[colourart]

I add up all my costs, materials, time etc. then multilpy by a %, add postage and then adjust to a selling price I think is right. Sometimes I make a little more sometimes a little less. If it is a wholesale price I work on they will put around 100% mark up, so I have to work around a price I think a retailer would sell for. I have quoted a wholesale price several times to but I can't get low enough.

[Heart and Design]

I think my way is probably a bit complicated but it makes sense to me.

I worked out a hourly rate I would be happy to work for right at the beginning of starting my business. I then doubled it and worked out how much that was per minute of my time. ie. I want to earn £3 per hour, I then double it to £6 per hour which equates to 10p per minute of my time (I dont actually work for £3 per hour!!!)
The reason I doubled my hourly rate was that I only spend around half my time actually making stationery, the rest of the time is sending emails, making phone calls, accounting etc which I need to be paid for.

Every time I come up with a new wedding stationery design I try to time roughly how long it takes me to make each item and multiply that amount by my per minute rate.
I then work out the material cost.
I add time + materials and then add a further 20 to 30 % on, depending on whether I feel customers will pay that. The extra percentage is to cover advertising and general business costs.

Im sure my method has lots of flaws but its the only way I could think of to pay me, cover the day to day running costs and the materials involved.

Hth

Paula