How to Price Your Pottery (Without Underselling)
Most new potters underprice. They add up the clay, forget the firing, and count their own time as zero. Then a sale feels like a win and a month feels like a loss.
Pricing is a small piece of math. Do it once for each form and you can stop guessing.
Step 1: Work out your cost per piece
Add up everything the pot consumed.
- Clay. Price per kilo times the weight you started with, plus extra for trimming and wasted clay. Reclaiming scraps helps, but it also takes time.
- Glaze. Estimate the cost per pot from the price of a jar or the cost of the batch.
- Firing. Two firings per pot. Use your studio's fee or your share of kiln electricity and wear.
- Packaging. Boxes, tissue, labels.
- Fees. Market stall, online platform and payment fees.
You can weigh your starting clay with the clay weight estimator so the clay cost is exact, not a guess.
Step 2: Count your time
Add the time you spend on each piece: throwing, trimming, handles, glazing, loading, unloading, photographing and listing. Include a share of the unpaid work: ordering clay, cleaning, studio time.
Choose an hourly rate you are willing to be paid. It does not have to be large at first, but it should not be zero.
Step 3: Add overhead
Studio rent, membership, tools, insurance and software cost money whether or not you sell. A simple method is to divide your monthly overhead by the number of pieces you expect to make, and add that to each piece.
Step 4: Set wholesale and retail
- Cost is materials, time and overhead.
- Wholesale is the price a shop pays. It should cover your cost and leave a margin.
- Retail is what a shop sells for. A common practice is to double wholesale.
Even if you only sell directly, keep your direct price close to retail. If you sell for wholesale prices at your own stall, you cannot later supply a shop without losing money.
A worked example
These numbers are illustrative only. Use your own.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Clay (500 g at 2.50 per kg) | 1.25 |
| Glaze | 0.40 |
| Two firings (shared) | 3.00 |
| Packaging | 0.50 |
| Time: 50 minutes at 20 per hour | 16.67 |
| Overhead per piece | 2.00 |
| Cost | 23.82 |
| Wholesale (cost plus about 25 percent) | 30.00 |
| Retail (double wholesale) | 60.00 |
A mug that costs 24 to make cannot sell for 20, no matter how nice it looks.
Check the market
After you calculate, compare with similar work in your area. If your price is far higher, consider whether your cost is too high (can you make it faster, or use less clay?) or whether your work can justify a premium (unique glazes, a strong brand, a limited run). If your price is lower than the market, you can usually raise it.
Raise prices on a schedule
Do not feel guilty about raising prices. Clay, electricity and rent rise. Review your prices once or twice a year, and raise them gently for new work first.
Keep real numbers
The more accurate your records, the better your pricing. Log the starting weight, time spent and firing details for each piece. Claybook records weights and steps for every project, so next time you can price from data instead of guessing.