[will_walker]

This is such a helpful post, but it also doesn't factor in the cost of R&D to make a new or unusual product. For example, I spent years figuring out how to make a specific kind of porcelain planter for succulents that would be self watering. Nothing else exists like it on the market, and customers like it but there's a ceiling to how high I can price. Now I have a lot of sunk costs that I'll probably never recoup on sales. Also selling isn't trivial in terms of cost - figuring out packaging and shipping loss rate can be a double digit portion of sales for fragile handmade goods.

Of course this is on me as a designer and maker - it's a labor of love - but it keeps my work from becoming a serious business that I might try to go out and count on for income.