pipes in tobacco store

[notow1]

The Owner of the tobacco shop My Uncle goes to said He would put some of My pipes in His shop. He asked how much I wanted to sell them for so I told Him I thought they were a good buy at $40.00. He agreed and then priced them at $60.00 to $80.00. I am not concerned with how much He makes from each one but I think if They are overpriced They won't sell. What is considered a fair profit in this price range? I guess I will leave them and if They don't sell by the Chicago show I'll bring them there. Thanks, Norm.

[sandahlpipe]

I think a smokable pipe that looks like a pipe is worth at least that. I sold my first one for $60 to a tobacconist and he offered the price to me. That was enough to buy more briar, so I figure it was fair.

[mcgregorpipes]

in my experience you can expect a retail outlet to sell at 2x cost unless you have the pieces on some type of commission arrangement. Would be interested to know how the numbers usually go if a pipe maker were to approach a pipe shop?

[sandahlpipe]

Yes. I had a tobacconist offer to buy my pipes for 50% of the sale price. But he wanted 12 and the most I've ever been able to have in inventory at once was 3-4, so I haven't taken the offer. Offering half is typical. He would have consigned them for 60% and I would get paid after they sold.

[pipedreamer]

Pay the guy a percent.He has done no work.They buy their crap and mark it up at least 100% or more.A decent smoking nice looking pipe should go for a hundred or more.The guy down the street from me buys his butane a case at a time,cost him about 2.75 a can. He sells it for 14.95.They aren't use to dealing with hand made items.Only mass produced items. I say a hundred, but you have to figure out what your market will bear.You have to help educate that market.Is your pipe as good as a ? factory pipe, if so charge more.If not, Why sell the pipe?You could keep it around to improve later,or to remind you not to do something.If you just want to give it away, give it to the troops. Just don't work for free.Thats not good!

[Yak]

If you had the overhead a B&M does you might see it differently.

Right & wrong are well and good, but numbers are the crux of it.

[sandahlpipe]

The benefit to the pipe maker is advertising. It's tough to advertise your own pipes effectively, putting them in a shop where people have a chance to see them in person is worthwhile. If they have an internet presence and post them online, that's even better for you. It all helps get the word out about your pipes.

As for pricing, I tend to agree that $100 is fair for just about any handmade pipe. Especially if you're factoring in distributing through a retailer.


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[RadDavis]

Pay the guy a percent.He has done no work.They buy their crap and mark it up at least 100% or more.A decent smoking nice looking pipe should go for a hundred or more.The guy down the street from me buys his butane a case at a time,cost him about 2.75 a can. He sells it for 14.95.They aren't use to dealing with hand made items.Only mass produced items. I say a hundred, but you have to figure out what your market will bear.You have to help educate that market.Is your pipe as good as a ? factory pipe, if so charge more.If not, Why sell the pipe?You could keep it around to improve later,or to remind you not to do something.If you just want to give it away, give it to the troops. Just don't work for free.Thats not good!

It's not like you can go into a retailer and demand terms for how they'll sell your pipes, especially if you're an unknown pipe maker. They are doing you a favor, not the other way around.

Sounds like he asked Norm what he wanted for the pipes, and then marked them up accordingly, which is fine. Like Yak said, if you knew what it took to run a retail store and stay in business, you might not think a 100% markup is enough.

As for selling $2.75 can of butane for $14.95? Those types of items keep him going. It's soft drinks, slices of cheese and french fries that keep McDonald's in business, not the burgers.

Rad

[notow1]

I don't have a problem with Him making money, maybe at this price point I shouldn't have them in a shop. I can't take less and neither can He. He is doing Me a favor and if They sell everyone is happy. I was afraid if no one knows You these pipes might be overpriced at $80.00. I know they are all drilled well and look better than previous pipes I have posted but until now the only People that have smoked My pipes are My Uncle, Myself, one friend and two world famous pipe makers. Thanks, Norm.

[Joe Hinkle Pipes]

Some info for you. true statement, I have never sold a pipe over $80. There are a few (not so good) reasons for this, but I am also only selling them to people I know. It's a way to recoup some cash while keeping them out of the hands of anyone that will have a bad experience. since I have recently had a big bump in quality I am comfortable with twice that price or more. Also I saw recently a Dr Grabow at CVS for $35. So basically 2x the price of a chappy factory pipe isn't bad at all. People that are paying $80 for a handmade pipe know exactally what they are getting. Especially if they can see it in person.

[E.L.Cooley]

Hey a guy close in geography to me has started buying blocks I think predrilled and running a sander around the corners and has them in a shop for $60. They are probably getting eaten up by his local college crowd?


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[sandahlpipe]

I saw one of those in a shop too. I laughed and wondered why anyone would want to smoke a square block of wood.

[E.L.Cooley]

Don't get me wrong I don'take anything that belongs in a shop.


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[notow1]

OK, the pipe shop Owner called and left a message Today. He sold one pipe and has a customer that wants Me to make a pipe for Him. My goal was to at least get some of My pipes out there so this helps. I started making pipes a year ago and this is the first one I have sold, so I am really excited and motivated to make better pipes. I just felt like sharing this so thanks for looking, Norm.

[E.L.Cooley]

Great job norm


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[Charl]

Congratulations!

[Yak]

As for pricing, I tend to agree that $100 is fair for just about any handmade pipe. Especially if you're factoring in distributing through a retailer.

Broken record time : Until you're fairly well established, your actual competition is Savinelli & Peterson. If they haven't slipped, Stanwell. Brebbia. And so on.

If you're going toe to toe with their productions at the price point involved (average work against average, nicer against nicer), your superior airway and "handmade" cachet trumps, or can trump, their "brand."

It just won't pull your lunchbox productions up a notch when the guy could get a nicer mass-produced one for less. That's the part that seems hard to swallow.

Then again, WTF do I know ?

[Joe Hinkle Pipes]

As for pricing, I tend to agree that $100 is fair for just about any handmade pipe. Especially if you're factoring in distributing through a retailer.

Broken record time : Until you're fairly well established, your actual competition is Savinelli & Peterson. If they haven't slipped, Stanwell. Brebbia. And so on.
?

This is true. Although there are some who will pay more for a handmade product than they would for a factory pipe, most people will compare your pipes with a Peterson and sadly choose the Peterson most of the time. Now all you have to do is make better pipes than them.

[E.L.Cooley]

I should buy a peterson so I can size up the competition.


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[Yak]

Which will be surprisingly difficult, perhaps, owing to a factor almost invariably overlooked in considering what's involved -- a blind spot in the picture.

Peterson is the Tastycake of the pipe world -- and deservedly popular as what it is. Twinkies and HoHos do not pretend to rival the creations of an expert pastry chef in quality, made to be sold and consumed quickly before they get stale. On that scale of values, they don't even register.

Tastycakes are the quintessence of the quintessence of what can be made efficiently -- therefore inexpensively (economy of scale) -- using inexpensive (but not therefore necessarily inferior) ingredients, on an industrial scale, for mass distribution, at an "affordable" point-of-sale price.

In the world of mass-marketed cheapshit, Tastycake is "the Good stuff."

A pastry chef -- even a competent baker -- can make "higher quality" pastry than Tastycake makes. But it is a different "better." And because the ingredients involved are bought in smaller amounts, at higher prices, and the output is smaller (therefore proportionately more expensive on a unit basis), competing with it involves some fancy footwork.

Broken record time again : the difference between the master and the apprentice-journeyman is not quality of output. If the a-j cannot equal the output of the master in quality, he's in the wrong line of work. The difference between them is TIME. The master works efficiently (as does Peterson), combining speed with accuracy. He is a human production machine, capable of high output on a sustained basis at a high level of quality. Because of this, at the upper end of the scale, provided he's making what people like and want, he can offer a superior product at the same price. (Making what he likes himself -- or his friends like -- and expecting people to snatch his output up at his valuation of it is another matter).

Viennese Pastry and Tastycake are different lines that intersect at close to the same price point. The inference I'd draw from that is that if your business plan is to compete with Peterson, at least initially, doing so with the Peterson mentality would be indicated.

FWIW (assuming anything). And brought up only because it seems to be so often assumed that the Pastry Chef mentality is the key to success on Peterson terms. (Even though attention to it is . . .)