I believe i have found an offline opportunity for a small side business. Its offline in the sense of how I am gathering clients, but the business itself is online (basically making something for them individually). My question is, obviously when setting my pricing plans, I have to account for my costs (which I will have some). But since from my research I know of nobody else in my area offering this service, what other factors should i be thinking of for how i should set my pricing plans? I don't want to overcharge or overprice and lose out on the first impressions, but I don't want to undercharge either. So basically if some people can just post what they think about or what there is to think about when considering how to set a pricing plan so I can have a broad range of what i should consider myself for this project. and don't ask i am not specifically stating what the business will be, i just want basic pointers for pricing setup. appreciate any help
As you said, your costs is your best indication. Make sure you account for everything, including on-line/off-line advertising, web hosting, materials cost (if any) etc. On top of that you need to add your rates per hour/day or per unit of service you provide. There might not be anyone in your area offering this specific service but there might be substitute services/products or ways to spend money. For example, there might not be anyone around selling Xbox'es but there is someone selling Playstations (excluding buying on line for the same of this example). If someone else offers this service exclusively on line then check their rates as well. You can also do some research in other geographical areas to see what other people charge. Hope this helps
Be honest about what everything costs with YOURSELF; most often when making pricing, entrepreneurs discount their own work and don't realize their business has horrible margins.
Figure out what it would cost the customer to do it via other methods, and work from there. For instance, if you are selling software, what would it cost for someone to hire a programmer to build it for them? Then offer it at a steep discount to that cost. Rob
Set a price right above what you think people will pay. Then if they pay, keep raising the price until the number of customers levels off. (If they don't pay, use a better sales pitch )
i usually just add a profit margin to costs. Charge what you think is fair and others wont be able to do the same type of work for a lot less. If you charge too much, you will look like a rip off when competitors enter your market, and if you drastically drop your price you will look like your struggling