I guess I should have clarified, I'm custom painting crankbaits.

Hi Waggz...welcome to the addiction that is fishing!

Pricing custom tackle can be tricky...it usually depends on your location, your cost of supplies, and the demand for your services. Many new custom tackle makers make the mistake of underpricing their services...which inadvertently sets the market price lower than what it actually could be. Once that price is set, it's REALLY hard to raise it. So you're actually better off starting high, and if you're not getting any customers, offer "discounts" to lower the price. You should try to NEVER actually drop your price, because that implies the value of the service is getting lower...you're better off offering "new customer discounts", "buy 1, get 1 free", and other promotions like this that allow you to keep your price high, but actually sell the services for a lower rate that that market will accept.

That said, here's a few guidelines:

- It should never be cheaper to buy a new one instead of getting the repair. If a customer is looking for a repair, they're probably also evaluating the cost difference between buying a new rod or just repairing their old one. So you want to be sure that it's cheaper for them to repair so you don't lose business to a new purchase
- For parts, the trick here is to buy in bulk (at a lower per unit cost) and then mark the parts back up to the normal retail price. So your profit on parts is gained by being able to buy them cheap and sell them at market value. If you're not busy enough yet to buy them in bulk, then you'll typically want to stay at about 10% markup on parts and focus on getting profit from the labor piece of it. Don't forget to include the costs you pay for getting the parts shipped to you in the price of the parts. The markup should be AFTER shipping is factored in.
- If you're charging for a fully assembled product (like a rod or lure), then you'll want to make sure you price it by (Your Labor + Parts) x Markup. The final price of the lure should be close to going market rates...lures that are over $2 more than commercial lures typically only sell to collectors...and you won't get a high volume of business that way.
- Once you set your price, you'll want to look for ways to lower your costs to increase your profit. Start looking for opportunities to buy from the wholesalers or bulk retailers. Avoid the catalog stores like bass pro, cabelas, stamina, or janns...you can get MUCH better prices from the guys like Hagens or Lakeland. And for paints, you can often just call the paint manufacturer directly and get discounted paints in bulk.

Hope that helps. Good luck with your new business!

i would like more imformation on ststing my own busines. would send to my home here my address. bud jaeger 7562 sarson way~hanover pk~ill~60133 thankyou