Fill in your pricing worksheet
Write these inputs down before publishing a menu. Use actual costs where you have them and label estimates. Review the worksheet after your first completed orders.
- Offer: number of files, format, delivery window and what is excluded.
- Time: preparation, shooting, editing, messaging and delivery.
- Costs: props and other incremental expenses, plus an allocation of monthly plan fees.
- Fees: percentage deducted from sales, fixed transaction charges and any payout or conversion costs.
- Target: the amount you want to retain for your time, before personal tax.
Calculate a floor before choosing a test price
A simple pre-tax floor is (target compensation + direct costs + allocated fixed fees) ÷ (1 − percentage fee). This only works when the percentage is below 100% and all costs use the same currency. Add any per-order fixed charge to the numerator.
Hypothetical example: a set takes 30 minutes, you choose $20 per hour as your target, materials cost $2, and you allocate $1 of plan fees to the order. With a 15% sales fee, the floor is ($10 + $2 + $1) ÷ 0.85 = $15.30 rounded up. This does not show that buyers will pay $15.30 or that $20 per hour is typical.
Allocating a plan over ten expected orders understates the cost if only two orders sell. Recalculate with zero, low and expected sales scenarios before renewing a paid plan.
Quote custom work from scope and time
Confirm the exact request and your boundaries before quoting. Include preparation, revisions and delivery time. Custom work is not automatically your highest-margin product; a long exchange of messages can consume the margin.
Use platform checkout and follow its payment and delivery rules. Define what a revision includes. Do not accept a request or promise delivery simply because a buyer offers a higher price.
Choose subscriptions only when the schedule fits
A subscription creates an ongoing delivery commitment. Estimate the monthly workload and how many subscribers you would need to cover it. One-time sets may be simpler while you learn what you can produce consistently.
Explain price changes clearly and check your platform’s renewal rules. Do not promise grandfathered billing unless the platform supports it. Discounting and urgency are experiments, not evidence that sales will improve.
Test one change and measure the net result
Keep the offer and promotion as stable as practical while testing a price. Record views or qualified inquiries, completed orders, refunds, fees and hours. A handful of orders is too small to identify a reliable best price.
Compare revenue after costs per hour as well as order count. A price cut that creates more orders can still reduce profit. If demand is absent, review the offer and discovery before assuming that another discount will solve the problem.
- Record the dates and exact price change.
- Include days and offers with zero sales.
- Separate one-off promotional traffic from ordinary demand.
- Set a spending and time limit before extending the trial.
Plan a limited beginner trialCheck earnings claims before setting expectations