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How to price pottery and ceramics

Pottery has more stages than most crafts: throwing or building, trimming, drying, bisque firing, glazing and glaze firing. Each stage takes time, and each one can crack or warp a piece. Your price has to cover all of it.

1. Materials

Weigh the clay that goes into one piece (before trimming, since trimmings are only partly reusable) and multiply by your cost per pound. Estimate glaze per piece from how many pieces a batch of glaze covers. Add underglaze, wax resist and any decals.

2. Firing

If you own a kiln, estimate the energy cost of a firing from your kiln's rating and your utility rate, or from the meter, then divide by how many pieces fit in a load. Do it for bisque and glaze firings separately. If you rent kiln space or pay studio firing fees, use those charges. Add kiln upkeep such as elements and shelves.

3. Labor and losses

Time each stage for a batch and divide by pieces. Then add losses: if one piece in ten cracks or comes out seconds-quality, the sellable pieces have to carry that cost. Seconds can be sold at a discount, but don't count them at full price.

4. Overhead and shipping

Studio rent or membership, tools, wheel upkeep, and packing supplies. Ceramics are heavy and fragile, so packing time and materials are a real cost. Price shipping carefully or build it in.

Platform and payment fees

Marketplaces usually take a percentage of each sale plus fixed per-order or per-listing charges, and payment processing is often separate. Fee schedules change, so read your platform's current fee page rather than trusting a number you saw once. Remember that fees are charged on the price the customer pays, so they grow as your price grows. Calculate them on your final price, not on your cost.

Choosing a markup

Once you know your true cost (materials + labor + overhead), multiply it to get a price. A common maker rule of thumb is wholesale at about 2× true cost and retail at about 2× wholesale, but that is a starting point, not a law. Check the result against what comparable products actually sell for, then decide whether your quality, story or speed justifies sitting above or below that range. If the price you need is far above what buyers pay, the fix is usually cost or time, not a smaller margin.

Worked example

Notice that the profit line comes after you've paid yourself for your time. That's the number that tells you whether this product is a business or a hobby.

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