Craftally
The Makers Friend

Search for Craftally on the Apple App Store

Supported platforms include iPhone, iPad, Mac and Vision Pro

If you have multiple devices, you will be able to pickup on one decide where you left off on another.

craftally available on the app store - UKCraftFairs

Craftally

The Makers Friend

SVG Image

App Features

  • Productivity
    • To do today
    • Task list
  • Pricing
    • Product pricing
    • Pricing calculator
  • Tools
    • Conversions
    • Melting Points

We hope you will love this app, as much as we do.

The product pricing section is especially tailored to the needs of makers of all sorts. Its quick to adjust pricing on the fly, even whilst talking to customers, at the end of an event or whilst talking to a retailer. Hopefully, it will help to give you more confidence in your numbers.

To do today

We really like this productivity tool and use it ourselves every day. It has been designed to help you get the little things done, without the pressure.

Craftally home view
  • Add up to seven tasks - any more and you are just making lists rather than completing tasks.
  • Send your list to yourself and others - this allows you to let people know what you want to acheive that day, which can help others to support you.
  • Break tasks down into easily achieveable pieces - you should be able to complete all the tasks that day. So rather than adding one that would take 3 hours, break it up in to little 15 minute tasks that once completed will result in the bigger task being complete too. Complex and difficult tasks can be overwelming, breaking them down makes them easy to swallow.
  • As you go along remove completed tasks - it is not about seeing a list of completed tasks at the end of the day, it is all about the positive results you will get in your life as a result of completing them.
  • Do not include things you have already completed - just to make yourself feel better. It is a false feeling of success.
  • By the end of the day - all your tasks should have been completed but what if you have a few left?. Either they were not important anyway and you should just delete them. You could role them over to the next day but do not get into the habit of not doing them.

Task list

A simple but affective list of your tasks.

You set a few things and the app organises them approriately, so what is important is at the top of the list.

Craftally task list
  • Purpose - Work, yourself or others
  • Allocated time - maximum of 3 hours
  • Priority - Low, Medium, High or Urgent
  • Status - New, Active, Closed or Removed

The task list is a great way to organise all the important stuff. Things that may take a little longer to complete but that are important to you.

Pricing Calculator

This quirky pricing tool take two numbers as inputs and you then select an operator, for example multiply by a percentage, discounted to or percentage included. The app does all the work and shows you the working out.

Craftally pricing calculator

Her are the full list of operators currently included:

  • Whole numbers
    • Add + - it simply adds the two numbers together
    • Minus - - it takes the second number away from the first
    • Multiply x - the first number is multiplied by the second
    • Divide - the first number is divided by the second
  • Percentages
    • Multiply by percentage - The first number is multiplied by the second number, which is used as a percentage
    • Divide by percentage - The first number is divided by the second number, as a percentage
    • Discount percentage - The second number is considered a percentage and it is removed from the first number
  • More complex operations
    • Discounted to - The first number is the full price, the second number is what it has been discounted to. The calculator works out the percentage saved and the difference
    • Markup or tax percentage - Use this to add a percentage to a number
    • Percentage included - The first number is the amount and the second the percentage already included. Like VAT for example
    • Compound interest over three years - The first number is the amount and the second is used as the percentage

Product Pricing

The product pricing part of the app, lets you quickly calculate breakeven and profit margins with some relatively easy to add numbers. The list helps you to quickly order, search and share you product calculations.

Craftally product pricing list
  • Material costs - this is a known amount as it will be the price you paid for the materials you are using to create a batch of good for sale.
  • Volume made - out of the materials you have purchased how many completed ready to sell items can you make.
  • Time spent in hours - how long did you spend making. This is not everything else just your making time. Chances are you cannot charge for every minute spent staring out a window, making yourself tea or watching TV etc..
  • Hourly rate - what do you think a person making the type of items you are making, should be earning per hour.
  • Monthly overhead - all the fixed costs that you would have to pay out, even if you make no products. Rent or mortgage, utilities, insurance, vehicles etc
Craftally product pricing breakeven

Once you have added your number, you can quickly adjust the estimated profit margin to see you cost-plus price and breakeven points.

It will calculate your potential profit at the same time. Use the slider to play with ideas you may have for selling wholesale or retail at a fair for example.

As it is quick to change the details, it is easy to make calculation on the fly. Perhaps whilst talking to a potential supplier or customer. You can also quickly calculate a discount rate you may want to change at the end of an event for any perishable items or things you want to move on the day.

In addition, to the graph you get a fully brakedown of how the numbers have been calculated so you can double check the calculations.

It is important to make sure that you do not only use one source of pricing calculation, you need to check it for yourself and take into account market forces like the pricing being charged by competitors, sometimes needed to be flexible on the day.

Pricing Craft Items

Pricing is one of the key elements to running a successful craft business. So below we have listed out some of the things you should consider when working out your prices.

The pricing bubble

A pricing formula cannot ignore factors that are outside of your control. The pricing of your competitors, the wider market conditions and fluctuations in demand.

Competition

If you create an item, lets say it is a scarf. Your competition is not just every other scarf but any item that does the same job as a scarf. A hat, a hood, a collar etc.. If the scarf is not for keeping warm but for a fashion item then you are also competing with lots of other accessories.

You are not only competing against other handmade items, you also have to look at the mass produced items. You need to think about where you are selling, it is sometimes cheaper to sell online but your competition is very easy to find. If you are selling at an event you may be the only scarf seller but your potential number of buyers will be less.

Do not base your pricing on being cheaper than your competition, make it a fair price looking at the quality of your product compared to theirs.

Market conditions

The condition of the market can play an important part in your potential to sell at a specific price. For example you may be exhibiting in a wealthy area and that may counter a struggling economy. If there is not much money around you may need to discount your product on the day of an event to attract more sales, but if you discount too much it will eat up your profit and you could end up trading at a loss.

Fluctuation in demand

You may have been happily making your items for years and doing well, then other people notice that it is a popular item perhaps with a relatively low cost of production. Suddenly the market is flooded with similar items and you are competing with lots of other. You will most likely have something that makes you stand out from the crowd. Play on that, perhaps increasing your prices as a much better product.

Pricing calculations

You need to be able to work out your cost price per item. This will give you an idea of a wholesale and retail price. However, you may at the beginning have a rather high cost price because you are buying materials at retail prices. This is not a bad idea to start with as it can save you money. If you are testing the market and buy the material for 20 items and your idea fails, then you have not lost a fortune. If you by wholesale materials but have to buy enough to make 1,000 items, then you are exposed to a much higher risk and may have a cash flow issue.

What does the name mean

The Craftally app started life in 2017, as a pricing calculator for arts and crafts people, hence the name. It is actually a combination of three words. Craft (an activity involving making things by hand), Tally (calculate the total number) and Ally (someone who helps and supports someone else).

So what is the correct intended pronunciation? Well it's up to you to decide:

  • Craftally
  • Craft Ally
  • Craft Tally