Should I price based on what it costs me to make?

No. Cost sets your floor, not your price. Buyers pay for the value and the result, not your spreadsheet. Price to what the product is worth to your audience and check it against comparable products, then make sure that number comfortably clears your base cost and fees. Cost tells you what you cannot go below; it does not tell you what to charge.

Do the .99 and .97 endings really work?

Often, yes. Charm pricing (ending in .99, .97, or a 9) leans on the left-digit effect — the brain anchors on the first number, so $47 feels closer to $40 than $50. It has been associated with sales lifts in the range of 8–24%. The exception is premium or luxury positioning, where a clean round number like $50 can signal quality better than $49.99.

What if I priced too low and want to raise it?

Raising a price is normal and usually safe. Conversion often holds steady or even improves when you raise prices, because the buyer pool shifts from bargain-hunters to people who value the work. Announce it honestly, give your existing audience a heads-up or a grandfathered rate if you like, and move on. Underpricing is the more expensive mistake.

Pricing your first product

Price the value, not the cost

The most common pricing mistake is starting from what a product costs you and adding a little on top. That gives you a floor — the number you must not go below — but it tells you nothing about what to actually charge. Buyers do not pay for your base cost or your time. They pay for what the thing is worth to them: the result it gives, the identity it signals, the way it makes them feel part of your show. Two shirts with identical printing costs can rightly sell for very different prices depending on the meaning behind them.

So flip the order. Start by asking what this is worth to a listener who already values you, sanity-check it against comparable products in the wild, and only then confirm the number clears your cost and fees. Cost is a constraint, not a strategy.

Set an anchor so your price looks reasonable

People judge prices by comparison, not in isolation — the first number they see becomes the anchor everything else is measured against. This is not a trick so much as how the mind works, and you can use it honestly. Anchoring has been shown to shift perceived value substantially, on the order of 30–50%. Put a higher-priced item or tier next to the one you actually want to sell, and the target suddenly looks like the sensible choice.

In practice: if you want to sell a $28 tee, showing a $55 hoodie beside it makes the tee feel like an easy yes. Offer a premium bundle and most people will not buy it — but its presence makes your standard option look like a deal. A single lonely product has nothing to be compared to, so buyers compare it to zero and hesitate.

A price is never judged alone. Put it next to a higher one and the number you actually want to sell starts to look like the obvious, reasonable choice.

Use charm pricing — with one exception

Prices ending in .99, .97, or a 9 lean on the left-digit effect: your brain latches onto the first digit, so $47 registers as closer to $40 than to $50. This is charm pricing, and it has been associated with sales increases in the 8–24% range. For most everyday merch and digital goods, a charm ending is a small, free lift.

The exception matters. For premium or aspirational products, a clean round number can signal quality and confidence in a way that $49.99 cannot. A $50 limited hoodie or a $100 membership often reads as more legitimate than the same thing marked down by a penny. Match the ending to the positioning: charm for value, round for premium.

Know the brackets buyers already expect

Audiences carry rough mental price brackets, and it pays to price inside a familiar one rather than in an awkward gap. For digital and creator products, buyers tend to cluster around recognizable ranges:

Impulse / tripwire: roughly $7–$27 — a no-brainer add-on, a guide, a small bonus.
Core product: roughly $47–$197 — your main offer, where most real revenue lives.
Premium: $300 and up — for deep, high-proof offers with a small, committed audience.

Pick the bracket that matches both your proof and your buyer's budget, then apply charm or round pricing inside it. Physical merch has its own familiar bands — a tee in the mid-$20s, a hoodie in the $40s–$50s. Landing near what people already expect removes friction; landing in a strange middle raises questions.

The mistakes that quietly cost you

A few traps catch nearly every first-timer:

Underpricing out of fear. Charging too little does not just lower revenue — it can signal that the product is not worth much, and it attracts the least committed buyers.
One lonely option. With nothing to anchor against, a single product feels expensive by default. Give it company.
Racing to the bottom. Competing on price against everyone is a fight you cannot win and do not need to; your audience is buying you, not the cheapest shirt on the internet.
Never revisiting the number. Your first price is a hypothesis, not a verdict.

Treat your first price as a test

You will not nail it on the first try, and you do not have to. Set a considered starting price, watch how your audience responds, and adjust. If it sells briskly with no resistance, you likely have room to raise it — and conversion often holds or even improves when you do, because a higher price draws people who value the work over people hunting a bargain. If it stalls, look at the price, the anchor around it, and how clearly you have explained the value before you assume the product is the problem. Pricing is a dial you keep turning, not a switch you flip once.