That is a standard misconception in craft circles. As you say, if you want to do stuff for free for others so that they will like you, then you can really do what you want about that kind of thing. Of course they could always pay you fairly because they want to support musical instrument making, and have you like them. And folks who don't ask for what something is worth are also hurting the craft in general by letting low prices out there. It's inevitable, I'm part of that problem also.
For a business you have to figure out how to price stuff. So for instance, I cut a lot of wood. My cost to do that is a lot less than what dealers charge, and they don't have what I can get. A lot of people in craft, or casual craft would just add in the cost. So long as they are getting paid for the part they themselves value, the building, they are fine with throwing in a lot of other stuff. It is like going half professional. But I deserve to get paid for the wood also, at market values. Whether people will pay that is a whole other thing. But it is what I should shoot for.
It isn't really true there is no additional work. There is this thread where a person is being asked to do something out of the ordinary and they have to do some research. I have some Schaller, Gotho and Gilbert tuners, I know if I grab a pair of those that they aren't getting lost in the mail, that the screw drivers I have fit, that the colours match my work, that I don't have to worry about how they hold up, at least no more than on any other guitar. One is taking on risks in doing stuff out of the ordinary. That is all pretty minor, but it's more than one does in a lot of standard retail situations.
The problem with the international banking crisis wasn't that banks pushed too hard on standard business practices, it was that they didn't. They sold people who couldn't afford to buy houses, mortgages that they couldn't carry in the long run. Then the system lied to the people who ended up holding the paper, and told them the borrowers were capable. What we didn't have was a problem with too much reality in the adherence to business principles.
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![[headinwall]](./images/smilies/headbangwalluf8.gif "Mad")
