Creator guide
Pricing your skill
A short guide to setting a fair price for your skill on Techne.
Price your skill based on the value it gives buyers, not the time it took you to build. A skill that saves a developer ten hours of work is worth more than one that saves them ten minutes — even if both took you the same effort to create. Buyers on Techne pay for time saved, mistakes avoided, and expertise applied.
Step 1
The four tiers
Tier 1 — Quick Helpers
£15–£25Skills that handle a narrow, well-defined task. The buyer probably could write this themselves in an hour or two, but your version is faster, cleaner, and tested.
Examples
- A skill that formats commit messages consistently
- A skill that generates README boilerplate from a project structure
- A skill that converts Postman collections to curl commands
Pick this tier if
- The skill solves one small, specific problem
- The SKILL.md is under 200 lines
- A buyer could rebuild it themselves with moderate effort
- You expect heavy volume
Tier 2 — Real Skills
£29–£49Skills that handle a substantial task with real expertise embedded. The buyer would spend a half-day or more learning to do this themselves correctly.
Examples
- A skill that audits React components for accessibility, awkward props, and structural issues
- A skill that walks through a codebase and generates accurate technical documentation
- A skill that reviews PRs for security vulnerabilities with severity tagging
Pick this tier if
- The skill encodes real domain expertise
- The SKILL.md is 200–500 lines, possibly with reference files
- A buyer would need significant research or experience to rebuild it
- The output is consistent and high-quality across many use cases
This is where most skills on Techne should live.
Tier 3 — Specialist Skills
£55–£89Skills that handle complex, multi-step workflows or require deep specialist knowledge. The buyer is paying for expertise they don't have and wouldn't easily acquire.
Examples
- A skill that runs a complete Stripe integration setup including webhooks, idempotency, and error handling
- A skill that performs a thorough security audit of a Next.js application against OWASP top 10
- A skill that refactors a Postgres schema for performance with migration scripts
Pick this tier if
- The skill bundles deep specialist knowledge most developers don't have
- The SKILL.md is 500+ lines, includes scripts, references, and detailed examples
- A buyer would otherwise need to hire a specialist or spend days researching
- The skill produces measurable, important output
Tier 4 — Expert Skills
£99–£149Skills that replace what a specialist consultant would do. Rare. Reserved for skills that genuinely encode rare expertise and produce serious value.
Examples
- A skill that performs a complete SOC 2 readiness audit
- A skill that implements end-to-end observability (metrics, logs, traces) with a specific stack
- A skill that handles a complete compliance review for GDPR, CCPA, and HIPAA
Pick this tier if
- The skill is genuinely rare expertise
- It produces output that would otherwise cost the buyer hundreds or thousands to obtain
- The SKILL.md is comprehensive, includes multiple reference files, and has been battle-tested
Tier 4 is rare. If you think your skill belongs here, email hello@techneskills.ai and I'll review it personally.
Step 2
Five questions to refine your price
After picking a tier, use these five questions to choose your exact price within the tier range.
1.How long would a buyer spend rebuilding this themselves?
- Under 2 hours → bottom of tier range
- Half a day → middle
- A full day or more → top of tier range
2.How specialist is the knowledge?
- General developer skill → bottom
- Requires real domain experience → middle
- Few people in the world have this expertise → top
3.How polished is the deliverable?
- Works but rough edges → bottom
- Tested, documented, handles edge cases → middle
- Production-grade, comprehensive references, examples for common scenarios → top
4.How much value does each use produce?
- Saves a few minutes per use → bottom
- Saves an hour per use → middle
- Prevents costly mistakes or saves a full day → top
5.How niche is the buyer audience?
- Most developers could use this → bottom (high volume, lower price)
- Specific stack or role → middle
- Narrow specialist audience → top (low volume, higher price)
If your answers cluster at the bottom, price low. If they cluster at the top, price high. Mixed answers, choose the middle.
Avoid
Common mistakes to avoid
Underpricing because you're new
Buyers don't pay £15 for a £49 skill out of pity. They pay £15 and assume the skill is worth £15. Price for the value, not your confidence level.
Pricing on time spent
"I spent 40 hours on this" doesn't mean it's worth £400. Buyers pay for value to them, not effort by you. Some Tier 4 skills took a weekend. Some Tier 1 skills took a month.
Matching the cheapest skill in the catalog
This is a race to the bottom. If a similar skill is priced at £19 and yours is genuinely better, price yours at £35–£45 and let the quality speak.
Pricing for everyone
Don't lower price hoping for more buyers. A £29 skill that 100 people buy makes £2,900. A £19 skill that 100 people buy makes £1,900. Lower price doesn't mean more buyers — it usually means lower perceived value.
Revenue
What you keep
- Founding creators (first 100): keep 90% of every sale, forever.
- Standard creators (after first 100): keep 85% of every sale.
A £39 skill earns you £35.10 (founding) or £33.15 (standard) per sale. Stripe processing fees come out of Techne's portion, not yours.
Step 3
Setting your first price
- 1.Pick the tier that fits using the criteria above.
- 2.Choose the middle of that tier's range as your starting price.
- 3.Watch the first 10 sales, then adjust up if conversion is strong, down if conversion is weak.
Most skills find their right price within 30 days. We'll send you sales data and suggestions.
Later
Updating your price later
You can change your skill's price at any time from your creator dashboard. Buyers who already purchased keep lifetime access at the price they paid. Future buyers pay the new price. Raising prices over time as your skill matures and gets reviews is normal and healthy.
Tip
Launch pricing
If you're launching a new skill, consider pricing slightly below your target for the first 30 days to gather initial reviews and proof. Then raise to your true price. For example: target price £49, launch at £39, raise to £49 after 20+ sales.
Help
Questions
Email hello@techneskills.ai. I read every message and reply within a day, usually within hours. If you're stuck on pricing, send me a draft SKILL.md and I'll suggest a tier.