Yesterday I did a job for which I charged $135.00 It was one of those Swedish carving knives which goes for about $40.
The knife was a gift for a fellow retiring at Boeing from people in his dept. Anyway it involved putting a short message on the blade using Cermark then engraving and color filling 22 names around the octagonal wood handle. I used an engraver's vise from one of my other machines to secure the piece.
I wanted pictures but my battery is dead. Anyway the customer was very pleased and said they would bring more work my way.
The point is that $135 engraving on a $40 knife was perceived to be a good value due to the complexity of the engraving. I spent about two hours which is more than expected but I hadn't intended to color fill the thing.