Pricing is an art form. Remember that you have to cover not just materials and time, but also consumables — which includes endmills. A basic formula:
- double, triple or quadruple material cost
- add in some amount to cover the wear / risk to the endmill (up to the full cost)
- add in a bit to encompass wear on the machine (consumable parts include V-wheels, belts, router brushes)
- add in a reasonable labour cost for your time (at least minimum wage, but this is skilled labour)
- add in a reasonable cost for customization (variable, pennies per word for long pieces, up to a dollar or more per character for short things which are intricate and require design work)
- cost / value of any design files, esp. those which are unique to a piece and not reusable
- cost compared to mass-produced equivalents (want to be at least twice that for custom work)
Remember that you’re not just pricing things, you’re also setting a perceived value which will affect the ability of others to charge for this sort of work as part of a business/livelihood.
Hope this helps! as a hobbyist, $50 as a favour for a friend, marked down from $75 would seem in the ballpark (mass-produced ones are typically $35–40 and not so nice).
Congrats to the young man for his first trophy!