Pricing magic items

[MikelaC1]

How did the book arrive at a price of 35K for an amulet vs. detection & location. By my calculation it should be spell level X caster level X 2000. Non-detection is a third level spell, since the DC on the item is 19, it must be cast by an 8th level caster so 3X8X2000=48,000.
As a second topic, when making an item that grants a higher skill bonus than normal, what is the cut line that defines between non-epic/epic...is it +20 or +30

[Fizban]

Nondetction has a +5 DC when you cast it on yourself, which is noted in the magic item description even though that should result in a DC 24. In order to produce that DC the item is somehow generating a cl 4 effect on the 3rd level spell, with an item cl of 8. Whatever your calculation, don't forget 5,000gp for 100 units of the material component. It can be formula priced at 3x5x2000+5000, even though none of the numbers on the item line up with that.

The srd says the skill bonus of epic items is higher than +30, though it uses the wrong bonus type. Custom skill items higher than +10 are a terrible idea anyway, and you'll notice that aside from a few specific +15's (Hide, Move Silently, and Escape Artist on armor), there basically aren't any printed non-epic items that go past +10.

[Malimar]

The custom magic item creation guidelines are guidelines, which printed items explicitly don't have to follow. Indeed, my sense is that most printed item prices were ad hoc'd, and the custom item guidelines were derived roughly from from the printed items, not the other way 'round.