Adell

Hi! Guy who animates and occasionally makes animated commissions here. You can see examples of my work here to get a quality comparison:
https://e621.net/posts?tags=edmango+

Most of my approximately 1 second animations tend to lean towards 6-10 drawings total depending on what I need (at least the frame x frame ones that don't have sound), and 3 frame wiggle animations. The larger looping animations tend to take me around 10ish hours (I also keep track of timing) plus whatever time it takes for a background, cleanup, vfx, etc.

I'd say my quality is mid to sub-mid on average, but people seem to like it, and the average cost I see people willing to pay for animations (based on talking to other artists and seeing their comm sheets) on a similar quality level (to a decent amount better than mine) is somewhere between $150 and $300 (the highest being for a more popular artist collective and the lowest being for something like simply animated comic panels or 2 frame animations).

The hardest thing about these types of commissions specifically is finding a buyer, or someone willing to slap down the cash, I'd say your quality is definitely higher than mine, and could easily see a one second loop going for at least $300. My guess would be that you would face difficulties with pricing these at $40/hr (let's say 480 if you on average take 12 hours). The only caveat to that would be if, say, you already have a lot of people wanting to commission you at high prices. I think a safer bet would be around $300/350 max at least starting out if you feel it should be priced high for the work and are willing to be okay with having a slower start to getting commissions without putting in more legwork.

Usually the hardest and most annoying part is just getting people to pay what it's worth in the beginning, does that help any?