I don't think players should be making magical items for profits. Rather, to give themselves more control over what magic items they have. Choosing to make something rather than just finding stuff.
I forget how selling stuff works, but if it is still half the item's listed price, then you might have item creation feats allow people to make things for the mean average of the item's sell price and listed price. So if you have an item that they could buy for 100gp and sell for 50gp, let them craft it for 75gp. Would I burn a feat on it? If it meant I got to choose the items I found rather than relying on blind chance, probably!