Marketing Tip 10th Week - 2nd Exercise - Price

We are doing really well I think. I am seeing a lot of people put their new knowledge to work and I hope it will really fall into place for you all as we work through the next few weeks

Last week we concentrated on Descriptions to sell your products. The next important (probably more important than Anything) is your price.

I apologise for this being long winded.................

So many people come in and ask how much they should charge but pricing original art is very different from pricing, let's say, Eggs.... or Butter, or open prints. The prices for those are really set by the general market

Yes, pricing art is very subjective and asking someone what to charge, is like asking how long a piece of string is.

So, what do you charge to be fair and to create sales?

You are the creator of the work. You took the time and effort and people pay for your own personal artistic interpretation so that is your choice..

"Yes we know!!!" I hear you shout....."but what do we price our work?"

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ORIGINALS

My suggestion to new people is, look around the web. Not here. Look around the web. What can you buy work that is better than yours for? What price can you buy work for that is not as good.

Would what you charge cover the cost of creating that work? Are you going to charge per day it took to do, or just a set size price (which is what I do).

Charging too much can put buyers off and you are not impressing them at all. It is a hard lesson to learn when new but you are not worth that much until known. On the other hand you do not want to sell yourself short. I am going to shout this...

DO NOT SELL YOURSELF SHORT

You do need to earn money with your artwork and do a little more than stay even.

If you are looking to sell in galleries, remember they take a cut so you need to make sure you can cover their cut also and still be earning.

The way I price (and I sell) is to work out your square inch of the work. Charge a set amount per square inch. Let's say, for arguments sake, you have a painting that is 200 square inches. Now, let's say for example you charge 5 per inch (assuming you have been doing this awhile... less if new)

So that is 1000

Your frame and canvas or supplies comes to... eg another 75

Add the two together and you have an original piece worth 1075

When you think that in England it is expected to pay an artist at least £126 (around $173) for half a days work just producing the artwork, not counting the presenting it, you realise that you are not really overpricing your work by doing it this way.

This is just an example of an easy way to price. You may need to add fuel money if you have gone somewhere to do this painting as a commission etc.

These work for one off photographs. Or you could use it for Limited Edition prints if only printing a few. Also this example was just that, an example and not a suggestion of what you should charge.

Never charge less for your work on one site and more on another. Keep the prices as consistent as you can on your own site or in a gallery.

Do not price something because you 'love it' and so it is worth more. You are not your customer.

Anyway, this is a way to keep the prices understandable and easy to know what you are charging if asked at any time.

Once you have worked out the price, never waiver. If someone thinks it is too much you may have lost that sale but you will sell to the next person. The complainer probably would not have purchased anyway and they are not the person you need to impress.

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PRINTS HERE

Open prints (which is what we sell here) are totally different. All you are doing here is licensing the site to use your image in a set size to add to their products. So the site is setting the main price for the product and you just mark that price up if it sells with your image on. The general market will set your price therefore.

The fastest way to see what to earn, obviously, is to just shop around here for work in the same genre as yours. What is everyone else charging? You then pick the average cost and run with that on your own images. Look at our sales page. What are the best sellers marking up their work at? Average it out. You need to look at work in the same vein as yours. You do landscapes? Look at the selling landscapes. Portraits? Look at the selling portraits.

Don't charge less because you feel you will not sell. You are belittling yourself and everyone else.
Do not charge too much because you think you are better than anyone else, chances are you are not that cool.
Plus, neither of these strategies work here.

Stop offering discounts unless you absolutely have to or are running a special promotion. Find a price and stick to it!

Here you are licensing your image along with literally millions of other images. Price accordingly.

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The main thing on prints or originals is to do the research. Set the price. Be prepared to be confident in that price.

Buyers smell a lack of confidence and you are not in the bartering business.

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Abbie Shores
Head of Department Tech Support/Community - Fine Art America | Pixels.com

TIPS SO FAR

1st WEEK A Course We Should All Take
2nd WEEK Focusing on updates
3rd WEEK Marketing
4th WEEK Blogging and being sales tired
5th WEEK Spelling and grammar
6th WEEK Just one site
7th WEEK Press release
8th WEEK Simple Free Ways to get your name around
9th WEEK 1st exercise - Product
10th WEEK 2nd exercise - Prices
11th WEEK 3rd Exercise - Place