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DPChallenge Forums >> Tips, Tricks, and Q&A >> The ever-present question of pricing...
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05/28/2006 08:58:06 PM · #1
Hello all...

I've seen lots of questions asking "how much do I charge for..." and some random situation that doesn't apply to me. So here's my random situation that probably doesn't apply to anyone else but will be helpful for me. :)

I'm wanting to start selling my nature photography around the area I live in. There doesn't seem to be much competition so I have nothing to compare my work with quality wise and have no idea what to chrage for my work.

The prints will be anywhere from 4x6 - 20x30 and will be mounted and framed. I plan to mount them myself and frame them with handmade frames. I'd be happy to show some of my work if that will help in determining pricing.

I'm a newbie at selling my work though I've been a professional photog for five years now.

Thanks for any help.

Brian

Message edited by author 2006-05-28 20:59:00.
05/28/2006 09:05:44 PM · #2
Well, part of it depends on the cost to you to matte and frame your prints. How much do you expect to spend preparing each picture?
05/28/2006 09:32:11 PM · #3
Originally posted by justin_hewlett:

Well, part of it depends on the cost to you to matte and frame your prints. How much do you expect to spend preparing each picture?


Hmm,

Let's use the following prices for that (just as an estimate for an 8x10):

Glass - I can't find a price, any suggestions here would be great
Backing - $.40
Dry Mount Tissue - $.50
Frame materials - No cost
Print - $1.00

The frame I'm using won't need a matte, I don't think. If it does, then that would increase the price by about $4.00.

The big price would be the handmade frame. Materials are free and the labor would probably be an hour or two to make the frame.

Does this help?
05/28/2006 11:28:47 PM · #4
How / where would you be selling? If it were somewhere like a craft fair, you maybe could price them a little bit higher and let people haggle you down, so they feel like they're getting a great deal and you are still getting something you're happy with.

Although I have NO experience of my own in this, hehe.
05/28/2006 11:31:39 PM · #5
Originally posted by klstover:

How / where would you be selling? If it were somewhere like a craft fair, you maybe could price them a little bit higher and let people haggle you down, so they feel like they're getting a great deal and you are still getting something you're happy with.

Although I have NO experience of my own in this, hehe.


Ha.. Well, craft fairs were a thought, but they don't happen too often around here. The main place would be local gift shops and restraunts. I live in a very remote touristy area and think prints of the surrounding landscapes would do well.
05/28/2006 11:34:21 PM · #6
Maybe if you have not much competition you could get away with charging a bit more... although that doesn't help if you don't have a baseline idea to begin with.

And I think I have exhausted all of my knowledge on this subject! ;-)
05/29/2006 12:02:37 PM · #7
Originally posted by klstover:

Maybe if you have not much competition you could get away with charging a bit more... although that doesn't help if you don't have a baseline idea to begin with.

And I think I have exhausted all of my knowledge on this subject! ;-)


That's ok - thanks!

Anyone else out there got some information?

Message edited by author 2006-05-29 12:06:18.
05/29/2006 12:05:10 PM · #8
Originally posted by wee_ag:


Frame materials - No cost


How can something not have a cost unless it doesn't exist? Everything has a cost.
05/29/2006 12:08:43 PM · #9
Originally posted by deapee:

Originally posted by wee_ag:


Frame materials - No cost


How can something not have a cost unless it doesn't exist? Everything has a cost.


Well, I guess that depends on your definition of 'cost'. The frames will be made out of birchwood branches which I will walk around and find on the ground. The frames I will put together by myself. The only 'costs' (at least how I define them) will be my labor and skill.

Did you have another thought?
05/29/2006 12:11:29 PM · #10
Try to be fair to yourself and your customer, charge enough for your time and product involved, If people feel they are getting a good value then charging a higher price is acceptable especially if what your offering is original and can't be gotten elswere.
05/29/2006 12:12:44 PM · #11
Originally posted by gusto:

Try to be fair to yourself and your customer, charge enough for your time and product involved, If people feel they are getting a good value then charging a higher price is acceptable especially if what your offering is original and can't be gotten elswere.


This was my thought as well, but I have no idea what 'fair' is. I don't have a baseline to start pricing from. How do I find that out?
05/29/2006 12:16:44 PM · #12
Originally posted by wee_ag:

Originally posted by deapee:

Originally posted by wee_ag:


Frame materials - No cost


How can something not have a cost unless it doesn't exist? Everything has a cost.


Well, I guess that depends on your definition of 'cost'. The frames will be made out of birchwood branches which I will walk around and find on the ground. The frames I will put together by myself. The only 'costs' (at least how I define them) will be my labor and skill.

Did you have another thought?


Well, that's what you are selling is labor, time, and skill, right? You're certainly not selling your photograph for what it takes to print it ($1.00) right? No, you're adding in the cost of your camera gear, your skill, and labor. So anywhere that you put time, you need to charge for it...otherwise, there's a leak...I mean it's cool for just running around selling some photos, but if you ever wanted to build a business out of it, everything should be accounted for.
05/29/2006 12:26:15 PM · #13
Let's leave out the print itself for a moment. You are producing custom frames. For most products you produce, you can expect to charge 100& more than it cost you to produce it. So, if a frame cost you $15 to produce, you can expect to sell it for at least $30.

Not the print is another issue. It really depends on what the photo is worth to YOU and the buyer. That one I really can't help you with. But, you might want to take a look through online galleries and DPCPrints and see what others are charging for similar artwork, try to get an average price of what people are charging for photography similar to yours.

Edit to add: Do add in the value of your time in the cost to produce the frames.

Message edited by author 2006-05-29 12:28:15.
05/29/2006 12:38:49 PM · #14
I was visiting an area in Central Oregon this weekend and saw some beautiful framed photos in a resort and in a nice restaurant. They were listed at $650 each.

I think photography is like a painting. Its worth what you can get. I can take photos as good as the ones going for $650 each and could buy a nice frame to put them in but having a place to display them where people could AFFORD to pay $650 is a different issue.

What tourists might pay $650 for, locals might not pay $100.

I would start them in a mid range and see what happens. You can always raise the price when you become famous :)
05/29/2006 12:41:20 PM · #15
For a high quality print in a handmade frame, I wouldn't go any cheaper than...

5x7 - $10.00
8x10 - $25.00
11x14 - $35.00
12x18 - $50.00
16x24 - $75.00
20x30 - $100.00

At least, that's about how I'd price them if I were in your place, but my idea of an ideal product may not be identical to yours.
05/29/2006 12:59:53 PM · #16
Originally posted by Plexxoid:

For a high quality print in a handmade frame, I wouldn't go any cheaper than...

5x7 - $10.00
8x10 - $25.00
11x14 - $35.00
12x18 - $50.00
16x24 - $75.00
20x30 - $100.00

At least, that's about how I'd price them if I were in your place, but my idea of an ideal product may not be identical to yours.


Thanks!! Keep the thoughts coming! I recently lost my job and this is now going to be one of my main sources of income so the sooner I can get things established the sooner I can quit bumming stuff off my friends!
05/29/2006 01:29:45 PM · #17
Originally posted by wee_ag:

I recently lost my job and this is now going to be one of my main sources of income


Aw, good luck!!
05/29/2006 01:45:59 PM · #18
I've only recently began trying to sell any of my work, and I can promise you this:

If you don't start by charging at least 3x or 4x the amounts listed here...

5x7 - $10.00
8x10 - $25.00
11x14 - $35.00
12x18 - $50.00
16x24 - $75.00
20x30 - $100.00

...you will pigeonhole your work as being cheap. I don't think it matters how good the image is, or of what kind of materials the frame and mount are constructed of, a $75 framed print is cheap. It will be treated as a cheap print and displayed as a cheap print.

Allow me to define a cheap print as I see them: A print created with a very high production run. (ie, professionally printed with numbers in the thousands, or even the tens of thousands.) In other words, a poster. This is then typically placed in a mat and framed in an inexpensive frame. Viola. Cheap print!

This is not all together bad, as people buy cheap, or inexpensive prints all the time. But as a piece of artwork your handmade print will carry the same initial value, and, like a cheap poster print, its value will typically only go down from there... sometimes way down.

If you are a hard worker and market your prints at those prices and can still feel like you are making money (I doubt it), then by all means use that pricing. But you may wan't to consider the benefits of pricing your stuff on the high end.

Personally, I will be pricing all my stuff a whole lot higher from now on. (I tried the cheaper route already!) I know that the time and effort that goes into a custom print is not worth any less than about $400 bucks to me (12x18 framed and matted). If it seems like a lot, I promise its not. You may not sell a lot of images this way, but you wont feel ripped off on what you do sell, and your work will probably not be tossed about like a cheap print... at least not right away. :)
05/29/2006 01:51:40 PM · #19
Originally posted by mcmurma:

If it seems like a lot, I promise its not. You may not sell a lot of images this way, but you wont feel ripped off on what you do sell, and your work will probably not be tossed about like a cheap print... at least not right away. :)


Ha! - That does seem a bit high, but there's nothing around here like what I'm wanting to do. I don't think locals will buy my stuff at that price but perhaps tourists, which the summer is full off. I certainly don't want to pigeon hole myself with low prices. It seems like it would be easier to price high and lower prices later if nothing sells...

Anyone else have pricing schemes they don't mind sharing?

You guys (and gals) are great!

Message edited by author 2006-05-29 13:52:11.
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