Art Shows: do customers care about the difference?

Hello everyone,
New member here, and I have a question as I'm going into my first season of doing art festivals. I did a search for this but didn't see anything, so I apologize if this has been asked before...

Do art festival customers care about the difference between archival and non-archival prints? For example, I could run my prints through a pro lab that would give me Fuji Crystal Archive prints back, or I could have them run off an Epson with K3 inks. The Fuji Crystal Archive prints are rated by wilhelm research to last about 60 years, and the K3 inks are rated (on the paper I use) for about 150 years.

The difference for my bottom line is that the K3/giclee prints are about 3 times more expensive to produce than the fuji prints.

Has anyone found that customers care? Do they even ask or feel that a print is worth more if it has the archival rating?

Thanks!

In a solo show I don't think it will make a difference but if the guy in the next booth is selling comparable more archival prints, customers may take note.
Personally I think the giclee' prints just look better and that makes more of a difference than the rated archival life (assuming it's reasonably long).

Guy

It is always nice for a customer to be able to know that a print that they purchase from you is not going to fade away in a year, especially if they are putting up a decent chunk of money to buy your work. I do agree with Guy when he said that it is much more important that the print looks great.

My experience is that most customers only really care that the print won't fade in a year. Some more knowledgeable customers do care and will ask, but they are the minority.

One thing I have found is not to mention the word "inkjet" until you need to. I'll dance around it saying that I use the Epson 4000, which is one of Epson's professional level archival printers, mention the longevity of the inkset and paper combinations I use and then if pressed, say that basic mechinism is essentionally an inkjet on steroids. Customers are so used to the quality and lack of longevity they get from their Walmart home PC printers that I find that they need to be educated first on your processes and materials and that you care as much about their prints as they do.

I tend not to be as guarded with serious photographers since they usually have more knowledge about printers as the general public.

For Crystal Archive vs K3 inks, I think that is more of a personal decision. When I first set, I used the 4000 printer to keep costs under control. There are several images of mine that I think would look better on the Crystal Archive, but I'd prefer to keep a consistant appearance on all of my work.

I've never been asked about the longevity of my prints in over 2 years of doing shows. I print with an Epson 7600. I do get asked if they are "giclees."

I would recommend only showing archival prints, and pricing your work appropriately. People expect to pay for quality, and don't question seem to question it as much if you are in the right price range.

I do about 10 art shows / festivals each year, and see photographers using both types of prints. One of my sales points is that I do all of my own printing, and wouldn't be happy otherwise. So part of it is to think about your sales pitch, and how you want to position yourself.

that's the kind of info i needed - thanks for great advice!

I do A LOT of shows. This question really hits a nerve with me right now. Dan Baumbach can back me up on this, I don't think it matters in the art shows. I see "photographers" selling pure junk and making a killing at it while those of us who are showing high quality work, as Dan siad to me recently at a show we were in together, can't even get arrested selling it. I have both Light Jet prints as well as Epson prints in my show. No one can ever tell me which is which and I even for get sometimes. I can't seem to figure out what people want.