Art show vs Gallery pricing

I'm sure this has been addressed in the past but there were no recent posts along these lines. I am in the early stages of marketing my work through a website, art shows and recently art consultants. The pricing I have set up on my website and at the art shows is what I need to make a profit on a sale. One consultant that I have been talking with runs an actual gallery and takes a 45% fee which isn't out of line. If I add this 45% to the art show prices - sales are going to drop( and they are not that great to start with.)
Being a virtual unknown, I cannot demand the prices others can achieve either at shows or at galleries. So, I'm kind of in a middle ground. What I don't want is to offer images through my website that are 45% less than the gallery is offering them for and yet be able to offer those same photographs at art shows for a price in line for this venue.
My first thought is that it's one or the other and not both at the same time. This brings up my question; have any of you been through this dilemma and what options proved reasonable? Is there a way of doing both at the same time?

I have no experience with this nor any at all in selling photos but it seems to me you could sell different photos in the different venues and maintain the appropriate pricing structure without problem. If photo A only sells on web and/or art show and photo B only sells through the gallery, you don't have price competition.


Just my 2 cents -- or maybe 1 cent given I have no experience --
I'm sure others with experience will have good advice for you.

BJ

Hey Rob, if you're going to sell at art shows and through galleries you need to establish a retail and a wholeslae price. If you sell a print for $100.00 at the show than your wholesale price will be 50% off at $50.00. The gallery should be selling it for the same price as you are at the shows, so you're not in competition with them on the price. If you can't get your price down to a wholesale price than you may have to pass on the galleries or maybe deal with galleries that are in states that you are not doing art shows.

Agree with Mike. You've just got to accept that the final selling price needs to be the same no matter where the image is purchased. If you can't do this, one or the other needs to go.

I disagree that the selling price of your prints needs to be the same in all locations. I sell in a gallery and a at shows. People at an "arts and crafts fair" expect bargains because they are buying from the artist who is probably wearing sandals and shades. In a gallery there will usually be other expensive items around and there is much more overhead. This is understood by most customers.

Another thought - if you want to sell and you are not well known you need to find the price point at which people will buy. I start with my cost and work up to an acceptable price. I price popular items a little higher. I usually sell a few items a month and always sell some of my stuff at a show and each item is sold for more than it cost to make. This is ok by me but you might want more volume and/or higher profit margins. On that I have no ready answers (other than make you work absolutely stunning.

I strongly feel you should stay consistent - and galleries won't want you underselling your piece at a show. A $3900.00 piece at a show for me is $3900 at a gallery. With a double booth fee, hotels, and gas, overhead is high at a show as well as a gallery. If you give 40-50% at a gallery, you lose a big chunk, but no booth fee, gas, hotel, and it wasn't your time invested to sell it. Stay consistent, and if you have a large, good, unique image it will sell to the right buyer. Offer payment plans and upscale your customer service. No need to offer it cheap at an art show - I don't.

Rob,
First a little background of where I'm coming from... My wife and I spent over 25 years making our sole income from craft shows and gallery wholesale accounts as potters. We now own a gallery that represents over 150 artists from around the country. I've been around the block a time or two.

I've got to agree with Mike and John. You need to have one retail price. If you want to wholesale, the gallery needs to be able to keystone (double the price of your work). If you start undercutting the galleries on the web or at shows, your partnership will soon end. Your margins need to be made on the wholesale price. Doing shows seems like you're getting more money for your work, but that's just thinking of the gross. By the time show fees, lodging, food, gasoline, auto depreciation, booth depreciation, damage, etc. is taken into account, you might find shipping a box of prints to a gallery may net you the same profit.

Good Luck...

I have been selling my photos for just under a year. I don't have the experience some of the others bring to the table. I have had many years of experience in business. I haven't sold through a gallery but it only makes sense that you can't under cut them. You need their good will to sell prints. Your clients WILL find the cheaper source. If your website and the shows aren't the same price, or at least close, Marc is right. Your representation will suffer.

Thank you all for your advice, as always this is why I look to NPN for answers. What I need to do at this point is decide which direction I want to go, being an unknown I can't demand the prices that galleries are going to need. While the art shows are somewhat of a pain as well as also taking away from shooting time I think I should keep my pricing and forego the gallery representation at this time.

This seems be be a progression from one venue to another and without doing some less than ethical tactics there isn't a way to do both at the same time.

Hey Rob, I wouldn't put a lot of efforts into galleries as the sales there are not that great for nature photography. I'm in a few but have very few sales, but I sell a ton at the art shows, mainly because the art shows draw so many thousands of people. The galleries just dont get enough traffic through the doors. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

Tim wrote: "A $3900.00 piece at a show for me is $3900 at a gallery." In my world a $150 piece at a gallery might be a $115 piece at the Arts and Crafts fair -- so maybe we are dealing in different worlds and at a different level.

Why do I set different price points? Because I want to have some sales!! In the gallery people see something they like and sometimes come back 4 times before they buy. They can't do that at a crafts fair. It an impulse buy. Its gotta be affordable. Especially now.

I have had good luck selling matted prints at the crafts fairs and framed in the gallery (its a gallery that I started with 3 other artists). That's what I'm doing this season. I'll let you know if it continues to work out.

Frank

If your an unknown and have gallery representation consider yourself very talented. I've had one venue a gift shop and most Art Associations are cliques and are dying. This website is going to do more for my photo career than all of this. You could consider splitting your images. Sell only images at shows that are not in a gallery. Maybe I'm splitting hairs here, but it also depends on the processing as well, if your prints are professionally processed of course they are going to sell for more, they are going to cost more. I wish you all the luck in the world.

I'm glad I found this thread as I'm facing the same dilemma as the OP. I was fortunate to be offered the opportunity - and ultimately decided - to put 15-20 photos in a gallery in a resort area in Colorado. After much discussion with the gallery owner about pricing, I was asked to raise my prices, which I did on my website (I had to raise prices in order to make any profit since I was giving 50% to said gallery). The problem is now my sales in my home state have declined significantly. Seems I'm in a pickle and don't have any good answers now. We'll see. Thanks guys... keep posting your experiences - we all learn!

I fully agree with Mike Moats. I have been doing art shows for 2 years now and there is no way you will sell anything if you were pricing work at gallery prices, well at least in my part of the country, Florida. What the gallery wants as a cut just in this economy is too much. IMHO the best way to make yourself known is to meet as many people as possible and that is mostly going to be at art shows. I use my website as an adjunct to the shows and work my blog before shows. I now have developed a small following that visit and buy from me at the different shows. It is a tough market for art of any kind.

We're in a small town with only one gallery, and that's also a frame shop. We had to be really conscious of not undercutting them. The owners are friends on top of the business relationship. After much consultation with the gallery owners we found a mutually beneficial arrangement. We sold with a mark down from gallery prices at the art show, while including promo literature for the frame shop in our packaging. That promo included a discount for matting and framing at the gallery. Everyone was happy, and the gallery generated plenty of traffic from the art show. But otherwise, I agree that it would be unfair to the galleries (and cause for a very short, testy business relationship) if you were undercutting them in the same town.

Sales have definitely been down over the last year or so, but pricing does not seem to be the determining factor. I have had to raise my prices 50% because of the cost of framing, matting, etc. as well as commissions which have also risen at least 10% and sales have actually improved. Pick your shows carefully in areas where the recession has had a lesser impact, upgrade your framing and there will be sales regardless of price... not as many as a few years ago but sales nontheless. Also, check out local businesses and buildings that showcase local artists without charging a commission.

As far as galleries go, I have no knowledge.