Posted by Jack Garrett on November 20, 2011 at 12:05 AM
I have 3 friends who are opening a gallery next week and I'm going to hang a couple of prints with them. We are getting together tomorrow to talk pricing and I've looked at several photographers sites to see what they charge. I also found this article online on pricing photography:
]PRICING: The professional crafter and artisan realize that they must have both a wholesale and retail price for their work.
The artist's commitment to the gallery must be to sell at wholesale prices only to volume buyers. Retail prices should be the same at all retail outlets - gallery, gift shop, art fairs, home, website in order to keep the market stable. Many galleries will not represent artists who have different "retail" prices (one for shows, and another one for galleries). By inconsistent pricing, the confidence of the customer is underrnined. Once the customers become confused, they will lose trust in the market. An artist's maxim should be, "I hold tight, you hold tight;" the commodity none of us can afford to lose is the customer!
The Wholesale Price includes cost of materials, plus labor, plus profit for the artist. This is the price you sell your work to stores and galleries, or other volume purchasers. The wholesale price is usually 100% (double) the production cost, taking into consideration esthetic value, limited edition, artist reputation, etc.
The Retail Price is the wholesale price, plus the expense of marketing the work, plus profit for the retailer. This is the price all customers pay, whether they purchase work directly from you or through a gallery. The retail price is usually 100% (double) the wholesale price.
Using this formula, if I had a 20x30 framed image from Duraplaq and my total materials and print cost was $160 then I should sell this print for $640.00. Does that sound reasonable? Based on other photographers web sites for framed prints, it doesn't seem too far out of line...considering it is a well done image in a decent frame. Yes/no????
Posted by Pam Colander on November 20, 2011 at 1:27 AM
I have 16 plaques I'm hanging in a sales display starting next month (all from Duraplaq, all float mount). My largest is a 24 x 36. It cost me $132 + shipping for them to make the print and plaque. I'm putting a price of $300 on it which is approximately 2X what it cost me. This display is in Trinidad which is not what I would call a high market, i.e. dollar, area. My smallest, an 8x12 is going to be $55. Sizes and prices vary between those two extremes. I didn't want to price them too high because I would like to actually sell some of them, but didn't want to sell myself short either. Your price for a 20x30 in my area would be pretty high. But you are in the Denver area so it might go for that.
Posted by Anil Rao on November 20, 2011 at 3:39 PM
Hi Jack,
I agree that the final retail price should be kept the same irrespective of the sale outlet (gallery, art-show, web-site, etc.). However, I find that I cannot bring myself to accept the suggested way to compute wholesale and retail pricing. For instance, why should marketing expense and retailer's profit be 2x the wholesale price? Such a scheme is heavily in favor of the gallery owner because they get to keep 50% of the final sale price. If the artist now wants to make a reasonable profit the final retail price is too high and beyond what most customers are willing to pay. On the other hand if the artwork is priced reasonably so that it will sell, the artist will hardly make anything. Something to think about...
Posted by Jack Garrett on November 20, 2011 at 3:53 PM
I should have commented that this was part of an article involving consignments. The gallery gets to keep 35- 40% of the sales price. That being said, I've seen that a lot of gallery and websites I've looked at seem to get close to $600.00 for framed 20X30 images and they don't have the consignment fees or retail fees to pay so I was wondering if they used some other type of formula to justify their pricing. My images are framed, not just float mounts so there is extra expense.
Discussion
3 replies]PRICING: The professional crafter and artisan realize that they must have both a wholesale and retail price for their work.
The artist's commitment to the gallery must be to sell at wholesale prices only to volume buyers. Retail prices should be the same at all retail outlets - gallery, gift shop, art fairs, home, website in order to keep the market stable. Many galleries will not represent artists who have different "retail" prices (one for shows, and another one for galleries). By inconsistent pricing, the confidence of the customer is underrnined. Once the customers become confused, they will lose trust in the market. An artist's maxim should be, "I hold tight, you hold tight;" the commodity none of us can afford to lose is the customer!
The Wholesale Price includes cost of materials, plus labor, plus profit for the artist. This is the price you sell your work to stores and galleries, or other volume purchasers. The wholesale price is usually 100% (double) the production cost, taking into consideration esthetic value, limited edition, artist reputation, etc.
The Retail Price is the wholesale price, plus the expense of marketing the work, plus profit for the retailer. This is the price all customers pay, whether they purchase work directly from you or through a gallery. The retail price is usually 100% (double) the wholesale price.
Using this formula, if I had a 20x30 framed image from Duraplaq and my total materials and print cost was $160 then I should sell this print for $640.00. Does that sound reasonable? Based on other photographers web sites for framed prints, it doesn't seem too far out of line...considering it is a well done image in a decent frame. Yes/no????
I agree that the final retail price should be kept the same irrespective of the sale outlet (gallery, art-show, web-site, etc.). However, I find that I cannot bring myself to accept the suggested way to compute wholesale and retail pricing. For instance, why should marketing expense and retailer's profit be 2x the wholesale price? Such a scheme is heavily in favor of the gallery owner because they get to keep 50% of the final sale price. If the artist now wants to make a reasonable profit the final retail price is too high and beyond what most customers are willing to pay. On the other hand if the artwork is priced reasonably so that it will sell, the artist will hardly make anything. Something to think about...