On raising prices....

[RobinZ]

Arty, Oh, yeah, I've been on your site, I love your work.

What you have that I totally lack is imagination. I can paint what I see. So I really love work that shows a brain at work!

But anyway, I am totally exploring raising prices, a lot. I am almost certainly at a place where I don't have to depend so hard on art for my money, hopefully it works out! Thanks everyone!

 

[Artyczar]

Are they getting people who aren't already famous into important collections these days? It's shocking how few galleries there are nowadays.

I'm not sure who or what you're asking exactly.

 

[Artyczar]

Arty, Oh, yeah, I've been on your site, I love your work.

What you have that I totally lack is imagination. I can paint what I see. So I really love work that shows a brain at work!

But anyway, I am totally exploring raising prices, a lot. I am almost certainly at a place where I don't have to depend so hard on art for my money, hopefully it works out! Thanks everyone!

Thank you Robin. I think you should be raising your prices, especially if you are not fully depending on art for your income. You'd have nothing to lose.

 

[Artyczar]

I don't see myself as famous, by the way, so if I can be in these collections, I don't see why others can't be.

 

[E.J.H.]

You can always lower your price... but you can never raise it.

Don't underestimate the weirdness of consumers as a group. I know an anecdote of a clothing shop in Reykjavík that had a sale. Pretty good deals on the clothes, but very little sales. On a tip from a friend the owner raised the prices...a lot. Guess what happened
A lot of people think value/quality is the the same as price....

 

[musket]

A shop is a bit different. At any rate, I suggest starting with a high price. More than you think you can get.

In my experience, lots of people want a deal. If you price it at say a grand, they'll want it for say eight hundred. So, if eight hundred is acceptable to you, start at a grand. That way, if you sell it for eight hundred, or nine, everybody's happy. The buyers get what they think is a deal, and you get the price you want. And there's always the happy possibility that the buyer will shell out for the marked price instead of haggling. The drawback is that people may get to thinking you're always willing to haggle.

The other way is simply to stand firm on your price. That's what I did. This is the price, period. But that sometimes meant it took longer for a piece to sell. Question is-- how badly do you need money at time of sale?

 

[Enyaw]

I sold three paintings to a lady. She asked for a quote and as the paintings were only 11 x 14 I told her $250.00 would suffice. She emailed me back and said I needed to put a 1 in front of it and then she would consider. ($1250.00) I told here she was nuts that she is supposed to cut the price down not jack it up. In the end, after some intense haggling, we settled for a 50/50 and I took $500.00. It's a crazy world out there.
On the other side I had a painting in a gallery that I wanted 900.00 for and the lady offered 700.00 .. I refused the offer and ended up putting it in the garbage a year later.

 

[E.J.H.]

I agree ( also why I added "as a group").
Art pricing is a strange thing, on one side of the spectrum the 250.000$ duct tape banana, on the other side the expectation artists are willing to work long hours for "exposure".

I think your "no haggling" policy is smart. You assess your work decide on a price, that's it. Your customer can buy it or leave it.
My personal opinion ( from a guy who never sold a work in his life, unless you count a cartoon in a local paper) is that an original art work is quite a luxury item, it is hand made, unique, and therefor not cheap.

 

[Artyczar]

I agree on the discounting your "firm," perhaps up to 20%, but not really more. I have done more than that only when a repeat collector comes back and buys more than one at a time, but those are exceptions.

What I hate is when someone wants a quote on two or more, then they come back and want only one of them for what they think is a percentage of the group estimate. That really is annoying. I think that is like saying, "I think your work is valued at much less." It is insulting really. Why are artists treated like a "less than" commodity when we make luxury items? Do people in the grocery store haggle the price of milk at the check-out stand because they are buying more than one item? And if they put one gallon back, do they think they should pay less for the single gallon now? I understand milk is a necessity, but if someone really wants to buy an original work of art, they should expect to pay for it for close to the asking price with some respect to the artist.

 

[bob]

Six Tips to Get More Money for Your Paintings Without Hurting Sales

Interesting read

 

[Bartc]

I sold three paintings to a lady. She asked for a quote and as the paintings were only 11 x 14 I told her $250.00 would suffice. She emailed me back and said I needed to put a 1 in front of it and then she would consider. ($1250.00) I told here she was nuts that she is supposed to cut the price down not jack it up. In the end, after some intense haggling, we settled for a 50/50 and I took $500.00. It's a crazy world out there.
On the other side I had a painting in a gallery that I wanted 900.00 for and the lady offered 700.00 .. I refused the offer and ended up putting it in the garbage a year later.

Um, would you send us all her email and phone? LOL