How should I price a framed print for a local photography exhibit?
Asked 11/3/2011
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2 answers
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I’m showing a couple of photos in a local exhibit. Most participants, including me, are hobbyists rather than full-time professionals. I’m not expecting to make significant sales, but I’d like to price a framed 8x10 print sensibly so it doesn’t seem far too high or too low. Is there any common etiquette or a practical way to set a price? I’d also appreciate advice on pricing other print sizes and presentation choices such as matting and framing.
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
15y ago
2 Answers
6
I'm a gallery represented photographer (at the Charles Baltivik Gallery in Provincetown), when starting out I got some great advice.
1) You can never ever lower your price. If you do this, the people who bought at the higher price will remember and not be happy. If a person bought one of your prints, they like your stuff and will probably buy more. I'd say half of my sales are from repeat collectors.
2) Chose a small number of sizes and crop all your work to those sizes. Believe it or not, inventory management of frames and mattes gets expensive and tedious. This means that sometimes your shot won't be cropped exactly the way you like it. Get over that. (And shoot wider than normal so you have some cropping freedom!)
3) Do not date your work where it is visible. Some collectors only buy fresh work, they'll ignore last years work.
4) When pricing, remember the gallery will get a cut, often around 50%. This needs to be taken into account when ensuring you don't sell at a loss. For example, you can get a good print for around $10, frame it yourself for about $40. Now, if you sell it for $80, gallery takes half. What's left for you? -$10.
5) Prints are cheap, frames are expensive, especially considering inventory. Make sure you can reuse your frames.
And frankly, just to make your life easier, just mark it NFS.
Originally by user7310. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user7310
14y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
There isn’t a universal standard price, but a practical approach is to base your price on three things: your costs, your time, and the local market.
Include the full cost of the finished piece: printing, matting, framing, backing, packaging, and any shipping. Then add something for your time spent preparing it. Finally, compare that number with what other photographers at that venue or in your area are charging so you stay in a reasonable range.
A few useful guidelines from experienced exhibitors:
- Be careful about starting too high or too low, because consistency matters.
- Avoid lowering prices later if you begin selling; repeat buyers may notice.
- Standardize a small set of print sizes to simplify cropping, frames, and mats.
- For a first show, it’s safer to make just one print of each image unless you know demand will be strong.
For other sizes or matted/framed options, price upward based on the additional material and labor costs rather than guessing. In short: calculate your real costs, add your labor, and sanity-check against similar local work.
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