To increase my prices?

[JulietMadeChutney]

I have recently started selling limited edition prints or my drawings on Etsy. So far going well - been doing it 8 weeks - average income £200 a week, sold about 9 a week.

I popped on here earlier this week (for some help with some retail advice as been approached by a local shop for them to sell them) and several people said I was undercharging. Several people IRL (not friends/family) have also said the same. So I need to try and gauge if I need to put my prices up. Often too low a price can be as off putting as too high a price.

I sell currently at
A5 - £15.00
A4 - £17.50
A3 - £25.00

Prints are Gilcee/Fine Art quality with certificate of authenticity.
Postage is included.

General consensus is I should raise prices to more like
A5 - £20
A4 - £25
A3 - £30

I have attached a couple of photos of the kind of stuff I do.

So, I know they won't be everyone's taste. But If you could pretend you did like them - or that they would be a perfect gift for your sister because she loves cows/hares/boxing- what would you be willing to pay?

First time at enabling voting.
YABU - keep your prices at £15.00 -£25.00 depending on size - I wouldn't pay more

YANBU increase to £20.00-£35.00 depending on size, I would pay this.

Any other pricing comments welcome.

Thank you

@fuckityfuckitffs

Op how do you scan artwork without it looking messed up or losing quality once scanned? If that makes sense.

I have a bog standard Canon scanner - about 15 years old - but it scans to 600dpi to a Tiff file. I might then have top crop the edges a mm or two (just from the scanning process) - then I send this to my printer chap. The resulting prints are almost identical (including smudges). You can see every pencil stroke and blended piece of the original...but no risk of charcoal or pastel smears

Those are drawings?!!

Look like photographs and you are way undercharging

@Livinginlalaland21

Love the dog! Is that your dog? If so I’m insanely jealous!!!

Which one

The retriever is Hector. Very close friend's late dog. He is devastated at Hector's loss so this is a gift to him. Friend is unaware at the moment (cannot meet due to lockdown) so are planning on giving it to him in a couple of weeks.

The brown/white was my first ever coloured dog drawing. I think my second ever pastel drawing. Up until then I had only ever done charcoal or pencil drawings. Just from a photo from pixabay. I am a little in love with his expression. I called this one "Patience". It sums up the whole beauty of dogs to me. He just want to go for a walk/sit around and chill/lie in front of the fire....basically fill in whatever his human is doing - he will do it with you.

Framing wise - this is maybe something I would look at - but to be honest I am working at my kitchen table - so not sure I have the space to think about this - keeping the stock etc. I am toying with maybe mounting them.

@clary & @SchrodingersImmigrant I know the difference in original/prints and pricing and yes - very different. Though understandable that some pp may have thought this was prices for originals.

My first WTF moment back in January was when someone asked me how much for an original on the very first day I started selling prints.....I was totally thrown and has no idea how to "scale up" for want of a better word.

And there is also a difference between an original you can sell prints from (eg one of the cows was a commission) and something that has appeal only to one person (their dog or house).

I have had several people contact me for commissions thinking that a personal drawing for them would be a similar price to the prints - but when I give them my pet-portrait/original price (which are in no way extortionate) they are surprised. I could not do any of these in less than 3/4 hours (absolute minimum) so not going to sell a one-off for £20 - that would be £5 an hour. If that.

The retriever is my fave just because they’re my favourite dogs. Your poor friend losing their beloved pal but what a beautiful piece for them to have to remember him.

They’re all fantastic though!

Op "I have had several people contact me for commissions thinking that a personal drawing for them would be a similar price to the prints "

Honestly, the mind boggles.

Would you mind DM the shop name please? I love your work

@JulietMadeChutney yes I was only talking about the originality to point out yiure not copying anything. Glad you took it in the right way!

you need to work out a gross hourly rate for what you want to pay yourself then work out what your hourly costs are paper pencils supplies printer inks, printer itself what the guy you prints charges you etc remember the time taken to wrap prints , the cost of the hard board envelopes to stop bending etc etc time taken to go to post office if self employed you can claim to heat room you work in etc

once you know all this then you work out the minimum you need to charge per item if you need to make £250 a week minimum and you spend 150 on various costs and you sell 20 prints in a week then you need a minimum of £20 per print on average but if you sell more the costs go up but the £250 you need doesn't so then the minimum price you need to sell for goes down but if you don't sell 20 a week your income will drop as some costs will not drop
you also need to set aside money for tax and national insurance

Sophie Green's photo realism style is great, btw way. You are correct. Mine is not necessarily the same style. Different media too.

It's not about style/media, your drawings are simply not of that calibre. I wouldn't charge anymore, the landscapes are very poor, if you look at your competition, I think you have been lucky to get sales. However your dog is very nice, maybe stick to the animals.

@lighteincastlewindow

Sophie Green's photo realism style is great, btw way. You are correct. Mine is not necessarily the same style. Different media too.

It's not about style/media, your drawings are simply not of that calibre. I wouldn't charge anymore, the landscapes are very poor, if you look at your competition, I think you have been lucky to get sales. However your dog is very nice, maybe stick to the animals.

Ouch.

Thank you.

I think all the pictures are fantastic - well done. You are certainly undercharging due to the time these would take. However I would do any price increase very gradually - this way you will know when you have gone over the 'right' price as people will stop buying them. You are very talented - I love drawing but I could never achieve any of these.

Stick with your price increase but maybe include them as mounted as well?
You are very talented, but as you say self taught, I would expect to pay higher prices from a trained artist.
I think you have found your target audience and set your pricing to sell.
These are prints afterall, not originals and as you have discovered people really neither understand the amount of work and do not want to pay for all the work hours that go in to an original piece of art.

I’m not sure on the prices to be honest, but I will weigh in and say that if you did commission work (like you drew a picture of my cat or of the street I grew up in etc) I would pay more like £100-£200.

Fantastic drawings. You're undercharging!

If they were to my taste (they're not), I would pay those higher prices.

I think you're missing a trick on the frames, btw - I understand why you don't want to sell your prints framed, but you could easily find another Etsy seller who does sell frames, and with whom you can partner up. If you can guarantee the prints and frames match up (this is the bit us normal people hate having to check), it's good business for both of you, as you can recommend each other's complementary products.

@mcclucky

If they were to my taste (they're not), I would pay those higher prices.

I think you're missing a trick on the frames, btw - I understand why you don't want to sell your prints framed, but you could easily find another Etsy seller who does sell frames, and with whom you can partner up. If you can guarantee the prints and frames match up (this is the bit us normal people hate having to check), it's good business for both of you, as you can recommend each other's complementary products.

Agree with this, framed would increase the value a heck tonne.

You are selling prints, right?

I wouldnt really spend much on a print. You draw well but anything you mass produce isnt going to have much value.

Yes yes to commission work. I would pay far far more for commissioned original.

If it's just the prints rather than originals then I think the prices as they are, are fair. Also not sure why there is a bigger difference between A4 to A3 in current pricing but you are proposing them being £5 apart?

Local artist charges about £50 for an original and she's a retired hobbyist.

Don't fall into the trap of "cheap". Your work is better than rubbish generic pics. You are allowed to make a living at this.

Oh my GOD - I can’t believe you can draw like that - these are absolutely incredible. Charge more!!!

To the people saying the work is "incredible", sorry but lots of people draw this well. I know several all trying to make a go of selling online and none are making more than hobby money really.

Well op has made £1,600 in 8 weeks so she's obviously doing ok and she didn't say she was going to make a living from it.