John Howard Loc: SW Florida and Blue Ridge Mountains of NC.

I am starting to get requests to buy my photos and feel pretty good about that. I've created a relationship with a local pro who will do my printing for me at a pretty reasonable cost. He will print on paper mat or glossy, or on canvas with a gallery wrap. The gallery wrap provides a completed product at the most economical price. Printing on paper, I can sell a photo alone for about 5x the cost for me to have it printed. (I know, I am not figuring the amortization of my equipment or travel costs etc, but I can make a good margin on the stack of photos I have, and those are sunk costs.)

My question is how is it possible to sell the photos matted and framed. I currently need to purchase the framing retail, and with archival quality materials, that is turning out to be more expensive than the photo. Do I need to start doing my own framing? I went to architecture school and am pretty good with tools, but that is more investment, requires space, and is time I would rather spend shooting and learning.

I see photographers selling at art shows both matted / sleeved photos, and framed. How to they get the framing wholesale priced, or do they really get to pass along the framing cost?

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

John, I've done that a couple of times. I find a framer in the local area of the client. Mail the print with a frame size, matte size, etc. specified. Then when completed, I notify the client that they can pick up the work at the local print location. With Uber and Lyft now in business, you might check to see if they can deliver the print to the client.
--Bob

John Howard Loc: SW Florida and Blue Ridge Mountains of NC.

Interesting solution. I have good framers in the two locations where I spend time. And I could find others near the buyer. But that may be giving up control of quality and doesn't address the cost issue. I want more for the photo and to get the frame cheaper...

Indiana Loc: Huntington, Indiana

I ran across this comprehensive web site with a PDF download and also a you tube video on framing, matting, and processing at crawfordphotoschool.com/framing/index.php Lots of information and really good instruction. Hope this helps.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

I completely understand that approach. When I had the opportunity to do this it was quite easy. The far end of the transaction was in England. I got on Goole Earth and checked out the various art supply / framing companies in the town in which the client lived. I picked out a frame from their site and priced it. That was incorporated into the price I charged for the print. Even locally, I'm usually pricing prints between, approximately, $400 to $800, depending on size.

I called the framing company and spoke with the person doing the framing directly. He knew exactly what I wanted and we settled on the price and time to delivery. As I said, that was incorporated into the price. That was one of the easiest transactions I have ever done. From the person receiving the final work the assessment was exemplary quality.
--Bob

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Custom framing can be expensive, but there are options. You can buy metal frame parts in various lengths from art stores and assemble them quickly, and you can also buy custom sized frames online in a variety of sizes in the $20-$35 range online in various styles. Also frames are available everywhere from Hobby Lobby to Target to art stores at reasonable prices. You can also buy precut mats at art stores or online, and glasss can be cut for a reasonable price at Lowe’s. If you’re willing to make the investment in a mat cutter, a mitre saw and some corner clamps, you can do your own - suppliers like Woodcraft sell prefinished framing material that you can cut and assemble. Just some thoughts...

Photographer Jim Loc: Rio Vista, CA

I’m not sure where you are located, but I am in California, and used Valley Moulding and Frames (now International Molding). They sell wholesale, mostly to frame shops, but also to some artists (you need to have a resellers permit). I did art shows for five years here on the West Coast, until I decided it was too much work for too little profit. 😃

I would buy frames in bulk (10-20 at a time) in sizes that matched pre-cut TruVue glass which I also bought in bulk from them. A frame of 20-24 or 22-28 in a good quality moulding would run me about $18-24. Before that I used Aaron Bros. 1 cent sales, but their frames were nowhere near as good (often too shallow a rabbet). I also bought mat blanks wholesale, and then cut them, and assembled everything myself.

I would add x4 my cost to price.

Martha Krohn

I find that sometimes mats are less expensive in show kits. I use matboardplus.com.

John Howard Loc: SW Florida and Blue Ridge Mountains of NC.

Thanks to Martha and Jim.

via the lens Loc: Northern California, near Yosemite NP

For mats: https://www.redimat.com

Shutterbug1697 Loc: Northeast

Your pricing for the prints (and mats?) is reasonable. I've used 4 × cost + 10% in the past, but I've limited myself to mats and frames that were available locally, and standard sizes.

It seems that you are balking at the whole package price.

Go to the reseller sites and see what they are selling the matted and framed photographs for. They're not cheap. If you swap out the standard frames for custom framing, the prices jump considerably.

Then add 2 × the cost of the frame and mat to the (4 or) 5 × the cost of your print, plus the labor costs of doing the framing. Where does your price come in as compared to the online resellers? The 10% includes the costs of the incidentals used in the framing process, including the cost of paper towels, glass cleaner, bandaids, labels, etc.

Are you in the ballpark, lower, or higher?

Part of your "Business Plan" is market research, which should include both local and Internet competitors. You don't want to undercut them too much, or you won't be looked at as a quality vendor. And you don't want to price yourself out of the market either.

What income level is your customer base in? This is also part of your Market Research.

flyguy Loc: Las Cruces, New Mexico

Excellent advice.

TonyBot

John - Google "pre-cut mat boards" and you'll get many responses - several of which are mentioned here. Most of the companies listed one page one are good and reasonably priced - and give some good hints. Any one of which the Hoggers mention are bound to be good. Your biggest choice is going to be archival or not, and needless to say, archival is best - and more expensive. (For non-archival, Amazon has some good deals.) I have developed a relationship with a good framer who will cut mats for me from his "cuts" - the overmat is what I designate for size, color, etc. (if available), but the backing is whatever he has. I also buy my frames from American Frame, online. Good selection, great price, and excellent communications, if necessary.
Echoing what Shutterbug1697 says, expect that your matting/framing will be at least twice (perhaps more) the cost of the print. Check your competition. Also, get a hold of Alain Briot's two books (Marketing Fine Art Photography and How Photographs Are Sold, both by Rocky Nook), and they will help you a lot in understanding what you are getting into.
Good Luck!

Bullfrog Bill Loc: CT

Go to frame destination. I get custom cut mats and frames 20x26 for about $100.

Shutterbug1697 Loc: Northeast

If the cost of the mat gets up there in price, consider only doubling that cost instead of multiplying it × 4.

Balancing the costs against your potential profit is tricky, but consider that a sale at a slightly lower amount is better than no sale at all because you priced yourself out of the market.

Again, this is where your Market Research comes in.

I actually have my pricing structure for sales set up with 4 different percentage rates calculated out. It shows the actual costs, then multiplies the actual costs out by the various percentages of mark-ups. Finally I increase the price to the next whole dollar.

Mind you on this chart my raw materials aren't a constant price, it's for a different kind of finished product, which is why it's a cost plus chart. But the basics of pricing are the same, my finished goods are priced according to what the market will bear. I've actually talked to vendors at shows to discuss how they set up their pricing structure, and I made adjustments to my pricing structure and lowered my prices as a result of those conversations.