SELLING CANVAS PRINTS (Page 3): Thanks Greg.

RichardJohn Loc: Huntington Beach, CA

Thanks Greg.

romanticf16 Loc: Commerce Twp, MI

RichardJohn wrote:

I agree. Was simply wondering if there was any ind... (show quote)

Set your hourly rate you want to earn. then calculate the time spent with Post Processing, order writing, shipping and what your photo skills and talent are worth- what did it cost you to take the photo; did it involve travel, etc. Add up all expenses.Then factor wear and tear on your equipment; insurance and other business costs. Then come up with a price.

lighthouse Loc: No Fixed Abode

romanticf16 wrote:

Set your hourly rate you want to earn. then calculate the time spent with Post Processing, order writing, shipping and what your photo skills and talent are worth- what did it cost you to take the photo; did it involve travel, etc. Add up all expenses.Then factor wear and tear on your equipment; insurance and other business costs. Then come up with a price.

Doesn't work like that.
I do agree with your philosophy but when you get to the specifics the details fall apart.
This is fine for commission work, for when someone employs you to take one specific shot.
But even in that case, their use of it should be taken into account. Is it going to be a one-off hanging proudly on their wall? Or is it going to be the feature image of a very big multinational companies worldwide advertisement campaign?

And it doesn't work for non-commission work because you don't know whether you are going to sell one or one hundred.
Does the first sale pay the full price and the rest get it at cost price? No, I don't think so.

romanticf16 Loc: Commerce Twp, MI

lighthouse wrote:

Doesn't work like that. br I do agree with your ph... (show quote)

If you are only selling a few images then this is what it cost to produce them. The more volume of sales you have the less each item listed will be a factor, as it will be amortized over the number of sales. You do have to know your costs or you can't make intelligent pricing judgements- if you plan to do this as a business and not as an occasional hobby.

lighthouse Loc: No Fixed Abode

romanticf16 wrote:

If you are only selling a few images then this is what it cost to produce them. The more volume of sales you have the less each item listed will be a factor, as it will be amortized over the number of sales. You do have to know your costs or you can't make intelligent pricing judgements- if you plan to do this as a business and not as an occasional hobby.

No.
You are not factoring in the clients usage.
The clients usage affects the price irrespective of the cost incurred to produce the print.

fuzzypaddle Loc: Southern Illinois

I think that with any image that you sell should at least have a 300% markup.

anotherview Loc: California

Type these search terms in Google for guidance in pricing your artwork: How to price photo prints.

RichardJohn wrote:

Does anyone have experience selling their prints on canvas or metal? I'm getting a lot of requests for some of my pics to be put on canvas/metal and I'm not sure how to structure the pricing, specifically the mark-up. I know what Bay Photo and Canvas on Demand and Costco charge, but not sure of the % of mark-up since I haven't sold my work before. Is there an industry standard? Any suggestions would be so appreciated. Thanks, Rich

Capture48 Loc: Arizona

lighthouse wrote:

No.
You are not factoring in the clients usage.
The clients usage affects the price irrespective of the cost incurred to produce the print.

Unfortunately it doesn't work that way in the real world. Consumers are smart these days, and they know they can go to Cosco and get that 16x20 fro $50. This is why I don't sell downloads or ever let a customer have a full res copy of a photo. If you don't tell them your print prices up-front and you try to charge 400% after the fact, they will be very pissed off.

However you can sell a package Four 8x10, Six 5x7 and Ten 4x6. This is what most customers opt for. I offer the larger prints on my website, but rarely do customers purchase them.

After they purchase a option package, I'll provide a 20% discount on larger prints, that sometimes sells the larger prints.

lighthouse Loc: No Fixed Abode

Capture48 wrote:

Unfortunately it doesn't work that way in the real... (show quote)

Yes it does work that way in the real world.
Assume I have an image.
I sell it to MacDonalds to use in a worldwide television ad campaign, I sell it as a gallery print to hang on a wall and I sell it to the local real estate agent to use in a brochure.
They will all pay different prices, because 2 will be priced on intended usage and one will be priced on my standard gallery pricing.
None of these will have petrol, time, processing, airline tickets, national park fees etc in the price.
Commission work on the other hand will have these fees in them.

CaptainC Loc: Colorado, south of Denver

fuzzypaddle wrote:

I think that with any image that you sell should at least have a 300% markup.

Markup from what? Just the cost of the print? Or the cost of your time, factor in insurance, car expenses, processing time, etc.? A 3X markup from just print cost will have you losing money with every sale.

The 3X is about right, but you have to have the right basis.

TheDman Loc: USA

lighthouse wrote:

But even in that case, their use of it should be taken into account. Is it going to be a one-off hanging proudly on their wall? Or is it going to be the feature image of a very big multinational companies worldwide advertisement campaign?

Eh? If it's going to be the feature image of a worldwide advertising campaign, I'm pretty sure they wouldn't be buying s canvas print off of you.

lighthouse Loc: No Fixed Abode

TheDman wrote:

Eh? If it's going to be the feature image of a worldwide advertising campaign, I'm pretty sure they wouldn't be buying s canvas print off of you.

Don't be deliberately and flippantly obtuse.
Same image, two different buyers.

TheDman Loc: USA

lighthouse wrote:

Don't be deliberately and flippantly obtuse.
Same image, two different buyers.

But not different product. We're talking about selling canvas prints here.

lighthouse Loc: No Fixed Abode

TheDman wrote:

But not different product. We're talking about selling canvas prints here.

Yes, you are right.
Maybe I went off on a bit of a tangent into different products.
Sorry.
I was looking at the overall market for images, not just canvas prints.