Pricing & selling

K_C · #1 04-20-2005, 06:59 PM

OK guys what are some good rules for pricing ? Where / how should you market your carvings for the best money ? What about selling bought and finshed rough outs and original artist considerations ? Should you sale those ? Any topic on these lines would be good here . Thank you and I'll see you in the funnies .
KC

Lightningbolt · #2 04-20-2005, 09:56 PM

I'm probably the wrong person to answer this question since "marketing" just isn't my cup of tea. Some folks are simply made to sell and after many decades of soul searching, I'm just not one of those people.

Howeverrrrrrrrrrrrr... I have sold enough to come up with my own basic bare minimum scale for pricing an item. My biggest moneymaker is woodspirit walking sticks and I get $28.00 to $38.00 depending on the time (one to three hours each) and uniqueness of the stick. This is my rock bottom price providing that I don't have to give up a weekend to sell them (Did I say that I hate marketing?:-) so this is my "word of mouth" price for those folks who can somehow manage to find me.

For a while I sold a couple of thousand dollars worth of sticks to a local gift shop but that got to be too much like work... I already have a full time job and found myself carving every evening and on weekends to keep up with the demand. Didn't like that so I went back "undercover" as a stealth carver once again.

A couple of years ago I did carve 70 such walking sticks for a fund raiser for the non-profit alternative school where I work. All of our staff took shifts at the booth for a three day weekend at the local arts and craft fair. We ended up selling 35 sticks at $30.00/ea. for a total of about a thousand dollars. We paid over $300.00 of that for booth rent, tent rent, and food, etc. Yeah, we didn't make a lot of money but the organization puts a lot of value on public relations and community involvement and somewhere down the road THAT in itself can be worth millions of dollars. The time and expense of marketing like this just doesn't appeal to me.

But for just a hobby carver like myself I prefer to count on word of mouth for the best deals for customers and for me. Anything else is just too much like work!!

Anthony Filetti · #3 04-21-2005, 07:10 AM

KC...search this forum and you will see some good answers to your question! (repetitive topic)...

K_C · #4 04-22-2005, 11:22 AM

Thanks for the info . But I have searched for hours now and found nothing that gives any real info on the questions . Maybe some help on searching this site would have been a better question .
Ken

Just Carving · #5 04-22-2005, 12:08 PM

Hey Ken.

I typed "pricing" in the search box. Went down the list--there were a few threads with pricing in the title. In some there are links to related threads. Most of the info is general, i.e. based on hours, materials, personal value of the piece, difficulty of the piece, etc. Bottom line, whatever price you set, you need to be happy with. If someone really wants what you're selling--whether it be a product or a service--they'll buy it--even if your price IS greater than what would be deemed reasonable. This is true especially if you're selling work of good quality and offer excellent customer service.

Hope that helps.

Bob

bearvlycrvr1 · #6 02-09-2008, 12:21 PM

Their seems to be a lot of ideas on pricing but no one seems the address the issue of "How and Where To Sell Your Work". Does anyone have experience with "Online Galleries", "Art Galleries (commisions)", "Shows" Etc. that they would like to share?????

susieq · #7 02-09-2008, 02:01 PM

KC,
My personal experience has been that you need to get your work "out there" probably in an established gallery and work up a following. The gallery knows their market and since they usually take 50% of the selling price, they will price it as high as they think they can without over pricing it. My prices gradually worked their way up over a ten year period. I had a following at the gallery.

Starting out to sell is tough. Finding your niche is part of the answer too. But a cut and dried formula for pricing work.....I don't know of one. Not for art work which is what this is. It is subjective.....you know....in the eye of the beholder. Get your foot in the door at a gallery......gradually build up a following.....nobody starts out on top. Good luck to you.

Mitchell · #8 02-09-2008, 02:11 PM

This was an old thread and a question that is frequently asked. Actually both questions. I do believe that there were at least two recent ones about selling. Try searching on one of the old threads and re-asking the question on one of those if they don't answer your question.

Here's a search list to use:

Woodcarving Illustrated Message Board - Search Results

bearvlycrvr1 · #9 02-09-2008, 06:58 PM

Mitchell,
Thanks for the input. I will look at the posts you suggested.
bearvlycrvr1
bearcrvr1@aol.com
www.bearvalleysculptures.com

bearvlycrvr1 · #10 02-09-2008, 07:04 PM

Hi Susieq
Thanks for the input. Now all I have to do is find a Gallery that has a clientel that understands something besides paint and photo flat work. I live in a tourist area but it seems that most customers have a K-Mart mentality when it comes to art. I have been wanting to try some of the on-line galleries but I have only found one person that has any success with them so far and his art is in the low price arena.
I will keep plugging away until I am able to get rid of some of my work and give my wife her curio cabinet and cupboard space again.
Pete Vaice
bearvlycrvr1
bearcrvr1@aol.com
www.bearvalleysculptures.com