Setting a Price?

[Suzanne Delaney]

Has anyone ever sold their Collage work.
I am having my first exhibit later this month.

One of the pieces (for an example) is my "Becoming Mother Nature" Poem-ollage.
It is 9"X9" and took me at least 8 hours total for the collage
plus I worked on the poem over a long period of time,too.

Does anyone have a clue what an acceptable price would be?
I guess because I have never persued being published
and therefore an unknown, my work, as it is now is probably
not as valuable as someone more well-known.

Any info would be most welcome.

[Kay Mace]

I've been wondering this too. For instance, is there a set price for an Artist Trade card? I wonder if you price it by the square inch, maybe. What about altered tags, post cards or cabinet cards ? Some feedback from experienced sellers would really help us newbies !

[Suzanne Delaney]

Hi Kaye:
I believe Artist Trading Cards can only be traded 1-4-1.

I Googled Collage to see if I could get an idea from other galleries.
They range from $65 to $1500 so I am still not sure where I am in that spectrum, as I am an 'unknown.'
I guess I will keep researching.

[Kim Newberg aka imagesbykim]

OKay I hate to be the myth buster on this one, but Artist Trading Cards can be sold.

In fact anything can be bought or sold for a monetary value so don't be afraid to sell you art cards.

There are a chosen few that decided they would make up that silly rule, as a way for people to collect miniature pieces of art. However that only allowed those that were artistic, thoses that were in the groups and those that were deemed "worthy" to be part of the "elite" to be in the trades.

Total hogwash!

Art is for sharing with everyone and anyone so if someone wants to trade monetarily with an artist then that is a fair trade.

I started selling my art cards from day 1 as a means to be able to buy and sell from whom I chose and this allowed others to be able to collect from me too.

Buying and selling allows anyone the opportunity to collect and trade.

As for the actual values, well they range from one end of the spectrum to the other. I have sold cards for as little as $2.00 on an auction and some sold for $50.00 it depends on the theme, the colors, the design, the artist, and on and on....

I have seen art card sets sell in the thousands of dollars.

You are best to do some serious searching through google, Ebay Etsy, other artists etc.
Then look at your own work, what makes yours different? The materials you use, the time you spend etc.
How badly do you want to sell it. there are so many factors to consider.

I have made cards that I spent so much time and effort and couldn't sell for a dollar and then I have had cards that I thought if I got a dollar I would be happy then that dollar card sold on auction for 40.00 I have no idea what sparks, I am still left in wonder on many occasion.

The best thing is to go with what you feel comfortable and test by putting a few up for sale.

kim

[Suzanne Delaney]

Thanks for dis-pelling that myth for me.
In my experience with swapping I did have a couple of disappointing swaps,
where the ATC's I recieved were just stickers on a flat background.
From then on, I really got to know the artist's work before I agreed to swap,
because, as you say, I sometimes put hours into just one ATC, .

I have one swap partner now whose work I love and she equally admires
my work so we are very happy swappers.

I am not sure wether to offer my collages for sale at the exhibition,
or have a bidding system for people to make silent bids.
Is that ever done when it is not for Charity, just the Artist in question?

I don't want to do anything tacky...LOL

[Kim Newberg aka imagesbykim]

Hi Suzanne,

Okay here is my take on it.

Usually at public exhibit you tend to be able to charge a little bit more.

Mostly because the client gets to meet you, they learn a little bit more about your art and in a small way, they are taking home a piece of you when they purchase your art item.

Having said that, it of course depends on the clients that are viewing your art, the overall show exhibit, other exhibitors etc.

Because it is your first show, you will probably tend to be a little humbled by the experience and you may find it hard to sell yourself. Which often can happen the first few times.

In a public show yes I would consider it odd to sell by auction or bid. But that is my personal opinion.

Some shows do not let you sell by auction. So you are best to look into the specs of the exhibit.

Art is also a labour of Love so it's not easy to get an hourly rate on a particular item. As I mentioned before sometimes there are items I put a price on because that is what I think it should be worth and then I cant sell it.

I usually will price something higher than normal if I am really not ready to part with it. Then at least if the item sells, you got paid a good value. If it is something that I am not attached to then I will price a little bit lower.

At an exhibit it is always good to have some lesser value items. Not everyone can afford to take a large item home, so let them take home a little snippet of you.

Sometimes those little lesser value items can save a show from being a flop.

Make some quality prints of some of your pieces and sell the prints unframed for a few dollars and then framed prints for a little bit more.

Make a gift package set as a show special or offer free gift wrapping, packaging, and extra prints or pieces with a purchase. Let the customer chose from a selection of free items.

So if you have higher priced items, your customers will be able to justify when they get more for the value.

I would like to recommend, if you have time, make a hundred small gift tags or miniature art to give away with a business card, (nicely wrapped in tissue, and have them unwrap it with you there) The longer you can keep the customer in your booth, the more opportunity you have.

Make sure you keep these little gifts hidden away so no one thinks these are free for all!

And dont give them to just anyone that walks past your booth, give them to those that you spend some time with, talking about your art, the story, your inspiration. You will get a feel for who will be back as a customer.

You are not just selling the Art, you are selling a piece of YOU, the Story, and the Experience.

Kim




Suzanne Delaney said:

Thanks for dis-pelling that myth for me.
In my experience with swapping I did have a couple of disappointing swaps,
where the AYC's I recieved were just stickers on a flat background.
From then on I really got to know the artist's work before I agreed to swap,
because, as you say, I sometimes put hours into just one ATC, .

I have one swap partner now whose work I love and she equally admires
my work so we are very happy swappers.

I am not sure wether to offer my collages for sale at the exhibition,
or have a bidding system for people to make silent bids.
Is that ever done when it is not for Charity, just the Artist in question?

I don't want to do anything tacky...LOL

[Suzanne Delaney]

Thanks so much for this valuable info, Kim:
I am printing it off and will definitely take advantage of these great suggestions.
So glad I joined here.

[John Dyhouse]

The price to put on a piece of art work is very personal. I agree with everything that Kim has said above.

But a few years ago, I found that I found that I had a massive stash of art work, mainly watercolour paintings, and decided to try and sell some on Ebay. Probably the wrong place to sell but I was actually very pleased to sell some 80 pieces ranging from aceo to 10 x 8 inch over a period of 18months or so. I certainly didn't get much for the individual paintings and would have asked much more at an exhibition but it cleared my "studio" and gave me cash for new materials/papers to paint some more. trouble is now I have become addicted to swapping atc's. Don't have a lot of time for painting!!!

[Suzanne Delaney]

Thanks for sharing that John.
I may start to take advantage of EBay in the near future.
I think recouping money for materials is a great idea,
and it also gives someone who can't create, some joy.

[Lynne]

I'm going to have to disagree with you on this one. Great start to membership here LOL There are only 2 rules to artist trading cards. 1. The size must be 2.5 x 3.5 inches 2. They should only be traded and never sold. Now ACEO's (Art Cards Editions and Originals) can be sold and they are th same size as ATC's.

Kim Newberg aka imagesbykim said:

OKay I hate to be the myth buster on this one, but Artist Trading Cards can be sold.

In fact anything can be bought or sold for a monetary value so don't be afraid to sell you art cards.

There are a chosen few that decided they would make up that silly rule, as a way for people to collect miniature pieces of art. However that only allowed those that were artistic, thoses that were in the groups and those that were deemed "worthy" to be part of the "elite" to be in the trades.

Total hogwash!

Art is for sharing with everyone and anyone so if someone wants to trade monetarily with an artist then that is a fair trade.

I started selling my art cards from day 1 as a means to be able to buy and sell from whom I chose and this allowed others to be able to collect from me too.

Buying and selling allows anyone the opportunity to collect and trade.

As for the actual values, well they range from one end of the spectrum to the other. I have sold cards for as little as $2.00 on an auction and some sold for $50.00 it depends on the theme, the colors, the design, the artist, and on and on....

I have seen art card sets sell in the thousands of dollars.

You are best to do some serious searching through google, Ebay Etsy, other artists etc.
Then look at your own work, what makes yours different? The materials you use, the time you spend etc.
How badly do you want to sell it. there are so many factors to consider.

I have made cards that I spent so much time and effort and couldn't sell for a dollar and then I have had cards that I thought if I got a dollar I would be happy then that dollar card sold on auction for 40.00 I have no idea what sparks, I am still left in wonder on many occasion.

The best thing is to go with what you feel comfortable and test by putting a few up for sale.

kim

[Lynne]

In theory when selling your art you need to take into account the cost of your materials plus the time it took you to create your piece giving yourself an hourly wage. In practice it seems that people are never happy to pay for the true value of art.

[Kim Newberg aka imagesbykim]

Hi Lynne,

No problem, you are entitled to feel how you choose. However I will continue to "sell" my artist trading cards so that I may have money to "purchase" other artist's trading cards.

Really it's just a bunch of words.

:)

k

Lynne said:

I'm going to have to disagree with you on this one. Great start to membership here LOL There are only 2 rules to artist trading cards. 1. The size must be 2.5 x 3.5 inches 2. They should only be traded and never sold. Now ACEO's (Art Cards Editions and Originals) can be sold and they are th same size as ATC's.

[Cathy Wendler]

Seems like you should just call ALL the cards ACEOs ...... I do like Kim's point that otherwise someone who admires a piece and is not crafty is left out of the loop ... Is there a real distinction between ATC/ACEO other than semantics? I've often wondered this when I'm browsing ebay.

As a fair-goer, I appreciate booths that have smaller pieces in the under $20 range, often there are larger shows or juried shows and I just can't afford a $1,0000 price tag for anything, but would like to take something home from my outing. I like the business cards that are a print of a piece or several pieces of your work, with a website, so I can go home and browse the site later. Just my humble opinion as a veteran and voracious shopper!