This isn't a question more than it's an observation and a great puzzlement. I'm wondering if you have had similar experiences and your thoughts other than just "they be crazy."
I'm still new-ish to the art fair world, just over a year at it, but have done quite a few events (including holding a couple of my own). I'm a potter in South Jersey. I usually share a booth with a pottery partner -- a fellow potter who works through the same co-op, so there's a lot of synergy between our works. Besides NJ, we have sold in PA and NY, and this year, dipping a toe in DE. (This is a part-time endeavor for us both, so we need to keep it closer to home).
One of the great mysteries and dilemmas we've already faced is pricing of our works. We do various events, some in more affluent areas, some with more general population draws. Between us, we've settled on pricing that seems to fit the range of venues. But, no matter what our prices are, or where we are, I can have a customer look at our stuff, suck air through their teeth, and tsk-tsk-tsk at the prices -- if they don't actually comment that they are up there -- and walk away. Right on their heels, I can have another person come in and marvel at how amazingly low our prices are. What kind of inter-dimensional time warp did the booth just pass through? Expensive and cheap at the same time. My brain hurts.
I'm sure I'm not alone. How do you rationalize this dichotomy? Do you? Or just live with it? We believe our prices are fair, if not already on the lower end. We'd rather sell a bunch of pieces for a lower price, rather than just have select works at higher prices and they may not move. Repacking pottery during breakdown is such a pain. I'd rather just get back home and have to make more.
The one reaction that totally floors me is seeing two or more folks together passing by the booth, and if anyone looks to break ranks and want to come in, the alpha-shopper will say, "Oh, that stuff is expensive." This often deters the other(s) and they pass on by. This rankles because, as I've noted, I know our pricing is quite reasonable and attractive to most. This person hasn't seen our price tags. They assume pottery=pricey. I want to just reach out and grab the interested person(s) and drag them into the booth anyway, but I don't want to get the reputation for accosting the public, spending my profits on bail and legal defense. How do you not let that sort of thing get under your skin? Usually the perpetrators have passed beyond reach before I have a chance to react.
Thanks for letting me rant. Sharing of any thoughts would be appreciated.
Eric
Replies
Hi Eric,
You are not alone. I too, get the "air-through-the-teeth suckers", and then the other folks at the same show telling me how reasonable my work is. My paintings are mid-priced. Assuming the quality is comparable, I'm trying to keep the prices at a point where they'll move at a reasonable rate. I want to keep painting in my studio between shows, but not frantically. I have found that if someone really likes one of my pieces, the price doesn't matter. It might if I had them much higher, but at my prices they seem happy about buying. When people comment about my work being too pricey I look at their shoes. (right, Nels?) Yep... $1.99 flip-flops. It's ok, my work isn't for everyone. I will adjust my prices as the summer progresses, simply because I don't want to keep a lot of the same work through the winter. I get bored looking at the same work in my booth after too long. I've talked to lots of painters over the last couple of years, and I think lots of us struggle with the pricing issue. The good news is, you are your own boss and can follow your instincts. I try to remember to be flexible and not take it personally when someone reacts in a negative way. This past Sunday, I had a lady stand in the middle of my booth, look around at all of my paintings, and tell me that she just didn't care for my paintings at all. WTH? "Gee, thanks!" I'm thinking now she was barefoot...:)
Thanks, Amy. I understand the "rotation" need. Even if the customers don't see you at every show, you don't want to be looking at the same sad orphans sitting out. Last year, I had two pieces, a mug and a bowl, that were nice functional pieces, but had some unique finishes to them. Actually, they were borderline keep-for-myself-to-use items, but I can only have so much of that in my limited kitchen cabinet space. I put them out at every show, big and small. They would get attention, they were so striking. Countless people would stop and pick one or the other of them up, ooh and aah, then put it down. Even if it didn't sell, it got folks deeper into the booth, and I'm sure helped lead to sales of other things. Finally, my last show of 2011 was a little local holiday bazaar event in mid-December (outside on one of the coldest days of the winter. Yes, I'm nuts.) As I unpacked these two pieces and put them up, I told myself that this was the last time. They were to be retired to the kitchen. Before the end of the day, both sold to two different people. Each person only bought the one item, saying it was the perfect thing -- one was a gift, the other was for the buyer herself. So, as you said, you never know.
Just when you think something is not going to move, someone comes along that sees what you saw in it. I love when that happens.
It happens to all of us. I really think it all depends on the customer's mindset. If they usually buy at chain retain stores and don't care about "hand made", your pottery will seem expensive. If they shop at art or craft fairs often, they will appreciate your work more and be willing to pay for it.
Robin Ragsdale
www.evenbetterimages.com
I'm a painter and hear both comments all the time. It's funny that the folks saying I'm too cheap never actually buy anything.
Cathy
Yeah, I get that, too. The other one is, as they exit the booth, "Your stuff is really nice." I give a polite thank you. What I really want to do is shout after them, "But I guess not nice enough to buy any." So far I've contained myself.