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  Nelda Ream July 17, 2012 at 8:23am

  This has been such an interesting topic.  As a Newbie, I have learned a lot from all of you .  Thanks for your seasoned advice on pricing.  Wendy, I read your blog post from the link you provided.  It was really inspiring.  Who wouldn't be touched by Rome's story?  That was truly a time when a discount was in order.  I believe the good you did for her will come back to you.  Thanks for sharing it.
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  Richard L. Sherer July 16, 2012 at 10:46am

  That's a good one Dave. But, what do you do when you quote a guy a crazy high price for a special order that you really don't want to do and he says OK.
  I learned to just tell them, " I don't know when I would be able to do that in my work schedule."
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  Judith St. John Peterson July 16, 2012 at 10:37am

  Dave Peterson again. I don't know how pertinent this is, but some may be amused by it. My wife designs and makes freestanding wooden jigsaw puzzles. She used to make a 4-piece dinosaur puzzle. It was not based on the Sinclair dino, but it did resemble it. A man who owned several Sinclair stations wanted my wife to make 50 of those puzzles for him. Of course he wanted them at a discount (what I call "the retail mentality"). Judy told him she'd make the 50 dinos for him, but at twice - not half - the price! Needless to say, that eliminated his interest, which was just fine with Judy; she didn't want to have to make 50 of the same item.
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  Jeneen Hobby July 16, 2012 at 10:33am

  I have this problem too. I have only participated in two art fairs yet this summer--just starting out--and I raised my prices at the second show, but given the feedback I got from customers, friends, and other artists, I realize my prices are still too low. I'll be in another show in two weeks, and I am definitely raising my prices again for that.

   
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  Richard L. Sherer July 16, 2012 at 9:06am

  Need to get back to the main topic of when to raise prices. There is another on discounts. Raise prices when your material cost increase. Raise prices when your cost of doing business increases. Raise prices when you feel you deserve more because of you skill level, experience, and artistic abilities, i.e. raise your hourly labor rate.
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  Jacki Bilsborrow July 15, 2012 at 10:46am

  Derek has a very good and scary point.  When you do price something lower than you really want it to be and then someone wants 100 of them, you could end up working for peanuts.  I think you always have to keep that in mind when pricing your work.  You may also have to be ready to tell someone that the item they bought was the end of a line.
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  Marti McGinnis July 14, 2012 at 7:33am

  I have a new small item I just priced yesterday. $42 each or 3 for $100. That's almost a "buy 2 get one free" offer. Originally I was going to price these things at $35 each. Then I was toying with various prices from $32 to $48 to account for individual differences until I landed on this formula. Now the customer can have a blast figuring out which one they want 'for free' and I make a decent sale. Win win. Also I'm totally in Charlene's corner with the having higher priced items in your collection. I have $1200 pieces that help make these smaller pieces look like the bargain they are. And just as an aside - like most galleries I tend to shy away from the "$29.99" style prices and go with the "$30.00" instead. I think the ninety nine style pricing is more for crafters and flea marketers and the round prices are for fine art. This may be controversial, and probably doesn't apply to all pieces in every booth. It's just my gut reaction. Also $32 = $30 inside the head, so I tend to bump up when I can. While $18 seems more like $15 psychologically to me and not $20. Pricing is a challenge!
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  Annette Piper July 13, 2012 at 7:11pm

  I use the "how much would I pay for it" on top of a basic formula.  Sometimes it goes up, sometimes it goes down.   I too have occasionally raised my price on something that's not selling and it suddenly sells, whether luck or perceived value I'm not sure.  

  With rising costs of materials I raise the prices slightly of older pieces every couple of years.   If I however had something priced at an "old" price in error, I would honour that.

  Although I think I have a top level of prices that people won't pay above I always have an aspirational piece or two.    Last season I did some bigger pieces with higher prices and they all sold which is good to see.  After all the price of everything else in daily life has risen so much, we shouldn't leave ourselves so far behind all the time!
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  Richard L. Sherer July 13, 2012 at 2:03pm

  Another point is "perceived value". If people want to own your art they want to value it over the long term. Are they going to value it more if they paid a high or low price for it? In 2011 I raised all of my belt prices by $5 to cover present and short term price increases in leather (Chinese were buying raw US hides and driving the market crazy). We had record sales at some shows that summer (and so far this summer too). When someone tells me "I don't pay $40-$60 for a plain belt", I don't say a word, but just stare at  them. Not my problem fellow if you can't afford my work.
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  Derek Voigt July 13, 2012 at 12:44pm

  Another point I look at when initially pricing: "what if this is all I make".  

  Meaning that what if someone came to me and said: "I love this, I'll take 1000 of the $50 item"  The last thing that I would want to do is say "Great, but I'll need to charge you 100 for them"  That is not the time to be putting in for an increase in price.  You can't make up on a loss in volume.  

  Maybe in that situation you can find ways to be more efficient at making things to get your cost down, or maybe your goal isn't to make 1000 of any one thing.  

  I make "common sense" adjustment in pricing all the time, but have learned that if common sense tells me to slash a price, then maybe that is something I have to re-think.  If anything, I try to make products that I can common sense UP the price.

  Just another thought on pricing.