Well this is new

[MichaelHarris]

Took the puppy today to get her stitches removed and had some pictures with me.  I ended up selling a 13X19 to the Vet for her office. Later in the evening we had to go to a dinner at a new local restaurant and some of the people wanted to see what I had been working on.  Sold 3 more.

The restaurant has a local photographers B&Ws on the wall for sale and now they want some of mine.  My question, I have no idea what to charge.  I'm doing my own matting now and the 20X30 mpix metal paper prints cost like 35 dollars.  When I print the 13X19s I have no idea what they cost.

The local guy who already sells at the restaurant had only 8X10s and they were expensive, like 150 to 200 dollars each.  I was just going to give them away but the people said, "no, they want to pay for them."  How do you guys price your work?

These are the one's that sold, people love the Palouse:

[sandeha]

I'd suggest you run around getting quotes from localish commercial printers.  Printing your own, your costs and wastage are going to be higher, but if you base your price on the competition then your customer gets a fair price and you shouldn't lose.  

Be sure to separate out (in your head) the shooting from the printing as print prices are scaled.  For example, one 'art' printing house in the UK does 16x24 and charges GBP28 on Ilford Galerie, but 35 printed on Da Vinci Fine Art.  The 20x30 come at 31 on Ilford, but 100 on framed canvas.

[Andre Reinders]

I know it is hard to price.

For portrait type reprints I try to charge 3x (and then round up) what the local GOOD lab charges me to get them done.

If the local lab charges 8.99 for a 8x10 reprint - I charge $30. That covers costs like time, tax, gas, reprints, etc. I would consider doing the same for other materials. If you take a 16x20 print costs about $20 to print, and a nice frame with matte is about $60 - I would charge $80 x3 = $240.00 or so....

(bear in mind that I am thinking in Canadian $$)

I have learned that if you prices are cheap - people will put less value on the work. Also, it is harder to raise prices as you get better and sell more. One option is to say the photo is $200.00 but you are giving a 25% discount as you get established.....?? That way you have stated your price and then dropped it, and you gave eliminate the discount later if you want (instead of 'raising' prices.

[MichaelHarris]

Thanks for the tips, been busy all day matting and framing.  I shot all of two photos today.

[Tom Hildreth]

"150 to 200 dollars each"- that's what I see framed photos in the 8 X 10" and 11 X 14" size range selling for in local restaurants around here.

[NancyB]

Michael, I had some b&w framed prints hanging in a coffee shop for a while, and I sold one to a gentleman for $300 (Cdn).  I had factored in the cost of the frame, which is usually the most expensive part, and the unique quality of the print, which was given a solarization treatment.  When I told him he was getting a one-of-a-kind print (which he was, if any of you know about solarization), he was quite happy to pay what I asked.  Mind you, when he walked out with my baby, I was very sad, but the cash cheered me up pretty quick!

BTW, those are very beautiful photos!  And I hope your puppy is okay!!

[Brad Bireley]

I find I need to charge at least 3.3 times my total cost & most of the time it's like 5 times my cost.
Remember the customer is paying you for your talent as an artist to create the photograph not the cost of the paper the print is printed on!

Brad

[apocaplops]

I've had this discussion with potential buyers before as well. One wanted a print of a drive-in theater sign, but when they saw it and realized the entire name wasn't in the photo, they decided not to buy. I price mine at 3x materials costs, or about $75 for an 8x10.

Here's the kicker. The person asked me if I could go back to the theater and take another picture for them with the whole sign in it. Commissions are a lot more expensive, depending on how much i want to do them. They decided $200 wasn't worth it.

[Tom Hildreth]

Apocaplops-That sounds like experiences I've had, where the prospective customer thinks you have unlimited time to kill. I'm curious. Is that $75 for a framed fibre (not RC) wet darkroom 8 X 10"?
 
Reason I ask that is about 5 years ago I had a bunch of RC prints that I took to a new local gallery. They were quite interested during our first meeting. I think that had the prints gone on sale there, they would have sold in the $75 price range.
 
However, I was perfectly honest with these folks, and told them they were RC prints and were not considered to be in the same category by collectors. A week or so went by, during which they apparently talked to someone about this RC/fiber thing, and they decided not to carry my prints. I think I stumbled by being too honest. They didn't know the distinction until I told them. I wouldn't educate the gallery people like that again. I still have a few dozen of these prints lying around years later-my price for being to honest & informative.