Selling artwork

[mirrorshard]

I like to call myself an artist, but I'm rather hesitant about being an Artist. I'm not under the illusion that what I do is fine art - I mess around, mostly. A lot of it involves paint, or canvas, or both together. Mostly, this is a hobby, but I'd rather like to see if I can make some money from it too.



I've been on the lookout for possible outlets for a while, and I have a few plans, but one thing that came to my attention recently is Folksy. They seem to be a UK-based, and possibly better, version of Etsy. Since they're in beta, and offering free listing for a while, I've set up a shop there - you can see it here. I haven't yet listed many things - I need to take (or trade for) some good pictures, and for that matter to organise some more of what I've got. The prints are all packed away safely and professionally in a chest, but the other things are all over the place.

I need some advice, however, on how to do this, and on the prices I'm planning to set. I want to have:

• little fluff things (keyrings, bookmarks, the usual kinds of tat) to sell at £1 or £2.50,
  
• prints at £5, £7.50, or £10 depending on size and how much I like them (plus a bit if someone wants them ready to hang),
  
• jewellery and accessories from £5 to £20 depending on size and complexity.
  

If you, O my readers, could fill in this poll, I would be utterly delighted. If you felt like asking your friends to fill it in too, that would be even more lovely.

Please to take a look at my gallery for references.

[Poll #1246180]

(Oh, and GIP. The font used is Perigord, from Scriptorium.)

Comments

[mirabehn.livejournal.com]

It's all on the low side, but I think that's fine while your priority is to get some things sold and improve your confidence over all this. Once you've sold a few things, then you can put them up.

Your prices on the little fluff things should definitely go higher though. £2.50 isn't much even for a commercial bookmark, let alone a designer Sam Kelly. :-)

[shreena.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm inclined to agree on the little fluff things. I would consider some kind of offer on them, though, three for the price of two or something?

I'd also be tempted to put the jewellery at a slightly higher price just because when I see jewellery at low prices, I tend to assume that it must be poorly made. (This may just be me, though.)

[mirabehn.livejournal.com]

I'd also be tempted to put the jewellery at a slightly higher price just because when I see jewellery at low prices, I tend to assume that it must be poorly made. (This may just be me, though.)

No, actually that's a good point. And the jewellery is *excellent*. It deserves to go higher. Certainly I think £5 is too low for anything I've seen that Sam has made.

[shreena.livejournal.com]

Thinking about it further, I'm fairly sure that if I saw jewellery at those prices on a stall, I'd be more inclined to think "bargain" because I could touch it and check out the clasps and the metal and stuff but, when buying online, my reaction would be far closer to "that must be cheap tat."

OTOH, I'm kinda tempted to say "the price is just right" and snap lots up.. ;)

[mirrorshard.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much for the help!

[mirrorshard.livejournal.com]

The thing is, part of the reason the little fluff things exist is to be cheap - having a wide range of price points tends to up sales generally, I'm told. It draws people in seeing little fluff things, and they always look at the rest.

(Mind you, I had these prices in mind for actual physical stalls, so that'll change things a bit.)

[mirabehn.livejournal.com]

Oh, and doing commissions might also be a clever plan, and you can charge a bit more for those. :-)

[mirrorshard.livejournal.com]

Oh, absolutely!

[owlfish]

Part of the problem with having prices too low is that it looks as if *you* don't think they're worth much.

[wildeabandon.livejournal.com]

I think the pricing is far too low - as others have said, people will assume the quality is correspondingly low. I also suspect that using a more established site would be a better idea, even if Folksy is better than Etsy, simply because it has more traffic.

[mirrorshard.livejournal.com]

I also suspect that using a more established site would be a better idea, even if Folksy is better than Etsy, simply because it has more traffic.

Mm, I did wonder, but fundamentally the reason for the choice was because I could actually manage this one, after six or eight months of staring at Etsy thinking hm, maybe I should...

[weegoddess.livejournal.com]

I'm not ignoring your polls, I just have no clue whatsoever about this market, especially not coming from a British background.

[mirrorshard.livejournal.com]

Thank you anyway!

[arkady.livejournal.com]

Your pricing is decidedly on the low side; jewellery should definitely be priced higher. As a general rough guide, when making items to sell at craft fairs I would take the basic cost of the materials, double it, and add 10%.

[mirrorshard.livejournal.com]

That guide would put nearly every individual item I make at somewhere between £1.10 and £5.50!

And yes, I'm seeing that consensus about the jewellery, I think.

[arkady.livejournal.com]

Heh. In which case, take your current prices and double them then add 10%!

[elettaria.livejournal.com]

That depends on the medium, which one are you working in? If you were a quilter, for instance, there would be considerable labour costs involved. Quilters might be good folks to talk to about that.

[elettaria.livejournal.com]

Fluff - keep it low for at least some of the stuff.
Jewellery - check on eBay or similar for comparison, but I don't think you'd want to raise it too much.
Prints - raise quite a bit.

I'd love to see T-shirts.

[ewtikins.livejournal.com]

claire_wain and sci both have experience with making stuff and selling it. They might be good people to talk to about this, or simply just good people to watch for ideas.

I made hairfalls and sold them on eBay for a while. In the end I stopped because while I enjoy making things, I dislike selling: taking pictures, writing descriptions, packaging things up and taking them to the post office were not worth the money I was getting. I don't know if I'd respond differently now that I'm not depressed; in any case I'm too busy and my body won't let me do the yarn-work that I was using for the hairfalls in any significant way.

[blue-mai.livejournal.com]

i haven't huge experience with this stuff, but i did make jewellery for a while and got a friend's mother to sell a bunch of stuff at a craft fair. having done it quite a lot she priced it all for me - i had similar prices to yours in mind but she pitched everything between £15 and £45. perhaps you might want to go slightly under in-person prices for internet (because handling and trying on is a big part of buying jewellery) but not much.
i suppose one thing to ask yourself is what do you want to sell things for? basing prices on material costs seems to assume you just want to cover costs and enjoy making things. on the other hand you could work out materials plus hours, even if just for a comparison. i'm sure you've done it but the other prices on Folksy might be a good start, people may browse from seller to seller and you probably want to be somewhere near the norm.

[yvesilena.livejournal.com]

Lovely stuff, charge more!

[sunlightdances.livejournal.com]

Hello, lovely Sam. I remember at Ardnamurchan you had some pictures of rats which you'd drawn. Would it be possible to see them again? I've had a look through tags and your website, but couldn't find them. :)

[mirrorshard.livejournal.com]

I haven't scanned them, but I shall do that with the greatest of pleasure, and let you know when I have :)