I want you to remember that your art business is YOUR art business and you can charge whatever you want for your art. The information below has a proven track record for creating art businesses that sell art and run at a reasonable profit. I've used this method in business myself for over 40 years so I know it works. I can only recommend these ideas to you - it's up to you to decide what works best for you.
The biggest hurdle you will need to overcome is believing in your head, your gut and your heart that you and your art are worth the prices you ask, whatever prices those are. If you can't do that, you should not even be selling originals because you won't get paid what you are worth!
POINTS TO CONSIDER WHEN PRICING YOUR REPRODUCTIONS
- Know the cost to produce each reproduction?
- How much commission do you need to allow for?
- How much mark-up is right for you - What will your Profit be?
- Do you want to sell on a wholesale basis or only retail?
- How much are YOU worth as an artist?
- How many reproductions will be in the edition or will it be an open edition?
- How will you handle the packaging and freight costs?
- Do you need to consider GST?
- Framing Costs… A completely separate issue.
- How much did it cost to photograph the original?
Before I get into these points I want you to always have in your mind that your art may be sold in multiple outlets, each charging a different commission, maybe buying wholesale. I believe it creates more trust in you and your business if your RETAIL prices are the same wherever your art is sold so you need to plan from the beginning what the worst case scenario might be and price your work accordingly. Then encourage all sellers of your work that the pricing must be the same as everywhere else. Sure, there may be sales from time to time but there must be a Recommended Retail Price that all adhere to.
IMPORTANT NOTE HERE - All the calculations below are for the artwork only - not framing - a separate issue that is discussed at the end - always separate the art from the extras - you make money on your art!
Cost of Production
Your printing costs can always be found in the online Artwork Catalogue we provide you. The basic starting price for all your calculations is this figure – the actual printing price you pay us to make a reproduction. When you know this figure, you can work out your retail pricing. The Artwork Catalogue will you show a range of prices and sizes for your art on different media and these prices are always up-to-date. There is a column showing RRP to hel pyu get started and this calculation can be edited by you.
Commissions
It’s a cost of doing business. If someone else is going to sell your art for you, you will pay them a commission or fee to do so. This amount will vary. We charge 20% for sales from www.buyartnow.com.au but some galleries charge up to 50%. We recommend you allow for a 50% commission as this will be the most your would pay or even reduce your price to a wholesale rate.
How Much Mark-up is right for you - What will your PROFIT be?
The biggest challenge artists have, from a business perspective, is pricing their work, be it originals or reproductions. I can’t offer any advice on originals but I can give you great advice on pricing your reproductions. The first thing to do is separate any emotional attachment you may have to the original artwork from the reproductions.
A reproduction is a fixed cost, created by someone else for you for a price. All you need to do is determine a retail price that fits your business.
We highly recommend 4x cost as a standard starting point (we use 4.2x in our Calculator - explained below) This will give you a good return on your investment and allow for commissions anywhere from 20-50%, giving you at least double your money return. We don’t recommend anything less than 3x – it simply isn’t worth your time and trouble doing individual sales at this price. However, you may come across an opportunity where someone wants to buy a bulk number of prints, I’m talking 50-100 or more. In this case, you might settle for as low as 2x cost if it means getting the deal and you are doing all the work, and not paying anyone a commission.
Let's look at some numbers...
Keeping it simple, let's say a reproduction costs $100 to print and you sell it through us...
- Cost to produce - $100
- 4x mark-up to retail - $400
- Sale on Buyartnow - 20% commission - $80
- You earn $220
Now, let's reduce the mark-up to 3x
- Cost to produce - $100
- 3x mark-up to retail - $300
- Sale on Buyartnow - 20% commission - $60
- You earn $140
Next scenario - sale through a gallery at 50% commission - this works the same if you sell at 50% discount for wholesale
- Cost to produce - $100
- 4x mark-up to retail - $400
- 50% commission or discount for wholesale - $200
- You earn $100
or...
- Cost to produce - $100
- 3x mark-up to retail - $300
- 50% commission or discount for wholesale - $150
- You earn $50
Ultimately the decision on your mark-up depends on your situation. I firmly believe and have tested well and truly, that 4x markup is an ideal starting point. Small limited editions or artists of higher profile will command higher prices than this and some artists have sold plenty at more than 4x cost - one artist has sold more than a dozen at 40x cost - that's $2000 retail for a $50 cost!!!!
Selling Retail or Wholesale
The Artwork Catalogue we provide has a RETAIL PRICE CALCULATOR.
We use a standard multiple of 4.2 on www.buyartnow.com.au and in the calculator in the Catalogue. We recommend 4x as a minimum if you are not selling with us because it's an easy number to work with.
Let's say you want to sell to a retail outlet. Our Artwork Catalogue has an option for you to change the markup to work out your wholesale prices.
Typically the Wholesale price is 30-50% of Retail - the less you can get away with, the more profit you make! Remember this is for the artwork only - you must consider matting, framing and packaging separately.
If you are putting your work into a retail outlet, you will have two options -
- on consignment (costs you money) or
- wholesale (costs them money).
We recommend you sell works at wholesale instead of “on consignment” - this way you get paid up front. Sales on consignment usually would result in lower commission as the risk of no sales now lies with you and not the shop - they won't be as excited to sell your work if they can just kick you out any time. So always offer the alternative - buy now, earn more and consign and earn less.
Selling at wholesale moves stock earns you a smaller amount per piece but means you get paid. Works on consignment means that you pay for them until the shops sells them. We often get requests from framing shops, outlets and interior designers who want to purchase a number of pieces. Those clients will purchase at wholesale from us/you and sell to their clients at the retail price.
How Much are YOU Worth as an Artist?
Do you command (and get) higher prices than most for your originals? The more renowned you are the more your reproductions are worth! Makes sense doesn’t it? If an original sells for $20,000 why should you be able to buy a reproduction the same size that looks identical in virtually every way for only $200? Artists are getting big dollars for reproductions of high ticket Originals.
By the same token if your original work is priced so low as to be selling for the same price or less than a reproduction then you have a real problem.
If you don’t feel your originals are worth more, you need to either change your thinking and
a) put up the price of your originals,
b) never offer your originals for sale or
c) you probably shouldn’t be doing reproductions – unless there is a specific reason to do so and we’ve come across a few.
Limited or Open Edition?
If you want an exclusive edition of only ten reproductions you can do it. If you want 2000 you can do it, but you only need to order as you sell. But remember this – The fewer there are the more each one is worth! Typically editions run from around 25 – 300 with 100 being the most popular number. Think about it – if you can pick up $50 profit for 100 reproduction sales you’ve made $5,000 without putting brush to canvas! The final number is up to you – it will be determined by the potential of the image and the artist, the market it is aimed at, and the way in which it is marketed.
The lower the edition number should mean that the price becomes higher. Typically Editions of 100 or more these days are not considered that different from open editions so they are usually priced the same. However, smaller editions of 10-50 can be charged at 5x or more because of the exclusivity.
Personally, I think limited editions have lost that "exclusivity factor" since the introduction of limited edition tea towels, chocolate boxes, and other sundry items limited to numbers like 5000 or more - what makes them special? Buggered if I know!
Packaging and Freight Costs
I always recommend charging for these separately as products may be shipped individually or in numbers to anywhere in the world so packaging and freight is a variable cost to be paid for by the purchaser. You have no idea where your buyers might be so offering free freight is a recipe for disaster.
Had a situation where a client sold a 100 x 160cm stretched canvas for $900 with free delivery anywhere in Australia. The purchaser lived 250km southeast of Darwin!!!! The cheapest freight I could find was $300. We negotiated with the purchaser to deliver a rolled canvas to a Darwin framer who stretched it and the client collected from there - $60 freight - the tube was 10cm too long for Australia Post!
Do you need to consider GST?
Registered or not, all your calculations should include GST. All prices we quote you will include GST. You only need to worry about GST if you are earning around $70k a year from your art. Then speak to your accountant!
The cost of copying your original
Personally I would consider this a necessary cost for most originals and include it in the sale price when pricing your originals. Why? Perhaps you might look at this expense as a form of insurance or superannuation. You have your originals photographed as a backup plan for future reproductions or perhaps you decide to put a book together one day when you are even more famous than you are now!
If you really want to add the cost of capture into the reproduction calculations then you need to consider the number of reproductions you might do and divide the cost by that number, then add the result to the cost of each reproduction. Example – $100 cost spread over 100 reproductions = $1.00 added to the cost.
Here’s another thought – If having your art professionally copied is going to be the normal thing for you to do, then cover the cost by adding it to the retail price of your original, but here’s the trick… ADD DOUBLE THE COST! Why? So if you sell the work in a gallery you still have it covered after they take their commission. For example – if you normally sell an original for $1500 and it would cost you $150 for capture, add $300 and the new retail price is $1800.00.
FRAMING COSTS and EXTRAS
OK, Everything above this line assumes the costs for the print/reproduction only – no matting, framing, stretching or any extras. It doesn’t take into account any enhancements you might make to the reproductions such as painting extra content, adding gold foil or special textured coatings… these things will vary in cost because they are based on the time and talent you use.
FRAMING COSTS… A completely Separate Issue…
We recommend you calculate the retail price of your reproductions separately from any framing costs. You are in the business of selling art, not frames. Sure, you MUST make a profit on any framing costs if you do include it but it is calculated at a different rate, usually 50-75% extra on what it costs you as a minimum.
You know this as well as me – most galleries charge anything from 30-50% so you need to keep this in mind. This point is particularly important when you think about your framing costs. Here’s how it works…
Example 1
– Framing cost of $100 added to painting cost of $1000 – Selling price $1,100. You only charge for the frame that you paid for – no added markup.
– Gallery charges 40% commission on $1100.00 – You are left with $660.00.
– $600 for the Artwork, $60 for the frame – you paid $100 and only got $60 in return. You are out of pocket $40 plus all the time you spent choosing the frame and visiting the framer twice.
Example 2
– Framing cost of $100. You charge $150 and add this to painting cost of $1000 – Selling price $1,150.
– Gallery takes 40% leaving you with $690.
-You paid $100, charged $50 extra and still only got $90 in return, $10 behind plus your time. Better, but not good enough.
Example 3
– Framing cost of $100. You charge $200 and add this to painting cost of $1000 – Selling price $1,200.
– Gallery takes 40% leaving you with $720.00 – $600 for the art and $120 for the frame.
– FINALLY, you are $20 in front – just enough to pay for the fuel for the two trips to the framer..
Now can you understand why you need to charge extra for your framing and more than it costs you to have it framed? You must know the numbers here and ensure that you don’t lose money when selling an original or a reproduction with a frame.
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