Help me price my wares!!

As some of you may know, I’m getting ready for my first craft show as a potter. I’m struggling with how to price my works. I don’t want to give them away, but I don’t want to price them insanely high before I’m world-famous and all that… I’ve kinda got some price ranges in mind, but I thought I’d seek suggestions from an assortment of my on-line associates and friends.

So if you’re really bored or slightly interested in sharing your opinioin, please have a look at my works and offer your ideas on pricing, whether for a few of the pieces or everything (there are almost 60 pieces spread over 30 photos)

And just as a point of information, the first photo with all the colorful pieces contains what’s left of what I made in class. Everything else, I made and fired at home, which explains why they’re not particularly colorful. I think I fired them too fast and too hot. Unfortunately, it’s too late to make any more - the show is Sept 9…

Anyway, for your consideration: My Stuff

And lest there be any concern, I am not soliciting sales here - I know the rules. I’m not even going to tell you where the show is - heck, I live in the boonies anyway - no one is going to come around here unless they have to. I’m just hoping to benefit from the wisdom, insight and other blatently suck-up words to get input from you kind and considerate Dopers who are crafty, are interested in crafts, or want to tell me what I should do. Feel free to email me if you’d prefer not to do a long post here - it’s my username at yahoo dot com.

Or, if you’re as good as I am at figuring out prices, maybe you could tell me what kinds of pieces you think would sell and what I should never do again. I’m hoping that I can use pottery as a post-retirement pasttime, knowing full well I’ll never make any real money at it, but I figure if I pay for my supplies and the electricity I use with the kiln, I’ll be happy.

Thank ye!

I don’t know a lot, since I’m just getting into the “selling my crafts” part of it, but one thing you can use to start your pricing is the cost of your materials. Add a bit for overhead. Add a bit for your time. See how it looks, and add or subtract as needed.

In other words, I haven’t a clue. I will be following this thread with great interest.

Good luck!

By the way, I really like your work. Be sure to post pics of what doesn’t sell at the show, so I can see if the ones I have my eyes on are still available for purchase!

I started as you suggested, except I didn’t put in anything for my time or for incidentals, like having to drive to Baltimore for supplies. And I came up with some numbers. The problem is, I have no idea if they’re reasonable numbers.

And I can’t really compare to mass-produced retail. I know what a coffee mug costs at WalMart, but mine are hand-made, one-of-a-kind - that has to be worth something. But what is it worth?

I guess this is what it means to be a suffering artiste, right?? :stuck_out_tongue:

Anyway you could hit another show in the area, or a flea market, and see what other people are charging for similar goods?

Unfortunately, this is one of the first craft fairs held around here. There is something going on next weekend that might feature crafts, and we’ll be checking it out, but that’ll be the best I can do for now.

Guess maybe I jumped into this a bit sooner than I should have. Oh well…

Well, as someone who’s browsed a fair amount of crafts here and there, I’d say hand-thrown mugs usually go in the $12 and up range, the “up” depending on the nerve of the seller. I’d buy just about any of your pieces in the $10 to $20 range, and seeing them up close and in person, I would probably be willing to pay quite a bit more than that for something a bit bigger and nicer. All this is strictly my personal WAG, of course, coupled with the fact that I can be quite cheap when the spirit moves me. :slight_smile:

Have you tried googling around to see if you can get any ideas there?

I’ve looked at some on-line sites and I thought that some folks are *waaaaaaaay * too proud of their stuff. Or, like you, I’m cheap!! :smiley:

I do wish I was a better photographer or had a better camera or both. Sadly, my pictures make some of the less good pieces look worse than they really are. The camera not only adds 10 pounds, it reflects oddly off shiny surfaces. Maybe I’ll just market them all by filling them with M&Ms or something…

I can certainly identify with the photography trouble - photographing my work has been giving me fits. A friend is coming over sometime this evening or tomorrow to give me some pointers.

As for pricing - remember, you can always go down, but it’s difficult to go up. If you’ve been there a bit and your stuff isn’t moving, you can mark down some prices.

Have you gone over to www.etsy.com? You could check out some of the prices there and adjust based on your own comfort level.

I’m just now getting into this too, with my own stuff. Because I’m just starting and I’m not sure if my stuff is really all that good, basically my prices cover cost of materials plus some change. I’m also not trying to make a bunch of $$. I have a day job and I get great joy out of what I make. So I’m willing to settle for low profits if that means I get to share what I make with others.

And I hear you about the photography stuff. I spent all night yesterday trying to get non-blurry but vibrant photos. Maybe with practice we’ll both get better?

Good luck!

Thanks for the link, monstro!! Not only can I get some ideas there, I may have a place to try to sell my stuff. Frankly, craft shows aren’t my idea of big fun. Some years back, I did a couple with my inlaws, and it just got old really fast.

Actually, conventional wisdom is that it’s better to start low with your pricing. You don’t want to sell a mug for $10 at 10:00, and then mark them down to $5 at noon - if your original customer comes back, she’ll be mighty pissed. Plus, people who’ve been checking out your work as they wander past will wonder why on earth you’re changing the price, as in “what’s wrong?”

Since this is your first event, I’d suggest pricing them as low as you can tolerate, but not significantly lower than the other vendors. Again, that sets off alarm bells (and ticks off the other artists).

You could print up several signs at various prices (don’t hand-write them) and decide which ones to use after you’ve finished your setup & had a chance to check out the other vendors - are you setting up a day beforehand? People are usually glad to talk, potters in particular. I love potters. Everybody started somewhere, with their first show, and they can relate to being uncertain.

It’s kind of hard the first time you do an event, particularly one you’ve never attended. Different events support different prices. That doesn’t mean artists change the price they charge for each piece depending on where it’s being sold (that’s insulting to your buyers), but that they tend to choose events that support the price they’re accustomed to receiving.

I only glanced at your photos, and I’m not a potter so I’m not judging you - but as a fellow artist I suggest that you only show your very best work. Leave the duds in your car & only put them out if you run out of stuff to sell. I’ve noticed that people are really skilled at spotting the best work, you don’t want to distract them with the ones that were good learning experiences. Plus they’re not likely to buy anything inferior anyway.

Good luck! People often take money as a powerful value judgement - it’s really not. Just have fun!

You’re not going to like this, and I thought long and hard before hitting the Post button, but I don’t think that your work looks that good. Likely it’s the photographs, and granted that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but can I suggest you get someone you trust to look at the pieces you intend selling and give you an honest opinion as to their quality? How would you feel if you went to the show and didn’t sell any?

Quartz, frankly, I don’t think most of my things are all that great either. Had the glaze not gone bad, I think there would have been more that I liked. On the other hand, having given away a lot of my works, I was frequently surprised at the sorts of things people liked and asked for.

And honestly, if nothing sells, then I’ve got my Christmas shopping done for this year. :smiley:

You probably won’t be surprised at all to learn that I’ve been doing this less than 2 years.

I’m looking at this show as a learning experience. It’s probably way too soon for me to be trying to sell, but what the heck - I’ve got it, and it’s just costing $30 for my booth space.

And no, we don’t set up the day before - we set up that morning. I have no idea if there will be other potters there - I’ve never been to this particular craft show before. My big goal is to keep track of how many people make allusions to Ghost. :wink:

Well I do like your stuff, both the colorful (#1 daughter would adore that pink mug!) and the more muted tones.

Remember that anyone browsing the craft fair will not know that everything isn’t exactly as you had planned. As someone who sells crafty things (generally as fast as I finish them, which is why I never have enough to have a fair booth) I consider the cost of materials and add one third for the selling price.

Hold your head up and be proud of what you have accomplished! There are a lot of people who just veg out on the sofa, you created, and that is something to be proud of in and of itself!

kaiwik, you are too kind! I really enjoy playing with clay and I know I’ve improved. I also know I have a lot to learn. Which is why I’m signed up for the class that starts on Sept 23. :smiley: So maybe next year, I’ll have some really cool stuff to sell.

Or a lot more crap… time will tell.

And cost plus 1/3 sounds like a decent way to figure, if I can decide how to “cost” my time. Obviously the face took lots more time than a plain bowl.

For those that don’t know, FCM made some of her work available to Dopers for simple reimbursement of shipping. At that time I, like many, took advantage of this generous offer and as a result I have two very nice pieces that I use on a near-daily basis. I enjoy mine very much. FCM- I was wondering just how that went? Did you have many requests? How many parts of the country did you send them out to before it was done? Did the reimbursements come back as you had expected?

As the stuff for the fair, I like several of the pieces. I think a handful of dried flowers in a couple of the jars or cups and maybe wax fruit in that nice big bowl. Or, go the other way. Price it HIGH and go for the “art/display only” type of crowd. But, you’ll have to be snooty and condescending to carry the Bored Artist thing off.
Reallly. If I must explain it to you, you obviously don’t understand the statement I was making with this piece.”:smiley:
Since it is something you enjoy making, you should shoot at recovering a part of you investment this time around and see it as supporting your habit.
Good Luck with this.

**Nic ** - I sent out (I think) 13 pieces pretty much from one end of the country to the other. After a couple of nagging emails, only 1 person didn’t reimburse me for postage, but a couple overpaid, so I didn’t lose out on that. I’m glad you’re enjoying yours.

And you read my mind - I was thinking flowers or pencils in some of the jars, and, of course, candles in the votive holders. And probably some candies in a couple of the dishes.

The whole issue of taste is really interesting. I was very disappointed in the way the glaze came out, but my husband really likes the darker things. Even the “balloon” bowl, which I had hoped would be very cheery and instead looks very monochromatic, he thought it was a good end result. So who knows? I could be a big hit with the goth crowd!

But I don’t think I could pull off the snooty artiste thing - I have a hard time taking anything that seriously.

The snooty thing would never fly at a craft fair anyway. That’s what’s funny about it - when I was in art school (20 yrs ago), part of the culture was to train students for clawing their way to the top and reaching Their Big New York Opening. And a lot of the books on “How To Make a Living as an Artist” maintain that same perspective - lots of info on dealing with critics, getting your name in the press, dressing flamboyantly for your opening, etc.

The reality (in my personal experience) is that there are many, many more artists making a modest-to-healthy living selling their work to the buying public at art fairs. A quick Google search found this guide to fairs in the Mid-Atlantic region. The good ones will cost you a lot more than $30 (and you’ll have to buy a tent & some decent display materials), but what you’re doing is a perfectly respectable way to start.

The great thing about this route is you can forget all about the arty double-talk. People DO like to buy art, they DON’T like pretentiousness, and they CAN spot quality.

My wife is a jeweler that sells at craft shows. For jewelers, I think that the basic pricing rule is “6-7 times cost of material”. That’s retail. Wholesale is half of that

If you have $50 worth of gold in a piece, that’s a $300 piece. I have no idea how that might translate to clay. One learns to judge with experience to adjust based on several factors. A one-of-a-kind piece is going to be priced higher. A production-piece is going to be priced lower.

Anyway, I’ve seen plenty of potters at these shows. Mugs & bowls you typically see from about $12-$25. But, let me second something. . .your work isn’t of the highest quality. Some of the potters I’ve seen at shows have been throwing clay for 20+ years. They have extensive knowledge about minerals, and glazes, and kilns. They know the history of pottery. Their technique is impeccable. Their designs are original. They can charge more than $150-$200 for a pot with a straight face.

The pros also tend to have consistent looks. Your work just looks like someone who has been practicing with a lot of different styles and glazes. And you admittted yourself that something happened with the glaze.

But, don’t take that as me harshing on you. In no way am I saying, “you suck”. I’m just saying that it’s not a real professional look. . .YET. . .in my opinion. . .compared to potters I’ve seen at competitive, juried shows.

On the other hand, you don’t want to slap $2.00 on something because someone is going to think, “oh, this is some student who’s trying to sluff their homework off on me.”

Anyway, if you really love it, keep doing it. At one of my wife’s first shows, she sold one piece. To a neighbor at the show. After the booth fee and the travel costs, she was probably out about $500.

Pottery is easy (read cheap) to get into and that makes it pretty competitive. You seem to see a lot of amateurish, derivative stuff at the unjuried shows. Right now, I’d focus a lot more on improving your work than figuring out what an optimal price is.