Getting the Price Right

Yesterday I had a call from a friend in Florida who is reselling some of my art items on commission. One of the items she is marketing is my hanging wine bottle candles. Here in Hickory these items are a rarity. I haven't seen anyone who carries them and I priced them based on ones I had seen in Asheville and on the Internet. In both cases they were asking $20 for undecorated hanging recycled wine bottle candles. My Florida friend informed me that she had seen quite a few in her area and that they were not only painted on but were $5 less than my current asking price. Hmmm. What to do. I had waivered over my price when setting it. Was I too high?

Pricing your artwork is tricky. How well you do with selling has much to do with the clientele, culture and location where you are selling. People expect to pay more in high end art galleries and gift shops. However, in other locations retail prices may need to be lower. Currently, I am working on getting my items into wine shops and vineyard gift shops. In California, the vineyards are long-established, classy and the clientele sophisticated. NC vineyards are quite different. They are new, more earthy and farmy...and even the wines they carry are less sophisticated...mixed berry, sweet grapes mixed with blackberries, etc.--not your Cabernets or Zins... The closer you get to the large cities, the more sophisticated the clientele and the more you can ask.

It's up to you to decide what your price will be. Take into consideration who your target market is, and the cut a gift shop or consignment store is taking from each sale of your product. Some do it on consignment others want you to wholesale--which means more money upfront but less profit in the long run. If it is a more sophisticated lot you can expect to sell at a higher price but perhaps sell fewer items. Choose your price and stick with it and stay with it across the board. Offering different prices to different sellers is only going to confuse those you deal with. Suggest a retail price range to them. That way retailers can mark it up the amount they feel comfortable. So, for instance, my suggested retail on my hanging unpainted wine bottle candles is in the $15.00-$20.00 range.

After giving it some thought, I did decide to drop my price to $15.00 on my website. It will be interesting to see what happens. You can see more of these candles by visiting this www.serendipitini.com