How to Price and Sell Your Lower Priced Art

Q: You often encourage artists to lower their prices in order to increase sales and become more competitive. My prices are comparable to those of other artists in my area and they always have been. Do you mean that they should be even lower? How much art do you find in these really low price ranges?

A: Regarding your first question, how you decide to set your selling prices is entirely up to you. All I say in my columns is that lower priced works of art, no matter what they are, tend to sell faster and in greater quantities than higher priced pieces. Adjusting your art prices in any direction impacts your sales; the greater a downward adjustment, the greater your sales volume tends to increase-- a suggestion I regularly make to artists who want to sell more art. Lowering your prices is only a suggestion, though. Do whatever feels comfortable.

The trick to lowering prices, if you decide to lower them, or in providing lower priced alternatives to your more expensive works of art is not to denigrate the lower priced pieces in the process. No matter what people buy from you or how little they pay for it, they should always feel that they are acquiring art that is as collectible, well-crafted, thoughtful, and worthwhile as your more expensive pieces. Lower priced pieces may be smaller, sketchier or whatever else you have to compromise on in order to produce them, but one thing that they should not be is inferior in quality.

Too many artists deliberately sabotage their lower priced works, either verbally or technically as if to say to buyers, "Since you don't want to pay full fare, you can sit in the bleachers." This is not good business practice. The best way to cultivate repeat buyers is to respect their choices, their budgets, and their reasons for buying the art that they buy. You never know when a buyer who starts out small might go on to become one of your biggest collectors.

In answer to your second question regarding the availability of reasonably priced art in the marketplace, there's an incredible amount of art for sale out there that can be had for well under $300 per piece. I saw so much of it earlier in my career that I wrote a book about it. It's called Art For All (Wallace-Homestead, Radnor, PA, 1994)-- take a look at a copy at your local library sometime and see for yourself.

By the way, if you're selling on the internet, you'd better have a good selection of reasonably priced works of art available for purchase. Even the major art websites report that their average sales are only in the $300-$1,200 price range. Sales over $2,000 to $3,000 are still relatively uncommon online. People are just beginning to get used to the idea of shopping for art over the internet-- help them out by giving them the option of starting small without having to risk too much money.

You also mention in your email that your prices are competitive with those of other artists in your area. Do you mean all other artists in your area or just those artists you know? And if you're selling online, do you mean all other artists online or just those whose websites you're familiar with? What you may not be taking into consideration is that people also buy art from artists you don't know or are not familiar with. You have to keep the big picture in mind, especially with the advent of online selling, and continually compare your prices to those of all available art in your area as well as on the internet, and not just among your particular circle of friends or acquaintances. The more art selling situations that you can be competitive in, the more art you're going to sell.