HOW TO | Pricing your goods and services
On a few occasions, we have received the question, in one form or another, "What price should I set for my goods or services?" Whether it's selling at a market, participating in our CAPRAC Gallery, or offering workshops, it's a difficult question to answer. Whether you are an individual or an organization, a visual artist or an author, a musician or an artisan, the answer will be different.
Fortunately, there are resources to help you explore this question. In this article, we've compiled a growing list of helpful blogs and resources and summarized them to help you navigate between them.
Please note that we intend to continue adding resources to this article as we find interesting ones. Please let us know if you have found any helpful resources that we could add here.
Crystal Beshara - How to Price your Artwork
Author: Crystal Beshara
Language: English
Reading time: 6 minutes (If you prefer not to read, she has also created an informative vlog)
Target audience: individuals, organizations, professionals, amateurs, visual art
Pleasant surprise: "Join a few art associations, try getting into a few online or local shows and see how people respond to your prices."
CAPRAC member and visual artist Crystal Beshara answers this question with informative tips and advice often drawn from personal experience. In a clear and concise manner, she identifies and elaborates on three don'ts, four do's, and recommends a practical formula that can help you in your decision.
CARFAC Ontario - Top 12 Tips for Price Setting
Author: Heather Young
Language: English
Reading Time: 10 minutes
Target audience: individuals, organizations, professionals, amateurs, music, literature, visual arts, crafts
Pleasant surprise: "Take your time. Think of this as an iterative or recurring process."
In this article, Heather presents a dozen tips for putting a price on artwork (both tangible goods and services). She acknowledges that there is no one-size-fits-all recipe and that the decision depends on the individual or organization, while empowering the reader to make decisions based on many factors.
LiliFlore - Comment fixer le prix de vos toiles ?
Author: Lili Flore
Language: French
Reading Time: 17 minutes
Target audience: individuals, professionals, amateurs, visual art
Pleasant Surprise: "Building a clientele takes time, but it's worth it! So bank on your authenticity and sell at YOUR price to attract those who love YOU and YOUR paintings!"
In this blog, the author presents a straightforward list of "pitfalls" that artists can fall into when trying to price their work. She also presents common calculation practices and how to apply them to you.
The Abundant Artist - How to Price Your Art: 5 Mistakes
Author: Melissa Dinwiddie
Language: English
Reading Time: 10 minutes
Target Audience: individuals, professionals, amateurs, visual art, commissions
Pleasant Surprise: "At a minimum, you should set your prices so that if someone buys from you, you feel well paid, and there isn’t even a glimmer of resentment."
The author of this article uses her personal experience to present five mistakes to avoid when trying to price your work. Her advice applies mostly to artists who take commissions, but she encourages all artists not to undervalue their work.