Nevue Fine Art Marketing

  • Home
  • Blog
  • Art Marketing
  • Pastel Paintings
  • Giclee Prints
  • About
    • Contact
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
You are here: Home / Art Marketing / How To Calculate The Selling Price Of A Product

January 13, 2020 By Dave Nevue Leave a Comment

How To Calculate The Selling Price Of A Product

Pin20
Share4
Tweet
Share
24 Shares

Deciding how much you are going to charge for your artwork and handmade crafts will affect how well you perform with your competitors and how much profit you will be making per sale. In this post, you will discover how to calculate the selling price of a product for more sales and higher profits.

How To Calculate The Selling Price Of A Product
Original Pastel Painting by Dave Nevue

Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase, Nevue Fine Art Marketing may earn an affiliate commission.. Affiliate relationships include, but are not limited to, Bluehost, Tailwind, and StudioPress. To learn more visit Affiliate Link Disclosure Policy

Purchase Prints

By the end of this post, you will know…

  • How to asses your products costs
  • How to add other costs associated with making the products
  • How to decide on a profit margin
  • The importance of reviewing your prices

Asses Your Product Costs

Unfortunately, there is no magic product pricing calculator that will provide you with the best prices for your artwork and handmade crafts.

Many variables will affect your pricing strategy and in this post, I am going to cover the different fields that will affect your prices so you can make a better decision.

The intention of any business is to make a profit.

Having accurate records of your product costs will help you to price your products for a profit, not a loss.

There is no way you will be able to know how much profit you are making if you do not see the cost of doing business.

Below is an example of how much it costs me for my pastel paintings:

  • Faber-Castel Pitt Pastel Pencil Set – $81.26
  • PanPastel Painting Pastels Set – $92.24
  • Rembrandt Soft Pastel Set – $159.21
  • Clairefontaine Pastelmat Card Pad Assorted Selection 12 Sheets – $40.70

These are the bulk prices of my art supplies for pastel paintings.

I calculate the price for each painting by dividing $40.40 by 12 (Pastelmat) and taking 5% of the total costs of the pastels.

A sheet of Pastemat = $3.39

5% of the pastels = $16.63 (I have figured out that 5% is an accurate amount for the pastels)

The total cost of the art supplies per pastel painting equals $20.02.

This number does not include my time or costs associated with the studio like electricity, water, heat, etc.

Product cost is the total value you spend to create and sell your product.

The cost of the supplies is just the start.

Like I have mentioned, you will also want to calculate the costs of the area you are working in plus the costs associated with selling your artwork and handmade crafts.

If you are selling prints of your original artwork through a print-on-demand site like Printful, you will want to know how much the costs are for the service to print and ship your prints to the customers.

Related Post:

How To Sell Prints On Etsy With Printful

If you print your prints at home, you will have to calculate the costs of the printing material.

I do not calculate the supplies to create the original art or the time invested in creating the original art when I am determining the prices for my prints. Those costs are already included in my original artwork prices.

Add Other Costs

Now that you know how much it costs to create your original artwork and the cost of prints, you will want to calculate your hourly expenses and costs associated with selling your product.

To calculate your hourly expenses, multiply your hourly rate by how many hours it takes to complete a project.

Example: $30 hourly rate x 10 hours to complete a project = $300.00

The next step is to calculate selling expenses like internet costs, fliers, brochures, craft show fees, etc.

Calculate all expenses associated with marketing and selling your products.

Now it is time to add everything together.

Cost of products + hourly rate + selling costs = selling price

$20.02 + $300.00 + $30.00 = $350.02

I round this number to $350.00 for my original pastel paintings.

My profit for an original pastel painting is $300.00.

Selling price – costs = profit

$350.00 – $50.00 = $300.00

Add A Profit Margin

Selling prints of your original artwork is a great way to increase your revenue.

There are different strategies to think about if you are planning on selling prints of your artwork.

Print options:

  • Limited edition prints
  • Unlimited prints
  • Prints on merchandise
  • Licensing your artwork
  • Use a print-on-demand site
  • Print products at home

Pricing prints is different than pricing your original artwork and handmade crafts.

Like I have said before, the costs of creating the original and the hourly rate has already been incorporated in my original prices.

When deciding on a selling price for prints, you will want to add the costs of the prints, packaging costs, shipping costs, website costs, and taxes.

The next step is to determine a profit margin.

It is a good idea to see how much other artists are selling their prints for, and what the average market price is.

If you price your prints 2 x higher than all of the other artists, you will lose sales.

If you price your prints too low you could be losing money.

It is a good idea to keep your prices equal with the market average.

Experiment with your profit margin to see what works best for your audience.

Review Your Prices Quarterly

The last step is to look at the costs of doing business and the market quarterly.

Prices of products will continue to increase over time and you will want to adjust your prices accordingly or your profit margin will decrease.

The market fluctuates and you will want to keep that into consideration.

If the market drops and people are not purchasing prints of art at your asking price, you might want to consider reducing the costs per print or put the prints on sale until the market goes back up.

Conclusion:

How to calculate the selling price of a product is a challenge.

But using the tips above will help you to create a pricing strategy that will produce a profit, not a loss.

Popular Art Marketing And Sales Tutorials

Below are some of the most famous art marketing courses that will grow your online art business:

Most Popular – How to Make a Living Selling What You Make by Megan Auman

Most Popular –  Build a Successful Creative Blog by April Bowles-Olin

How to Build a Business While Learning Your Craft by Megan Auman

Pinterest Marketing for Makers & Designers by Megan Auman

  • create an artist brand workbook - Nevue Fine Art Marketing
    Create an Artist Brand Workbook
    $1.95
    Buy product
  • Art Marketing Strategy - Schedule Next Months Art Blogs
    28 Day Blogging Challenge for Visual Artists
    Sale Product on sale
    $5.95 $1.95
    Buy product

Did you enjoy this article? Don’t forget to sign up for my free weekly newsletter.

You can also join me on:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • YouTube

Learn how to start, grow, and monetize your online art business.

Art Business eBooks

Art Business Workbooks

Art Marketing Video Courses

Art Business Planners

Art Marketing Resource

Pin20
Share4
Tweet
Share
24 Shares

How To Sell Art Prints On Etsy With Printful

Filed Under: Art Marketing, Blog

About Dave Nevue

Dave Nevue is a Professional Graphite Artist and the founder and CEO of Nevue Fine Art Marketing. He also authored the eBook The Productive Artist How to Live Your Dreams, and provides courses on art marketing at Nevue Fine Art Marketing Courses.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Newsletter signup

Join Nevue Fine Art Marketing's Newsletter to receive the latest art marketing articles.

Please wait...

Thank you for sign up!

Popular Posts

Art That Sells – What Artists Need to Know21K Total Shares
How To Write An Artist Statement That Sells Art16K Total Shares
15 Places to Sell Art Online And Make Money15K Total Shares
How To Sell Paintings And Make Money14K Total Shares
How To Price Art – Ultimate Guide For Selling Art13K Total Shares

Disclosure:

Disclaimer: Some links in this post are affiliate links, which means I receive a commission if you make a purchase. Affiliate relationships include, but are not limited to, Bluehost, Tailwind, and StudioPress. To learn more visit Affiliate Link Disclosure Policy

Not every link on this site is an affiliate link.

Related Resources:

Affiliate Link Disclosure Policy.

Cookies and Privacy Policy.

 

Where To Start

Art Marketing - Complete Guide For Marketing Art Online

Sell Art Online Startup

Favorite Art Marketing Tools

Free Drawing Tutorials

Art Jobs

 

Copyright © 2021 nevuefineartmarketing.com · Courses · ebooks

This site uses cookies: Find out more.