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Last Updated on September 24, 2018

Are you excited about selling your artwork but having a difficult time trying to decide what you should be charging? If you are having a difficult time deciding what you should charge for your artwork, you’re not alone. Pricing artwork is a challenge for even the veteran artists. In this article, you will discover some best practices for pricing artwork so you can start selling your art while making a decent profit.

Pricing Artwork – Best Practices For Beginners

Being able to earn some money selling artwork you have created is exhilarating.

But how do you get started?

The first step is to decide what you will charge for your art.

This seems like it should be easy, but it is more difficult than you might think.

If you price your artwork too high, people might not purchase it because of the high cost. Especially if you are new to selling your art and people do not know who you are.

If you price your artwork too low, you might lose sales because people might question the quality of your work.

As you can see pricing artwork for the first time can be challenging but with a little research, you will be able to come up with a pricing strategy that will please both you and your buyers.

Selling Art Is A Business

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The primary goal for any business is to make a profit.

You are no different. If you are selling your artwork, you will also want to make a profit.

It is important to calculate the cost of your art materials, marketing expenses, and office expenses when you are deciding how much you are going to charge for your artwork.

Always keep in the back of your mind, you are selling your art to make a profit.

There is a good chance you will lose money if you do not take the time to accurately document your costs.

Imagine how disappointed you would be to learn you lost $50.00 because you sold a painting?

Pricing Artwork Formula

Below are some steps you will want to take to determine what prices you will be charging.

The first step is to write the cost of all the materials that you use for creating one piece of art.

For example, paints, brushes, canvas, cleaning supplies etc.

The next step is to calculate how much it costs for you to market and promote your art.

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For example, Google AdSense, Facebook ads, flyers, business cards etc.

After you have finished calculating the costs of your materials and marketing, you will want to add in any office costs.

You will need to know how long it takes for you to complete a project and calculate how much it costs for electricity, heat, water, and any office supplies that you use.

A simple way to calculate how much the electricity, water, and heat costs is to figure how much you pay per hour for each, then multiply that number by how many hours it took you to complete the project.

The last thing you will want to calculate is your hourly rate. If you would like to charge $20.00 an hour and it took you ten hours to complete the project, you would add $200.00 plus the price of materials, heat, electricity, water, and marketing costs.

You now have a price that would make you a profit.

Below are some other factors you will want to consider when deciding how much you are going to charge.

Market Value

To be able to decide on a price that will work for you and your customers you will need to spend some time researching the market.

Search online for artwork that is similar to yours.

Take note of how much other artists are selling their art for, how long they have been selling art and how large is their fan base on social media.

The economy will have a large impact on your sales and should also be considered when deciding on a pricing strategy.

Value Of Art

The value of your art is only worth how much a buyer will pay. If your audience will pay $100.00 for your artwork, that is the value of your artwork.

As you start to build your brand, and your artwork starts to sell consistently, a price increase should be considered.

A smaller increase has always worked well for me. For example, if my goal is to increase my price by $50.00 in a year, I might raise the price in two intervals. In July, I will increase the price by $25.00 and in December I will increase the price by another $25.00.

If sales are down, and the economy is depressed, a price increase might not be in your best interest.

When people are struggling financially, they will only focus on the necessities and cut back on entertainment and purchasing high-priced items.

Conclusion:

Creating and selling art is exciting for every artist.

However, if you are not careful you could find yourself losing money when you land a sale.

Pricing artwork steps: