Selling your artwork

[bj]

I have some drawings/paintings I did a while back and finally thinking about parting with them.  Do any of you sell your artwork and if so what is the best way to price them?  I placed an ad on craigslist for one of my drawings for $775 with 3 potential buyers but my husband thinks I should have charged triple that so doesn't think I should go through with any of the offers.
What do you guys think??  It has been years since I have sold any of my art so I guess I don't know about pricing anymore.

[Gilligan]

It's all in the eye of the beholder.

I would have a hard time letting go of that much money for art from an "unknown" (no offense).  But it's not me that you are looking to sell to.

A friend of a friend just said "F' it, I'm gonna put ridiculous prices on my pieces and if I sell one, then great... if not oh well."

[hazeremover]

Depends on what they are. Are they personal pieces executed for your own amusement or commercial art/graphic design/illustrations that were produced with marketing in mind? Pricing also depends upon your skill level. What level of art are these? School projects and portfolio work, digital or traditional pieces?

[bj]

Most of what I have is things I did for myself.  I did large portraits 4 feet height  x 3 feet wide and most of my oils are wildlife.  The one I posted for $775 is one of the large portraits I did and within one day three responses.
I started the large portraits back in college from an assignment and just found out how much I liked doing it so kept making them.

[Gilligan]

Start a bidding war with them.

Tell the 2nd and 3rd offer that you have a buyer, but if they would be willing to go higher then you would see.

[Frog]

Start a bidding war with them.

Tell the 2nd and 3rd offer that you have a buyer, but if they would be willing to go higher then you would see.

On Craigslist, if you ask for $775, you are morally obligated to sell to the first person who comes up with that. If you want folks to bid, use an auction service.
.

[ScreenFoo]

If they are serious offers backed with cash, and you were going for a fair price, take it and be happy you are getting paid for something you love.  Lots of talented people get blown off and screwed over on money every day, count yourself lucky you're in the minority.

Just my .02

[Gilligan]

mention to 2 and 3 that you have other work available if they are interested.

Maybe one day we will be saying, "I advised her on some of her first sales.."

[hazeremover]

If they are serious offers backed with cash, and you were going for a fair price, take it and be happy you are getting paid for something you love.

If you do have real buyers with cash BJ, by all means, take the money. 700 bills for a drawing from an unknown artist without any reputation is probably good coin at that point.

Don't know your experience with CL but be careful with Craigslist though. Lots of scammers on there. I've sold many different things on CL successfully, mostly antiques, collectibles, cars and parts but never once had a problem but I constantly hear of people that do. Sometimes for every legitimate email or call, I'll get an equal amount of pluto heads trying to lowball or downright scam me. Sift through, delete and use common sense.

[Dottonedan]

Art is all over the place on price. A person can be an artist and struggle to sell for $2000.00 in a great gallery and take some of the same art to a flea market and struggle to get $50.00 It's all in where you you are. Some artist think they are really far better than they are. Others are really better than how they see themselves.

If you want to be a $20.00 artist, charge $20.00 and I'm sure you will have tons of customers and half of them will want to get a better price from you.

Some tee shirt art is $400-800.00  Authentic "original paintings" that one can hang on a wall and enjoy each night? I think it's worth more than a tee shirt job (just for that fact). Then you have the questions of, the quality of the art/difficulty/time invested.

If you've got 20 hours in it at various times but totals 20 Hrs, then thats $35.00 per hr.

I always consider what I need (want) per hour on each job. Some 1 color jobs are $60.00 and some 1 color jobs are $150.00 depending on time invested.

I entered a local art show just for fun a few years back after I was laid off. I thought I might take that rout. So I entered but you also had to put a price on it incase you wanted to sell it. The price ranges were all well over $500.00 on each one. Most were beginners spreading their wings and with about 30% really god artist and another 5% were TOPs. So, the beginners were charging prices of a min of $500.00 Some were priced at $3000.00 for some of the best.  Mine was apparently worth mentioning as I won honorable mention.    lol.   I priced it very high for me, only because I really didn't have a stock pile of original paintings and didn't want to part with it. I think I put something like $2000.00 on it. Who knows when I'll do another. LOL So if someone wanted it, they' would have to pay a high price.  Nobody even made an offer. Shucks. I'd at least wanted the chance to say no.

Now, lets talk business.   Since you have proven that you have something that is apparently likable by many. Why not have it reproduced on a digital printer as a Giclee print.  It is pretty economical investment and you can get print after print. 1 or 25. The scan and any correction might cost $200-300 and each print might be near $25-$40 for low quantity orders. If you order about 100, the price seems to be near $3-5 per. Then, you sell limited editions that are A, more affordable to the consumer and B, you make more money on over the long run (AND), still own the rights to and can sell usage rights on other "Royalty free" stock art websites. So what was a $700.00 painting, is now a $700.00 per year painting.

Hey, that sounds so good, I should do that.
?

[Command-Z]

Art is all over the place on price. A person can be an artist and struggle to sell for $2000.00 in a great gallery and take some of the same art to a flea market and struggle to get $50.00 It's all in where you you are. Some artist think they are really far better than they are. Others are really better than how they see themselves.

If you want to be a $20.00 artist, charge $20.00 and I'm sure you will have tons of customers and half of them will want to get a better price from you.

Some tee shirt art is $400-800.00  Authentic "original paintings" that one can hang on a wall and enjoy each night? I think it's worth more than a tee shirt job (just for that fact). Then you have the questions of, the quality of the art/difficulty/time invested.

If you've got 20 hours in it at various times but totals 20 Hrs, then thats $35.00 per hr.

I always consider what I need (want) per hour on each job. Some 1 color jobs are $60.00 and some 1 color jobs are $150.00 depending on time invested.

I entered a local art show just for fun a few years back after I was laid off. I thought I might take that rout. So I entered but you also had to put a price on it incase you wanted to sell it. The price ranges were all well over $500.00 on each one. Most were beginners spreading their wings and with about 30% really god artist and another 5% were TOPs. So, the beginners were charging prices of a min of $500.00 Some were priced at $3000.00 for some of the best.  Mine was apparently worth mentioning as I won honorable mention.    lol.   I priced it very high for me, only because I really didn't have a stock pile of original paintings and didn't want to part with it. I think I put something like $2000.00 on it. Who knows when I'll do another. LOL So if someone wanted it, they' would have to pay a high price.  Nobody even made an offer. Shucks. I'd at least wanted the chance to say no.

Now, lets talk business.   Since you have proven that you have something that is apparently likable by many. Why not have it reproduced on a digital printer as a Giclee print.  It is pretty economical investment and you can get print after print. 1 or 25. The scan and any correction might cost $200-300 and each print might be near $25-$40 for low quantity orders. If you order about 100, the price seems to be near $3-5 per. Then, you sell limited editions that are A, more affordable to the consumer and B, you make more money on over the long run (AND), still own the rights to and can sell usage rights on other "Royalty free" stock art websites. So what was a $700.00 painting, is now a $700.00 per year painting.

Hey, that sounds so good, I should do that.
?

Me too... I'd rather sell prints than originals right now, just because I'm not producing.

$775 for a large painting like that is about right... 2x more if it's really intricate or realistic, (time = money). Original oil paintings bring more money than acrylics, watercolors and finally, drawings.

But part of your question was about how to sell... Ebay would be a better choice, but you have to pay to run a store there.

Check out your local businesses. Hip restaurants, pubs, coffee shops, bookstores and even indy art supply stores have wall space for art and it's trendy now to show local artists and allow them to sell. It's a good way to get work in front of eyes, makes the business look cool and is cheaper and easier than an actual gallery or those weekend art fairs.

And of course, Dan's idea about selling prints can be done from your own website or a gallery site.

[lemorris]

Set up an ETSY store too. 

Cool tools.

[screenxpress]

Start a bidding war with them.

Tell the 2nd and 3rd offer that you have a buyer, but if they would be willing to go higher then you would see.

On Craigslist, if you ask for $775, you are morally obligated to sell to the first person who comes up with that. If you want folks to bid, use an auction service.
.

That's kind of what I thought. 

I'm sure the art is beautiful, but am sorry if you wish you had priced it higher.....now.  You made, in effect, a contract to sell.  Backing out now just because you should have priced higher, if someone has money in hand, is both unfair and could, at $775, be the subject of a day in small claims court.  You are the one that posted the ad on Craigslist.   People sue for just about anything these days.  I'd take my lumps, if that's even appropriate, and price future items accordingly.  Just my 2c.

[virgil427]

bj, heres a site where a friend of mine sells his art http://fineartamerica.com/index.html it's a place where you can see what people who are interest in art ,from lesser known artists, are willing to pay.

[bj]

I knew I came to the right place!  Thanks for all the tips/ideas. You guys are the best of the best.   I am going to go through with the sale because I really think it is the fair price for it.  I will do better research in the future for my other pieces though so that I am not questioning so much if I did the right thing.  I have someone willing to pay cash but have told the other two interested parties that I have to go with the first offer to be fair but if she backs out I will contact them. 
I think the most important thing out of this is that is has made me excited about it again and I want to get back into drawing.  I have been so busy over the years with the business, the kids etc... I can't even remember the last time I just sat down to draw for fun.  It is something I have been doing since I could pick up a pencil which I am sure many of you can relate to.