Are they too expensive?

clickin girl

Hey guys! Need some advice on my prices in my gallery. I have had several different people inquire about buying some of my pics. I have directed them to my gallery but no one has bought anything yet. I am new to all of this and have only had my shopping cart for a couple of months. Could you look at my gallery prices and see if they are too high? I am wondering if that is why no one is buying. Any opinions or help would be appreciated. My link is just below. Thanks!!

Angelo

a brief look at your landscapes leaves me thinking they are under priced. your work is beautiful!

point of reference: I just purchased 6 B/W prints (20"x24") for a project I designed which cost me $280 each, before framing

clickin girl

Angelo thanks for the compliment and thanks for the input! It is much appreciated!

johng

I agree with Angelo that you have beautiful work. BUT, I find that some people are very reluctant to order something off the internet. They just don't like to do it. If you know the people who asked, or see them I might suggest you talk to them about that aspect - would they feel more comfortable if you produced the print and they could see the final product.

Having said that, there are always the "garage sale" people - people who think everything should be had for $5.

Now, I will offer up one other thought - a big turn off at the price point you're at is the shipping surcharge smugmug applies. Buy a $20 8x10 and you pay $3.45 in shipping. In essence, shipping costs 15%. Again, this goes to the mentality of a shopper buying a $20 product. For more expensive items, that's not an issue. But I know it was a turn-off to people buying my sports images when they only wanted to buy a photo or two. It would be better if smugmug "hid" the shipping charge - took a bigger cut of sales (and you raise your prices) and told the buyer the shipping was free. Don't get me wrong - it's ezprints and bay that are charging the shipping - smugmug isn't making profit off shipping. But, they could help mask it.

Just a few thoughts on what MIGHT be happening. Only way to know for sure is to talk to those people you've directed to your site.

clickin girl

Thanks johng for the input! I do agree with you about the shipping surcharge but not much I can do about that. Thanks for looking and offering your two cents!

angevin1

clickin girl wrote: »

Hey guys! Need some advice on my prices in my gallery. I have had several different people inquire about buying some of my pics. I have directed them to my gallery but no one has bought anything yet. I am new to all of this and have only had my shopping cart for a couple of months. Could you look at my gallery prices and see if they are too high? I am wondering if that is why no one is buying. Any opinions or help would be appreciated. My link is just below. Thanks!!

Your Prices are fine to middling. I will say that SM's process for purchasing can be a bear to the uninitiated, or the everyday Amazon Buyer. I ran into that many times. Folks just don't get it for whatever reason/s.

I love your Big banner, but you really need a better about-me page and I would suggest giving them contact info so that you can help them if needed. Don't forget SM has coupons that you can create so you can use those to send to folks or post on your FB page.

I am convinced unless you have a following or some reason for folks to buy YOUR photos, they won't. There is too much competition out here in Cyberspace. AND many, many folks cannot tell good photos from poor ones, promise you! So there's your challenge: Create reasons for them to buy your work.

Good Luck!

clickin girl

Thank you Tom. I will look at my about-me area. I have only just started and am trying to get it all going. I know I still need to tweak my gallery some and am working on that. Thanks for looking and the advice!

CWSkopec

Definitely not too expensive. (I can't remember exactly where my prices fall, but we're in the same general area, I think.)

But here's another angle to consider:

Are there too many choices?

It's something I've been considering for a while now, and part of a larger question I keep meaning to ask the community (if I can ever get the cohesive thought out of my head I'll link it here). SmugMug allows you to sell an amazing variety of shapes and sizes, but is it too much for the average customer? I tend to think it is and have spent a good deal of time limiting the sizes of my prints to streamline a customers choices. If I've cropped an image to 8x10, I only offer that print in 4x5 ratio prints. If it's an 8x12 crop, only 4x6 ratios are available. (or should be, I may have missed one here or there) That way, I remove at least one question from the customer's mind with the goal of removing uncertainty which then leads to doubt.

Think about it this way, if a customer walks into a gallery and wants to buy a photograph, there are often only a couple print sizes to choose from. Likewise, at art festivals the options will be limited to only 2 or 3 sizes based on what the photographer has room for in their booth.

But with all the options that SmugMug allows us to offer, it's not a choice of small, medium or large for the customer. It's "ok, I want medium, but do I want 8x10 medium or 8x12 medium. Which will look better on my wall? Do the 2 inches matter? Who chooses which 2inches get cut off? Do I get to choose which 2 inches to cut off? Should I lose the top? Or the bottom?" And so on...

That many questions for what should be a simple decision will surely lead to doubt and if the customer begins to doubt too much, they'll simply walk away from the purchase (or at least I would). I've gone as far as not only limiting what sizes are available, but I've also not allowed the glossy finish and only offer the lustre and metallic options.

The mre I look to the websites of professional photographers for inspiration, I'm seeing more and more that only offer 2 or 3 size options even through their websites where display area isn't a factor. And I begin to think that even the limited options I'm offering are too numerous and that I should further reduce them when time permits.

The ultimate goal would be to reduce a customers questions (to themselves) to "Do I want that enough to pay that price?"

Sorry, I got going there and kind of just rambled on for a bit. Take all that with a grain of salt, I'm certainly no business expert (only 1photo sold in the last 3 months to someone I didn't already know) but this is an idea that has been kicking around in my head for some time now.

Edit: I should note that the whole reason that the idea got started rolling around in my head is that my mom called one day to ask if an 8x12 was better to purchase than an 8x10. She had spent an hour looking at the photo she wanted but couldn't decided between the two. Your average customer won't spend more than 5 minutes trying to figure it out, let alone an hour, and probably wont contact you for help, they'll just give up.

denisegoldberg

I think it is very difficult to sell photos online - especially photos that are not taken as part of an event. Everyone has a camera these days, and often folks are not looking at the photos as art but as snapshots. The prices for those are very different. That said, the prices for your photos are definitely not too high.

You have a good start at your site, but your banner is overpowering. Even on a reasonably sized flat panel monitor I need to scroll to see your photos - your banner takes up two thirds of the vertical space. On my laptop it uses all of the available vertical space. It would be ok as a splash screen but not as a banner.

Also - if I were looking to purchase, I would want to be able to see a larger image before making a decision. Medium as the largest display size is tiny (to my eyes). That's your decision, and I understand it from a limiting theft point of view. But from an enjoying the photos and potentially buying point of view, to me it's a non-starter.

--- Denise

clickin girl

Chris, Thanks so much for your input! I do agree about the overwhelming choices, I was overwhelmed when I saw all of the choices and had to price all of them! I do think it is a good idea to streamline and downsize the choices a bit and maybe that is something to work on at some point. You have definately given me something to think about. Thanks again for your input!

clickin girl

Denise, I did not realize this about the banner. My computer screen is a very big screen so on it it looks just right! I did not think about the smaller the screen the bigger the banner will be. When it comes to this sort of stuff I am not very computer savvy! I guess I just thought the smaller the screen the banner would just be smaller! Thanks so much for your input and I will work on the banner size!

deb22

Hi, I think your prices are NOT too high at all. $40 bucks for a 12x18 is super low but i don't like to tell people that as nothing is too low if you need to sell at that price. What I will tell you is that I have found that the higher you charge the more sales you will make. Not many people believe it but it is true. If people believe they are buying a quality piece they will take pride in the pic and the price must match their belief and yours as well. You have some Great shots and the more you take pride in your stuff others will too. double or triple your prices for everything over 5x7 and see, you can always change it back but you wont after your 1st sale. Also do you do shows? Most people if they see your work elsewhere are more apt to buy once they have seen your work somewhere and will go to your site from a business card. Good luck and your work is great don't undersell yourself even if you are just starting out.

clickin girl

Thanks for the input Deb! Like I said I am just starting out with this so all advice is most appreciated! I am working on getting a blog up and running and getting business cards made but it is just taking a little bit of time since I work in the mornings and have a 7 year old to take care of at night. I am hoping the blog will help! Thanks for your kind comments about my work as well! I will also consider changing my prices as well! Thanks again!

woodsphoto

My photography is almost all sports related. I rely on parents as my customer base. I can't tell you how many times I've had parents say to me "I want to purchase a bunch of prints, I'll do so soon." I used to get excited when I heard this, now I know the parents that purchase just do it, they don't say anything to me about it beforehand. One thing that has helped me (and you probably won't be able to benefit from it because our circumstances are different) is that when I do some self-fulfilled orders, I almost always try to make delivery at a team practice or game. When you walk up to a parent with a nice shiny metallic 20x30 print, the other parents and kids see this and it usually creates a small boost in sales.

I've been considering making an "example prints" page. (This may sound a little weird, bare with me) Most people don't realize just how well these images look printed. I hear that quite a bit when customers get their prints. (Maybe they are used to printing their images on their inkjets.) The only way they can truly appreciate the print is to actually see it, but I was thinking of taking pictures of prints and posting those. This method has actually produced a few sales when people have asked to see what the prints "look" like. The challenge is to photograph the prints well enough that it conveys it in a tangible way.

Your photos look great clickin girl. Good luck with your site.

zoomer

Selling prints from a Smugmug site just isn't going to happen for most people.
If you have a targeted marketing program to drive people to your site in droves and your work is exceptional (your work is just average) then you could expect to get some sales.
People are not magically going to find your site and spend money, your pricing really does not matter.

Go to any stock site...the work there is better than what you are trying to sell and it sells for pennies.

Remember you are competing against the local art venues and also the entire internet community.

Go take a look at Naturescapes and the work on there....when your work is that good then you would have a reasonable chance of selling more prints with a good marketing program.

Sometimes the truth is hard to hear but...there it is.

idiotabroad

Agree mostly with the Zoom. You have to find a target niche and go after it and drive them to the site. Start with a sliver of the niche to see if you can be successful then expand accordingly. But yes, just because you have a real website and a handful ok "okay" photos makes you a dime a dozen, I'm also one of them.

zoomer

If it makes you feel any better I am also in the dime a dozen category. I sell two or three prints a year from my website.

FedererPhoto

Your prices seem plenty (too?) low. Personally, I'd increase your prices -- it's not the prices holding you back.


A different tack not mentioned yet is how your perception of your work is. You call them 'pics'. No one wants to drop good money (even at cheap rates for good images) on a 'pic' from the internet. You have to value your art (which is more than simply putting a price on it on a SM site) before others will.

clickin girl

Thanks everyone for your opinions. I really appreciate the time everyone has taken to be honest with me! My family and friends of course is going to say that I am awesome, but deep down I know I am just "average". I really was not expecting to make a ton of money or anything, I was just hoping to maybe make enough to pay for some new software here and there and some photography things I would like to have. I really do just have a passion for photography and I think me thinking I could actually sell some and then not is crushing that and that is exactly what I did not want to happen. I will not be renewing my pro account at the end of the year and will going back to just a regular gallery where I can post my photos for my family to see. I am just going to go back to being a "clickin mom". Thanks again for all the input and advice! It was really appreciated!!

LeeHawkins

NEVER GIVE UP! If YOU think you're only average, that means with more practice over time, you can get closer to what you think is good, and then hopefully achieve excellence! I know I think REGULARLY that my work is just not good enough, when in reality, I improve all the time...and if you can find ways to improve, you will eventually gain more skill putting what you see into a great image and more confidence...I've felt like giving up and going back to IT, but I still love the art of photography too much to not find those little incremental boosts in my quality and confidence and use them as fuel to keep working.

Maybe you won't sell prints to strangers just yet (I know I haven't), but don't give up on trying

clickin girl

Lee, thanks for the words of encouragement. I do truly love photography and I will never quit taking photographs, just will not be trying to sell on the enternet for right now.

SamirD

Treat Smugmug as a fulfillment service. If you can get the sale offline, getting them online to complete it will just make the workflow easier.