Digital Download Pricing

hkbphoto · February 2, 2010

:clapThe past few times I have browsed SmugMug I have tried to determine a formula for pricing digital downloads. I have been unable to find any site, gallery or member that seems to have any formula for any of their pricing, much less the digital downloads. If you set the price for (award winning) print #A at $100 and no one buys it - is it priced to high? Well, what if you reset the price to $10 - and no one buys it - is it priced to high? I know of one artist who sets his print prices at $15,000 each. But, I can't tell you how many prints he has sold. So, is there a formula for this? What is the upside/downside to offering digital downloads for personal/commercial use?

Any comments on the subject would be appreciated.:deal

TangoJuliet · February 4, 2010

I hope you get a reply soon, I was looking for answers to this very question. As far as print prices, I just tried to determine how much I would be willing to spend on a print of a particular image that I really liked. I didn't have much in sales last year, but I didn't really market myself either as I was still learning (and still am

).

Reeflections · February 4, 2010

hkbphoto wrote:

The past few times I have browsed SmugMug I have tried to determine a formula for pricing digital downloads. I have been unable to find any site, gallery or member that seems to have any formula for any of their pricing, much less the digital downloads. If you set the price for (award winning) print #A at $100 and no one buys it - is it priced to high? Well, what if you reset the price to $10 - and no one buys it - is it priced to high? I know of one artist who sets his print prices at $15,000 each. But, I can't tell you how many prints he has sold. So, is there a formula for this? What is the upside/downside to offering digital downloads for personal/commercial use?

Any comments on the subject would be appreciated.

I think you have to take a few more things in consideration when you set your prices. If your award winning print didn't sell at $100 you have to determine why it may not have sold other than the price. Was it on a website that was only visited by your friends and maybe other photographers? How many people saw it that might actually be interested in that type of photo? If you dropped the price to 10% of what you started with and still didn't sell it, I would guess that price might not be the problem - or maybe just part of the problem.

Pricing for prints is the same as pricing for anything - as much as the market will bear. But you have to determine where and what your market is. Once you are sure you have a way to showcase your work to the "right" potential customers, then you can see how others are doing with similar products. Then you can honestly decide if you think yours will be as in demand as others in the same market and try to set your prices accordingly. Then you can adjust as you go if you think price is an issue one way or the other.

Finding the market is the key, then setting prices is easy.

hkbphoto · February 5, 2010

Reeflections wrote:

I think you have to take a few more things in consideration when you set your prices. If your award winning print didn't sell at $100 you have to determine why it may not have sold other than the price. Was it on a website that was only visited by your friends and maybe other photographers? How many people saw it that might actually be interested in that type of photo? If you dropped the price to 10% of what you started with and still didn't sell it, I would guess that price might not be the problem - or maybe just part of the problem.

Pricing for prints is the same as pricing for anything - as much as the market will bear. But you have to determine where and what your market is. Once you are sure you have a way to showcase your work to the "right" potential customers, then you can see how others are doing with similar products. Then you can honestly decide if you think yours will be as in demand as others in the same market and try to set your prices accordingly. Then you can adjust as you go if you think price is an issue one way or the other.

Finding the market is the key, then setting prices is easy.

First off, I agree with you on pricing. It is basically how I have set mine.

Now, on your comment: "Just one more thing and I will have everything I need." That is exactly what I say everytime I walk out of a camera store.

Thanks for the get back.

TangoJuliet · February 6, 2010

I'm still at a loss on pricing digital downloads. I don't even know where to begin. I've never downloaded anything to even have a starting point. I have a price set in my galleries, but I have no way of knowing if I'm pricing too low/high

.

Snowgirl · February 6, 2010

TangoJuliet wrote:

I'm still at a loss on pricing digital downloads. I don't even know where to begin. I've never downloaded anything to even have a starting point. I have a price set in my galleries, but I have no way of knowing if I'm pricing too low/high .

Why do you even want to sell digital downloads? And which version - low or high res? Will they be watermarked or not? Or only on low, not on high? Are they for personal use for your clients (who will scoot to Walmart to print them) or are they going to ad agencies for commercial use? Those things all factor into the potential price.

TangoJuliet · February 6, 2010

Snowgirl wrote:

Why do you even want to sell digital downloads? And which version - low or high res? Will they be watermarked or not? Or only on low, not on high? Are they for personal use for your clients (who will scoot to Walmart to print them) or are they going to ad agencies for commercial use? Those things all factor into the potential price.

Good point. I guess when I opened my SM account I tried to include a little bit of everything. Last year, one of the few sales I had was a digital download. I hadn't thought much about it until then. I suppose the thing to do is just remove it as an option. I don't think it will hurt my sales to not have it.

Snowgirl · February 6, 2010

TangoJuliet wrote:

Good point. I guess when I opened my SM account I tried to include a little bit of everything. Last year, one of the few sales I had was a digital download. I hadn't thought much about it until then. I suppose the thing to do is just remove it as an option. I don't think it will hurt my sales to not have it.

I dropped it completely except for special orders.

daylightimages · February 10, 2010

I priced my commercial digital downloads at a price that I considered to be "higher than market" with the belief that if a commercial entity was interested, they'd contact me to negotiate a price. If the entity needed it right now, they might buy the downloads at my (what I consider) inflated price.

Imagine my surprise a couple of days ago when I got notified from SmugMug that I had a sale. "Another 5x7," I thought. "I just made 13 cents..." When I checked the order, a railroad supply firm purchased seven digital downloads at $250 each -- a $1750 sale!

Getting back to my original point, I only have digital downloads available as an advertising tool -- to show they're available. But the price is high enough that if someone does buy one (or seven) without any negotiating, I won't feel ripped off.

NatureMaven · February 15, 2010

daylightimages wrote:

I priced my commercial digital downloads at a price that I considered to be "higher than market" with the belief that if a commercial entity was interested, they'd contact me to negotiate a price. If the entity needed it right now, they might buy the downloads at my (what I consider) inflated price.

Imagine my surprise a couple of days ago when I got notified from SmugMug that I had a sale. "Another 5x7," I thought. "I just made 13 cents..." When I checked the order, a railroad supply firm purchased seven digital downloads at $250 each -- a $1750 sale!

Getting back to my original point, I only have digital downloads available as an advertising tool -- to show they're available. But the price is high enough that if someone does buy one (or seven) without any negotiating, I won't feel ripped off.

Congradulations on your sale!

Digital Download Pricing

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