| Jennie Rosenbaum said at 9:50pm on December 5th, 2007
(View Profile | Send Private Message) |
ok! I've gone through everything again - I think they are worded better this time - I'm back to using the options |
| |
| Sharon Cummings said at 8:03am on December 6th, 2007
(View Profile | Send Private Message) |
TJ....SO RIGHT!!! A customer who can spend 650.00 for a painting is not going to triffle over 20.00 in shipping! That level of buyer will buy the painting regardless of shipping. They will just add the two together and see the bottom line. So Jennie what I do is I will sometimes build a portion of the price of shipping into the painting so that the shipping fee seems very reasonable. |
| |
| ART By IRIS said at 12:27pm on December 7th, 2007
(View Profile | Send Private Message) |
I must say I disagree.... unless you're very lucky and your customer is a gazillionaire, which most people aren't so most chances they are not - people care how they spend their hard earned $$, and if they decide to support you as an artist, invest in your art, and become in a way your patrons, it doesn't mean they want additional unnecessary expenses - so the more you save on their expenses - the more they will appreciate it and come back (or not, but they will recommend you as a seller).
Another thing is the environment - by shipping a rolled piece, you are saving gas emissions and you are supporting your local frame shop/art supply seller, and so helping to save the planet.... I believe that if it costs the same to ship or to stretch locally - it's better to do it locally and I recommend it, even if I may get paid extra for the stretching service. |
| |
| Jennie Rosenbaum said at 10:33pm on December 9th, 2007
(View Profile | Send Private Message) |
I think it causes less potential damage to the canvas as well.
Sadly I do factor shipping into my paintings as well for overhead - it ends up being about a 50/50 split which I'm not nuts about but Australian Shipping is revoltingly expensive if you want a tracking number. it usually costs on the order of $50 to $80 to ship a painting. Lowering my shipping costs has helped with sales.
I think Iris is right though, people shopping online are after a bargain however they can get it and an extra $20 could make all the difference. |
| |
| Sharon Cummings said at 7:45am on December 10th, 2007
(View Profile | Send Private Message) |
Not ALL online shoppers are bargain hunters. Some use it for the convienence. OR they live in po dunk but want ultra modern art. They have no choice. I found the bargain shoppers on eBay and that is why I no longer sell there. But on BG and other sites my work sells for full price and my large commissions are in the 1000s. No problem. Shipping charges all depend on the buyer. If you get a bargain shopper, sure it will make a difference. But for "fine art" sales on sites like BG, I find it isnt such an issue for me. |
| |
| Ashley Dietrich said at 11:49am on December 10th, 2007
(View Profile | Send Private Message) |
I totally agree about eBay, Sharon. I've found that people will make offers of $100 on a piece I have at $450! And on top, I lose 20% in fees, etc. I have to mark up my work by $50 per piece to make it worth it - and I put part of that markup on shipping, so my art prices are more consistent. I have been considering phasing out eBay, and I thought I was the only one. PS: You were once on my friends list, then I noticed your name was gone, and now I can't add you back to it.?? |
| |
| Sharon Cummings said at 11:57am on December 10th, 2007
(View Profile | Send Private Message) |
Ashley...this is some weird bugthat they have not quite worked out yet. Let Mike know that I disappeared from your list. He can put us back together. :)
Ebay is no place for fine art anymore in my opinion. Im not saying that fine art cant sell there. It can. It does. But for peanuts. You are right no....Minus those nasty fees, your supplies and what are you left with. No thanks. At some point I decided that it was not worth my time to spend 350.00 a week on fees to make 600.00 bucks in sales with a profit of only 250.00 minus my supply costs. Not worth it! |
| |
| Ashley Dietrich said at 2:29pm on December 10th, 2007
(View Profile | Send Private Message) |
Yeah - not to mention that I lost a painting fees/shipping because a customer did a chargeback on their credit card 3 months after they reported receiving the work. Not quite that safe... |
| |
| Sharon Cummings said at 2:57pm on December 10th, 2007
(View Profile | Send Private Message) |
I know an artist that got a chargeback after a year. PayPal did it...no questions asked. The artist was just out 400 bucks! |
| |
| Jennie Rosenbaum said at 10:13pm on December 10th, 2007
(View Profile | Send Private Message) |
apparently galleries are very put off by ebay as well, they feel that it causes the artist to devalue their work (which is true) an many won't represent an artist who's sold work on eBay.
It's not that online hunters don't buy expensive things - and I don't think the painting's price is as much a factor, but shipping makes a huge difference in sales. I know personally I won't buy things if I think the shipping is unreasonable, and I was getting no response here until I retooled my prices to include some of the shipping and lowered the shipping. even though I am not based in the US that isn't immediately obvious and the high shipping can scare away people who think I am trying to rip them off.
my main thinking, however, is about the people who save for what they want. they work really hard to afford that piece that they are desperate for and to them the difference in shipping is enormous. imagine saving for so long only to be thwarted by shipping! this is actually happening to my husband at the moment - something he has saved months for and he can finally afford it only to discover it will cost an additional $100 to ship it out here. it won't stop him getting it, but if there was an option to save money on shipping he would do it - sometimes $20 is a lot.
Luckily I also use the exchange rate to supplement postage as well. sometimes it works better than others, but I usually get a bit extra that way as well. |
| |
