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Author Topic: Notes on my first craft festival  (Read 9318 times)

Slobodan Blagojevic

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Re: Notes on my first craft festival
« Reply #20 on: November 23, 2012, 01:50:46 pm »

Just to clarify my line of thinking: say I visit a gallery, see a piece I like... a quick online search nets your web presence and I see that I can get the same image at half the price. I turn around, leave the gallery, and order online. Or I see on your blog that you will be at an art fair in my neighborhood soon, selling at a discount there.

Pretty soon the gallery owner would realize he is not selling much (or any) of your pieces, i.e., will realize that he is providing just a marketing platform for you, free of charge, and that he could use that wall space for pieces that actually would sell there.
« Last Edit: November 23, 2012, 06:07:04 pm by Slobodan Blagojevic »
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louoates

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Re: Notes on my first craft festival
« Reply #21 on: November 23, 2012, 04:18:25 pm »

Lots of different pricing approaches. My pricing is mostly dependent upon the market I'm doing that day. My established galleries set their prices for my work based upon their own criteria. I also often get calls from my business card that they picked up at a gallery. If I make the sale direct, for whatever price we agree upon, I make sure to write a check for the profit that gallery would have made had they wrote up the sale. The galleries were shocked to get that check but when I explained that I would have never made the sale if it weren't for the gallery I think they were more apt to actively show my work. Besides, I thought it was the right thing to do.

If you look at pricing from a customer's point of view would they pay a bit more to purchase from a nice carpeted showroom with perfect lighting while sipping wine -- or slogging across wet and muddy grass to reach your outdoor tent?
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bill t.

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Re: Notes on my first craft festival
« Reply #22 on: November 23, 2012, 06:03:30 pm »

That's a gray area.  When a client sees a piece at a gallery and then immediately contacts you direct, I think I owe a commission to the gallery.  I usually handle that by telling them to order through the gallery, which also simplifies my life a little bit because it encumbers the gallery with the sales paperwork and with delivering the piece.

But then the shades of grey get murkier when it's one of your old, pre-gallery customers who does that.  The possible variations are endless.  But whatever else, be sure the gallery doesn't get the feeling you are cutting shifty deals behind their back such that you're using them as a showroom for direct deals.  Be up front about any significant direct sales, just mention it casually during normal conversation.

When you set up deals with new galleries, it's pretty important to at least bring up the subject of your existing customers before signing the dotted line, even if there is nothing in the written agreement about that.  That's especially true if you have customers with a reputation as a collector, or a customer who is also one of the gallery's customers. And of course they should be aware of your art fair activities.  The gallery owner's reaction to all that can be very telling.
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Justan

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Re: Notes on my first craft festival
« Reply #23 on: November 25, 2012, 01:42:00 pm »

First, my thanks to the 3 of you for your thoughtful comments on this topic. I pondered your feed back for some time as there is a very real practical element to the topic. There are opinions i agree with and some i do not.

I want to indicate that my comment about selling for half the cost of what my works sell for in galleries applies to my print bin sales. I did not state that previously. My mistake.

Details:

As I’m sure all will agree, a contract details the terms and conditions of an agreement. No details…no agreement. Failing a contract, a gallery has no say whatsoever about what an artist does. The reverse is also true. In the end, a gallery is just a reseller of products. I’ve seen about the same wholesaler-reseller contract phenomena endlessly over the 25 or so years in my day job. Some resellers do offer a good opportunity. Bill provided an example of that. Some do not.

Quote
…providing just a marketing platform for you, free of charge…

With reference to my own experiences, I agree galleries provide an opportunity to present and sell works. They may or may not do marketing of the works with their email list. Their efforts may or may not produce positive results.

The statement that it is free of charge is 100% wrong. There is a real and substantial cost to the artist to show at a gallery. This includes the cost of the artist’s materials, the artist’s time, and most importantly but less tangible, the artist’s opportunity. And then there is the part about having the artist’s products tied up by the gallery for months on end. Add to this the time and costs invested at openings, answering follow-up questions, providing cards, and so on. These all have very real costs associated with them. That you perceived this as “free of charge” is beyond silly. It’s up to you but you will help yourself by reconsidering your opinion.

Also my experience is that the opportunities available to newbie artists are vastly different than those reported by established artists. This is not surprising. Galleries have their own agenda. Galleries seek to profit from the artist. Galleries do not or need to ask permission or seek approval of the artist to do so as long as it’s covered by the contract. That is why contracts exist. Well, what’s good for the gallery….

Quote
If you look at pricing from a customer's point of view would they pay a bit more to purchase from a nice carpeted showroom with perfect lighting while sipping wine -- or slogging across wet and muddy grass to reach your outdoor tent?

I don’t have an answer to this. The galleries my works show in do not offer wine, except cheap stuff sometimes at openings. They do not offer perfect lighting. None have carpet. The shows I’ve been in are inside, and often warmer than galleries. I think the warmth comes in part from thousands of people looking to buy, and in part from the organizer who has already made $$ from the vendors booth sales. And the main point is the galleries don’t charge “a bit more,” they charge 100% more.

I plan to add carpeting to my booth in the near future, as soon as I get the time to visit a carpet store….

I’ve looked into a lot of retail photography sales over the last couple of years with great interest. The last couple of shows I’ve done demonstrates pretty clearly that the sweet spot for print bin items is a lot lower than what the galleries I’ve contracted with have insisted upon. That is their mistake. It was also my mistake for going along.

I previously asked one of the galleries that show my works to drop their retail price for print bin items. They refused. In truth, my contracts do not give me control over their pricing. If they can get what they ask, that’s great, but frankly, their greed damages me and them in a big way due to lost sales opportunity.

This detail probably plays a hand in why so many galleries fail. Galleries refuse to make their price points attractive to the average buyer. I don’t know why that is, but speculate that the convention of a 100% markup plays a large role. In the broader world of retail sales, this expectation is way out of line.

And yet, many new artists happily go along with over-pricing their works. The prospect of returning a lot of $$ per item is appealing, after all.

Cold hard facts:

What I’ve learned in the 2 shows I’ve done is that when I price my print bin works competitively, sales are good and I make a profit. The galleries that show my works do not do this.

During these shows, I’ve been asked by more resellers about their selling my works, than in several years of email solicitations on my part to lots of art gallery owners. By resellers I mean art galleries, big box stores, resorts, other shows and yada, yada, yada. This is great for me as it has opened doors not there in the past. Time will tell if some of these opportunities are good ones.

When I hook up with resellers in the future, I’ll be more assertive over both the retail price and the margin I offer to them. At this point, the galleries who show my works insist on a 100% markup. I will never again agree to this.

All that aside, in the foreseeable future, I’ll still offer bargains my fair exhibitions. There is no reason not to do so.

Slobodan Blagojevic

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Re: Notes on my first craft festival
« Reply #24 on: November 25, 2012, 03:43:01 pm »

...  The statement that it is free of charge is 100% wrong... That you perceived this as “free of charge” is beyond silly. It’s up to you but you will help yourself by reconsidering your opinion...

How so!?

I said that a gallery owner is giving you his wall space, as a marketing platform, free of charge. In other words, he is not charging you anything for it (in advance). He is not getting anything from you unless he sells your work. And if he can not sell it (because you are undercutting him, remember), he is not getting anything back for that wall space.

How much it actually cost you to put it up on that wall is totally, absolutely irrelevant for this discussion, or from his perspective.

I provided a scenario, whose outcome, like with all scenarios, depends on certain assumptions. The assumptions I made in that scenario are 1. you are undercutting him 2. he can not sell your work because of it 3. he is pissed off because of it and decides to stop representing you.

If any of those assumptions are not valid, say he is not pissed off and continues to display your work even if it doesn't sell, than more power to you, your strategy works, and no need to change anything.

Justan

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Re: Notes on my first craft festival
« Reply #25 on: November 26, 2012, 11:06:20 am »

Yawn

Walt Roycraft

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Re: Notes on my first craft festival
« Reply #26 on: November 26, 2012, 03:35:19 pm »

Just to clarify my line of thinking: say I visit a gallery, see a piece I like... a quick online search nets your web presence and I see that I can get the same image at half the price. I turn around, leave the gallery, and order online. Or I see on your blog that you will be at an art fair in my neighborhood soon, selling at a discount there.

Pretty soon the gallery owner would realize he is not selling much (or any) of your pieces, i.e., will realize that he is providing just a marketing platform for you, free of charge, and that he could use that wall space for pieces that actually would sell there.

You are 100% correct.
If you are showing at Galleries and plan to continue doing so, never, ever, undercut them.
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Walter Roycraft
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Slobodan Blagojevic

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Re: Notes on my first craft festival
« Reply #27 on: November 26, 2012, 04:04:52 pm »

You are 100% correct.
If you are showing at Galleries and plan to continue doing so, never, ever, undercut them.

Psssst... our friend Justan is sleeping... I saw him yawning a few moments ago ;)
« Last Edit: July 25, 2013, 03:38:37 am by Slobodan Blagojevic »
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