They call me Angyl...

[gothwings.livejournal.com]

Hello everyone, I found this group through a comment a friend of a friend made and have a brief question about my prices from people more experienced than I am at this sort of thing. I'm guessing that my prices are about right as some say they're too high and others too low. If anyone has constructive criticism to pass on my site that too would be helpful, but be aware it is designed more toward functionality than appearance so that it is quicker to navigate on dial-up.

Anyway, enough rambling, here's the link to my pricing structure: http://www.stoneorchid.co.uk/artonline/commissions.htm and my website can be found here: http://www.stoneorchid.co.uk/artonline

Many thanks also to KaputOtter on his comments regarding payment. I've had a few people mess me about with this and so I should be taking further steps to protect myself from further non payment of artwork.

=^.^=

Comments

[grygon.livejournal.com]

i'd comment but i'm too lazy to go dig out a usa to uk currency converter.

[gothwings.livejournal.com]

There's no need, there's one on the page itself... and a link here: http://www.xe.com/ucc/ =^.^=

[calorath.livejournal.com]

Yeah Kaput and I talk all the time, he's really nice, he and I have been friends for a while. Just the other day I was telling him how great of a friend I thought he was. His ideas on payments are really good too, I really think he's onto something. I was just telling him the other day 'Kaput my boy! You have some good ideas, you're goin places!'

;)

[xianjaguar.livejournal.com]

So when KaputOtter go from being a girl to a guy? More gendershifting? ;)

[calorath.livejournal.com]

I'm just picking at her. Though... 'BoiKaput' has been known to have rather nice 'features' ;)

[xianjaguar.livejournal.com]

*grins*
I figured you were teasing, based on the original post's assumption she was a 'he'.
I just had to jump in and join the fun (while at the same time, gently letting the original thread-starter know that Kaput iRL is indeed, female.)

[calorath.livejournal.com]

Sometimes it's hard to tell, when she shaves her head, wears flannel, and drinks dark beer. I'd almost swear she was a lumberjack who likes a Lillith Fair concert. ;)

[kaputotter.livejournal.com]

God dammit you asshole, MY GIRLFRIEND WEARS THE FLANNEL, not me!! :PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP

[calorath.livejournal.com]

Xian started it!

[chlorophyta.livejournal.com]

If I know Kaput, she probably gets a kick out of it when someone refers to her as 'he'. ^^

[kaputotter.livejournal.com]

Without fail. X)

[izzyferret.livejournal.com]

I'm no expert on the subject, but next time, ask those people why they think your prices are high/low...really, that's what's more important. "Too low" might say "Artists should make more money because they're so underappreciated!", while "Too high" may say "How can you expect me to have that much money?", or other nonsense things like those. If their reasons are nonsense, they can't really be taken seriously, but if they have a good reason, then it can be taken into consideration.

[gothwings.livejournal.com]

Well the ones that say my prices are too high are generally in the US, those that say they're too low are people who understand and know how much time and effort I put into the art and customer relations.

Someone put it smartly to me about the US thing. They expect the same amount for their $10 as I would for my £10. That's all well and good, but I cannot do that, so I understand more why they say my prices are too high.

Other people that havve said my prices are too high are those that want free art... I can happily ignore those people ^.^

[signaldancer.livejournal.com]

Our exchange rate to you guys really sucks for us right now (and has for a good while). Most of us look at *anything* in the UK right now and shake our heads becuase the difference in monetary value here to there is pretty rough. It's not that sellers arent being fair, it's that the exchange rate damn near kills us.

[gothwings.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the rate is something like $1.70 to £1.00. It will drop again, about 6 months ago (I think) it was about $1.30 to £1.00, which was much kinder for you guys.

[haricotvert.livejournal.com]

that's roughly what i price mine as. but then again, that'd be like $5, instead of £5. And how can someone's say that's too high? i've seen people do shitastic work and charge three times that! :\

[gymnopedie.livejournal.com]

just an opinion... I'd up your shipping costs. or add in "If you want insurance, add another 5" "tracking, add another dollar (or two, whatever it is now)" if anything like that is offered. post prices in the usa just went up again this year. penny here and there for stamps, a few dollars more for other stuff (I know from business stuff, it went up about 4 dollars for overnight packages)

it costs me 8.00 to ship from illinois to texas the other day.

Simple shipping with no extra stuff from USA to Sweden (I have a friend out there. she sends me her poetry books, I send her some prints every christmas).. usually costs me about.. 4-5 (in usd)

what ever YOU are comfortable with charging for your art is the right price :)

[gymnopedie.livejournal.com]

because, don't forget, you need to factor in the weight, the actual packaging material, etc. (If I ship paper art, it's got extra cardboard and some bubble wrapping in there, plus a padded envelope)

[gothwings.livejournal.com]

Well the postage is calculated on items I've already sent. I see no reason to up my postage higher than it really is. I have weird ethics when it comes to selling, I don't want to make a fortune if I haven't had to spend enough time/money to warrant it.

As for what I'm comfortable charging... I'd love to charge more, but I feel guilty when I see work by Chris Sawyer and Ayame Emaya and the like because I don't always feel my art measures up to their standard.

An artist's biggest critic is themself.

[art-batty.livejournal.com]

Since I'm still an amateur I based all my prices on the same formula:
Mc+(Mw*T)= COst per commission. Mc is the Materials cost, Mw is Minimum wage for my area, And T is an estimate of the time I'm gonna spend on it. I post base prices on my site that are generally pretty near to the price of the majority of my commissions. My art teacher was the one who helped me work out the idea.

[gothwings.livejournal.com]

That's pretty much how I work it out, though I do charge less than minimum wage for the hours I put in (£5.35 I think it is now) because otherwise people would not want to pay as much as I'd ask.

I feel £15 is fair for an average image, even though it can take me up to 5 hours (5x£5 = £25) to complete an image. I don't factor in cost of materials or the time spent on emails and confirming everything is as the customer wants it. If I did, I don't think I should ever get any trade.

[duraji-synth.livejournal.com]

That's some nice art! The prices are very fair, too.

[gothwings.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much.

I would write more, but I don't think I need to ^.^