Pricing our fine art photography can cause many of us to stop dead in our tracks before moving on. Once you get past that fear of pricing and youā€™ve made the decision to sell your work online, then what?

After youā€™ve decided which images you want to sell, youā€™ll need to figure out how much you want to sell your work for. Itā€™s not always an easy task figuring that out, but there are plenty of resources online and other photographers who have already ventured into this who are likely willing to help you.

Set your own prices

Pricing policies and how it all works will vary by site, by the gallery and in general where and how you sell your work. The most important thing is to do your research first based on this.

As an example, Fine Art America sets the base price for each product that they manufacture, and then you add a markup on top of that base price. Whatever you set as your markup… that’s exactly how much you’ll earn on the sale.

As an example, the base price on a 24-by-36 inch canvas is $50. You set your markup to be $25. That means the buyer pays $75 and you would earn $25. (Please note: This is only an example, please use your own guidelines and pricing standards to price your work.)

You can set your prices as high or low as you want to sell them. Prices can be changed at any time as well. Sellers have complete control over their prices. 

pricing

How do I decide how much to sell my work for

There are some rules of thumb when it comes to pricing prints. If I were doing my own printing or if Iā€™m using Fine Art America as a lab, or using any other print lab, the general rule is two or three times your cost. Fine Art America gives you their cost for each product, so you can decide from there how much to charge. 

For some, using percentages works. To use the 24-by-36 inch canvas example, the cost is $50. I could decide to use 30% (or more or less) to be the amount I would like to make on each sale. So, I would make $15 on this sale and the customer would pay $65. (Please note: This is only an example, please use your own guidelines and pricing standards to price your work.)

The site does suggest a markup amount on all their products. For the most part, this is a very modest markup. For a 6.25-by-8 inch print, their suggested markup is $10. That might be ok for that size but what aboutĀ larger sizes, other substrates and other items that might sell? Be sure to price out what YOU want to make on each sale.

Do some research on pricing fine art

I would suggest spending some time on Fine Art America without logging in, to see what other photographers and artists are charging for their work. Find someone who does similar work and see what their prices are.

Check several profiles though, not just one or two. Youā€™ll find that pricing varies from artist to artist. There are professional photographers on Fine Art America and their pricing may reflect that compared to many hobby photographers who also put their work out there and may not be comfortable charging more.

pricing

Bulk editing and default pricing

This is an easy way to price all of your work at once. If you set your default prices it will automatically populate any time you upload a new piece of artwork. This saves a ton of time in the long run. 

pricing

After youā€™ve done all of your pricing, go back to your profile when youā€™re not logged in and take a look at what your page or an image on your profile looks like. Check that the prices showing are what you think they should be. 

pricing

You can also choose what items you want to price/offer for sale. If you only want to sell prints then do not add in pricing for any of the home goods, apparel or other items. Leaving the markup blank on these when you upload a new image, will mean that those items will not show up for sale on your profile.

Re-evaluate

Take a look over everything after a set period of time. Check in and see how itā€™s going. Are you happy with what youā€™re earning per print or sale? If not, increase your markup to be what you want to earn. It’s all up to you how much you want to earn per sale.