Have you wondered if you should show your art prices on your website? For some artists, they make their work and showing prices can feel out of alignment with the conversation they want their work to have. Or maybe showing prices doesn’t feel as relevant as getting the work seen.
For many of us, there’s a deep-seeded thought that showing our prices will cheapen the work. We’re afraid it might make us look like sell-outs or desperate. No one that I know wants to compromise their creative integrity just to sell some work. And almost everyone I know wants to sell their work to feel valued, recognized, seen and pay the rent along the way.
Have you decided what’s right for you when it comes to listing your prices on your website? If you’ve ever struggled with that decision, keep reading.
The first step to figure this out is to get clear on your goals. Do you want to sell your art to collectors, designers, shops, art consultants or agents? How much of it do you want to sell? Will you sell directly to patrons or only through galleries?
If you want to sell your art directly, a key piece in making that happen is making the price known and having a process for buying work. In other words, buyers must know what the price is because it’s part of the shopping process.
You can ask buyers or collectors to inquire about prices and availability or let them know in the description of a piece what it costs and if it’s for sale. Which is easier for the person shopping? Emailing or calling you to ask if a piece is available and how much it is? Or seeing that information right there so you can decide if buying is really right for you?
I think it’s easier to buy art when I know the price. I hate to bother people with asking if there’s a chance I may not buy it after all. The same feeling is true for shopping at a store. If a piece of clothing isn’t priced, I’m not as likely to buy it because I may not have time to hunt down the price or feel like talking to a store associate.
Listing your prices reduces the friction of the buying process. It makes it much easier for a potential buyer to know if your work fits into their budget. Asking someone to email or call you for a price is asking them to make an extra effort. And instead of getting them closer to buying your work, you slow down the process by not giving a buyer what they need, when they need it.
Showing prices on your website makes the most sense when...
You’re not only selling through a gallery
You’re selling directly to designers, buyers and collectors
You’re in the middle of a pandemic where collectors going to galleries and visiting exhibitions is difficult
You want to make the buying process as easy as possible for those that are serious about buying
“If you’ve got to ask the price, you can’t afford it” is a sentiment that’s been heard often. If a person can afford the art, not showing the price might make them think that it's out of their price range even though it is within their budget. That would be a missed sale.
There are some instances when showing prices online may not be an exact fit. For example, when it’s a really expensive piece of art, like over $10k. People don’t always want others to know how much they might have spent on a piece when it gets in that territory. So out of respect for your buyer’s privacy, you may not want to list those prices online.
If it makes you feel like your art is too product-y, showing your prices may not be a fit. Even if you know that it’s helpful to speed up the buying process, if in your gut it doesn’t feel right, don’t show prices. I hope you change your mind but I understand that you may not, or that you may want to sit with the idea of adding prices to your website. If you can bring yourself to show prices in a way that feels good to you, can you let collectors know that prices are readily available via email or something similar? Can you look for ways to make it as easy as possible for someone to purchase your art if they want to?
It also may be a wrench-fit to show prices on your website if you’re selling through a gallery. If this is the case for some or all of your work, have a conversation with your gallerist about what they're comfortable with and about what will support selling the work. You can always show the work on your website, include the price and direct buyers to go through your gallery. Provide contact information if you go this route.
The upshot here is that if you want to sell your art, even just a little bit, you can help your buyers and yourself by showing your prices on your website. Read the next article that talks about how to show your prices on your website without looking cheesy.
Do you show prices on your website? Let me know in the comments. I’d love to hear your thoughts on it.
Cheers,
Kate