When it comes to selling your art at a discount, there are a few helpful things to think about to make it a successful sale. And so you don’t feel awful about underpricing your art.
Why An Art Sale?
First, get really clear on WHY you’re offering your art or services at a sale price. Are they experiments that didn’t totally work out or only partially worked out? Maybe the items you want to discount just didn’t meet the quality you were looking for.
Are they seconds because of a technical reason like the clay is too thick for mugs? Or things are uneven? Or the ink didn’t spread evenly?
Maybe the piece is damaged but not entirely ruined which you feel warrants a discount? Personally, I’ve sold work that had damaged edges that weren’t that noticeable but I didn't feel right letting it go at full price with the dings to the photographic print edges.
Perhaps you want to clear things out to make room for your next pieces. Maybe these pieces don’t fit into your conceptual approach as well as you hoped. Perhaps you’ve closed that exploratory avenue of your work to shift to a different set of ideas. All of these are good reasons to have an art sale.
Quality
Your buyer may very well not be savvy enough about your medium to appreciate the differences in quality. This knowledge comes into play when you decide to have an art sale and sell your work or services for a discount. What this means is that while you may feel like that piece you created missed the mark on hitting your expectations for quality, your buyer may not see this. They may not be educated enough around your kind of art and offers to know and appreciate the difference in quality. This is a connoisseur's eye versus a newbie’s eye. The details they each see will be different.
For example, I love the look and feel of letterpress, and I also know I’m not that knowledgeable about what makes an excellent print versus a so-so print. Also, I actually like the look of wonky prints and uneven inks. So a “second” when it comes to a letterpress print is lost on me but not on a true collector.
Intentions Matter
The buyer’s intentions for how they’ll use the piece from your art sale may be different than your intentions as the artist. Knowing this can mean that putting the item on sale is worth it to you. This especially comes in handy if you’re on the fence about discounting it.
For example when I purchased handmade plates, my intention was to use them in a way that featured their benefits. So even though the artist who created them viewed them as flawed or practice plates, they still meet my plan for how I want to use them. So buying them is a win for me, and a win for the artist.
No More Underselling Your Art
This idea of having an art sale is not selling from a place of scarcity. What I’m proposing is that you sell from a place of helping others while having fun, and from an intentional mindset. If you’re considering creating an art sale of some kind, get really clear on why you want to get paid less than full price for a piece.
Then, decide if you’re okay with that or if by discounting your art you feel like you’re giving away the farm. When you have this kind of clarity around an art sale, you won’t feel awful about selling your work for less, you’ll feel excited to make room for new art, while making money and giving your buyers a fun, not-always-available option for getting a piece of your art.
If you had a sale right now, what would your one clear reason be to discount it?