last weekend was a scorcher of a day and I was out in the midst of it at the annual Subiaco Craft Fair.
I made most of my sales before 11.30 in the morning ... and the rest of the day proceeded to bring nothing but potential skin cancer.
All in all the day was a lot of fun though :) I found a great bead stall and walked away from it with a hefty, coloured, glass filled, bag of happiness!
I received a couple of lectures for my troubles though. Fellow artists and Etsy store owners gave me a stern talking to about how I should put my prices up by at least double. Then proceeded to reference other well known artists who sell stuff similar to my work for a BILLION.
One of them proceeds to tell me her stuff sells at least at a price 4x more than what I price my paintings at. Mean while she's an artist who has been mentioned in countless magazines, currently has a solo exhibition with countless more lined up, sells internationally and is the highest selling Etsy member is Western Australia. The End.
At the moment I don't feel confidant enough to sell at huge prices. Keep is small, keep it affordable, keep'n it real yo! (hehe at least until I feel more comfortable selling at higher prices)
And on that note here are some of the paintings I had on sale and for the record none of them sold even at my LOW LOW PRICES!
And a special thanks to Judith who made these suuuuper cute reindeer!
7 comments:
But we did it out of love for you....
and you'd do fabulously well if you were on Etsy too!! You are my competition.... awww Jayde.... you know we meant well. xox
I bought a few things as well though, so surely it makes up for it? yes, yes? xox
Just think... if you charge their REAL VALUE then you can keep doing this forever cause I'd hate to have you stop one day because you'd be too poor to continue!
I'm going to go off and hide in a box now.....
oh Jayde! please don't feel that way. We really love your work and want to see you do well because you are incredibly talented! I second what Ali said, we would hate to see you give up because you have to work fulltime just to sustain your craft. I love love love your work and would love one of your paintings but I didn't have a good look at them because they were so low and if I tip over I will have a vertigo attack (which happened anyway) What were you charging for them? I understand you were charging wholesale prices but don't forget that the stores might not be too pleased with that because then you are competition for them, so you **should** (sorry, cringe, more lectures) charge the same as they do. oh please don't feel we were lecturing you, we only said it because we love your work and want to see you succeed. Look at my work, I charged $65 a piece at PICA and sold over 25 pieces and people didn't bat an eyelid.. the people are there that will pay for your talent. You have talent, don't forget it. I LOVE LOVE LOVE my cupcake earings. Can you do me some bigger ones on hair elastics for my niece? in Pink of course. Have you considered doing badges of your girls? I am thinking of buying a badge maker.. do they sell them at Spotlight? you can come and use mine when I do. Oh Jayde, please don't feel this way. We admire your work and your talent and want to see you keep at it and you can only do that if you are making money. **big hug**
OMG you two are too cute for words!!! I totally appreciate your advice and that you're both just trying to help me :)
I'm just not that confidant yet I guess. I had a call today about a commission for a portrait and I quoted $300 for it and my brother told me he doesn't do them for less than $1000.... puts things into perspective huh?
None of the paintings I had for sale at Subi were over $45.
but yes I have decided to put my prices up! YAY! hehe maybe you should have bought up big before giving me the advice though!
I'm hoping to have an Etsy store up and running by the end of this week too!! I'm super excited about it!!
*super, giant hugs for both of you*
oh that is a relief! there was I thinking that you weren't talking to me! arggg. Best of luck with the Etsy shop, don't be surprised if it is slow at first, just keep blogging about it and that will help drive traffic, plus let me know when it is up and I will post about it on my blog and I am sure the others will help out too! big hug back at ya!
Do you know how RELIEVED I am that I came back and checked this page!!!
Jayde I haven't been able to stop thinking about you all day. I LOVE YOUR WORK!!!
If you ever need a hand with pricing paintings, don't ask me. LOL. Nah, I can give you a ballpark figure if you'd like.
If doing a custom work it is recommended to do it 20% above your standard pricing and always take a deposit of 50% to cover materials. Ensure a contract is signed, unless they purchase off of 'etsy' and then you can type in the legalities incase anything ever goes wrong. Especially for super huge works.
I'm sooo happy you got a custom order! Yay, yay, YAY!
It won't be long before you are superstar and racing me for the most sales on etsy... ;)
I can't wait until you open your store! Let me know when you have a few things in your store and when I can blog about it... okay? good!!
Someday we can do a craft stall together if you'd like. But your pricing will have to stay perfect and exactly what you are worth first!!!!
Awww I'm sorry I should have realised my blog sounded all grumpy. I'm not at all!!! Promise!I actually spent all day laughing about it with my sister and giggled about how I hoped you didn't notice me marking the bags down CHEAPER when you weren't looking hehe.
It was actually nice to be told yr stuff is worth more :)
Well next time we'll set up a good observation post to make sure you don't lower your prices! ;)
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