Average Markup for Selling Landscape Prints?

Hello everyone. I am a long time amateur photographer and also a astrophotographer.

Through the years, I've made a few prints for relatives and friends (landscapes, senior pictures, etc...), but now I have a question about the markup for selling landscape prints to the general public.

I normally only post my images to forums like these, or to my own personal facebook page. But, yesterday I posted some images taken on a weekend hike in RMNP to a few landscape type facebook pages.

Well today, I am getting quite a few requests for selling prints.

I really don't know where to start, or how to price them. What is the best U.S. based printer? What should my markup be?

I thought of selling my images for many years since there are always local art fairs (I live in a pretty art centric area of Colorado), but I never have bit the bullet yet.

For those interested, here are some of the photos I posted that are getting the requests: https://photography-on-the.net …/showthread.php​?t=1510304

Thanks for any help you can give.

.
I have been in the same position. . I did it wrong before I figured out how to do it right.

WRONG: . Have a lab make the prints, pay for the prints, and then sell them to the customer.

RIGHT: . Upload the image files to a website that you can direct your customers to. . When people express interest in buying a print, you give them a link to that website. . Then your customers order prints directly from that website. . They pay the website for the prints. . The website has a lab print the photos and ship them directly to the customer. . The website sends you a commission.

You are the one who sets the markup that you will receive for each image and each print size.

The website I use is Fine Art America. . An account there is free unless you want to upload more than 25 images. . They deposit a commission into my PayPal account whenever one of my images is sold. . I never have to have prints made, take care of prints, package prints, ship prints, collect payment, etc. . I never do anything but upload the image, set the markup, and receive the commission.

Ordering prints yourself and then selling them absolutely SUCKS. . People change their minds, want a bigger size, want a different aspect ratio, want you to do the framing and/or matting, you accidentally damage a print and have to order a replacement ..... no sense getting involved in any of that nonsense. . Been there. . Done that. . Never again.

............... ............... ............... ............... ...............

As far as how much to charge ......

Personally, I view print prices as being best when they are based on "what the market will bear", rather than across-the-board markup percentages. . There is no "normal" or "regular" price for prints. . With unframed paper prints, some sell for 20 or 30 times the cost of the print itself, while others sell for just 3 or 4 times the cost of the print itself. . The "going rate" is all over the place and changes greatly with subject matter, region, sales venue, etc.

.

Charge what sounds reasonable to you, given the context of your "business" and it's expenses.

From my experience, most "well-established" landscape/nature photographers that have an overhead of running a business, can get (NEED) 75$ to 125$ for a high quality paper print, 12" X 18" in size, matted, packaged, labeled. The largest factor for overhead is whether or not there is a physical place they do business out of. (gallery consignment or brick & mortar storefront).

Some charge more, and some charge less. Rarity of scene, notoriety of artist, and the costs of doing business are the three factors that weigh into a retail price. Not necessarily in that order.

From your link, if I was in the Market, I would expect to pay 15$ to 25$ for each of the images you posted. With the same size and consideration for packaging as mentioned before.

Hope that helps a little...Good Luck, bro!

plantastic wrote in post #18935999
Charge what sounds reasonable to you, given the context of your "business" and it's expenses....

Some charge more, and some charge less. Rarity of scene, notoriety of artist, and the costs of doing business are the three factors that weigh into a retail price. Not necessarily in that order.

^^

Sales should be based upon what customers in your area are willing to spend!!! And how many/few photos you hope to sell.

The key to business success is to seek the optimum balance (for you, not for the next guy) in the equation,
(margins * volume = profit)
to produce the maximum income for your business...that is why some stores charge more than other stores and some charge less than others.
Are you preferring to achieve highest margin with few units, or highest volume with lower margin per unit?


Folks in areas like NYC, Boston, SF are accustomed to paying higher prices than folks in Waco TX or Houma LA or Modesto CA, simply due to their respective median incomes being so different to suit higher/lower housing general living costs, etc.

Don't price simply based upon your COST, simply strive to reduce cost as much as possible, whether you print it yourself, or you send it out to a commercial printing service.

PSA: I know that a specific answer... "Mark it up 50%"... isn't possible, and things will vary, but statements like 'whatever the market will bear' are not helpful.

Tom Reichner wrote in post #18935838
.
I have been in the same position. . I did it wrong before I figured out how to do it right.

WRONG: . Have a lab make the prints, pay for the prints, and then sell them to the customer.

RIGHT: . Upload the image files to a website that you can direct your customers to. . When people express interest in buying a print, you give them a link to that website. . Then your customers order prints directly from that website. . They pay the website for the prints. . The website has a lab print the photos and ship them directly to the customer. . The website sends you a commission.
<snipped for brevity>

I will have to check that out. A few years ago I tried Zenfolio for three years and my sales immediately tanked down to literally zero, then went back up when I quit them and went back to fulfilling orders myself.

But pricing is significantly different for San Ramon CA (highest median income at over $151k) or for Newton MA ($135.6k) , compared to Buffalo NY ($32.9k) or Reading PA (at $25.6k, the lowest median income in US) as the discretionary spending budget for different locations is quite different! Yet photographers in all four towns might send the print making to the same lab, thereby incurring the SAME cost for the same size print.

I do both FAA and local. I use the local as a way to advertise my work on FAA, and a number of folks simply want to see the images in person rather than a computer/phone screen. Since I have a lot of local cityscape, it appeals more to locals, but being on FAA means I get the ones who have moved out to the area and want something to remind them. I usually see an uptick in visitors (not the bots mind you) after a show, for a few months. So, for me, that approach works.

But what are others in those area selling their images for...?
I always check out what other photographers are charging for similar subject matter/size/packaging etc (and inquiring about sales) when I visit a craft/art fair to see if i want to do it. Its one thing to check pricing, but that matters little if one isnt selling at that particular price point. Provided of course its well attended. When I was selling out of a retail establishment, I could price higher and get it, but of course they charged a commission, so there was that. The biggest thing it enabled me to do was see what subject matter was most popular. I would intentionally introduce specific images to see if they would sell. Unfortunately, the place closed, but man it was a good 6 year run while it lasted.

Tom Reichner wrote in post #18935838
.
I have been in the same position. . I did it wrong before I figured out how to do it right.

WRONG: . Have a lab make the prints, pay for the prints, and then sell them to the customer.

RIGHT: . Upload the image files to a website that you can direct your customers to. . When people express interest in buying a print, you give them a link to that website. . Then your customers order prints directly from that website. . They pay the website for the prints. . The website has a lab print the photos and ship them directly to the customer. . The website sends you a commission.

You are the one who sets the markup that you will receive for each image and each print size.

The website I use is Fine Art America. . An account there is free unless you want to upload more than 25 images. . They deposit a commission into my PayPal account whenever one of my images is sold. . I never have to have prints made, take care of prints, package prints, ship prints, collect payment, etc. . I never do anything but upload the image, set the markup, and receive the commission.

Ordering prints yourself and then selling them absolutely SUCKS. . People change their minds, want a bigger size, want a different aspect ratio, want you to do the framing and/or matting, you accidentally damage a print and have to order a replacement ..... no sense getting involved in any of that nonsense. . Been there. . Done that. . Never again.

............... ............... ............... ............... ...............

As far as how much to charge ......

Personally, I view print prices as being best when they are based on "what the market will bear", rather than across-the-board markup percentages. . There is no "normal" or "regular" price for prints. . With unframed paper prints, some sell for 20 or 30 times the cost of the print itself, while others sell for just 3 or 4 times the cost of the print itself. . The "going rate" is all over the place and changes greatly with subject matter, region, sales venue, etc.

.

I can't possibly agree more....having "inventory" sucks. FAA is a great space to be in, but it takes time to get traction and have sales. Don't get me wrong I love FAA https://mike-reid.pixels.com/

Right now I have space in a gallery in a nice part of town. Its nice having a physical presence, but guessing what people are going to buy from over 4,000 images I consider salable (and that's a whole other area of debate...) is maddening. In a more perfect world, I would have a large high res monitor in my space where people could scroll through my images and select/order their choices would be ideal...

SeattleSpeedster wrote in post #18964010
In a more perfect world, I would have a large high res monitor in my space where people could scroll through my images and select/order their choices would be ideal...

+1
+1
+1
I like that idea...

60" screen should do it...

It seems ideal to us perhaps, to give potential customers a plethora of choices, but I think offering too many choices means they have to put more time and energy into a purchase then they may want to.

I have been thinking about the selling of a fine art photo as a painting. If we take 1 single photo that is extraordinary, make the necessary edits to make it amazing, really sit with it and work with it, and then concentrate on the sale of that one photo. And the medium onto which they are printed needs to be considered. I think a photo on fairly regular photo paper is somewhat blase in today's world. Or what about having some of our images available in a limited quantity?

I have been thinking this because I know a relatively well known and successful painter, and have been watching her business grow, one painting at a time, with previous paintings available too, of course.

new girl on the bloc wrote in post #18968193
I have been thinking this because I know a relatively well known and successful painter, and have been watching her business grow, one painting at a time, with previous paintings available too, of course.

There is a HUGE difference between a painting and a photograph...that's not a apples to apples comparison..why, simple

People who purchase a painting, KNOW that they cant paint, so they are more wiling to purchase said painting, and pay more for it.

Photography though, most everybody has a camera on them darn near 24/7, and hey why should they pay for said photograph, when they can get the image for free by taking it themselves. (Heard that more then once)

Even though most never will, it's that mentality one has to overcome to sell photographs that doesn't exist for painters. Anybody who has done art fairs will tell you that they have overheard more than one once "but its ONLY a photo". Taking a photograph and turning it into a painting tilts the metric in your favor for the above reason. If you can do it, more power to you, I wish I could, but I took enough art in school to realize a painter I would never be. A hybrid would be embellishing a photo on canvas, depending on who you ask, yes and no for that.

my images require time, preparation, and a certain degree of good timing/luck (let's be honest here). Folks tell me all the time I make my city look good, that's why I can sell. Hometown pride sells..

yes, of course a painting is not a photograph nor a photograph a painting. however, there are some artists who spend time with their best photos, enhancing them to be the way they were captured, and promoting a select few vs having a multitude to choose from. i have the same dilemma; it's challenging to decide what ones to present to the world. Fine Art Prints are in a class by themselves, so to have a website filled with too many photos, that people do not have the time nor stamina to look through, i think is a problem we need to consider. at least i have been. which is why i make the comparison to a photo being like a painting. my idea may have gotten lost in translation, though.

Didnt get lost in translation, even Fine Art Prints still have to overcome the "but its just a photograph" mentality that paintings/painters never experience. And yes, having to many choices can lead to decision paralysis on the buyers part. It's a fine line. Look at the average price paid for a painting of a well known artist v's that of a Fine Art Print of a well known photographer. Outside of a select few, there is a pretty big gap in those prices.

The biggest issue I have seen discussed is the subject of originals. You can paint an image a 100 times, and all 100 of them will be slightly different from each other. In effect creating 100 originals. Not so with prints, yes you can artificially limit the availability through small runs of prints, but unless the file is completely removed from existence, there exists the possibility of more prints being made in the future, damaging the pricing of all of them.

Look at the prices commanded for paintings by robots for crying out loud

https://www.theguardia​n.com …n-a-computer-be-a-painter


https://interestingeng​ineering.com …d-for-more-than-1-million

Until we get past the "but its just a photograph" mentality, photos will take a backseat to paintings..even those created by AI apparently