Average price for 4X6 $30???

WHOHOO party at Cosworths house!!

Now how many $30 4x6's do I need to sell before I can afford plane fare...

Les

PhotosGuy wrote in post #2351386
Hey, Jason! RE: "The list goes on and on.", it's below freezing here & I was wondering, how long is the list to rent your couch for the Winter?

HTTP response: 403 | MIME changed to 'text/html'

Well KevC has his plane ticket booked, wants to stey until April or May.. Ron is coming some time in the New Year.

The list is pretty long for other outside POTN as well. The hardest part now is finding a house on this tiny island to put people in. Economy is booming here. Zero debt, millions in the bank, construction going nuts. The cost of doing business here is very, very high right now. I hope for some duty relief soon, but it's doubtful.

I CAN charge $30 for a 4x6 but no one would pay it. I can charge $30 a shot for real estate photography though...

Geeez! At the end of a long line again!

ssim wrote in post #2352322
I've always maintained that you should charge what the market will bear. If that means that you can sell a 4X6 for 30.00 that is great for you. You don't owe anyone any apologies for what you charge as long as you are selling.

You need to understand your local market and understand it well. I keep a close handle on what is going on in my local area. If there is someone new coming in that I find out about I try and find out their pricing. I watch the websites for those that are long established here to see if the pricing has changed at all.

IMO, this forum is not frequented by a great number of persons that have alot of persons that are high end photographers. Some yes, but I feel that we have way more that are starting out and trying to glean as much information as possible to assist them in this venture. To that end, I see many posts (and not only this thread) that say no image is worth xxx.xx and that they are doing the market a favor by coming in and charging what they are. Everyone is free to charge what they want. If you want to sell a 4X6 for 2.00 or 22.00 it is your right. The only thing that I hope for is that those that are coming in to this as a new entrant actually treat it as a business and charge accordingly. Too often I see the analogy that my print costs me xx cents and I only need to charge xx. There is little regard for equipment costs, depreciation, insurance and a multitude of other fixed costs that are associated with running a business.

What really matters is the product that you put in front of your customer. Your experience level is not important if you are putting out a top quality product. If you have a new entrant and someone that has been at for 10 years and they both put forth the same level of end result, why should the new entrant be charging less.

I will admit that 30.00 for a 4X6 does seem high relative to my service area but if that is what is being charged by all means go for it. I see little sense in lowering the bar for the sake of lowering the bar. To go back to my first point, just understand very clearly the market you are trying to reach and what the median charge is from your competitors.

Great post, ssim! I agree wholeheartedly.

I think that $30 for a 4x6 is pretty high as there is not a lot a consumer can really do with it. For display purposes (and that is typically why you get a portrait done, at least IMHO) you have to be pretty close to see it well, so it is limited to a desk photo or more likely will be put in an album, which is why I would not pay $30 for it and why I don't think most people I know would either. As to whether it is absurdly high or not, its worth depends solely on what the buyer feels it is worth (or what you can convince them it is worth ).

As to the bolded part of the post, I think that while you are not doing the market (and photography for that matter) any big favors by charging low, low prices, it is important to remember that the same is true of charging very high prices. I have seen quite a few posts where the advice is charge high, higher, highest, with little mention of studying your market thoroughly as well as figuring CODB + profit before setting prices. Doing so (setting very high prices), can lead to photogs pricing themselves out of the range of most potential clients, which can have negative consequences for both photography and its place in any market.

To discourage Shoot & Burn clients, charge more for the sitting, and make a small profit on prints. There is a psychological thing about print prices. Some clients compare professional prices with 1-hour photo labs.

There is a market in all price ranges. Some people do go by high prices thinking that because it is more expensive, it must be worth more. I've lost jobs because I was not expensive enough.

Is your type of photography different from your competitors to justify a different price structure? Can you sell the buzz?

cdi-ink.com wrote in post #2320243
Why did you start this thread if you didn't want opinions?

This is not an opinion:

cdi-ink.com wrote in post #2319956
There is NO photograph worth $30 in a 4x6 print. No way.

It's a statement.

A statement based on ignorance, more than anything.