Lowering Prices?

Has anyone else contemplated lowering their prices due to this "recession"?

I went to the store last night and a pack of cheese was almost $6.00, up from $2.50ish, it then hit me that people might not want to pay the prices I have set right now.

Not so much due to the recession, but I shot a grade school variety show and was lucky enough to get some honest pricing feedback before actually posting the photos from a good friend who was also a member of the school's PTO.

Typically I charge $3 for a 4x6, $6 for a 5x7 and $10 for an 8x10.

Based on the feedback I lowered the 4x6 price to $1.99 (all other stayed the same). Orders were much better than I'd seen in the past, and there were still plenty of people who ordered the larger print sizes.

But I shoot/sell only for fun (and camera money), if it was my main source of income I don't know that I'd be so willing to "sell short".

mbellot wrote in post #5268768
Typically I charge $3 for a 4x6, $6 for a 5x7 and $10 for an 8x10.

You are WAY to low. Consider doubling your prices.

Gatorboy wrote in post #5270209
You are WAY to low. Consider doubling your prices.

Sure, then I'll make zero sales, fantastic idea!

illm4k3uscr3am wrote in post #5268635
Has anyone else contemplated lowering their prices due to this "recession"?

Start of a vicious circle, and I suggest that you do not do it.

Your costs will remain the same and so the only loser is you, photos are usually classed as a luxury product and people will buy so long as they see value for money, they wont buy just because you lower your prices.

You cannot compare photos with food so your analogy in the OP isnt really relevant, and with all respect to mbellot someone who shoots for "fun and camera money" isnt really the person to take advice from. As Gatorboy says, double your prices and you probably wont lose any business, except if people dont value your work in the first place.

You should be keeping your prices constant, but might have to raise them to offset your additional costs of doing business.

If sales are soft due to a recession, you aren't going to stimulate them no matter what price you ask. As Gary said, your photos are a luxury item. Those who can afford them will continue to buy. Those who can't, won't.

With respect, $1.99 for a 4x6 is a really, really good way to go out of business. Just please do so quickly before you leave too big a mess for others to clean up.

It costs me practically that much to take, process and print a 4X6. If you ever sit down and do the math, you will find that there isn't even any "camera money" in your prices.

Believe me, you are just using up your equipment's life without any real return, and setting up totally unrealistic expectations in your buyers. They will have your ultra low prices tucked away in their mind for comparison every time they are in a situation to consider purchasing a photo, so what you do carries over to everyone in the photo industry.

People "having fun" with their entry-level D-SLRs and kit lenses are trashing some parts of the photo industry pretty badly. Microstock is another good example.

But, hey, I'm not bitter!

All we can do is try to educate people who do this as quickly as possible.

If there's no profit or future benefit in it, there's no practical reason to do the job. I'd rather make zero sales than sell at silly low prices. Why wear out myself and my camera equipment for nothing in return?

When it comes to event photos, we aren't expensive and we charge:

4x4s - $7 online, $8 onsite (where there are additional costs).

5x7s - $10 online, $11 onsite.

8x10s - $20 online, $22 onsite.

Those are currently the only three sizes we sell onsite. We have over 60 other sizes and finishes online, as well as some 30 or so print related products to choose from (custom key chains, puzzles, calendars, coasters, etc.)

We might to need to implement higher prices soon, due to costs of gasoline, etc. However, first I'm looking at several ideas for other ways to leverage additional income out of the same photos, if at all possible.

A recession is not a good time to raise prices on luxury items... It sends a bad message to people who are already feeling the pinch from the price of necessities going up. (For example, my newspaper subscription just went up 40%.... So I'm seriously thinking about dropping it entirely.)

We've been discussing how to handle this too. We also own a bridal shop and have seen other shops, as well as us, reporting a sharp decrease in sales this past quarter. No matter what happens with that, overhead remains constant, so lowering your prices shoots yourself in the foot. Don't lower your prices.

If you are concerned about people being able to spend, make it easier for them to part with their cash. You can offer payment plans (which Im not a fan of, but some people make it work well). Or you can make their cash departure staggered. You have 2 hour minimums on your sessions. You can offer less time and still charge the same hourly rate for you, but its less money to your client. We have a mini session that is doing great right now. I didnt think we'd want to be bothered with it, but we actually make more of a profit if we book those over a regular session b/c more clients get shot. Its 1/4 the cost of our regular session, comes with 1/4 of the time, and a 1/4 of the images. I didnt think people would like that, but they jumped on it. And they come in more often than with the regular package. I'm not out any money and it keeps things moving when they get slow. It sounds illogical, money's money, but when people do not have to part with what they consider a large sum at once, they'll buy - even now when it looks like things are gonna tank. And kids are only small once, recession or not. Parents are going to take their kids somewhere.