Pricing: How to Set the ‘Right’ Price
Oh man is this a tough question! Yet, also a great starting point, as before you can sell your work, you need to assign it a monetary value, but that value isn’t always straightforward.
I want to first point out that there is no “right” price for your work, as price is incredibly subjective. It depends on a variety of factors, from the market you're in to the emotional attachment you have to your pieces. Let’s break it down with some questions to guide your thinking:
Is your market saturated with other artists? This can affect how much demand there is for your type of work. If you're in a crowded space, your price might need to reflect that.
Are you doing something very niche and hard to reproduce? The uniqueness of your work can help justify a higher price.
Are you rural or in a more populated area? Larger cities often have higher price expectations because people’s incomes are typically higher and there's a larger market of potential buyers.
What can the people in your area afford? It’s essential to think about your local economy and your target market’s budget.
Are you a novice, an expert, or somewhere in between? Your skill level plays a role. The more experienced and established you are, the higher the price you can command.
What is your brand like? If you’ve built a brand around your work, it could support a higher price point.
Do you make custom, unique pieces, or do you mass-produce? Custom and one-of-a-kind items often have a premium attached to them.
Do you want to position yourself as high-end, mid-range, or affordable? Deciding where you fall on this spectrum will influence your pricing strategy.
These are all questions to ask yourself before you even dip your toes into the numbers side. For example, in my case, I make sculptures of human bodies, which is a bit of a niche within the pottery community, whereas most people at my studio don’t sculpt at all. This influences how I think about pricing because my work is more specialized.
As you answer these questions for yourself, don’t be afraid to ask other artists—especially those with more experience—how they came up with their prices. You might be surprised at the variety of approaches.
Case Study: My Sculpture Pricing Journey
I recently went through this exact process with one of my sculptures (pictured above, Instagram link here). The dimensions of the piece are 10 in H x 6.5 in W x 8.5 in L, so it's quite substantial. I sought feedback from a few people to help me find a fair price, and the responses I received were all over the map.
My stepmom suggested pricing it around $200-250, noting that it’s large and impressive. She also mentioned that I could allow buyers to haggle or barter down if needed, which is a common practice in many art markets.
My studio manager felt it should be priced in the $150-200 range. He based this on the fact that the sculpture must have taken a significant amount of time and clay, so it needed to reflect that effort. He suggested that I think about how much clay I used and how much time it took me to get a concrete price.
A peer in my studio, who is a talented artist but hasn’t sold sculptures herself, suggested a price between $100-150. She wasn’t entirely sure, as her experience is mainly with smaller pottery, but she thought it might help the piece sell faster at a lower price.
After considering all the feedback, I ended up going with $200 because it balanced both the time I spent and the message I wanted to send with my work.
I did also have math attached to this price. I used ~ 8 lbs of clay (~$8+ firing cost would be ~$20 in materials/production costs), and it took me ~ 8 hours of work, if I pay myself a wage of $20, that would calculate out to about $200.
Looking back, I realize that my emotional attachment to the piece played a role in this decision, but there were also other factors at play. I want to market myself as a niche, mid to higher-end brand—my work is scarce because I don’t make a lot of sculptures, and my style is unique to the area. Pricing it at $200 reflected not only the craftsmanship and size but also the value I wanted to convey about my brand.
What influences the ‘right’ price?
Setting the right price is a balance of both objective factors and subjective feelings. You should use these to set a scheme you can apply to all of your work, the price should be explainable and backed up with facts and your factors. This can help you price your work consistently between similar works.
Underpricing can come from a lack of confidence. It’s easy to feel like your work doesn’t matter or isn’t good enough, but that’s simply not true! Every artist’s work holds value. It’s important to remember that the market will reflect the value you set, so don’t undersell yourself.
It can also come from a fear of rejection or devaluation. We may fear that if we price our work too high, nobody will buy it and we may attach that fear to our self-worth.
Another thing to keep in mind is that, as artists, we often assign emotional value to our pieces. We pour our hearts into what we create, and it’s hard not to get attached. However, this emotional attachment can sometimes lead to overpricing. We might price our work higher than it’s worth because we feel that it’s special or irreplaceable. While this attachment is natural, it’s important to separate it from the financial value of the piece.
That being said, if you're in a situation where you don’t need to sell your work as your main source of income, overpricing can sometimes work in your favor. Psychologically, consumers love discounts. People are more likely to buy something that’s been marked down than to purchase something at a higher price. As a result, overpricing can give you room to reduce the price later if necessary.
Okay, So How Do I Set a Price?
Now that we’ve explored the psychological factors, let’s get into the numbers. Here are a few formulas (courtesy of Art Connect Magazine) to help you get started!
1. Hourly Wage × Hours Spent + Cost of Materials
This formula gives you a basic idea of what to charge based on your time investment and material costs. Here's how it works:
Calculate how much you want to earn per hour (your hourly wage).
Multiply your hourly wage by the hours spent working on the piece.
Add the cost of materials used (clay, paint, etc.).
Price = ($25 × 10) + $50 = $300
This formula is a great baseline to make sure you’re covering your costs and paying yourself for your time.
2. Height x Width × Price Per Square Inch (for 2D Art)
This is mainly used for 2D pieces like paintings or drawings. By determining a price per square inch, you can standardize your pricing based on the size of the piece. For example:
Price per square inch: $2
Price = (10 × 12) × $2 = $240
This pricing method works especially well for paintings or prints where size is a major factor in determining value.
3. Height + Width × Price Per Linear Inch (for 2D Art)
This formula is similar to the previous one but can work better if you use a variety of canvas sizes. It calculates the linear inches of your work, which can help you standardize pricing across different pieces. Here’s how it works:
Price per linear inch: $5
Price = (10 + 12) × $5 = $110
This formula is a bit simpler for pricing works that don’t have a large variation in depth or thickness.
Determining your price per square or linear inch can be tricky, especially if you have no experience with 2D works. Don’t worry! There are great resources out there to help you find a fair pricing method. Here are a couple of articles that can give you more in-depth strategies and examples:
A Simple Formula for Pricing Artwork
Pricing Your Artwork: A Guide for Beginners
Additional Pricing Strategies
Beyond the basic formulas, there are other pricing tactics you can use to influence buyers’ perception of your work.
Charm pricing is the psychological strategy of pricing a product just below a whole number. For example, instead of pricing something at $50, you would price it at $49.99. The idea is that customers perceive prices ending in .99 as being significantly cheaper, even though the difference is just a penny. This can be very useful when selling small pieces, especially at fairs or in online shops, where buyers are more likely to make impulse purchases.
However, for higher-value pieces in a more luxury market, you should avoid charm pricing. Keeping your price a clean, round number (e.g., $1500 instead of $1499) conveys confidence and is more in line with what high-end collectors expect.
Anchor pricing involves setting a higher-priced piece as a benchmark so that your mid-range or lower-priced pieces appear like better deals. This strategy works well if your buyers are unfamiliar with your work and need some guidance on what to expect.
For example, if you have a premium piece priced at $5000, and then you have a mid-range piece priced at $2000, your buyers will view the $2000 piece as a relative bargain. By offering a range of price points, you can give customers the feeling that they are getting good value for their money.
Pricing your work isn’t an exact science—it’s a blend of personal factors, market dynamics, and psychological strategies. By applying the formulas above and considering the different pricing techniques, you’ll be able to create a pricing structure that works for you and resonates with your target audience. Always keep in mind that your price should reflect both your time and the value you place on your art, but it also needs to be flexible enough to adapt to your changing market and goals.
What are your thoughts on pricing your work? Have you tried any of these formulas or strategies? Drop a comment or share your pricing journey below! :) <3
