Selling prints on e-bay and elsewhere

[Doug Hook]

Just out of curiosity, we put a print up for sale on e-bay a couple of years ago. It was an 8x10" black and white print I'd shot and printed. There was just a little interest and it did sell for a few £'s.

While my ego would love it if I sold some prints and even more if I made some real money out of it, it doesn't quite feel the right thing to do. In trying to work out my unease, it does seem to cheapen the image, or is it a case of vanity? I can't quite put my finger on it.

Is it the right thing to do?

[User Removed]

Just sell your prints for more money. Simple as that.

I've been selling 8x10 AZO prints for a couple years now, my prices are now $175.00 and my prints are still selling very well. My prints are going up to $250.00 at the 1st of the year. This is still very reasonable for the photography market when compared to galleries.

Ryan McIntosh
www.RyanMcIntosh.net

[MattKing]

Doug:

I think if you do a search here you will find a number of threads about this - particularly in the Presentation and Marketing forum.

If statistics are your strength, you will love this one:

http://www.apug.org/forums/forum46/33903-ebay-print-economics-statistics.html

Good luck.

Matt

[David H. Bebbington]

Just out of curiosity, we put a print up for sale on e-bay a couple of years ago. It was an 8x10" black and white print I'd shot and printed. There was just a little interest and it did sell for a few £'s.

While my ego would love it if I sold some prints and even more if I made some real money out of it, it doesn't quite feel the right thing to do. In trying to work out my unease, it does seem to cheapen the image, or is it a case of vanity? I can't quite put my finger on it.

Is it the right thing to do?

Not quite sure what you're driving at here. As I am sure you know, there are people by the name of "professional creatives" (of which I am one) who are happy to sell the results of their labors for money. There are others who, while they do not make a living from their creative work, like to sell this because they feel that in this way the buyers demonstrate that they value and appreciate the work. There is a third group with an equally valid viewpoint, the members of which never sell their work, usually because they feel it is not worth while and they would rather have creative freedom than the small amounts of cash they might otherwise earn. A small minority of this third group may well feel that any association with commerce is squalid and disgusting! I think it is absolutely up to you to decide which group you want to belong to.

Regards,

David

[Kirk Keyes]

Just sell your prints for more money. Simple as that.
www.RyanMcIntosh.net

Ryan - how have your sales been with this technique? What kind of percentages of your listing sell?

[kjsphoto]

Kirk PM sent

[billschwab]

While my ego would love it if I sold some prints and even more if I made some real money out of it, it doesn't quite feel the right thing to do.

Doing the wrong thing and feeling quite fortunate and grateful to be able to do so.

B.

[rjas]

I sold two prints a week ago for about $13. One was a random buyer that said he found the photograph for his father in law, who likes fly fishing (photograph depicted fishing off of a river.) The other sale was by someone I showed the listing to and they bought it. I relisted both photos and had barely any interest and no bids. I think I was just lucky and I can't really afford to list any more photos for such low prices... i might try again later but probably not.

[kjsphoto]

This is exactly why eBay or any venue will not work when photographers basically pay someone to take their prints off their hands or in other words give their prints away.

I cant even make a print for $13 unless of course it is digital, then maybe if I took the shot in my front yard but not having to travel anywhere, up-load the image to the computer, Photoshop using no more than 5 minutes of my time as time is also money and then print it on ink on a inkjet printer with one shot only. I couldn’t matt it or mount either in order to make any profit from the print.

You need to realize that as long this selling low mentality and photographers continue to give away their work, no one and I mean no one will take them serious as they are only hurting themselves and the photographic community in the process.

Sorry for being brash, but this mentality is the problem with the market place today.

And I don’t want to hear the crap that Brook spews out that Weston sold print for $20 and so therefore $20 is good for everyone. That was in the 20-30 and $20 back then would equate to over $100 today so that whole $20 is a bunch of crap.

Instead of paying eBay to sell prints at $10, 15 or $20 just put them on a photo site and tell people here are my prints, just pay shipping and I will give them to you.

This just irritates he and I am not trying to vent but a lot of us make a living from selling prints and this type of things really hurts the marketplace.

Done ranting.

I do however applaud your effort to try earn a little extra from what you love, but don’t give it away, your time is worth more than $13 especially when you add in all the time to find the image and print it. At $13 you are looking at less than $1 hour for your time.

I realize it is a free world and you can do whatever you please I just wish people would realize that cheap prints is hurting the market as a whole.

Good luck and keep plugging away. I do however seriously congratulate you on your sales.

[TheFlyingCamera]

Ebay is an interesting conundrum for selling artwork. It CAN be a good place to gain visibility for your work, and establish the value. On the other hand, if you want to move into traditional gallery sales, many galleries won't touch you with a ten-foot pole if you have an Ebay sales history. If you want to test the waters, it's one way to start. Better though would be to do the cafe/restaurant circuit, and move up from there.