Am I Underpricing Prints?

[lemonjenny]

I've only recently begun selling my prints online. I always offer both online proofing/ordering as well as a disc of the originals given to the bride & groom.

When setting my pricing, my first instinct was to be competitive with the local photo printers in our area. I would never try to match Walmart pricing, but I wanted to be close to the higher-end photo printers like Inkleys etc. So I priced my prints only a few cents higher than what they could get if they just take the disc to Inkleys.

That makes my prints around 39 cents per 4x6, for example.

As I'm looking around at what other photographers charge, though, I'm noticing that their pricing is much higher. They almost always charge anywhere from $2 - $5 for a 4x6" print.

Am I missing something here? Should I be charging way more for my prints?

What do you charge for prints? I really want to know if I'm way off base before too long.

[candleman]

yes.. you're missing the point of prettymuch the whole thing.
(to put it bluntly)

forgive me

you are a photographer. you are not Walmart where a client prints their OWN photo.
you are not a printing service..

They want a print of YOUR Photo... and that must come at a price.
remember its cost you time shooting, editing, uploading, its cost you your talent and damage to your equipment.

(divide the cost of your camera by 100,000 and thats how muchit costs you every timme you hear "click")

when you sell a print, you need to cover those costs, but also factor in you are essentially "licensing" a print to them.

4x6 = $10
5x6= $15
8x12=$25
10x15=$35

my largest Canvas is over $700

and thats darn cheap comparing to other local photographers..
one chain store portrait house nearby charges $95 for a 10x15"

you are selling a copy of your image.. not a piece of paper.
so how much are your images worth to you?

[Jim Poor]

Ditto what Candelman said PLUS, there is no way you're even coming close to covering your costs by pricing "a few cents" above your print cost.

[lemonjenny]

Okay, that's pretty much what I suspected. And I do appreciate the bluntness. I better get in there and adjust my prices before it's too late. Thanks for your feedback!

[mandyatm]

Yes, your pictures are very good. That is what people will be paying for, not the paper. That and all the other costs of doing business that you aren't thinking of. I am guilty of too low prices as well, but I still charge more than you do. I will be changing that soon! Also, it depends on your whole pricing structure. If your sitting fees are really high, I guess you could cover your costs that way. A lot of wedding photographers charge a couple grand and include a lot of prints.

What Candleman said are good reasonable prices, at least compared to the photographers in my area. Thank you for actually stating the numbers!

[lonni]

You need to keep in mind that the print quality is proably different, i am not sure what inklys is but i am guessing it is like wallmart or similar so the prints will be basic photo paper printed with an inkjet. Similar to teh quality of a home printer.

If you use a pro lab you are more likely to have a better quality paper, maybe a pearl or matt, it will be thicker and colour managed and possibly even printed on a lambda, different process and way better quality.

HTH

[Jim Poor]

Actually, Wally World uses the same printers as many professional photo labs like WHCC, etc. The difference is in staff training and things like color management.

Originally Posted by lonni

You need to keep in mind that the print quality is proably different, i am not sure what inklys is but i am guessing it is like wallmart or similar so the prints will be basic photo paper printed with an inkjet. Similar to teh quality of a home printer.

If you use a pro lab you are more likely to have a better quality paper, maybe a pearl or matt, it will be thicker and colour managed and possibly even printed on a lambda, different process and way better quality.

HTH

[lonni]

I live in australia and any retail place that you take digital images to for printing is genrally ink jet, even the minilabs are ink jet.

I am also a little biased cause we print photos and the quality is heaps different. Pro labs here usually use a lambda, it converts teh digital file to light and develops similar to traditional photography.

Retail places here havent even heard of pearescent paper.

[BCampbell]

Originally Posted by Jim Poor

Actually, Wally World uses the same printers as many professional photo labs like WHCC, etc. The difference is in staff training and things like color management.

WalMart can do c-prints and giclees?

[lemonjenny]

Originally Posted by mandyatm

Yes, your pictures are very good. That is what people will be paying for, not the paper.

Thanks Mandyatm! So I've already raised my prices a bit. I think I'll go even higher, but I want to test the waters first. Thank you so much for your feedback everyone!