Clients unimpressed with my new prices!

[filemanager]

As some of you may remember, I've recently changed my business.

Last year I did the session + high res CD thing, this year I've decided, no more! Too many people are printing my stuff at low-quality labs, and I can only imagine that people are re-editing my work (badly) and then giving me the "credit" for the photo.. gah!

So this year I'm moving to prints! I still sell the digital files and high-res CDs, but for an outrageous cost (though not as outrageous as some prices I've seen), to motivate people to buy the prints rather than get the digital files.

Anyway my clients seem quite unhappy with my new setup, because they all want the high-res CDs.

So far I've held my ground, but sometimes I wonder if I did the right thing...

[gturner]

Just make sure the product you deliver is of the best standard and that the price point is still seen as value to the client. Value does not equal cheap.

[candleman]

only tme will tell..
Just remember it will take some time to break into the new "circle" of people who don't mind prints.
You are efectivley leaving the past clients and the referrals that they generate behind you.

Remember that all youre referrals will be from people who had the CD and it's likley their friends will want the CD too.

You wil also need to ask yourself...
Is your "Art" so important to you that you are willing to lose money to protect it, or are you creating the images for peoples enjoyment and to make a profit.

just my 0.02

[Jim Bryant]

Stick by your guns. When we do a wedding for $3450.00, our clients get a disk full of 300 images to do what they want.

[Niresangwa]

Originally Posted by candleman

Is your "Art" so important to you that you are willing to lose money to protect it, or are you creating the images for peoples enjoyment and to make a profit.

Agreed, it will just take time I suppose. I guess just be prepared to go another season (aka 2011) cultivating new clients. It's not only a whole new market you're trying to break, but also you're now competing with not only other photographers who offer the CD, but the 'upscale' photographers who force print sales.

Rather you than me.

As for whether you did the right thing, only your bottom line for 2012 will tell you that.

[autofocus]

I think you identified one of the major flaws in the policy of offering high rez disks as you so well discovered below:

Too many people are printing my stuff at low-quality labs, and I can only imagine that people are re-editing my work (badly) and then giving me the "credit" for the photo.. gah!

It may be a tough precedent to break away from, but in the long run you'll be better off for doing it.

[filemanager]

Thanks Jim... I include the disc of high-res images with my weddings too, but shouldn't people buy prints just for some shots of their families?

I mean, around here, Sears will charge you $200 for about 13 UNedited images, that are mediocre at best, so to me, this means that the photogs that charge $200 for fully edited images, and about 30-40 on a disc are HIGHLY undercharging.

[filemanager]

Originally Posted by autofocus

I think you identified one of the major flaws in the policy of offering high rez disks as you so well discovered below:

Too many people are printing my stuff at low-quality labs, and I can only imagine that people are re-editing my work (badly) and then giving me the "credit" for the photo.. gah!

It may be a tough precident to break away from, but in the long run you'll be better off for doing it.

Yeah.. I'm thinking it'll be tough for a little while, but in the end it will be better. Isn't there a saying "The right thing to do is never the easy thing to do", something like that? Ah well. I just wanted to post and see what other photogs thought about it, so thanks everyone

[theosus]

Originally Posted by filemanager

As some of you may remember, I've recently changed my business.

Last year I did the session + high res CD thing, this year I've decided, no more! Too many people are printing my stuff at low-quality labs, and I can only imagine that people are re-editing my work (badly) and then giving me the "credit" for the photo.. gah!

So this year I'm moving to prints! I still sell the digital files and high-res CDs, but for an outrageous cost (though not as outrageous as some prices I've seen), to motivate people to buy the prints rather than get the digital files.

So from this point on, they buy a few nice prints, scan them with a cheap scanner, and still have them printed at low quality labs. Maybe they still edit the prints.

Just saying - if you think it will stop copyright violations, you're wrong.

[filemanager]

Originally Posted by theosus

So from this point on, they buy a few nice prints, scan them with a cheap scanner, and still have them printed at low quality labs. Maybe they still edit the prints.

Just saying - if you think it will stop copyright violations, you're wrong.

So... you think I should stay with the high-res CD only?