Pricing on mounts etc

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StevenG
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Pricing on mounts etc

Post by StevenG »

Hi guys

We've got a few people around us that produce little prints etc to sell at craft fairs and the like. They buy their mounts, backing and little clear bag online - mostly from Amazon. I'd like to sell to them as it's a fairly straightforward job and there's a reasonable customer base for these products. My problem is pricing. E.g. They can buy 20 10x8 mounts (8x6 image), with backing and bag for about £22, roughly they pay about £1.20 for each 'kit' - PLUS free shipping. My cost on this would be around 50p for the mount & backing plus about 20p for the bag. I really don't know how they can keep the cost so low. Am I doing something wrong?

Steven
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Re: Pricing on mounts etc

Post by JonathanB »

I wouldn’t get involved. You’ll always find someone doing this kind of work cheaper and you’ll be forever chasing the lowest price to keep the business. The key is that the businesses who do this kind of thing can negotiate large discounts from their suppliers and work on a high volume, low margin basis. Some framers can make this work but you’ll probably find it’s hard work for little reward. I’ve found over time that there are some artists I’d rather not deal with, sticking to the ones that are happy to pay a fair price for a bespoke item that allows them to charge more for their work.
Jonathan Birch GCF (APF)
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StevenG
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Re: Pricing on mounts etc

Post by StevenG »

Hi Jonathan, thanks for the reply. I totally agree, I'm not after that low paying type of work, I just thought it would be a nice little earner for little real work :) But I really don't know the online seller can make it work at those margins. Amazon need their little cut from it too, I understand it's bulk, but a bulk of pennies still isn't much
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Re: Pricing on mounts etc

Post by Not your average framer »

Hi Steven,

No you are not doing some thing wrong, That is typically what these things cost. Sure you can shave a bit of here and there, but getting the cost down enough to make a real difference is a bit of a tall order. By the time, that you paid all your delivery charges for all your materials to be delivered, where's the profit left for you!

The high volume, low price business model is dying in a recessionary market. The higher value lower volume market is the better market in a recession! Do you have a high street presence, or do you trade from somewhere less conspicuous. Classy up market stuff still sells, but it's not as busy as it once was, but having said that at least the profits are much betterI
Mark Lacey

“Life is short. Art long. Opportunity is fleeting. Experience treacherous. Judgement difficult.”
― Geoffrey Chaucer
Not your average framer
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Re: Pricing on mounts etc

Post by Not your average framer »

There might be a bit more money in it if you can supply these customers with a frame and mount package deal, but I doubt that they would want to do that as the overall cost is more and there would be a higher postage cost as well.
Mark Lacey

“Life is short. Art long. Opportunity is fleeting. Experience treacherous. Judgement difficult.”
― Geoffrey Chaucer
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Steve N
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Re: Pricing on mounts etc

Post by Steve N »

Hi Steven
It's a numbers game, it's not necessarily the unit price, you buy pallet of mountcard , 500 + per pallet, at a discounted price, same with your backing board, and you buy 1000+ print bags again at discounted price, so you are already starting at a lower outlay, Mark up by whatever you feel is right for you. Then at the end of each month you look at your outgoings, and your income, if the latter is higher, then you're a 'Happy Bunny' , you don't look at each sale to see if you have made a profit, you look at the totals for the month.
Steve CEO GCF (020)
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Not your average framer
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Re: Pricing on mounts etc

Post by Not your average framer »

Ready cut mounts is quite a big market, but too many people are already selling mounts for chicken feed prices. Customers are mostly motivated by how little they can buy the mounts for, so I'm wondering just how much of a future there is likely to be in this market. The people who are buying these mounts to help them sell their artworks are creating a market for their customers to want to buy suitable frames from somewhere, so why not from you!

My thinking is that the people who are buying these artworks and mounts are the end users and are less likely to want the cheapest possible frames, so there is potentially a better propect for a better profit margin. I think that the secret is how to access this potential market without needing to pay part of your potential profit to sites like eBay. If the is a way to do this!
Mark Lacey

“Life is short. Art long. Opportunity is fleeting. Experience treacherous. Judgement difficult.”
― Geoffrey Chaucer
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