Finally got inspired enough to really trying to sell some photo's. Have a friend with a second hand store in a ghost town here in Oregon and she's taken in a few photo's for me. Not a lot of traffic but week ago she sold two of mine for $120 each. That $120 includes a rustic frame I make from old scrap wood! No idea what to charge but somehow came up with $.20 a sq in. Then throw in the frame for another $50. Mostly large prints 8x16 up to 12x24. Was really uplifting getting that much for my prints, I've never known what to charge if I was selling them! Seems like $.20 sq in works pretty good. 8x10 would come out to $16. Might be high but they are not what I really want to sell.
Couple framed photo's. first frame is from old picket's from a fence. Owner was going to burn them.
Shadow box. Photo mounted above back board.
One more. Wood from scrap pile into a 12x24" frame.
Click on red X's to see picture's. Oh, glass is out of old windows they were going in the garbage!
Ultimately, it comes down to whether you sell photos as a hobby or professionally, because this makes a world of difference in the selling price.
The calculation of $.20 per square inch seems rather odd to me.
It reminds me of painters and wallpaper hangers here in the Netherlands who charge per meter of wall space. Of course, this meter price fully includes all costs of materials, depreciation for equipment, personnel costs, profit etc., etc.
I think you're most likely not a full-time entrepreneur, and in that case, you can probably use an easier calculation, simply because as an amateur, you don't have certain specific costs or won't charge them as such.
For example, you use scrap wood you don't have to pay for, which is great, of course, because normally you would have to charge the purchase price of this wood and... I don't know what it's like in the US right now, but here in Europe, the price of wood has been skyrocketing for years!
Yet, the purchase price of the wood is only a small part of the cost, because what really matters is the time you spend making a sturdy picture frame from this scrap wood. How much time does it ultimately take?
If you do it for fun and not professionally, it doesn't matter whether it takes you 2, 3, 4, or 5 hours to make a picture frame. If you're happy with the $50,00 you mentioned for such a frame, then that's the basis you should use.
If you have a larger picture frame or one that's more complicated to produce, it's obvious: raise your asking price and also check online at companies that offer picture frames to get an idea of the possibilities and prices.
Regarding glass: I haven't used glass in my picture frames for several years, but I do use UV spray for images printed on Hahnemulle Photo Rag, and recently, also on soft plastic I discovered for printing photos. I've never received a single complaint about anyone wanting glass for protection.
A clear and unavoidable expense is, of course, the colour or b&w photo you use.
I've my photos printed on Hahnemulle for years (preferring Photo Rag), but I don't know if that's popular in the US. Perhaps Carson is better known? In any case, you have to factor in the cost of having a photo printed, even when you print your own photos.
Looking at it from a non-professional perspective, we're dealing with at least the following costs:
- Price of the photo print
- Price of the photo frame (e.g., $50.00 if think this is a realistic price considering the hours you spend making the frame)
- Variable costs for any packaging, shipping costs, gasoline, train fares, telephone calls, etc. etc.
- Profit percentage (in my case - but it's not really a comparable situation to yours - I triple the amount of all combined costs)
With this list you should be able to determine a price. I emphasize again that this doesn't apply to someone with a commercial business, because then we're not just talking about completely different costs, but also, for example, renting a business space, insurance, gas, electricity and water, personnel costs, company cars, and depreciation of machinery, etc.
In the current case of $120 per photo, I can at least say that if this nice lady in a secondhand store in a ghost town in Oregon (I'm actually curious who this might be) seriously wants to stay in business and therefore must make a profit, the price certainly has to go up a bit.
Of course, you can also say you sold 2 photos, you would never have been able to do something like this yourself and who knows what else could come from this collaboration, so, have the retailer decide on a (selling) price or let the price depend on demand. In the long run, this will ultimately yield a profit for all parties.
A total amount of $240 is nice for your wallet, but the retailer who went to all the trouble selling your art to a customer hasn't earned a single dollarcent, if I'm correct.
As an artist, yeah, it's a different situation, I don't sell any photos for less than €850-€1750 ($1000 - $2000), minimum photo size 50x60 cm (20x24"), mounted in an aluminum frame without a passe-partout, I don't print smaller sizes.
Unique mixed media art objects in which photos play a (main) role I sell for prices starting at a minimum of €3500 ($4100).
In any case, congratulations on your sales and good luck with any future sales!
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