My little exhibit at a  cafe is costing me more than expected and that is with photo prints being matted and mounted on high grade foam core only, no frames.  This goes up for exhibit for the month of May.  Prints are done in  giclee (supercharged inkjet) on high grade archival paper. ( These do look good but should be under glass for permanent display. )

Sure, a photo can be purchased as is with the matting but what do you think of this idea:
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Provide a price for prints only, no mat or mount**: This gives the purchaser a lower price and the option to mat and frame as they like.    Certainly, I have to be very clear about sales being prints only.   (If someone does want one of the matted ones, I will work out a price for that with delivery when the exhibit ends.)

I have no idea how it is usually done.   To sell multiples of a "hot" print would be great.  Oh my, to sell even one print would be great and I would then enter high cotton and hog heaven for a few moments...we do that down  South in the US, well, imported folks from up north don't understand high cotton or hog heaven any more than they understand grits but to sell something just might do that.  : )

Any comments on selling prints will be appreciated.   TomDart

hi Tom,

I'm by no means an expert in this area but I do have a bit of past experience selling prints off the back of an exhibition. Certainly I can sympathise that getting the whole thing together inevitably ends up costing a fair bit more than initially anticipated, especially in my case as I currently handle my own printing at home.. also pretty time expensive... ideally I'd have liked to have had a number of copies of each print I thought would do well on hand, ready for sale, but stockpiling before knowing demand is often a recipe for disaster..

My rather humble "student on a budget" way around it was to number each image on display, and then set out a couple of folders in well-indicated places so that people could place orders. Each A4 sheet in the folder contained the image number (and a small colour thumbnail) as well as a table for filling out details such as print size request, contact details etc. In addition to a range of sizes and glossy/matt papers, I offered the option to have the picture mounted and framed, or just mounted. I have a local guy who does me good rates so I quoted him and his details and incorporated that into the finished price. In case you were wondering, all of the sales I made from that exhibition were print only.. I'm not sure whether that's a general thing, but personally I don't think you'd be losing any sales by not offering framing. It may help present a professional approach to offer at least mounting however, although i wouldn't deem it essential.

Is the exhibition solely of your work? If so I'd say you are more likely to make an impact and if you do make a good impression with a potential buyer I'd say they'd be more likely to order and wait for a print to arrive than, say, at an art fair where so much is available everywhere you look at seemingly knock-down prices - in this environment I'd imagine your average punter wants to get in, get what they want, and get out. The level of trust in the seller in the crowded environment probably wouldn't be as high as if you met the artist at their own exhibition, as is likely in your case. I think the best case scenario would be to have plenty of everything, but like I said above, stockpiling is expensive and possibly wasteful... you'll have to decide based on your budget, but the improvised method of sale I adopted on that occasion seemed to work ok.. ;)

good luck with it all!

Adam

Thank you, Adam.  Your thoughts and experience are helpful...the addition of  thumbs to an order sheet is excellent.

Yes, I will be the only exhibitor.  In fact,  I work just a few steps away from the exhibit.  This is perhaps a good thing since anyone who might mention the "photographer" at the exhibit will likely be told he is actually near by.   Orders can be collected at the exhibit or even brought to me directly.  

Again, I am assuming the big IF that someone actually wants to purchase a photo...I do believe a few will sell but that is not truly my reason for the participation.  For me, this is quite personal and almost like standing naked on a steet corner at high noon.  I assume one can learn to be calm once that has happened more than once...

Hi Tom, 

Thanks for the site mail about your exhibit, I sure hope to get out there,, and wow the rain and storms have stopped for a while so heading down to Townsend to meet my photography group you should join us some time .

I read about a seminar at UT  you may be interested in, I am thinking of signing up. Called Shooting for Success,,, how to profit from your Photography   it is on July 11th here is the site if you are interested...    www.outreach.utk.edu/ppd           and best of luck  with you show..

Lynell