The articles listed on this page all provide information and advice on pricing art from different experts in the field.
Experts tend to say the same things in different ways! 
​Below you will find an angle or a focus which you will respond to

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.  Authors included below are:

• Alan Bamberger of ArtBusiness.com
• Robert Genn
• The Etsy Seller's Handbook
• Stapleton Kearns
• The Guardian 
• ​The Art Newspaper
• Professional Art Magazine
• Barney Davey
• Cultural Careers Council Ontario
• Alyson Stanfield | Art Biz Blog
• The Abundant Artist
• The Practical Art World
• Lori McNee
• Clara Lieu
• and myself!

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Read on for more about how art experts price art.

How to respond when someone says you're too expensive...  "Oh I don't often hear that. Why do you say that?"

10 COMMANDMENTS OF ART PRICING

Thou shalt start out cheap.

Thou shalt publish thy prices.

Thou shalt raise thy prices regularly and a little.

Thou shalt not lower thy prices.

Thou shalt not have one price for Sam and another for Joe.

Thou shalt not price by talent or time taken, but by size.

Thou shalt not easily discount thy prices.

Thou shalt lay control on thy agents and dealers.

Thou shalt deal with those who will honour thee.

Thou shalt end up expensive.

— Robert Genn

A very memorable set of pricing principles which has been printed out more than a few times by artists around the world! 
See more by Robert Genn in "How to price art - The Gospel according to Robert Genn"

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For those of you who haven't been around the art world all that long, art prices do not only go up. They also go down. They can go up or down for a variety of reasons including.......  
Art Price Facts, Fallacies, Fantasies & Adventures ​

Alan Bamberger | ArtBusiness.com
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Stapleton Kearns - How to price paintings
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Links to detailed advice about pricing in lengthy articles by Alan Bamberger. He is well known for his very helpful and very sensible articles on matters relevant to artists on ArtBusiness.com. 

• Everything Any Artist Needs to Know About How to Price Their Art
  (Dec. 2013) - this is a compendium and covers: * price comparison techniques * asking prices vs selling prices * competitive pricing * retail prices vs whole sale prices * consistency in art pricing * The Real World vs
• Art Price Facts, Fallacies, Fantasies & Adventures - some realistic skinny on how to better understand the perpetual rollercoaster ride of art prices... the ups, downs, side-wayses, and more.
• Price Your Art Realistically-- Set Sensible Art Prices
  In order to price your art realistically, you must understand and respect how the art business works and how collectors shop and buy. 
• How to Price Art: Pricing Fine Points for Artists
  A clear consistent price structure means that every work of art you create is assigned a dollar value that relates to the dollar values of all other art that you create. 
• How to Price and Sell Your Lower Priced Art
  ...lower priced works of art, no matter what they are, tend to sell faster and in greater quantities than higher priced pieces. 
• What to do When People Bargain for Your Art
  People like to feel they're getting good deals no matter who they are, what they buy or where they're buying it. 

Stapleton Kearns provides a a detailed commentary on things to think about when pricing art and emphasises a number of key principles and points to bear in mind. These include:

• The proper price for anything is what the market will bear
• Ultimately the idea is to get your price to effort ratio to a point where it makes financial sense for you to spend your time painting
• Keep your price increases within reason

For more about pricing art, I very much recommend his detailed commentary on matters relating to pricing paintings in the links below.

He also has some very practical advice on how to avoid being cheated by galleries which have some poor business practices 

• Art and price
  Stapleton Kearns discusses the problems associated with creating and pricing art cheap - and dissects the business model it implies
• The art business waltz,lesson 9
  The first question I have been asked is "who sets the prices. you or the dealer?" You do. However since you are very new to the gallery game, you may want to work with the dealer to set prices, as he has an idea what his customers will spend.
• The art business waltz, lesson 10
  Stapleton Kearns discusses how to increase prices and what to do when people want to negotiate a lower price
• Some rambling thoughts on inexpensive art
  Stapleton Kearns on the vexed issue of selling artwork to family and friends - and what price to charge. Plus comments on how to operate with respect to inexpensive art

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Newspapers often tend to focus on

• the high end of the art market
• the price of art within the marketplace and
• the extent to which the art market will endeavour to make a market correction if it decides prices are out of control.

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The Guardian
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• How to price your work as an arts and culture professional | : Culture Professionals Network

On the art market:

• Art market in 'mania phase' and risks bursting of the bubble, report says | The Guardian - Experts expect a ‘severe correction’, particularly in contemporary and American art, after years of spiralling prices and celebrity and luxury obsession
• Are the most expensive paintings ever worth their prices? A definitive ranking - Jonathan Jones
  

The Art Newspaper
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• The price is right? Galleries would ‘rather not say’ - Many dealers leave potential customers in the dark, allowing auction houses to define the market

ArtNet News

• Art Dealers Are Notorious for Obscuring Prices. But as the Market Shifts Online, Many Are Finally Embracing Price Transparency | artnet news (2020) - The surge in online viewing rooms is poised to change the art industry's uneasy relationship to price transparency.
• The Value of Art: Money, Power, Beauty | artnet news (2012)  - Who decides what art is worth?

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Robert Genn - Principles of pricing art
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Read the wisdom and observations of the late Canadian artist Robert Genn with respect to the mysterious and peculiar principles behind the pricing of art. You can find his twice weekly email to artists in  The Painter’s Keys Clickbacks Archive

• Robert Genn - Principles of Pricing Art
  Like politics and religion, it's perhaps an indelicate subject, but somebody has to talk about it. How to price your work? How and when to raise your prices? And how do you bu
• Robert Genn - Responses to "Principles of Pricing Art" February 17, 2004
  Includes responses from readers
• Robert Genn - Wandering prices
  Whether your work is in the National Gallery or in Heidi Fleiss's House of Ill Repute, your prices to the general public need to be the same. This means that only you control the final price. The percentage that various venues take is negotiated from
• Robert Genn - Pricing a reproduction run
  A reader seeks guidance on pricing a reproduction of giclee prints
• Current art-pricing trends
  Some new trends in pricing also require that I update. I'm dividing my comments between artists who sell through galleries and the ever-increasing Internet-empowered artists known as "self-sellers." [SCROLL down to see this article - there are severa

Professional Art Magazine
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The Professional Art Magazine in the USA has regular articles about pricing art.

• Art Pricing Tips By Renée Phillips | Professional Art Magazine- excerpts from the rules for pricing art
  
• Negotiating Your Prices By Eric Maisel | Professional Art Magazine - a review of the factors involved in negotiating a price and some tips for improving the way you negotiate prices
  
  

Ask an Artist

Ask an Artist is a Podcast run by Laura Boswell and Peter Keegan. It started in late 2019.

One of their first podcasts tackled tackled pricing - and was complemented by a blog post by Laura

• On the Money: How to price your artwork - this episode covers
  • how the pricing of your work needs to develop over time,
  • how you can approach the initial pricing based on what your peers are doing and also
  • how a consistent policy on pricing will help you to avoid awkward situations.
    
• How much? | Laura Boswell
  

Pricing work; nightmare eh? I dare say there are artists out there thrilled by putting a price to their work, but I have yet to meet one who actively enjoys it, especially at the start of their career.
How much? by Laura Boswell

The $12 Million Stuffed Shark - the Curious Economic of Contemporary Art
by Don Thompson
Rated an average of 4.2 out of 5 stars - based on 23 customer reviews

This was the first book to address seriously the absurdities of some of the pricing in the contemporary art market.

BUY IN UK The 2 Million Stuffed Shark: The Curious Economics of Contemporary Art

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The Etsy Seller's Handbook - on Pricing
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These are the best of the articles on the very popular handmade arts and crafts site Etsy about pricing

These articles mainly relate to handmade crafts - but they're also very informative about the basics of pricing in a commercial and competitive marketplace - and how to make sure you price your art effectively for your context

• A Simple Formula for Pricing Your Work | The Etsy Blog
  It's simple math: accounting for materials, labor, and expenses will allow you to reach your small business goals.
• The Art of Pricing: Three Helpful Pricing Exercises | The Etsy Blog
  The trick is to keep learning and evolving, not only in your craft, but in your pricing strategies, too.
• Pricing Strategies: Beyond the Basics | The Etsy Blog
  You've mastered the elementals of pricing your work. Now, take it to the next level by considering tiers, promotions, and wholesale.
• The Art of Pricing: Bundle Up on Your Way to Higher Sales | The Etsy Blog
  A product bundle is when several items are sold as one combined product. A bundle can go by many names: gift sets, package deals, collections, a set, etc.
• The Art of Pricing: Tiered Pricing | The Etsy Blog
  There are several ways to attract and convert buyers in your store. One way may be through tiered pricing: when you offer multiple price points for a customer to consider.

• Putting on a Holiday Promotion | The Etsy Blog
  When the marketplace is primed to discount / sell to hordes, don't cater to bargain-hunters, and instead consider your unique buyers.
• The Art of Pricing: Preparing for Wholesaling | The Etsy Blog
  Wholesaling is when a boutique or another reseller approaches you to purchase your items in bulk, usually expecting a discount for the large order.
• The Art of Pricing: Staying Competitive | The Etsy Blog
  Discusses: * Cost-Plus Pricing * Competition-based pricing * Demand pricing
• Etsy Success: Reevaluating Your Prices | The Etsy Blog
  Includes a discussion of selling less and making more money
• The Price Is Right When You Get Paid What You Deserve | The Etsy Blog
  Business isn't a price war; it's an exchange of value. Know your worth and have confidence in it.
• Daily Worth: Profits Come From Business Models, Not Ideas | The Etsy Blog
  In my first attempts at pricing my originals, I sold them at or around $100-200. Many years later (and with much more experience), I now charge anywhere from $200-$900 for a painting.

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Artwork Archive
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Set the price too low and you could leave money on the table, set the price too high and your artwork could start stacking up in your studio.

• Seven Rules for Pricing Your Artwork - If you don't have a consistent history of selling your art in a particular price range or in a particular market, follow these seven rules to get started. 
• Do's and Don’ts of Pricing Your Artwork - 5 important do’s and don’ts for pricing your art to help ensure your work finds a deserving home--and you get the salary you deserve!​
  
• 7 Pricing Mantras for Artists - how to cultivate a more positive relationship with money and price your work with confidence.

• How to Get More Results with Multiple Art Price Points - Tiered prices can open the door to new and tentative buyers. Once they own a piece of your art, they are more likely to continue buying - and become collectors.
• How to Price Your Artwork for Profit - The cornerstone of making more sales and having a profitable business is staying consistent in your pricing. But, how do you know where to set your price point to begin with?
• ​Why It Pays to Price Art Consistently - six key reasons why it’s important that you establish a logical and consistent pricing structure

• 9 Things to Know About Art Editions - so many factors to keep in mind - from choosing run sizes and correct labeling to pricing and impressing collectors. Includes advice on how to price editions

The general rule of thumb is the fewer prints you have available, the more valuable they are and the higher you can price them. 

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Making A Mark - on Pricing Art
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#14. Research prices and consider price points. There's nothing worse than having your pricing completely pitched wrong for the area, the gallery and the calibre of the company you are keeping if you get selected. It's very helpful if you can get hold of catalogues for previous exhibitions to see what the range of prices look like. This is again where a visit to an exhibition in an advance of entering a competition can be such a good idea.
"20 tips for entering art competitions"

You can find more information about art on my art blog Making A Mark.

• What price is affordable art? (Poll Results)
  In November the Making A Mark Opinion Poll asked the question What price is affordable art? in two different denominations - £ and $. This post has the results - and there's a very interesting twist and some very profound messages for marketing
• Results of "How do you price your art?"
  The MAM Poll for March asked the question How do you price your art? This poll examined your preferences across a range of different approaches to pricing art and finished earlier today. The results have been counted - and the winner is....
• Guidance on pricing art
  I've been hearing about an entry form for an exhibition - which will remain anonymous - which states the following "When pricing your work do please bear in mind the current financial climate 
• Is there a guide for pricing art for competitions? - there is no guide for pricing art for art competitions. what follows is based on personal observations and experience about: a principled approach to pricing art; some practical suggestions for working out prices - and how to price for an art competition
• Pricing prints for The Summer Exhibition - One very small artwork on display at the 2016 Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts very neatly illustrates a very important point about pricing for art competitions and the Summer Exhibition in particular.

• A Making A Mark Guide: Analysing the cost of entering a juried art exhibition - A spreadsheet - with examples - for analysing the cost to artists of entering a juried art competition or open exhibition. This helps you set prices for juried artwork. It's associated with my post How to calculate the cost of entering a juried art exhibition which looks at how much it really costs to enter a juried art competition or open exhibition - and why this can be a bit of shock when you tot them costs up.
• POLL: Do you price your art on your website / blog?
  How do you identify the price for your artwork? This poll looks at the tricky issue of pricing art on a website or blog. Plus the results post Do you price your art on your website / blog? (Poll Results) - there's a decided preference for only pricing your art on your own website or blog.  
• How much are you paying yourself?
  In it I promised that I'd explain how using the cost plus approach to pricing backwards can help you see what sort of net earnings you're actually getting for your art. 

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Barney Davey on Pricing Digital Fine Art Prints
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Barney Davey writes extensively about the digital print market and selling prints. You can read more from Barney Davey on his blog Art Marketing News

Pricing your art is one of those mission-critical decisions. Essentially you want to be "priced" into the market. That means you are getting a fair value for your work without being overpriced, which cases lost sales, or underpriced which causes lost profits.
— Barney Davey

• The Psychology of Pricing Art
  Pricing art, like art itself, is subjective. There is no set method of pricing art. Success and profitability are tied to setting proper expectations.
• Selling Art Prints - Exploring Open Edition Print Opportunities - Art Print Issues by Barney Davey
  a discussion of open and limited edition prints
  

How Price Digital Fine Art Prints by Barney Davey

His book (published in 2011) about how to create cash flow and profit from original art via the digital print market has proved to be extremely popular.

This book is about how to price digital prints - in ebook/Kindle format. Davey explains the processes for arriving at an intelligent price for a digital fine art print which has a relationship with the price of original artwork by the same artist

File Size: 465 KB
Print Length: 79 pages
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.

How to Price Digital Fine Art Prints buy Kindle edition from Amazon.com

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Alyson Stanfield - Art Biz Blog
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The Abundant Artist
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• When to Show Prices of Your Art [Updated] - If you want to sell your art, post your prices. Even if you have gallery representation, showing your prices can help drive sales
• The Problem With Lower Price Points For Your Art - Have you ever created a body of work just so you could sell at lower prices?​
• Raising Your Prices: A Lesson for Breaking the News - commentary on better ways of breaking the news to art collectors 
• 12 Tips for Pricing Your Art - twelve pricing guidelines
• Guidelines for Pricing Your Art - a 2010 set of pricing tips
• Art Marketing Action + Podcast: Increase prices for your art (perhaps) - Increasing your prices happens only after you’ve taken into account a number of factors. Here are six to consider. 

• Does retail pricing work for art?  - commentary on whether or not to round up prices or price like retail shops

• 5 Art Pricing Lessons I Learned the Hard Way - by Melissa Dinwiddie. Another five lessons about how artists can price art. These are more about the psychological approach rather than nuts and bolts.
• Help! How do I Price My Paintings?  - by Melissa Dinwiddie. Provides five ground rules
• How to Raise Your Art Prices webinar replay - Cory Huff explains how to raise prices using generic examples for content marketing. It's focuses on general marketing principles and uses stories from outside the art world to illustrate the marketing points

SEE VIDEO BELOW for How to make your art worth more money

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Clara Lieu 
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Visual artist; adjunct professor, Rhode Island School of Design

• Ask the Art Professor: How Do You Price Art? | Professor Clara Lieu | Huffington Post - There are essentially four criteria which factor into the price of an artwork: 1) the media of the artwork, 2) the size of the artwork, and 3) the artist's position in the art world and 4) the venue where the artwork is being exhibited.
  

Lori McNee - Fine Art Tips
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• How to Price Artwork for Consistent Sales Success - Deciding how to price artwork is probably the most difficult decision artists have to make
  
• Helpful Ways to Negotiate and Set Your Art Prices - A visual artist who has had only a moderate number of sales and for whom each sale is a “big event” is likely to have a hard time negotiating higher prices and better deals. Tips about negotiation.

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Cultural Careers Council Ontario
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• Top Tips for Setting Prices - by the author of 'Finance for the Arts in Canada' – a reference guide, self-study resource and textbook for a not-for-profit cultural organisation.

The Practical Art World
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• What is your Market Value? Strategies for Pricing Your Art - Highlights three factors which determine value and three mistakes in pricing art
  

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BACK:  How to price your art
BACK:  Options for Pricing Art
NEXT:  How artists price their art

Read on for more about how art experts price art.