Joyce Lee.......... on fri 15 may 98
Guilty, guilty, guilty. At my first and only sale pre-holidays last
year, I made the same error that so many of us newbies make...I waaaay
underpriced everything! I had read many Clayart messages about this
tendency on the part of beginners, had been warned by local colleagues
and had observed this phenomenon myself at other sales, AND the director
of the Art Fair had kindly suggested that I go look at other potters'
work and their prices before pricing my own. The stranger in the
chain-sawed black bear booth next to mine, who makes his living going
from fair to fair, nicely, politely and kindly told me little anecdotes
about amateur craftspeople who undersold the pros and how they were
sometimes stoned after the show. But there ya' go, I did it, too. I have
no idea WHY other than idiocy. I made the first mistake by not applying
price tags at home BEFORE the Fair, since the truth is I already knew
what everybody in the area charges for what. No, the hotshot business
woman here waited until she got to the arena and THEN priced her pots
minutes before the doors opened....at least three separate pricing
decisions for each pot...each one lower than the last.
When I was down to $6.00 for a medium size not-too-bad, actually rather
nice, bowl (yes, six) with fingers hovering over the next in line, my
good friend and mentor (a very experienced production potter) came from
nowhere, smiled sweetly, smacked my (aged) hand and said, "That's
enough." Thank God or I would probably have been giving my pots away as
customers entered, since my booth was smackdab fronting the door. Even
my customers were commenting on my low prices as in, "My goodness, how
can you sell that for blank dollars? It must cost you more than that to
make it." However, nobody asked for a discount...good thing, I'd
probably have agreed. I am determined now not to make the same mistake
this year AND not to go the predictable route and waaaay overprice
......wanna' bet?
Joyce
In the Mojave beginning to almost like some of my mugs...they have
character, at least.
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