Why do people charge so much?

I'm talking mostly about face-up work here, but I feel the same can be said for all commissioned creative services. I'm speaking purely from a customer's point-of-view.

I feel that people who have put untold amounts of time and effort into their work should feel perfectly at ease when charging more for a face-up, as it is normally a reflection of the quality of work you are recieving. In the same thread, some well-practised and respected face-up artists undercharge; I rather feel as if I'm stealing from these folks, to be honest, and would happily pay more for the same work should they choose to raise prices in the future.

Many beginner face-up artists freely choose to offer their services at lower prices in order to attract customers who may show loyalty as their work progresses, and/or to tighten and practise what is really an art form. It is completely acceptible to me that, if an artist feels they have improved outside the realm of a certain price range, they adjust their fees accordingly.

No matter how much you like something, or enjoy working on something, there are inevitable stresses that go along with the doing. Mistakes can be made, miscommunications do happen, and sometimes things get completely arse-banged. I have no problem paying a higher price for an artist I like if work-related stress is a factor in their pricing.

My point: If I like an artist's work enough, I may feel price is no object and will pay higher prices for certain things. If another customer does not feel this way, they are free to choose another artist to work with.​

 

I agree with this completely.

Any artists or seamstress was not born with this talent. They need a long time to obtain the skills they have. Those are investment. You are paying for their time, skills and creativity.

My main occupation is the medical field, I spent 4 years in post grad school to learn and get a license to practice. I'd paid a LOT for my education (I am still paying back my loans). I spend between 20 - 30 min with each patient; patient does not pay me by the min, they are paying me for my time, my knowledge and my license fee to write a prescription. So this is the same for all skilled workers.

Anyone is more than welcome to determine if something is "over-priced" or not. And I think everyone is intelligent enough to determine that for themselves. And I think SDink's work is TOTALLY WORTH the price she charges (and three times over.)

 

I agree with Mercy, People are only going to pay what they feel something is worth.

I worked in the comic book industry, and some books in my opinion were not worth the paper they were printed on, however other people highly value the face up.

I personally do most of my own face ups. However there are alot of artists that I would be willing to pay $50- $100 even more for a face up from... for me though right now it is a matter of money.

 

"Mark-up" implies a standard base price with an addition. There isn't such a thing w/regard to faceups, clothing, chest couches, jewelry, what have you. "Insanely overpricing" is as subjective as the actual base price: if the quality of the work is good, and the customer base is there and determines that the work is valued at the set price, it's not "overpriced."

 

I've gotten different priced faceups from free to $100 from different levels of artists,{students,friends,pros}...the most important thing to me is not the price but the knowlwdge that that person will respect my doll {because its an expense that I can't afford ,to replace him}
almost all faceups have a lifespan,they will wear off,given enough time,so the experience of having fun getting a new faceup and being delighted by the artist's changing your doll IS the important thing

I am also gulity of mixing costly fashions from Japan with homey touches from Calif so my enjoyment in the hobby is often about the HOW and not the WHAT I get

I work as a chef and its the same ?? there ..why do restaurants charge what they do for
generaly the same food as other restaurants...??? ..experience given and taken from one to another person=some sort of {cosmic lol} pre-determined value system

 

I guess everyone is different when it comes to their beliefs about pricing with faceups and outfits. For me, knowing that beyond a shadow of a doubt that I can't do ANY of it, price isn't really an issue. (It took me an hour just to attach my girl's eyelashes last night - grrr). When I go for faceups or clothes, I really don't look at price - if it's amazing work, it's amazing work. Period. And although I know some people can whip it out in an hour or two, I know others take quite a while to do their faceups and/or outfits. I don't mind paying for someone's time, if the results are worth it.

 

This would probably be the most offensive statement I've read yet on this thread. It's an accusation. No one else is throwing these out. It's one thing to say that you'd never pay that much for a faceup or charge that much for a faceup. That's completely fine, no one would argue with that. Others have already said that in this thread without any issues. No one is telling you what to do with your money or your business. But then you go on to say that when others charge more, it must be overpriced, hence the quote above. That's the thing people are having problems with, not your personal standpoint on what what you feel is worth it to pay, but what you think others should be charging.

This debate is on why people charge what they charge- not what comicbookartistboy thinks is a fair price for something.

It's been explained many, many times over why. No one has asked that you like it or pay for it or even agree with it.

Yeah, there are going to be varying opinions on what people feel worth spending their money on, it will range all over the place, but even if you've talked to a hundred+ DoA'ers in person, that does not represent the entire population of doll owners. If it did, people like SDink wouldn't have people literally clamoring for her spots. And she's not the only one they do it to, some charge much more and still have an incredible wait list as Mercy has mentioned. The sales speak for themselves, the money and demand are much louder than the words.

You seem to be contradicting yourself in saying 'I will always defend people's right to price things at whatever they wish' but in the same breath going on to say people must be overcharging because it's not worth that price. You're not defending people's right to price whatever they wish as much as you seem to think you are, otherwise you wouldn't be insisting that anything over X amount for a faceup is akin to robbery because it would be their right to charge that no matter the value you think it's worth. It would stop at "I don't charge this much and would never charge or pay this much, personally, but whatever you want to charge is your business".

If that's the issue then just admit it, no one will fault you for it.

 

People aren't jumping on you--they disagree with you, just like you disagree with them. However, some of the statements you have made have been far more offensive (accusing artists of robbing people, for example). No one is saying you should shell out more than you're comfortable paying--it's up to you to decide what's worth it to you. However, you've been taking what is a very subjective personal opinion on pricing and treating it as hard fact: Artists are over charging, prices are insane, artists are essentially robbing people etc. and here in lies the problem and why you're getting the responses that you've been getting.

The trouble with art and craft is that there is no correct way to price, because not all that goes into it can be measured in a definite way. Like you know what you're supplies cost and can factor that in, but when it comes to experience, skill, time, effort it isn't so clear cut. The people that are making more money off faceups or clothes are people that have good reputations for a reason, people want their expertise, customer service, reputation, and skill and are willing to pay for it. It's worth it to them--no one ever put a gun to their heads. So how can you say they're being robbed???

 

Quite frankly, comicbookartistboy, I have to agree that it's theft for people like SDink to charge to much - in the sense that it's a steal for us! God only knows how long they've spent to perfect this craft, get their materials/tools, and what sorts of hassles they go through to deal with us. We pay them to do this service for us because we don't know how to or have the necessary things to do it for ourselves. I believe that you pay for what you get - and that generally, the better a faceup is, the higher the cost. That goes with the appropriate pricing; it might seem horrible to you but as others have said endlessly before me, but if there is a market for faceups at $2000 a pop, then that's a fair price. Their work is of that quality and there is such a demand, major kudos to them for bringing themselves up to that level.

 

And in most cases with this sort of thing, it is the buyer offering the price, they usually do auction style selling and the buyer chooses how much they want to spend. SDink's dolls are AMAZING. If I had a couple extra k on hand I'd spend it there.

 

I agree with Taco. From many of my other posts, IMHO -- these dolls are an art form and art is subjective. It depends on the style of the artist, clothing designer (or whatever) as to what is a good value in your eyes. Nobody else's opinion of price matters.

Sometimes someone is willing to pay a bit more for a specific eye treatment, an imported fabric or simply because of the artist's name/reputation. Any reason is worthy, if the owner is happy.

I'd rather cough up the millions of dollars (if I had it) for a Van Gogh, than the hundreds for the Marty Belle. They're both oil paintings, but I'd hardly consider them equal.

Bottom line -- not all hamburgers are priced the same and neither is art.

 

For clothes: A lot of BJD clothes are made by hand, instead of mass produced machine sewed clothes like what we would normally wear. Also it can be difficult to put all the details you see in clothes are often harder to achieve on a small scale.

So... You're pretty much paying for time as well as materials.

Paying for the time it takes the person to make it is the same with face-ups. etc. You're also paying for quality. It's generally accepted that a higher price will get you something more elaborate, and a lower price will get you something basic. : D

 

I think the question of why some people would underprice their goods is very intriguing. skwerlie reprised a lot of reasons why people charge less than a living wage for their work. From my own vantage point, I would like to offer another. I love to make and create, yet conversely, commission work make me shudder. I only take it on reluctantly, out of a sense of obligation to family and friends. So, I prefer to make what I like and if I make more than I can use personally or as gifts, I sell it for a price that is almost guaranteed to sell.
With commission work, what people really don't receive from me is customer service. I don't do well keeping people updated, keeping on schedule and I moan and groan about it too.
Even though my sewing and designing skills are very good, I don't tend to charge a lot for finished work because I really don't want the business. Even for my art dolls and doll clothing, I want to sell the items to free up space to create more and to repay my materials cost.
Another thing that buyers tend to appreciate is artist recognition. It is easier to judge the skill of an artist that is prolific and has a recognizable body of work. If the artist has a good reputation, a buyer can be reasonably sure of receiving exactly what they expected, within the time frame and price range they expected.
The name recognition of big name artist is also another reason that the price may be higher on their work. Like it or not, people will pay more to have something with a big name attached to it. Whether it's an SDink faceup, a Dali painting, or a blockbuster movie, people often want to enjoy a piece of the glow attached to popular artists.
Buyers who do not realize what a steal my prices are may unfairly judge the price of another artists work. I've had discussions with other artists about pricing policies and it all comes down to a balance between what one needs to get out of a piece, what one thinks the piece is worth and what the market will bear.
Also, I think it is crucial to point out that people won't necessarily drop their prices if they can't receive what the want/need for their work. Often, they will change their field of work and their art will no longer be available for purchase.
Susan

 

I think the price is base on how people satisfied with the price or not,
It isn't has the rate that all face up must 35-45$ in the base price.

the price is depending on how the works are and quality of the products too.
now only "this is cheap" or "this is expensive"

You can choose the most appropiate price for you, if you think the price is really over please don't buy it or commissiung someone that you think you can't afford.

If you want to get really good thing,
you have to trade with the more expensive price too.

I don't want to mean that the goods with very expensive price are suitable to buy
but, I want to mean that...

please understand
there's notthing on the world are really the bestest but so very cheapest

sorry for my language problem. ^^"

 

You're right. Price depends on what people are willing to pay.
I've seen people pay a hundred dollars for faceups that I personally wouldn't pay ten bucks for, because I don't like the faceup style at all, or I find it technically deficient in some way. And probably, vice versa - I've paid big bucks for faceups that other people did not like.

I don't think any of these artists who charge high prices will be going begging for commissions any time soon, as there are enough people willing to pay the high price for them to charge it.

We always have the option of just taking that hundred dollars, buying materials and learning to do our own faceups if we don't like the price somebody is charging or don't feel it's worth it.

Sometimes the self-righteousness of artists trying to justify a price gets on my nerves not so much because I have a problem with the price, but they shouldn't even be trying to justify it and saying "I have to do this work and that work and I have to WORK SO HARD and my customers run me ragged blahblahblah." Just say "hey that's the price, you don't want it, don't buy it." There is no need to explain anything and frankly, when someone constantly needs to harp on how hard it is to do something it makes me wonder why they bother to take the commissions.

 

Pricing your own work is always a tough question. I make pottery (I know geeky) and have done so for over 10 years. My "day job" I was making at one point like $25 an hour so I had to figure out what my time was worth when I made the pots and how well it sold. Like a balancing act, because you didn't want to price your item so high that it would sit on the table forever, but you also didn't want to price it so low that you were spending night and day in the studio.

Over the years, I finally figured out the best pricing for my work, but believe me, it took a LONG time of trial and error, and there are still times when a new form/piece I will do that will sit as I priced too high. But then suddenly someone will come up and buy it. Or the opposite, it goes right away (in which case I wonder if I charged too low).

You just have to price something where you are happy with and you aren't giving stuff away. Unless you want to, of course. Really up to you.