Charging customers

Hello, Marianne here. Thank you everyone who answered my questions on this forum. I really appreciate it, today I have another question: How do you charge your customers? I looked on quite a few photographers' websites and it looks like they charge PER SESSION as opposed to PER IMAGE. The average price I found is $400 to $600 for a 2 hour session (and they specify for example 50 to 70 images). However, there is also cost of printing. So do you charge the flat fee ($400 or $600) PER SESSION and then ON TOP OF THAT you PASS ON to them the printing fees NOT making a profit on the printing fee just whatever the lab charges to print you pass that on to the customer. And I guess you wouldn't charge anything for downloaded images they want to keep in digital form because you already charged them a flat fee. What practice do you find best from your experience? Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thank you,

Marianne

You're going to spend time getting print orders together, so you have to mark up your lab's prices. You are also responsible for quality control--some times even the best labs make mistakes. Most retail businesses double wholesale prices, some do more than that--a "keystone mark up" of 2.2 or 2.3 times wholesale prices is common.

A very open question usually requires a very open answer . . . Do it however you want . . .

 

Some charge for the session and don't even provide proofs. The images are viewed and ordered at additional cost during a follow up sales session. Others include a set (usually a limited number) or retouched proofs which may only be low res images. Some include a few prints of various sizes. Maybe a 16x20 and three 8x10s.

 

Additional print orders must be marked up to cover your costs. The larger the print the smaller the multiplier. For example, a 16x20 print may be marked up to 2.5x your cost while a 5x7 print might be marked up to 10x your cost. As you track your sales, mark up the sizes that you sell the most of the most.

 

Remember . . . You are selling your time AND your artistic skills . . . You need to be paid for both . . .

You're going to spend time getting print orders together, so you have to mark up your lab's prices. You are also responsible for quality control--some times even the best labs make mistakes. Most retail businesses double wholesale prices, some do more than that--a "keystone mark up" of 2.2 or 2.3 times wholesale prices is common.

Makes sense, thank you very much for replying.

A very open question usually requires a very open answer . . . Do it however you want . . .

 

Some charge for the session and don't even provide proofs. The images are viewed and ordered at additional cost during a follow up sales session. Others include a set (usually a limited number) or retouched proofs which may only be low res images. Some include a few prints of various sizes. Maybe a 16x20 and three 8x10s.

 

Additional print orders must be marked up to cover your costs. The larger the print the smaller the multiplier. For example, a 16x20 print may be marked up to 2.5x your cost while a 5x7 print might be marked up to 10x your cost. As you track your sales, mark up the sizes that you sell the most of the most.

 

Remember . . . You are selling your time AND your artistic skills . . . You need to be paid for both . . .

Thank you, that totally makes sense and marking up for prints make sense. It's just I am cautious to charge more for prints. If the flat fee for the session is $400 and then on top of that they have to pay for prints at marked up prices I am concerned that they will be reluctant to do so. And these days there is so much available to people with their phones that they will be reluctant to actually book a photographer and pay him/her close to $1,0000. Anyway, thanks for the advice.

If you're competing with people with their phones you don't have a viable business. If your work is good enough and you market it well, people will pay. The interesting thing is that if customers have paid a substantial sitting fee they are more likely to order prints.

Did you look at photographers in your area? If not, make some calls pretending to be a client and find out what the locals are charging. There is a vast difference in what photographers in the big cities and coastal areas charge and smaller towns and the center of the county.

The session fee should be your creative fee that pays for your time and talent. This should not include any costs for prints, products or digital files. Everyone has their own way to charge and most just do what the other guy is doing which makes no sense as you need to know what your cost of doing business is. If your running a business and want to stay in business you need to charge and mark up everything to make a profit. If you choose to include something with your session fee thats fine just raise your rate to include that item with profit of course. If your not going to sell prints or products then you need to set a price for your digital files. Giving away files or including them in your session fee without raising your rates to include them is not helping you or the industry. If you're good people will pay for your creative talent and and products offered. Turn your business into a viable one not a loosing one. The dollar amount you charge per print or product is what you need to stay in business. There is no right dollar amount to charge per say just as long as you do charge to make a profit. The better you are the more you can charge.