duplicate album pricing? What would you charge?

[jamesjems]

<p>Okay, so the bride and groom love the quick little album I made for them in Aperture. The work's done. They were a low-end client, so they liked that the album wasn't much. Now their parents would like a duplicate album. If Aperture charges me about $50 for the album, by what multiple or percentage mark-up would you charge the parents for an album? Double it? Triple it? I'm just asking. My usual pricing "sin" is not charging enough.</p>

[julie_fisher]

<p>When I sell a bride a $600 album and the parents want an exact duplicate I take off the design fee ($300) and so they are basically getting the duplicate at half off. But if they want a smaller version with the same design I take the cost of the smaller album and triple it (usually works out to be $150) Hope that helps.</p>

[david_schilling___chicago_]

<p>Does anyone ever bother to do a search on a question, or even browse the current page? Here's a Link to a post from last week: <a href="http://www.photo.net/wedding-photography-forum/00WHwL">http://www.photo.net/wedding-photography-forum/00WHwL</a></p>

[jamesjems]

<p>Yes, David, I saw the thread, I read the thread, and I still didn't know what to charge. Julie has been helpful by telling me what she does..."I take the cost of the smaller album and triple it." That's the sort of info I was looking for. What would you do about a pricing a duplicate album? Yes, I do care what you think. From those of us in the industry, undercharging is terrible.</p>

[juanita_ramirez]

<p>Charge less than what you did for the original album (which required design time). Charge more than your cost. However you price that depends on what your margins look like, what your market will bear, and what you need to make in order to make it worthwhile.</p>

<p>Since I don't know what your specific market will bear, what your backend costs are (do you have to pay rent on studio space) or any other specifics, a numerical value is not going to be helpful. I tend to price pretty aggressively for album reorders. I figure I already made the bulk of the money off of the client when I first shot them, so album reorders are icing. I charge enough on reorders to cover my costs, time/inconvenience, plus an extra 20% or so. YMMV.</p>

[david_schilling___chicago_]

<p>James, this questions falls more into the category of "What should I charge for......." and you'll find lots of threads about weddings, TTD, engagement sessions, albums, etc.... Ultimately, the better replies will tell you that the costs will vary from region to region, market to market, business model to business model and it's rare that anyone can give you a number that's specific to your situation.</p>

<p>Are you networked with other photographers and studios in your area? What are they charging? Julie offers a valid formula of taking your cost and multiplying by 3. One of the better seminars that I've seen that addresses pricing studio products for profit suggests that you use a multiplier of 3.5 - 5. However, using your costs as a baseline does not take into account your design time and design abilities. In short, there's no quick and easy answer to your question.</p>