Limited Edition Prints (Does it really work?)

[Former_Member]

Hi Guys, sorry if there has already been a discussion in regards to this topic.

I wondered whether any of you offer Limited Edition Photography? If yes do you find people are more tempted to buy those?

And how much would you charge for a limited edition and/or pay for?

Looking forward to hearing your experiences.

Kerstin

[Former_Member]

Hi Kerstin,

I've been wondering the same thing and have started to experiment by making some of my listings limited edition. It's too early to tell yet but I am hoping it will give them some value.

From experience showing my work in exhibitions I have learnt it is a good idea to make my photographs limited edition. It definitely gives the prints value and helps instill trust with the buyer that they are purchasing a real artwork. Photography often has a hard time the art world because it is reproducible.

But I am not sure whether this theory works as well on etsy. It is hard to compete with such a large market, particularly with other currencies and our strong dollar. But I think we shouldn't sell ourselves short and definitely think a limited edition print should be priced higher - it does after all have a limited amount of sales attached to it.

I've been trying to research other photographers on etsy to see what the generally pricing range is but it varies vastly. So I think it is just a very individual thing photographers need to decide for themselves. Giving different print size options probably helps because it means you item is accessible to buyers with different budgets.

Lucia

PS. I just had a look through your shop, I really like your photos :)

[Former_Member]

Hi Lucia,

Thanks for your response. I have been posting this in other forms teams but didn't get much response. Must be one of those topics that people not sure they have the right advice. I agree with you though, I think everyone has to decide for themselves in the end. I like limited editions myself and in Exhibitions i only sell limited editions for the same reason you mentioned but yes etsy is a different ball game. I can see that I am a little bit on the hight side with prices for my own art. But I don't see how i can make money if i lower it at this stage as I get them printed from a lab which charges me more as well.

I suppose only time will tell. Thanks for the compliments. I do love your shop as well and i can see you had a few sales which is great.
I wish you good luck!

Kerstin

[Former_Member]

I think it's ok that your prints are little higher. As you said, you are producing high end prints of a professional grade. They fall into the high end market of photography and your prices should reflect that. There are some sellers on etsy printing their prints at home or at minilabs, which is ok too, it just means there are different grades of photography catering to different sections of the market. I find the listing categories under Photography a little restrictive. Perhaps etsy should introduce a Limited Edition sub category to help distinguish print types.

In my experience, the biggest hurdle with selling photography on etsy is getting traffic into my shop. I have two other shops, one for clothing and another for paper crafts, and they get significantly more activity. I think there just isn't enough of a market for photography on etsy. But I am hoping that will pick up as the market place grows. Promoting your work on external platforms that link back to your shop is worthwhile. The successful etsy photographers that I've looked into seem to have built up a big following using other social media, blogs etc. I think the etsy community and teams are great too, but again, I think the photography side of things is a bit too quite. I tried to start a Sydney Photo Team but I've had a hard time getting team participation. We'll see, things might change in the future.

[Former_Member]

This is a really interesting discussion. Which I am really interested in.
I found when I did some market research via a survey (outside of Etsy) with people who weren't photographers that people didn't think they would necessarily pay more for a limited edition print and didn't really find it valuable. They did value a signature however.

It's interesting about what you both have said about price point. Kerstin, I don't think you should lower your prices for the same reason Lucia mentions but I am curious on what ideas you both have on how to make a "higher quality" product stand out in such a saturated market place such as Etsy. Can anyone share any successful Etsy photographers they've come across?

Any thoughts on print size?

Would love to continue this discussion!

Lizzy

[Former_Member]

Hi Lizzy,

Thanks for your input. I think this is a great discussion to keep going too. I have been trying to push my etsy photography shop for some time now, but alas I still haven't had much success.

I guess etsy is just not the best market place for photography, particularly high end photography. It's a mass market here, and it'd hard to compete. But I believe etsy can cater to the high end market if it is used as a selling platform for other avenues. Say for example you are exhibiting your art photography in a gallery or promoting your work on your own portfolio website, facebook etc and are simply using etsy as a means to selling to these customers online. Maybe we need to start a thread about ways to promote photography and bring in customers? I'll go start one :)

Because as you say, the market place is saturated with cool, cute and cheap prints. It's hard to stand out from the crowd. But i think that's the way to do it, stand up and make some noise to be noticed. Here are two examples of successful photographers on etsy that I'm familiar with. Both of them I've noticed around the social network scene a lot, and it's my guess that they are reeling in customers due to this. They are popular and they've managed to gain a following.

www.etsy.com/au/shop/ellemoss

www.etsy.com/au/shop/debbiecarlos

In regards to print sizes, i'm not certain whether less or more is better. But I'm thinking giving at least several size options is a good idea. And catering to specific frames sizes obvious, people often search for a picture that will fit into a frame they already have or one they can pick up cheaply from Ikea. I also make sure I always include a note in the listing description stating that custom sizes are available.