Why do artists post work that is not for sale? Why do they post work that is already sold? Are you having success with starting prices of $1, $2 or $5 in your auctions? Since we don’t see the final sale price I wonder if this brings on the bidders.
Sometimes you only want to show a piece and not sell it. Sometimes a work is sold but you still want to show it. If you start a very low bid as a lure, be prepared to sell it at that price in case there are no other bidders. I’ve sold work here that I wish I could have gotten much more for, but ‘seller’s remorse’ will just eat at you. Better to keep painting and hope that potential buyers seeing lots of red dots means you are worthy of consideration.
4 Likes
Why do artists post work that is not for sale? Why do they post work that is already sold?
I would guess this is done in order to show a body of work and some sort of track record. Early on, I included several previously sold pieces in my DPW gallery for this reason. However, to avoid them posting on “What’s New,” when I uploaded them, I set the Front Page date way in the future (the only way I could see to add them to the gallery without posting them as “new.”) When I have posted and sold enough on DPW, maybe I’ll delete them.
Are you having success with starting prices of $1, $2 or $5 in your auctions? Since we don’t see the final sale price I wonder if this brings on the bidders.
I was curious about letting the market totally set the price and started an auction at $1 a couple of weeks ago. It got a LOT of looks and sold for $50. It was fun, and I may try it again sometime; but I think it’s a gamble, and I would not be happy to sell too many pieces for too little if there happened to be some slow weeks.
2 Likes
Another reason that I show NFS paintings on DPW is because it gives me a convenient way to keep track of them in the DPW database.
3 Likes
I did start with low bids on ebay just to get seen. I figured I could ‘lose’ a few pieces and take a risk. But there was always a last second bidder, with a low bid. DPW has taken care of last second low bidders by extending the auctions when there is activity on a piece. BRILLIANT! DPW also list every new piece daily on one page, and in many different ways, this is an all art related site, they’ve kept the scammers out and for those reasons, I didn’t think it was necessary to do on DPW. Listing at $1 or less than the cost of materials even, devalues the work in my opinion.
And if a piece doesn’t sell immediately, it may sell later. Fill in keywords and description to come up in searches and when you continue to list new work, buyers will often look at more of your work. That’s how I sell. Of course, more would be better but isn’t that true for anybody? 
4 Likes
Hi Andre - great questions! I allow my sold work to remain to show a body of work and to show that I actually do sell some paintings! But I always want some unsold work to be there too, because I felt frustrated when I went to popular artists sites and found that I couldn’t buy anything.
I haven’t tried,eating the market completely determine the sales price because I found that I resented putting that much work and money into an oil painting just to get almost nothing for it. So I set a minimum bid that I am ok with. Maybe I don’t sell as much but I feel better about it.
6 Likes
OH NO! “Typong” errors in my message - watch for them - some are even funny (I hope!)
My second paragraph should have said, "I haven’t tried LETTING the market… “, not " I haven’ t tried EATING the market…” Cheesh!
2 Likes
I wondered about that.
Ok, ha ha. making more sense now. 
Yes, I tried the low price strategy on eBay before and some got bid up higher, but I cried when I had to ship off a piece that sold for $.99 and THEN I saw a reseller sold for $20! No more $.99 for me.
OH NO, again!! Sorry I misspelled your name Andrea not Andre- sorry!
Betsy
1 Like
Elisabeth, you can edit your posts any time by clicking the little pencil icon at the bottom of them.
I’d agree with earlier posts about the putting up of work not for sale or already sold. When I started in November last year I included one or two works that had sold in a show earlier on. I suppose one could fake a few sales to give the impression of selling, but my conscience wouldn’t permit me to do that. What has sold on my gallery has genuinely sold (I’m offline at present for a short break).
As for the low starting prices, I have found that I rarely have more than one bidder for my pictures; so when I come back online next month, I’ll probably stick with BuyItNow, for the most part. I have difficulty with really small works, like ACEOs; they can take several hours to do, but people expect a rock-bottom start-price simply because they are small. I used to put them on Ebay but the financial return was so few peanuts that I stopped doing them on there.
2 Likes
Thank you all for your input. This has cleared up a lot of things bouncing around in my mind. It’s good to be able to learn from other artist. Sure beats guessing.
I put my sold paintings on DPW to keep a record of my paintings and also hoping to attract buyers to my Gallery page. I have never tried a low price.
2 Likes
I see a lot of very low prices on DPW. I wonder if the audience got used to that and expects it. I know it’s a catch-22 where you want your painting value to stay reasonable but you also want to sell. Too low will devalue your art I think. People see that low price and believe that the artist thinks that is what it’s worth - or close to it. I guess it’s just an individual choice on deciding how to price your art. I also wonder if people are bargain hunting to resell at flea markets, shows etc. Once they buy it they have a right to sell it for whatever they can get. I’ll price mine based on what I think it’s worth. If I never sell, maybe I’ve got the wrong audience. Or maybe I stink at painting! 
We’ll see. Very happy to read all the replies. Keep on painting!
7 Likes
And sometimes they see a high price and think that the artist must be delusional. 
Btw, I gotta ask: besides containing your initials, is mkultra a purposeful reference to the old government program? or am I reading too much into your handle?
1 Like
I think pricing is the most complicated thing about selling art here or anywhere else. I have tried all kinds of price points. I even tried auction starting prices at $1.00. Now I start my paintings at $25 and that’s far less than I want but that’s usually what I get. That is IF I actually get paid for it after the auction.
1 Like
I keep making more art regardless of the price I get for some of them. I can’t afford the time to worry about what they go for. In case they are resold at a flea market or whatever, I always make sure that my contact information is firmly attached to the back of the painting. That way the new owner might become a collector. I always try to treat each sale as if I were getting top dollar for them and do not skimp on packaging or shipping and include a C of A. I have for now decided to offer them once for auction at about a $25 minimum, without re-listing. Then I raise the price to a more comfortable buy now price. The $25 is chosen in case someone is bargain hunting and sets the low search category. Who knows if one person is interested then maybe another will be and they can bid it up.
Still not making much money but having fun doing it.
GFW
4 Likes
Hi,
I actually got the name from a local band in the 80s because my initials were in it. It wasn’t until later that I learned about it’s real meaning.