When I exhibit my work for sale at fairs etc, there are some people who do not want to pay the prices I ask. Well, so far I have never seen a knot tyer who has overpriced his/her work! When you consider the time & effort put into the work - not to mention the time needed to aquire the skills it takes to make it - I would say that more or less everyone of us (including me, my wife keeps telling me ::)) tend to underprice our work! Not accepting the price is disrespectful.
In spite of this, there are still people who want to get our work for pennies. Some of them are downright rude in the prices they suggest! One answer that usually works is to ask if they would be willing to work for less than (here I state the very modest income per hour I get). Often they say “Of course not!” which enables me to say “Well, you just wanted me to do exactly that”. Some people state that “But it is only a hobby for you!” Yes, it is a hobby - but if that means I am supposed to just give away my work, I give it to people of my choice and who appreciate my work…
One very persistent category of Cheap Folks are those who want to pay less because they claim “I can make one like that myself!”. To this I generally answer “Well, that is nice! So do it, then!” In my experience, those who have both the skill & will to make the same things do not talk much about it. Instead they look at the stuff, very closely, and go home and actually do it! In my experience those who loudly claim “I can do that!” have no real intention of actually doing it, they just do not want to pay for it. As Oscar Wilde would have said: He who can does, he who cannot talks about it!
I think first price in this last category of Cheap Folks was won by the bloke some time ago who first stated that he could make one like that himself. I suggested that he did just that - after which he started asking what he obviously considered very clever and sly questions about how to do it! Can you believe that? First boasting that “I can do that” - and then asking for instructions! :o
Well, all this was mainly pouring out a scoop of frustration.
Have you encountered these Cheap Folk, too? And how do you deal with them?
To play devil’s advocate; you have to remember the Econ 101 way a price is determined: What the market will bear.
If you built a house blindfolded using only tweezers, you might feel that due to the work, you should rightly ask $3,000,000,000 for the effort. But buyers very likely will not care much about the effort, just the comparable products and their price. It takes two to tango..
Therefore if a labor-intensive product can’t find buyers, maybe because alternatives are cheaper, the product may very well stop being produced.
I can’t really help with your question as I’ve never sold any of my work but the part above about underpricing your work, perhaps this thread by Brian will help, hope so.
I think we all understand the cost of labor as well as the overhead that is needed to maintain a business. It’s really not about that or market value, because the cheapo is not our market for this kind of work. He’s just an annoyance, but when one is in a showroom, we’re exposed to the annoyance and can mostly not just chuck them out or give the finger or something along those lines. The annoyance is part of the paying audience, and emotionally the cheapo becomes a burden.
It’s not about marketability, because there are also people that are willing to pay the price. The cheapo is only showing off; he’s not a buyer, he won’t buy one of those items. He shows clearly that he undervalues your contribution, and he uses his arguments only to belittle you. He won’t buy, he’s there only to annoy you, to make you feel lousy.
So the correct answer indeed is to tell him to go home and make his own knots and not hang around being an annoyance. I think one can tell him straight in the face that he is a cheapo, and that he came to the wrong place. He’s got no business at the show but trying to get other people feel inferior and lousy. Maybe a better answer is to just ignore the person; treating him as thin air, as if he’s not there at all.
Interesting input…
First, let us remember something that quite a few potential customers forget: In no way do I have to sell! The cheapos seem to suffer from the delusion that if they do not want to buy at my price and offer me a lower price I have to accept it. Like h… I do! So, as for what the market will bear… Well, if I can not sell at a price that makes it worth while I will rather donate the work for charity!! (BTW: I considered it understood that the work is of good quality, the discussion would be pointless otherwise)
I agree very much with Inkanyezi, the cheapos are mostly out to boost their own ego and be a waste of time. I am more than willing to spend time talking to a person who does not buy anything as long as he/she is honestly interested! The cheapos who are just out to belittle me and make me feel bad can at the very best be considered as a way to exercise my patience. I try to avoid being sarcastic, but sometimes they do deserve it (and I happen to have a Black Belt in sarcasms… http://www.langkawi.dk/smileys/s13.gif
)
A note of moderation, here: for some cultures (and this might be well outside
of the particular discussion), I think that bargaining is to be expected;
perhaps also, for some items of purchase (cars, in the USA).
Beyond that, if one is valuing items in part by some notion of artistic worth,
how objective can the seller be? I could see, e.g., selling photographs of which
I had some large collection – the actual manual effort of production being much
the same, but the likely appeal differing --, and after a few shows finding those
that sold well & those that didn’t and adjusting the respective prices accordingly,
as Roo suggests (demand).
Oh, I am not talking about bargaining or negotiating the price! I want that to be perfectly clear! That is indeed a part of the process of adjusting the prices to a level that is a fair balance between what I want and what the market can accept! (Which is, after all, a necessary optimizing process) That is just to be expected, and there has even been times when I have had to raise my price to adjust to the level of demand. There are also a couple of occasions when kids wanted so much to buy just that special thing as a Christmas present for the parents but did not have enough money - they got a (generous) discount. These people look at my stuff, look at the price and politely ask if I am prepared to discuss the price. These are definitely not a problem, in fact they can be rather stimulating and give good input.
What I am talking about are people who do not want to pay the asked price out of principle. They might even consider the things you make well worth the the price you ask - they just want to reduce the price in order to “win” some kind of petty emotional victory over you. They seem to go to fairs more in order to look down their noses at the exhibitors than anything else. These people look at something that I have priced at SKR 400 (and which should probably be at 500+) and say “I can give you 250” with a tone of voice that adds “and I consider that to be quite generous”. I contempt these people at least as much as they seem to contempt me, and I am not willing to discuss price with them. Not a penny.
When someone shows me at least a minimum of respect I am open for negotiation, when they begin by showing an attitude of spitting me in the face I am most definitely not. I feel like quoting from The Godfather (“What have I ever done to you to make you treat me this disrespectfully?”) and in that moment I feel about as gentle and forgiving as the Godfather…
I think you have to prepare yourself mentally to forget slights and insults immediately. Not only is it good for your soul, these people may be more likely to part with their money (after they think about it for a while) if you didn’t return their bad attitude.
I do a fair amount of shows/fairs etc, especially during the summer months but at these, the only thing I sell are IGKT supplies and my own books. My work goes on display and I like to demonstrate - especially splicing. So I make only a small profit on my own books, nothing else…BUT…as a result I have had several quite lucrative commissions to do ropework for people who pay and expect to pay for my time and expenses. Forget pineapple knot key fobs and turk’s head bracelets - get into ropework and splicing or bespoke works or art with rope or cord - thats where the best results for your time and money is!
I also get asked to do talks, which I normally share with fellow branch members and the money we make from that goes into the branch funds.
Oh, I do my very best not to return that attitude. I remain polite unless I face open insult - but it is really, really difficult to be nice to someone who look at your finest work like something out of the cats litter box… >:( My hypocrisy abilities do not reach that far.
On the other hand, Dalai Lama once said that we should be grateful for unpleasant people, as they give us ample opportunity to exercise our patience!
Hypocrisy? I guess I’m not suggesting to allow yourself to burn with rage interiorly while biting your tongue, but rather I’m suggesting mastering your passions from the beginning, rather than letting them master you. It may take vigiliance (doubly true for me), but being at peace interiorly will allow you to function better in all aspects.
Well, as I said, I am polite. (Unless they are openly rude and insulting - in which case I am sarcastic) However, being actually nice to that kind of people requires more of control and Zen Calm than I posess - at least yet. On the other hand I am not sure if it is necessary to be nice to everybody and at all times.
I guess I will just have to take Dalai Lamas advice and see them as an exercise in patience, thinking “I rise above your level - ignorant!”
At the fair this weekend there were no Cheap Folk - especially not my fellow knot tyers, who bought the small diameter (1.5 mm to 3 mm) gripfids I had brought as soon as I unpacked them! ;D
The rest of the visitors were also in general very nice.
On the other hand, I came to wonder about how some people think - or even if they think…
On my table I had a bullwhip I had made. For sale, naturally (18 year age limit) but mainly as an “eye-catcher”, to get peoples attention and make them stop and look. It worked as planned, but one visitor really made me wonder… It was a man in his thirties, with wife and a daughter of estimated 4-5 years of age. The dialogue was as follows:
V (visitor): Does that whip crack?
L (me): Yes, of course! It was designed and made for that purpose.
V: Can you show me how it cracks??
L: I am afraid not.
V: Why not?
L (politely, and making a gesture at the crowd): This is a 9 foot shot loaded bullwhip! Cracking it near this crowd would be dangerous!
V (showing no sign whatsoever of understanding): pause OK, if you say so.. shrugs and walks away
Well… I think I know what you mean, and perhaps I can even agree with it - but at least people over 18 are of age to take responsibility for their own actions!! I sort of disliked the idea of getting sued by the parents of a 15-year old kid who took out an eye on a friend with a whip I sold him. That is why I set an 18-year limit.
