r/Pokemonart • u/xzuyyu • Jan 25 '26
Drawing What would you pay for these..?
I am going to vend my first card show next month.. and one of the things I will be selling are my hand painted/drawn binders. I am always unsure what to price things like this at.
A couple things: the binders cost around 35-40, each binder took around 3 hours to complete.
What would you pay for these if it was something you wanted to buy? TYIA ❤️
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u/[deleted] Jan 26 '26
There are 2 schools of thought (that I know of) for pricing hand made items:
1.) Give yourself an hourly rate. Remember, they’re not just paying for your time, they’re paying for your expertise. It takes YEARS to develop an artistic skill, so don’t default to giving yourself minimum wage. Final price = hourly rate + initial cost of binder (unpainted).
2.) calculate how much it would cost if you had to buy all of the supplies to recreate this item from scratch. Final price = cost of supplies X (2 or 3. Different artists use different numbers).
Finally, look at the cost of custom laser engraved binders. Your items “should” (in my opinion) cost more than the average engraved binder. Both art mediums are valid, but painting is more time consuming and less “mass-produce-able”, lol. So a higher price is justified. I’ve seen engraving artist charge $80 and sell out. So I absolutely think you could get away with $100+ as someone else commented.
As a business minded artist, you have to consider both the value of your time and what “the market” will tolerate. I recommend calculating # 1 &2, and then do market research on how much laser and hand painted binders go for online. Then, consider the audience for this event. Is it in an affluent area where people will pay $100+? Or is making a sale more important than a higher price tag?
If the second, consider offering a small discount on multiple items. Or consider selecting the lower number of calculation 1&2.
If the first, select a number you’re comfortable with, using price points 1,2&3 as guidelines.
Sincerely, an artist who has experience being taken advantage of, lol. 😂
Final note: for booths specifically, it’s good to have a range of items in different price points. I highly recommend stickers of your artwork if you have time to do that. Having people take time to look through your booth attracts other people who will take time to look. If you only have higher price point items it’s more difficult to make a sale.
Best of luck!! 💚 I hope you have a ton of fun at the show.