the thing: except for the picture shown here at the beginning of this post I've never actually sold a single photograph on Schaufenster. This particular photograph was taken of a poster in Hamburg which I later digitally enhanced. I sold it in the first few months I was on etsy, a time when I had pretty regular sales even though I was mainly only selling collages which aren't exactly a hot seller. Why? Because I had something listed in the gift guides for a long time which gave my shop a lot of exposure. I'm still sad etsy got rid of the gift guides. I heard they did it largely because of criticism that everything there had a certain "look" but I think that's a bunch of b.s. The only thing the items had in common was they were all beautifully photographed, but I think that's fair enough. I discovered a lot of great shops by browsing the gift guides, something that is harder to do through a general search....
But, to get back to my photography and my lack of sales, you might wonder why I even bother posting them for sale. Basically, it's because my shop Schaufenster is my little world filled with things I like. I don't really make much of a profit on anything I sell in the shop and I love all of the photographs I have posted, so there they shall stay.
Although my passion for vintage clothing and doo dads (for the jewelry) is my main motivation behind running Curious Knopf, I do also hope the shop will eventually become lucrative (and I'm finding more and more great stuff from the 40s and 50s, so it just might...) which frees up Schaufenster all the more.
Still, I would like to sell some of my photographs. I've played around a lot with the prices because I've learned, quite by chance, that you are less likely to sell if your items are priced low. I don't know exactly why this is. Do people consider higher prices more professional and, therefore, more trustworthy? Do they simply like to spend money? I don't know. All I know is that once, on a whim, I raised all of the prices in my shop and almost immediately I started selling better. Go figure...
Still, it is a fine balance, and I don't want to be overpriced basically because I like the idea that, whatever it is I sell, it will always be within the price range of anyone who might want it. Economic democracy if you will, with enough on the profit end for me to keep things going. And I do have these new animal portraits that I'm offering for sale in Schaufenster, taken in the Museum of Natural History. I love the intensity of these animals, amazing really since they are no longer living. Who knows? I just might sell a photograph yet. ;)
2 comments:
I miss browsing the gift guides, too! They were a great way to browse on Etsy (a site that is very difficult to search and sometimes irritating to browse)). And I've had the same pricing struggles as you. Sometimes I'm amazed at how people are pricing vintage--both on the high and low end of the scale--and wonder if it works for them!
Yes, it really is strange. Some of the most expensive shops seem to sell the most (though for the most part they do have really great stuff) whereas other shops are so cheap I wonder how they are even managing to make a profit. Very strange indeed!
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