Just raised my fair price from $45 to $60 and half my regulars vanished
I finally did it. After two years selling 8x10 prints at the local fairs for $45, I bumped them to $60 a couple weeks ago. I'd been telling myself the whole time that $45 was fine "because it's just a hobby," but then I actually did the math on one of them. Framing costs me $14, the print itself $8, and I spent close to six hours on the painting. That was $3.75 an hour. For a mom who paints in the cracks of her day, that's basically working for free.
So I raised it. And three of my regulars who've bought from me at every single fair just walked right past my booth without stopping. Didn't even say hi. I get it, $60 is a jump and everyone's feeling it lately, but it stings more than I expected. Part of me wants to put a sign up saying "here's the breakdown, here's what I actually make on this" just so they see I'm not being greedy.
The three new people who bought at $60 didn't blink. So maybe the regulars were never going to keep coming anyway, and I just didn't notice because the price was so low it was easy for them.
Anyway. Holding at $60. It's still less than minimum wage when you count the hours. But it's honest now, and that's something.
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The regulars who walked past aren't necessarily gone for good. Sometimes people need a beat to recalibrate when a price shifts, even when the new number is perfectly fair. Give it another fair or two before you read too much into it.
But I'd also say this: you did the arithmetic, and the arithmetic was right. $60 is still modest for what you're describing, and if you'd kept it at $45 you'd have been training people to undervalue the work. I raised my own prices years ago and lost a couple of loyal buyers too. It stung. It also cleared space for people who took the work seriously at the new level, and that made all the difference in how I felt standing at the table.
Hang in there. You priced it honestly. The right buyers will find you.
That's really reassuring to hear, thank you. I keep telling myself the same thing about giving it another fair or two, but it's hard not to take it personally when people you recognize just walk by.
And you're right about the arithmetic. I think part of why it took me two years to do it was exactly that fear that I'd be pricing myself out of people I'd come to know. But $3.75 an hour is not a hobby, that's just being too nice. My husband keeps saying the same thing you did about clearing space. I hope he's right.
If you don't mind me asking, did your lost regulars ever come back? Or did you find it leveled out with new buyers pretty quick?