The price I'm scared to raise even though I know I should
I've been selling my small collages for 2,500 SEK (about €220) for three years now. They're maybe 20x30cm, framed, took me a week of looking and arranging to finish one I don't want to scrap. I know that's low. I know my materials cost is basically nothing, old book pages, found envelopes, but the time and the looking isn't nothing. And I know people buy them, so clearly the price isn't the problem.
But I sit down to change it to 3,200 and I just... don't. I tell myself the market here is small. I tell myself paper work isn't taken as seriously. I tell myself I'm not established enough. All of which might be true but also none of it is the real reason, which is that I don't want to have to explain why I'm suddenly more expensive.
I think I'm afraid of the conversation more than the number. Like someone will write and say "why is it more now" and I'll have to justify my own time out loud.
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Three years at the same number is a long time. You're not wrong that paper gets priced lower than it should, but that's not your problem to solve single-handedly. 2,500 to 3,200 is a reasonable jump. Not even a jump, really. A step.
What's the worst that happens? You sell a few less for a month, then the people who actually want the work pay what it costs. The ones who leave over 700 SEK were never going to be your long-term buyers anyway.
The week of looking and arranging is the work. The materials are nearly free, but the looking is the whole thing. That's what you're actually selling. Price it like you believe that.
The looking is the whole thing. That's the bit I struggle to put a number on, because it doesn't look like work to anyone watching. But it's the part that makes the piece work or not.
You're right about the 700. That's a coffee out and a book. If that's the line, they were never that invested.