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Okay so I finally did it. Bumped my base commission price from €140 to €180 for an 8x10 watercolor, which honestly still feels low when I look at the hours, but for me it was a big leap. And the very next inquiry I got, this woman who'd been following me for months and was SO sweet in her message, she replied "oh that's more than I expected" and just... went quiet. Never heard from her again. And the thing is, I keep going back and forth. €180 for something that takes me like 6-8 hours including the sketch and the back-and-forth? That's still under €30 an hour. But also, I did the actual math on it and with materials (I use good paper, homemade honey watercolor, proper sable brushes that cost an arm and a leg) it's like €15-20 just in supplies. So I'm basically charging for my time at a rate that's less than I made scooping croissants at the bakery. The part nobody warns you about is how much the silence hurts. Like the polite rejection email I could handle. But the ghosting? My brain has been replaying that message for two weeks wondering if I should've said "well, I can do €150 if it helps." And my partner keeps telling me the right clients will come, and logically I know that, but also rent is due on the first. Hoping the next one who says yes makes up for it. Anyone else had the "I'll wait and see" regret thing happen after raising a price? How long did it take before it started paying off?

Sold a big charcoal piece for $400 three weeks ago. Was so excited someone wanted it I didn't think twice. Then the custom frame arrived yesterday, $280 with glass and shipping, and I just sat there staring at the invoice like an idiot. So net on that one is $120 for what took me about nine days of work, and that's before any studio rent or charcoal. I keep doing this. I price from "will they say yes" instead of from what the work actually costs me. And the worst part is I'd already told everyone how happy I was to sell it, so now I'm just quietly wearing it. Trying to actually write out my real numbers tonight. Hours, materials, the whole ugly math. If it comes out to $3 an hour again I might scream. Anyone else price from fear and regret it every single time?

finally did it. bumped my base commission price from $200 to $275 after like three years of telling myself i'd get around to it. two people had inquiries sitting in my DMs. both went "ok thanks!" and vanished into the ether the second i gave the new number. not even a counter or a "let me think about it" just gone lol. i know $275 is not insane. i know i'm worth it. i know the people who actually want the work will pay it. but man that immediate ghost hit different. feels like i just priced myself out of my own market and i'm the one who set the price. anyone else raise a number and immediately regret it before you even gave it a chance to breathe? or is it just me staring at my empty inbox

Early in my career a gallery in a small city took my work, I was relieved, I said yes to everything. Then they asked me to paint smaller and charge less. Smaller I could understand, but charging less felt like the wrong message. I said no, we parted ways, and I still think it was the right call. But I've wondered since. Sometimes a lower price gets people in the door and you build from there. Sometimes it just trains people to wait for a discount. Have you had a gallery ask you to change your prices, up or down, and did you do it? Regret it either way?

I painted a portrait of my sister-in-law's mother two years ago. Almost free, obviously, family price, I think I said €150 and we both knew it was a lie. Oil, 60×80, took me close to a week of evenings. Last month she put it in a small exhibition of her own work. Not mine, hers, but the portrait was the thing people stood in front of. A gallerist asked me what I'd charge for something like that. I said a number out loud, doubled it on the spot out of embarrassment, and I could see him filing it away as cheap. The piece that got me the most genuine interest of my career is the one I practically gave away. I'm not sure I know what to do with that. It's not regret, exactly. It's the feeling that nobody will ever believe my real prices now because the best proof of what I can do is marked at a tenth of it.

I used to do this thing where I'd tell people "pay what you can afford" because I genuinely believed in making art accessible and also I hate conflict LOL. But here's what kept happening: Someone who clearly had money would pay me $20 for a charcoal portrait that took me 6 hours. And I'd smile and say thank you because I SAID they could name the price and I didn't want to be a hypocrite. Meanwhile I had a single mom pay me $150 for a small drawing because she said "I know what labor costs and I want you to keep making work." The sliding scale only works if people are honest. And I realized I was letting the people who COULD pay more off the hook because I was scared to just... state my price like a real businessperson. Now I just say what it costs. If someone genuinely can't afford it I'll trade or work something out one on one. But I stopped making my pricing a charity auction where the rich get the discount. Anyone else do the "honor system" thing and regret it?

Went to a gallery years back, they loved the steel pieces, wanted to take three on consignment. Then wouldn't commit to a dollar amount. Said they'd "see what the market said." I told them my market said fifteen hundred and walked. Never regretted it. I know galleries need room to negotiate but if they won't even put a number down, that's not a partnership, that's them hedging with your work as the collateral. What's the strangest ask you've gotten from a gallery? The one that made you thank them and leave?

Okay so I'm still pretty new to pricing my own work without a professor or a gallery telling me what to do and I think I massively undershot this one. A friend-of-a-friend reached out wanting a custom piece, her cat, sitting in a sunny windowsill, very specific reference photo she sent, gorgeous light honestly I was excited about it. I quoted $150 for a 16x20 watercolor which is like... insane when I actually stop and think about it. That's easily 15-20 hours of work when you factor in the back-and-forth and the sketching and the masking and the layering and fixing the thing I inevitably mess up. I did the math after I sent the message and it came out to like $8 an hour and I just sat there staring at my phone. I'm not mad at her she was thrilled with the price obviously lol. I'm mad at me. I keep doing this thing where I price based on what I think someone will pay instead of what the work is actually worth. And I KNOW better. I had a whole class on this. But when it's real and there's a real person on the other end asking nicely I just fold and throw out a number that feels "fair" to them and not to me. Anyway she's picking it up tomorrow and I'm gonna smile and take the cash and then I'm gonna spend the whole evening updating my rate sheet so I don't do this again. For the fifth time. 🫠 Anyone else have a number they immediately regretted the second it left their mouth?