# Selling Photos for Charity



## JimMcClain (Aug 17, 2015)

I entered a bunch of photos in the county fair and won several ribbons. I have also been contacted by a few people who want to buy some of my photos. My plan is to have the checks made out to a small handful of local charities - I've already contacted them about this and they are very pleased and assure me the donors can use this as a tax deduction. I am not looking for a tax deduction myself, only a way to donate to my favorite charities.

My problem is, I don't know what to charge for the photos, or what to offer as far as matting and framing are concerned. All the photos are double-matted. A few of them are also in frames. I am not going to split the checks the customer's write so I can recover expenses. I don't care about the expenses at this particular time. But I also don't want to set a price that is too high that people who want the photos won't be able to afford them. These particular photos are not printed on premium papers and the matting is in standard sizes. The few framed photos I may have paid 40 or 50 bucks for the frames several years ago. And during the county fair, some of the photos or mats may have gotten finger prints or small scratches (I picked them up this morning and didn't notice any damage right off).

A couple of the framed prints are 21x17" overall. There are a number of double-mat prints, w/o frames, that are 14x11" overall. A couple are double-mats at 22x14.

Any ideas would help me determine what to charge and may help me decide pricing for new works going forward. My market is very rural, medium income levels. I've contacted a couple of local businesses who are willing to donate wall space to help sell the mounted photos.

Thanks for any guidance you can offer.

Jim


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## jsecordphoto (Aug 17, 2015)

I do something similar every christmas, where I donate 25% of my print sales to a local organization to provide winter clothing for kids who would most likely go without necessary stuff like jackets and whatnot. In my experience, and I live in an area that sounds similar to yours, people usually end up buying some large prints because they know a good chunk of the cash is going to a good place. If it helps at all, I sell unmatted 8x12s for $30 and unmatted 12x18 for $60. With those prices I still make a bit of money and they are within most people's budgets, at least in my area.


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## tirediron (Aug 17, 2015)

At a minimum, all costs (print, frame, matte, etc) x2.


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## TheUniverse (Aug 17, 2015)

tirediron said:


> At a minimum, all costs (print, frame, matte, etc) x2.



Wow!

Interesting way of donating.


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## tirediron (Aug 17, 2015)

TheUniverse said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> > At a minimum, all costs (print, frame, matte, etc) x2.
> ...


How so?


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## JimMcClain (Aug 17, 2015)

TheUniverse said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> > At a minimum, all costs (print, frame, matte, etc) x2.
> ...


I can see the logic in that. Remember, he said _minimum_. And this guidance is not only applicable to my situation, where I am donating all proceeds, but to the sales of any photo for sale. I would assume, especially for those of us new to the market.

After seeing some other local photos for sale today, it looks like asking $50-70.00 for a double-matted 14x11 picture is a fair price to ask. That's not quite x2, but close enough. Those that are framed in that same size range, maybe 80-100.00. Does that sound about right to some of you other photographers?

Jim


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## tirediron (Aug 17, 2015)

Sounds more than fair (as in a bit low to me).  If this is double-matted _and _framed, I'd be thinking more in the $150 range.


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## TheUniverse (Aug 18, 2015)

tirediron said:


> Wow!
> 
> Interesting way of donating.


How so?[/QUOTE]

Good question. Reading over the thread, I have no idea why I said that. Either I had something on my mind that had nothing to do with the thread but found its way into my response anyway or, it was the day I was hallucinating on sacred mushrooms.

Either way, disregard my answer and I'll go flog myself with a wet noodle.


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