Selling Retail

We mainly sell our work through galleries and fine shops. Occasionally we sell on consignment, generally smaller local galleries.

I recently received an e-mail from a woman nearby who had bought a box at the Salem Art Association gallery. (One of the consignment locations.) SAA is not a BIG seller, but is consistant in sales, and it is our favorite local gallery (I go there to buy gifts!) We have had our work in there for several years. Back to my e-mail--the woman wondered if we made any larger boxes in the coloreed, stabilized wood. I wrote back to her, telling her yes we did. We didn't currently have any on hand, but had a few other things, she was welcome to come to our workshop and see them.

I heard back from her, and she came to see us yesterday.

We generally pay a "finder's fee" to a gallery/shop if we sell something at retail that the buyer originally saw in the gallery. We were prepared to do that if we sold this lady something.

The woman was blown away by our prices; we quoted her the same price for our boxes as what a store would charge (2.2Xwholesale$). Her inquiry was, "I thought your price would be less thant at the gallery. Can't you discount it because I came out here?"

My answer to her: "We try to have our costs be similiar wherever you buy it. We derive our livlihood from making and selling boxes. We depend on galleries like SAA, or other stores. We are not out to compete with ourselves in other locations. "

Bill has always said he wants someone to buy an item he made because they like it, because it is well made, not just because they can get it cheap. And when it comes to buying it from us at our workshop, remember that we are not set up as a retail location. We have to stop what we are doing, unpack/unwrap several boxes for a customer to see. Why should it cost us money to do that? The bottom line is, if someone buys a box or table from us at retail, they will be charged 2.2 X the wholesale cost, the same price most galleries charge. A referring gallery will get a percentage (usually 15-20%).