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Selling To Friends


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A friend of mine came over and saw my outdoor work.

She wants me to make her two bird baths with stands. I hand build all over them and they are kind of amazing if I do say so myself.

She cannot even come close to buying them even if I sell them to her really cheaply.

WHAT THE HECK DO I DO? Right now money is so tight I have to plan to take finished work over to the garden place where I sell some of my things. The gas price is truly a consideration right now.

How do you handle friends and relatives wanting your pottery when you just cannot afford to sell it to them?

Sincerely,

Mad Mudder

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Good question!

 

One solution is to always have hers in line right after the next paying customer . If she has the nerve to complain about the wait you can gracefully say that this is your business and paying customers need to come first.

 

Another is to tell her how much they would cost ... while looking like this was perfectly normal and you knew she would never expect you to do it for free!

 

I don't believe people mean to put down our work, but they seem to think we are playing unless you let them know you are a serious business.

It is up to you to set the limits.

It is simple to tell those who are rude enough to ask for a freebie that the pieces are all spoken for.

 

If you decide give one as a gift that is a totally different thing.

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Good question!

 

One solution is to always have hers in line right after the next paying customer . If she has the nerve to complain about the wait you can gracefully say that this is your business and paying customers need to come first.

 

Another is to tell her how much they would cost ... while looking like this was perfectly normal and you knew she would never expect you to do it for free!

 

I don't believe people mean to put down our work, but they seem to think we are playing unless you let them know you are a serious business.

It is up to you to set the limits.

It is simple to tell those who are rude enough to ask for a freebie that the pieces are all spoken for.

 

If you decide give one as a gift that is a totally different thing.

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Hi Mad Mudder - as a sculptor myself, i know it is hard to handle friends who are interested in your work but can't afford it. if you are selling your work through a venue (the garden place) and the venue charges a retail price, which tacks on 50% to your artist price, you could offer your piece to your friend at a wholesale price, which is what you would make anyway. I would only do this for my friends, because you don't want real collectors thinking they can always come to you and get your artwork for half price.

 

If you are not selling through a gallery, and are already selling your pieces to the world at the "artist price," you might consider raising your prices to be what they would be in a gallery setting, so your work is selling for their true value (which is what they would sell for in a retail setting.)

 

If you give your friend a "deal" then you can feel like you are helping her out, and at the same time you would get paid what you normally get paid for your work....

 

DON'T GIVE YOUR WORK AWAY!!! And if you sell your work to her for less than it is worse, it could put a wedge in your friendship...

 

Leigh :)

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  • 3 weeks later...

To begin with, does your friend know what the normal price is on your birdbaths? (I'm assuming not) Then offer to give her a 'special break', like wholesale. (that's usually seen as a friendly gesture) Then tell her what wholesale is. That might clue her in to how big a favor she's asking. If she stills wants to go ahead, tell her that as soon as you get current, 'hot' orders taken care of, you'll squeeze her job in, but that could take some time.

 

I've spent many years as a graphic designer, and I know friends can be shameless in asking for brochures, business cards, etc., assuming it takes hardly any time at all, and then asking for changes of all kinds.

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  • 1 month later...

oof. tough topic. even as a beginning potter i know how this goes. friends ask if i can make them something. they dont ask if they can buy something, but just if i can make them something. i already know they are thinking i can just do it for free because like someone said earlier, it seems like playing to them or a similar thought. haha it does kind of make you mad at them a little, but we all use the people around us for favors, right? i have found that some are easy to be real with, and tell them the price you would normally ask for. some get really offended and just say wow that is really expensive! and then you feel bad.

 

i have a coworker who asked if i could make her something, a mug actually. i very bluntly retorted, "if you pay me!" haha i think it has been a building up of all those friends asking for free things all the time. sorry coworker. i later apologized and she didnt know why i was apologizing. she bought a mug from me and i will be bringing it to her on thursday.

 

i guess i didnt really add much to the answer on how to reply to friends. sorry, im still trying to have the guts to just demand my normal prices. it still feels very wrong. im not a good business person... too soft i think.

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  • 2 months later...

A friend of mine came over and saw my outdoor work.

She wants me to make her two bird baths with stands. I hand build all over them and they are kind of amazing if I do say so myself.

She cannot even come close to buying them even if I sell them to her really cheaply.

WHAT THE HECK DO I DO? Right now money is so tight I have to plan to take finished work over to the garden place where I sell some of my things. The gas price is truly a consideration right now.

How do you handle friends and relatives wanting your pottery when you just cannot afford to sell it to them?

Sincerely,

Mad Mudder

 

 

I had a problem with this years ago and made up my mind that people that were friends would get a discount of 20% off of a regular price. Close family members, brothers- sisters -father-daughter-son got a 30% discount. When asked to do something I had not done before I quoted a price based on the complexity and size of the object, the firing space, and any other particulars I could figure. I then took off the percentage in front of them and told them that was what it would cost for the finished piece. The either took it or didn't. In the end, I got orders that were serious, and I made pots that were serious, and often would end up making more for shows and displays to sell to the general public. I also got rid of those idle inquiries or those that figured friendship meant a freebie. Mean? No just business.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Yeah, my friends wont pay, simple as that.

So when they complain i just say, hey, paying customers come first, i'll do your stuff when i feel like it and only then.

but 0 extra effort unless its either really really simple, or interesting.

 

Some will barter, so i'm more willing to take it more seriously.

 

I think the worst is birthdays and Christmas. everyone wants something, and its like, after pricing you just gave them 50 bucks worth of pottery...no way they'd return that sort of favor...

 

i think what it comes down to, you just gotta say touch ###### unless its mom, dad, brother, sister or SO.

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Yeah, my friends wont pay, simple as that.

So when they complain i just say, hey, paying customers come first, i'll do your stuff when i feel like it and only then.

but 0 extra effort unless its either really really simple, or interesting.

 

Some will barter, so i'm more willing to take it more seriously.

 

I think the worst is birthdays and Christmas. everyone wants something, and its like, after pricing you just gave them 50 bucks worth of pottery...no way they'd return that sort of favor...

 

i think what it comes down to, you just gotta say touch ###### unless its mom, dad, brother, sister or SO.

 

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This is tough. If you live in a small town like I do, everyone is your 'friend'. If you give one a discount, all the others know it and that discount becomes your regular price.

 

Could it be that the 'friends' don't have any idea what it takes to make that mug? How much equipmment and time invested?

 

I think if the general buying public understood where that mug really came from, they would feel better about the $18 -25 price tag.

 

Quite a few women in my small area are my students, and when they see a handbuilt piece of mine they like, ilt, they just try and make it instead of buy mine. Then they see how hard it is, and next time they buy what they like that I have made. I do give my students a discount, because they are investing in my process in other ways.

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