Pricing - up front or hidden?

[todd_a]

I have noticed lately that some of the web sites I have visited for wedding photographers are missing pricing information when I am sure I remember seeing them previously.

Is this a new trend to not post even the low end package price on the site?

I have a wedding day only coverage price posted on mine with a note that more is available and I have used that to keep the calls down from people that are way under that price range because I used to get tons of emails asking about price then when I gave them a price I would never hear back from them.

Lately I have been getting inquiries apparently straight from my facebook page where I had no pricing at all, and again, always asking about price. I am getting the impression that people are not even going to my website and are just contacting me because of my fb page. I get messaged on facebook a lot about it. So I just added a pricing page to my facebook page that is identical to my web site pricing page.

It is nice to get a lot of inquiries, but it sucks when you show them pricing and they stop writing back after that. Sort of getting hopes up then nothing.

Thoughts?

[Ricco]

I would imagine that you should put down that your pricing STARTS at $$$$ for whatever your specialty is. If they are inquiring about anything else that you know it's lower than your minimum, I'd just go ahead and delete it.

[Rson]

The value of percived work has zero correlation to monitary price. If the bride see's your work as a MUST have, the price will be met. Example, you are at the Ranger Stadium and buy 5 dollar bottles of water and 8 dollar beers. Why? because the price at that time was of value to you.

With that said, you can put a floor for pricing. If you start selling your art on price alone you are devaluing yourself and no one wins.

[todd_a]

yeah, that is what I was referring to - starting pricing to weed out people looking for cheaper.

[Tom]

Originally Posted by todd_a

yeah, that is what I was referring to - starting pricing to weed out people looking for cheaper.

Yeah, exactly. We only have starting pricing. Anyone that puts no pricing is doing themselves a huge disservice because it will be a huge turn off to most clients. Why contact you if I don't know if you are $500 or $50,000?

Anyone that puts full pricing is making themselves into a commodity to be shopped around.

[reader0428]

Originally Posted by Rson

Example, you are at the Ranger Stadium and buy 5 dollar bottles of water and 8 dollar beers. Why? because the price at that time was of value to you.

I think it's more the fact that you have no other options at the stadium - if you want beer, you'll pay the 8 bucks - it's not like the next beer stand will be any cheaper. :)

[Rson]

That is where you are wrong, there are water fountains and you really don't have to get anything.

[pbyd]

I don't put any prices online, and will be happy to explain why and how it works to anyone that wants to give me a call,
Wayne
Photography by Design

[Ricco]

Originally Posted by reader0428

I think it's more the fact that you have no other options at the stadium - if you want beer, you'll pay the 8 bucks - it's not like the next beer stand will be any cheaper. :)

If you only want to drink from the water fountain and sneak in your own food, then why would I even bother to sell you a beer?
It's a waste of time.

Sorry, but I won't even get out of bed if it is not worth my time when there are other clients that are willing to pay the prices that are posted.

[kayumangi]

Photography is an emotional thing. Putting an amount even a starting price forces would-be clients to be price shoppers. What they'll usually end up doing is to look for a similarly priced photographer and use the posted images and the verbiage on the sites to make their decision, that's ok assuming that what was posted was real.

Our industry is unregulated, thus there is no way to determine if all photographers are the same just based on their price ranges. I've seen very good work from $200 togs, and crappy ones from $12K togs. Like most folks said, price doesn't equate to quality. Thus, forcing people to compare solely on price is unfair to all parties.

But then again, there are no absolutes, it's up to you to determine what works best for you. If you decide not to publish your prices do it not because everybody is doing it, but rather because you feel strongly about it. Some folks advocate posting a starting price and that's fine too because perhaps their target market prefers that. Know who your target market is then you'll know what you should do.

[PhotoDude79]

All my pricing info is on my blog and portfolio site. Sure I get less inquiries, but I also get the brides who really want me. (way better scenario)

[lscottpht]

I used to not have prices on my website, but then I got into a conversion with a ton of brides on the brides' forum of Wedding Wire. No matter how good someone's work might be, if there was nothing on there, at least a starting price, they would automatically go to the next website. They couldn't stress enough to me how important that was. So, I put a starting price on there, and my inquiries definitely rose. Now, granted, some are price shoppers, but most are great prospects, and I book quite a few of them. All of the ones I've booked have been awesome, totally my kind of brides.