Is it just me or is 20 dollars for stickers high?

Question

I follow a couple big Instagram artists, namely Reiq and a couple others, who sell stickers of their art.

Cool, good stuff for people who want to support you. I went to buy some of Reiqs stickers and they're as high as in the twenties for a 2 or 3 pack and about 12 for 5×5in singles.

I was like, woah that's sounds kinda high to me. A quick Google search shows most artists are charging around 5 bucks for a 3×3, costing around a dollar to print.

Okay so he seems to sell them for high profit, while also charging 20 dollars of shipping with a 2 week processing time. Some of said stickers and other merchandise get time locked to tier 2 patrons at low stocks, worth 15bucks.

Okay okay. I mean, starting to feel a little foul but okay. He's a great artist anyways.

Besides him tho, find some smaller artists on Instagram who also sell stickers, same size, but same price. Way less followers and name notoriety.

I'm a art hopeful myself so I'm asking in concern to my own future art business practices. Is 10 to mid 20s high for said sticker sizes or is this common practice and I shouldn't feel bad?

Posted Sep 13, 2022, 12:05 AM UTC

616
[deleted]•

[deleted]

15

I completely agree on everything you said, though I will add here like in my own comment, 5x5 inch stickers are absolutely MASSIVE so the price makes sense. I've seen like 3x3 inches and those are super large (my pointer finger is 3 inches long) so a 5x5 is like a whole freaking mini art print (I plan on making 4x6 prints so i can say for sure its getting to art print territory) Most cheaper stickers I've seen are like 1x1 or 1.5x1.5, there's been a rare 2x2 but those are like $5 each individual minimum.

5
masterace01OP•

In response to your second paragraph, I definitely agree. I think I was thinking of the past business model of charging more as you grow in name. I imagined it would be harder to convince new customers to buy your stuff at a higher price if you're less well known.

2

If he's charging because he's printing himself that may make sense; having to pay for the printer ink, paper, cutting machine blade, mat, time spent printing/cutting/packaging (pre shipment) and making the art/files to begin with.

The shipping though does sound ridiculous. Stickers and all can be sent through envelopes or mailers that are (us postage wise) only about $6 max for priority/first class with tracking. It could be he's using higher prices to account for out of country shipments, but even then that's WAY expensive.

5x5 inch stickers though are MASSIVE, and if it's good quality then definitely worth the $12 (for note my palm is only about 3 inches x 4 inches; tip of my middle finger to the center of my palm is about 5 inches and stretching out my fingers to the max, the edge of my palm by my pointer to the tip of my pinkie is 5 inches) For further reference, a 5x5 sticker can only fit about 2 on a 8.5x11 standard sheet of paper so they're going to be MUCH more expensive than a 3x3 that can fit around 6 full stickers.

I've done tons of costing calculations for my own (future) shop items and it's LOTS of little things to take into account. How much are raw materials, how much time are you spending making the item (your hand not printing), what's your storage- are you bulk making and sending or is it per order, what's competition rates, whats the percent minimum of profit you want (I believe at least 40% is considered a healthy baseline), what are the fees you KNOW you're going to pay? Personally, etsy has some outrageous level and unavoidable fees (looking at you mandatory advertising fees) for me so I won't use them, at least not fully. Could be also they aren't bulk making the items so it's more expensive.

Example: A bit different but for me to make my own canvas panels (at about .49 cents per canvas) I'd have to buy around $574 worth of raw supplies, along with the time/labor to make them and any initial machine costs if I were to get an airbrush system to apply gesso. To buy some pre-made but crappy and inconsistent sizes by like an 1/8 of an inch would be in like the $565 range.

If he's going and ordering/getting them made third party then there's a less overall cost but more initial cost because of the amount he has to buy (like 1000 for a lower price for example). Most people end up shifting to this route and increase sticker price because if it. Someone mentioned a third party printing and sending them wihout his involvement, which is also possible and makes a tiny bit more sense on shipping if they're international sending to US.

Still though, for a pretty flat object like stickers $20 shipping is too much.

3
raziphel•

Who the hell charges $20 to ship stickers.

2

I don't think Reiq is in the USA but like South America or something. So shipping would be astronomically high.

2
masterace01OP•

He's in California

2

Thank you for the update. Even with tracking that's outrageous. Maybe ask why shipping is so high? Unless hes using 3rd party printers and they are charging that?

3
raziphel•

He's pocketing the money.

1
currentscurrents•

Okay okay. I mean, starting to feel a little foul but okay. He's a great artist anyways.

We're talking about stickers, not food. There is no moral aspect to their pricing.

If people are buying them, then the price is right. If it's priced too high, people just won't buy them.

I'm a art hopeful myself so I'm asking in concern to my own future art business practices. Is 10 to mid 20s high for said sticker sizes or is this common practice and I shouldn't feel bad?

This will vary depending on your following, the quality of your art, how effectively you market yourself etc. There is no one right answer.

Instead you should experiment; try different stickers at different prices and see what sells. Lower prices if it's not selling well, and raise prices if it's flying off the shelves. Watch what your competition is doing, but don't feel that you always have to undercut them.

2
Yellowmelle•

Daaaannnnngggggg

I do think that's pretty expensive for a sticker, but maybe that's what they're going for? If I really didn't think it was worth the trouble of making a sticker, but people kept bothering me for them, I can see why it would make sense to go big price on them if that's the only way to make it worth the effort. Plus, it would take forever to sell out so you wouldn't have to restock very often.

2
scicm•

highly priced stickers are probably printed on demand by a third party with no risk to the artist having to put any money into making the sticker come into existence. I would never pay 10 for a sticker, but I am from a completely generation .

1
KahlaPaints•

I was going to say it's high, but after checking out the shop, the prices are actually quite good for most things. $12 for 6x6" stickers is reasonable. If that was cut into quarters it'd be four 3x3" stickers at $3 each.

And the shipping shows $6.49 for me, also in the realm of normal.

1
[deleted]•

Those prices are VERY high for stickers, but I'm not out to judge what an artist decides to charge for their work. If you don't like the prices just don't buy from them.

If the artist is making poor sales that might incline them to lower their prices in the future, basic supply/demand.

1
AGamerDrawsMODDigital artist•

For more advice regarding this kind of topic please check out r/artbusiness

1
ampharos995•

Well honestly, he advertises himself as "erotic art," and it's very related to fandom (i.e. characters people already know and like), so with his established reputation it makes sense that it costs a premium. He can get away with those prices because he knows he has demand.

1
Katy-L-Wood•

There's a lot of reasons his stickers could be higher in price. They could be a better quality, they could have special effects, they could be larger. Or, he could just want to charge more, which is 100% up to him. It's his work and he can charge whatever he wants.

As for shipping, it's just expensive these days. There's really not too much that can be done about it, especially if you want the shipment to arrive safely and be insured in case of lose or damage.

2 week processing time is also completely normal. Individual artists are not Amazon and even if they're using a fulfillment service/center, packing orders still takes time, especially if there is a lot of them.

I don't see anything wrong with what this artist is doing.

0