Guides & Advice · For Sellers
How to price your art prints
The question we’re asked more than almost any other — and the one that stops good artists in their tracks. Here’s the honest, unglamorous way to get it right, after over 45 years of printing for artists.
In short
Price each print from its true cost — printing, paper, packaging, delivery and any platform fees — then add a markup of roughly 2.5–4× for open editions, and more for signed limited editions. Tier your prices by size and edition rather than setting a single figure, benchmark against artists at a similar stage, and never price below the quality you’re actually offering.
Price too high and you worry nothing will sell; price too low and you’re working for nothing — and quietly telling buyers your work isn’t worth much. After decades of printing for artists, here’s how to get it right. As ever, the advice is free.
Start with what a print actually costs you
You can’t set a price until you know your break-even. For every print you sell, add up:
- The print itself — what you pay us to produce it. Our giclée print prices fall as quantity rises, so a print in a run of fifty costs less per unit than a one-off — worth factoring in if you’re stocking up for a fair.
- Packaging — sleeve, backing board, tube or flat mailer.
- Delivery — what you pay to post it, or what it costs you to absorb if you offer “free” shipping.
- Selling fees — marketplace commission, card-processing fees, or a gallery’s cut.
- Your time — the bit everyone forgets. Trimming, packing, listing and posting all take minutes that belong in the price.
Add those up and you have your landed cost. Everything above it is margin.
Apply a markup — then sense-check it
A common starting point for open-edition prints is 2.5–4× your print cost. That sounds a lot until you remember the markup has to cover packaging, postage, fees, your time and leave a profit. A print that costs you £12 to produce and sells for £15 makes you almost nothing once you’ve posted it. Sold at £40–£50, it actually pays. For signed, numbered limited editions, price higher again — scarcity and your signature are part of what the buyer is paying for.
Price the range, not a single figure
Don’t set one price and stop. Build a ladder so different buyers can all say yes:
- Greeting cards — a few pounds, the lowest-barrier way in.
- Open-edition prints — priced by size (an A4 shouldn’t cost the same as an A1).
- Limited editions — signed, numbered, and paired with a certificate of authenticity to justify the premium.
- Originals — at the top.
Each rung catches a different customer, and the cards and small prints often lead people up toward the bigger sales later.
Benchmark — but don’t race to the bottom
Look at what artists at a similar stage and in a similar medium are charging. You’re calibrating, not copying — the aim is to find your level, not to undercut everyone. Underpricing rarely wins the sale you think it will; it just narrows your margin and makes serious buyers wonder what’s wrong.
The quality is your justification. A print made as a giclée on archival cotton paper with pigment inks rated to last generations is a different object from a £2 poster, and you’re entitled to price it that way — as long as you can say why. Give the buyer those words and the price looks like value rather than a number.
Leave room for wholesale and galleries
If you ever want to sell through a shop or gallery, they’ll typically take 40–50% of the retail price on sale-or-return. So set your retail price high enough that it still works when halved — otherwise you’ll be forced either to raise prices later (awkward with existing buyers) or to turn down the opportunity. Price for the hardest channel from the start, and every other channel becomes more profitable.
A quick worked example
Say you’re selling an A3 open-edition giclée:
Print cost: £12
Sleeve + backing board + mailer: £2
Postage (absorbed): £4
Card / marketplace fees (~8% on a £50 sale): ~£4
Landed cost: ~£22
Sell it direct at £50 and you keep roughly £28. Sanity-check the gallery route: at 40% commission the gallery keeps £20, leaving you £30 retail against a ~£18 cost (no marketplace fee that time) — still a working margin. Priced at £30, the gallery route would leave almost nothing. The higher price isn’t greed; it’s what keeps every channel viable. (Figures illustrative — plug in your own.)
And always proof before a run
One last piece of pricing wisdom: a wasted print run is the fastest way to wreck your margins. Before you commit to fifty of anything, order a proof so you’re not guessing at how the colour lands on paper. It’s a few pounds that protects the profit on the whole edition.
Common Questions
Pricing, answered.
How much should I charge for an A3 art print?
There’s no fixed figure, but many independent artists price an A3 open-edition giclée somewhere between £35 and £60, depending on medium, reputation and finish. Work up from your true cost — print, packaging, postage, fees — rather than down from a round number.
What’s a good markup for art prints?
Around 2.5–4× your print cost is a common starting point for open editions, and higher for signed limited editions. The markup needs to cover packaging, postage, selling fees and your time before it becomes profit.
Should limited edition prints cost more than open editions?
Yes. A signed, numbered edition is scarcer, and that scarcity — plus your signature and a certificate of authenticity — is part of what the collector is paying for. Limited editions can command a meaningful premium over the same image sold open-endedly.
How much commission do galleries take on prints?
Typically 40–50% of the retail price on a sale-or-return basis. Set your retail price so the margin still works after that cut, or you’ll struggle to sell through galleries profitably.
Why can I charge more for a giclée print?
Because it’s archival: pigment inks and cotton fine art papers rated to last generations, printed at high resolution. That’s a genuinely different, longer-lasting product than a standard poster, and it justifies a higher price when you explain it to the buyer.
Still weighing it up?
Talk it through — the advice is free.
Sizing up an edition or not sure what to charge? There are real people here who’d rather help you price it right than sell you the wrong thing. Email us and we’ll reply the same working day.