Custom Note Cards

[SCRAPPYGIRL]

I really would appreciate some input here. I made custom note cards for family members for christmas using their homes and turning them into sketches/water colors. Tonight at my family christmas party, my cousin who is a realtor was most interested. She said they would make a great "thank you" gift to people that she sold homes to. Now for the problem - how do I price them. For the family cards, we:
1. Took the photo
2. I then photoshoped them into a sketch or water color. this could take anywhere from a few minutes to many hours, depending on the photo, type of home (row homes are more tricky and time consuming)
3. Print them onto card stock.

Everyone says to evaluate the cost per card, but I'm having a difficult time evaluating the cost per print cartridge (my printer takes 6 and it seems to use them very un-equally)

I'm thinking of 10 cards per order.

Any input will be greatly appreciated.

[kayser]

Hi Carol-

I bet everyone loved their cards!

What kind of printer do you have? There probably is something on the Internet that gives approximate costs for printing on your printer. For example, here's an HP site that has a calculator for figuring out how costs of printing at home:

http://www.hp.com/sbso/productivity/color/print_cost_calc.html

I read somewhere it generally costs $.28 a page to print photos at home, taking into consideration the cost of the paper, the ink...

Not sure if you are set on printing at home, but you could provide your cousin with the .jpg and have her do the printing commercially. You'd still have to figure out the cost of your work.

Good luck!

[SCRAPPYGIRL]

Thanks for the info Kaye, I'll look to see if canon has that info on their site.

DH and I have been checking prices on the internet for cards such as these and the price greatly varies, anywhere from $1.00 each to $5.00 or more each. We're thinking about somewere in the middle of those - maybe 2.25 each, but the jury is still out on this one.

Thanks again for your help

Happy New Year

[bayhli]

Hi Carol,

I don't have any experience but don't sell yourself and your time short. The cards are unique in my view and obviously excellent. I'd be leaning more toward the $4.00-5.00 range. Don't forget that these cards are an effective marketing tool to help boost their future sales as well...

Don't forget to sign them. This could be the beginning of a nice little business for you so you don't want to start too low.

[kayser]

Yeah, definitely sign them!!

[SCRAPPYGIRL]

I hear you loud and clear Pat, I just have a hard time believing anyone would pay 4 or 5 dollars for one note card. I wonder if I would myself.

I think part of my problem is that I just don't have confidence in my work.

But I realized as I gave out the cards to family and friends, that when they see their home on the cards, photoshopped into a water color/painting, they just love them. Plus no one I gave them to have any experience with PSE or Photoshop, so they all thought I was a gifted artist. I wouldn't dare tell any of them about this fourm and let them get a gander at the real artist's galleries here. I mean I know they weren't terrible, but in my humble opinion, just so so!!