Some Shop Changes (or What Happens When the Universe Snatches Control Away)
Control is a squirming, slippery eel.
It’s that beast, camouflaged in the deep shadows, that we grasp for endlessly. It nips and snaps at our fingers, wriggling away into the furthest crevice. Then, when we’ve succeeded in capturing it, when it seems to be settled and secure in our hands, that is when it is most dangerous.
All of which is to say that I, and my whole “business model”, such as it is, just got a chunk bitten out of it.
Summary:
Shipping prices have increased.- Prints (giclée and laser cut) will go up +$2.50 / order
- Postcards (pack of 25) and Ram t-shirts will increase by at least $5 / order
- Postcards (packs of 5) and calendars are no longer available
- Original Artwork shipping is free from now on
There are a lot of ways to sell art. Originals, prints, merchandise, illustration. I’ve tried many. Sometimes successfully, sometimes not. When selling art, there are varying levels of control: keeping the copyright to your work (always!), contracts and licensing, communicating directly with collectors or working through a proxy (galleries, online vendors, etc.).
The main reason for selling art and prints through my own website has been to keep a level of agency over the products and quality, prices, income, and the whole system and process. It has helped me feel like my hand is on the rudder, even if that rudder is made of balsa wood and not actually steering the ship.
The last 18 months has stomped all over that illusion of control. With heavy, muddy boots.
the EMS situation
Since the pandemic started, the international postal system has been broken. Shattered. Which was weird, because I’d always taken it as a convenient certainty. I’ve been checking in with Japan Post’s website every month or so, hoping to hear that the mail is back on its proverbial legs. Asia came back first, then Europe. And last month, finally, the US came online.
Yet, as they say, every piece of silver has a cloudy lining. The resumption in service came with a price bump.
Okay, no surprise there. Flights are still rarer than chicken’s teeth, fuel is pricey. At the moment, they’re calling the price hike temporary. I certainly hope it is.
So, what about Regular Mail?
I was curious, then, about regular airmail. Would there be a “temporary” price increase for small packages? I decided to check. Then double-check. Then hang my head in my hands and sigh deeply for a bit.
It turns out that, back in April, there was a price change for normal mail too. It had nothing to do with the pandemic or the cost of fuel. In fact, it had been decided before anyone had even heard that accursed word “coronavirus”.
Light-weight packages - essentially everything that I ship - will be increasing in price. A lot.
For example, postcards used to cost ¥150 (less than $2.00 USD) to mail. Now, they would cost ¥1150 (around $11.00). That’s a huge change. To make things more confusing, shipping to the US, which used to be cheapest, is now the most expensive. Shipping to the rest of the world has increased, but by a smaller margin.
Here’s where that illusion of control sank its teeth into me.
Unpleasant Choices
The EMS situation isn’t too bad. And it’s not actually the first time this came up.
A couple years ago, EMS increased their prices by about ¥500 / $5 USD. At that time, I swallowed the price increase. But it erased any buffer I had. This time, I can’t take the whole hit. Unfortunately, I need to increase shipping prices a bit.
My EMS cost has gone up ¥450/package. So, Shipping costs of giclée prints and laser cuts will go up $2.50/order.
Original artwork will still come with free shipping.
Airmail is a tougher pill to swallow.
Shipping costs to the US and, to a lesser extent, Europe, have increased by such a huge amount that it no longer makes sense to offer the Postcard packs of 5 cards. The shipping price is nearly double the price of the cards. Ten-packs don’t make work much better. Neither do calendars. So, I don’t feel I can offer those products any more. If you still want them and don’t mind paying the shipping, drop me a line.
I’ve dropped the prices as much as I can on both the Postcard Pack (set of 25) and Ram t-shirts to absorb the blow a little.
Postcard Pack (set of 25) drops from $25 > $24, and shipping goes up from $4 > $10.
Ram t-shirts drop from $27 > $25, while shipping jumps from $5 > $13.
Looking Onwards
Which brings us full circle, back to that slipperiest of eels, control.
For the moment, things will continue on this current path. I’ll have to keep my eye on any further ups and downs, plus the exchange rate (which is making things a little easier at the moment).
I’m also looking into P.O.D. and drop shipping companies. That’s Print-On-Demand. If I find one that offers fair international shipping, good quality printing on good materials (at least equal to what I make myself now), and can be integrated with my website’s shop without too much trouble, I might go that route. It might even open up some new opportunities to freshen up my offerings.
Making t-shirts for Art Rush Gallery’s ongoing T-Shirt Show has been a lot of fun too. It’s given me a chance to re-evaluate some of the P.O.D. marketplaces (shops that can offer my goods on their own websites) I looked at a few years ago.
If we’re very lucky, this whole situation may actually turn out to be a lucky break?
