Standing up against price complaints

_{Disclaimer: if you aren't going to read this journal completely to understand the concepts I'm bringing up, do not bother to comment. Random angry/drama-spewing comments from TL;DR-ers are unwarranted and unwelcome. Thank you for understanding!}


I just had a new complaint about my prices for my Pay to use deviations... I've had a few of these in the past (for both commissions and pay-to-use deviations) and I try to handle them the same way.

1.) calm any frustration
2.) collect my thoughts
3.) and write my explanation for my own actions.
_{(I seriously have to explain my own actions and decisions that I have chosen for the permissions and pricing of my own creations? Really??)}

I know that most people that complain aren't intending to be rude... but they end up looking that way to artists. (Especially to artists that are trying to make some extra $ to support their passions as well as their food, their rent/mortgage, car loans and other bills.) Art isn't just fun and games for a lot of the people here on this site. Many depend on their art for income. Questioning an artist's motives and decisions regarding pricing is insulting to their artistic skill and belittles the fact that they're trying to raise money to cover their financial responsibilities. Many of these artists are trying to pay for food and their college degree because they don't have parents or their parents are unable to support them; these artists have to fend for themselves. It's hard to understand when growing up and completely dependent on parents for food, shelter, and all the bonuses of childhood. Most people don't have things handed to them or changed on a whim; not during nor after childhood.

So when these comments arise, I don't get upset just because this is directed at me. I get upset for the artist community and what these comments end up doing to the community at large. For every artist that isn't strong enough to stand up and stick to their values, the prices drop, the value of art drops, and the artists lose. More expectations for artists to work for a few bucks (or !) per hour of work! (Remember that 100 is needed to get $1 in Paypal since DA takes a 20% cut.) I have vowed that I will not bend to the will of someone that obviously lacks social tact and doesn't value money or the work/talent/skill/time of an artist (beyond the benefit of some good hand-outs and other freebies.) The only time I have adjusted my prices were by my own will (if I saw that something stood out as being too low or high in relation to similar items.)

With all of these thoughts of how the comment devalues my work, my service, my skill, and my financial responsibilities as an artist, I do my best to keep myself calm and not show anger when writing my responses to these. It's never my intent to be mean (especially to people that don't know any better)... I'm simply trying to enlighten and broaden the minds of those who have taken advantage of the horribly low prices of other artists and expect EVERY artist to value their art the same way.

The following is what I replied to the most recent comment which was basically "why is the price so high?" (but with more exaggerated punctuation and tone):

Honestly, the price is far more than reasonable... Allow me to explain:

I've already had a number of purchasers buy this item at the current price. Changing the price now wouldn't be fair to anyone else who has purchased it.
I don't lower my standards of price just for . 100 = $1
I worked over 3 hours on this piece. I have included animation, shading, line-art, and instructions so all that needs to be done is color the layers.
I make $20 per hour in my day job (which involves almost no creativity or talent.) And my fiance advises that I price my art accordingly. If you do the math, this is priced at 1/6th of the minimum price that my fiance would prefer that I charge.
If you don't have enough points but like my art, I have other pay-to-use deviations that may be in your price range.

And before you complain on any other artists' commissions and premium content files like this, please consider this journal: capukat.deviantart.com/journal… A little tact goes a long way in the art community!

Thank you and have a good day!

For future instances, I'll just link them to this journal so I don't have to re-type every time to (re-)validate my stance in my pricing. I encourage others who share my views to do the same. (Hopefully we will spend less time explaining our prices and we can do more art!)

</relatively calm yet passionate rant>