This is a question for people who have sold a few pieces of furniture, a boat, or any other large or exceptionally expensive item either on commission or at a show/online, etc. I specify expensive items because I want to differentiate between something someone may casually pick up for $50 at a market day or the like and a piece of work which the buyer may consider an investment or a potential heirloom.
I recently sold my first genuinely expensive item. It was a natural edge bench in Tasmanian Blackwood with Ringed Gidgee bowtie keys inlaid into some checks/cracks in the ends. Sort of a Nakashima style I suppose. The buyer loved it. I did, however, feel compelled to point out every single mistake I had made in an effort to be as honest as possible. Things like "I couldn't get rid of this bit of tearout around the knot" or "This tenon has a bit of space along one edge". He still bought the piece and was super excited about it. I was also excited because it kind of showed me that I CAN sell work at genuine art prices.
Anyway... I'm interested to hear anyone's personal testimony about something that did NOT go down like this. Something like a client freaking out and refusing to pay, or making you disassemble the whole piece to fix some space in a joint, etc. etc. Reasonable or unreasonable complaints, how often does this happen, and what can be done to minimize the chances of it happening?
I know that the simplest answer to this question is "Don't screw up." Unfortunately I'm still working on that...
Cheers,
Luke
I recently sold my first genuinely expensive item. It was a natural edge bench in Tasmanian Blackwood with Ringed Gidgee bowtie keys inlaid into some checks/cracks in the ends. Sort of a Nakashima style I suppose. The buyer loved it. I did, however, feel compelled to point out every single mistake I had made in an effort to be as honest as possible. Things like "I couldn't get rid of this bit of tearout around the knot" or "This tenon has a bit of space along one edge". He still bought the piece and was super excited about it. I was also excited because it kind of showed me that I CAN sell work at genuine art prices.
Anyway... I'm interested to hear anyone's personal testimony about something that did NOT go down like this. Something like a client freaking out and refusing to pay, or making you disassemble the whole piece to fix some space in a joint, etc. etc. Reasonable or unreasonable complaints, how often does this happen, and what can be done to minimize the chances of it happening?
I know that the simplest answer to this question is "Don't screw up." Unfortunately I'm still working on that...
Cheers,
Luke
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