Not sure what to call this type of "auction" that a customer saw at a recent show. A customer had described something he saw as a neat marketing tool and I wonder if any of you have have done this or seen it or even how it is done. I am working off of a very brief and partial description.
An artist has a piece or multiple pieces and offers these pieces up for auction to the highest bidder over the the length of the show. A price for the piece is displayed as normal but then people can bid on the piece and if no one buys the piece at a predetermined time, the highest bidder would get the piece at the price they had bid. A phone number would have to be collected and an email could be collected as well. Not a bad way to get email addresses of people that like your work. I certainly don't like to send or receive unsolicited email but I do like to get email from artist about upcoming shows and new work.
As I said a customer told me about this and the description was very brief. If there is someone out there with experience doing this I would like to hear from you.
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I wonder how well a free drawing for a smaller piece, 12x16 or so, held every few hours or so would work? Make it their choice, limit the number of draws perhaps so there's not an absolute give away every time, but the idea would be to draw a crowd to the booth and generate a little buzz. My price on a matted photo, 8x12 in a 12x16 matte is $35, but the materials and labor cost is rather minor, so it's worth it if it draws a crowd to fill the booth and spill out in the aisle. This would seem like a good way to get people back to the booth for a second visit and look around again. Just thinking out loud, in a manner of speaking, and wondering how the concept sounds.
I've seen an artist who puts a piece on display as her "Facebook Raffle" piece. She says that anyone who Likes her page during the show is entered into the raffle, and provides a QR code for easy access. At the end of the show she has to ship a piece somewhere but she has a bunch of new FB folks getting her news. I have been thinking about that as an interesting model.
Interesting. I'm guessing she has to collect shipping addresses during the show, or otherwise contact the person through facebook who wins?
I'm not that saavy on Facebook workings ... can you pull a list of "likes" that occur during a specific time period, or how would you know who qualified?
When I was at Bayou City someone was asking/suggesting if I ever thought selling raffle tickets in my tent at $1 for a chance to win a chosen piece of work in a drawing at the end of the day or end of the festival. Can't say that I have ever seen any artists that have done this before... (other than the festival promoters) but then again I have never seen anyone demonstrating/singing or dancing in their booth with a tips jar either..you oughta see me dance ...hmmmmm food for thought...!
I'm sure it depends on the state, but in Colorado you have to acquire a raffle license through the Secretary of State's office before you can raffle anything, whether it's a marketing technique to gather leads, or a raffle for an established charity.
Just a heads up...
In Louisiana I think it's the same. I know many of the shows I have been in have had a prohibition in the rules against raffles by vendors (artists/crafters or anyone else who has a booth).
I would think running an auction within your booth at an art show would come across tacky and turn people off from buying your artwork, thinking that if they wait, they can get something really cheap.
Artists hate it when shows run auctions, doesn't follow that we shouldn't like them in our own booths for the same reasons.
Larry Berman
http://BermanGraphics.com
412-401-8100
The guy doing this was at the front gate area of Bayou City selling original work. The guy who told me about this bought a piece and bid on another. I see tacky all the time at some of the best shows in the country and to tell you the truth, most people...MOST people have little to no taste. Longs park auctions off hundreds of pieces. Tell me how appears as tacky to you. I am interested.
Because artists never get the value their work deserves. I've never seen auctioned work go for a price even close to it's actual value, and you can only write off material costs. It's also possible the artist who was doing it got away with it because he had already built a reputation and following and his followers expected it.
You could take e-mail addresses and have people bid on a piece on your web site. That's a good way to generate interested traffic.
Larry Berman
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