How to price prints in your gallery

Price prints at lab cost plus a markup. The multipliers photographers use as rules of thumb, the sizes that sell, where the money goes, and when to give prints away.

Price prints at lab cost times a multiplier, then round up to a number that looks deliberate. As rules of thumb, small prints (4x6 to 8x10) carry the highest multiple, 3x to 5x lab cost with a minimum price; medium prints (11x14 to 16x20) sit at 2.5x to 3.5x; and wall art such as canvas, metal and framed pieces sit at 1.5x to 2.5x, because the lab cost and shipping are already high. Set the prices once before you send the first gallery, revisit them yearly when the lab’s price sheet changes, and mention prints in the delivery email, because prints that nobody points at do not sell.

Start from the lab’s price sheet

Every print price is 3 numbers: what the lab charges you, what the couple pays, and the difference. Get the lab’s current sheet, including shipping, before you set anything. As rough rules of thumb only: a 4x6 costs the lab well under a dollar, an 8x10 a few dollars, a 16x20 in the tens of dollars, and a large canvas considerably more. Your lab’s real numbers are the ones that matter.

Markup ranges

Product	Multiplier over lab cost, rule of thumb	Why
4x6, 5x7	4x to 6x, with a minimum price of a few dollars	The paper is nearly free; the couple is paying for the photo and the handling
8x10	3x to 4x	The most common single order
11x14, 16x20	2.5x to 3.5x	Still a strong margin at a price couples accept
20x30 and larger	2x to 3x	Prices start to feel high to couples here
Canvas, metal, framed	1.5x to 2.5x	Lab cost and shipping are high; the multiple must stay low or nothing sells

The 4x6 is the case people get wrong. If the lab charges 30 cents and you apply 3x, the print is 90 cents, which looks cheaper than the drugstore and makes the couple wonder what else is cheap. A minimum price per print, in the range of $3 to $5 as a rule of thumb, fixes that. The couple is buying a finished, color-corrected photograph, not a sheet of paper.

Percent markup and multiplier are the same thing

Most gallery stores ask for a markup as a percentage over lab cost. The conversion trips people up:

Markup you enter	Multiplier	Lab cost of $5 becomes
100%	2x	$10
150%	2.5x	$12.50
200%	3x	$15
300%	4x	$20

A “50% markup” is 1.5x, which is low for anything except wall art. If you want to triple the lab cost, enter 200%, not 300%.

Where the money goes

Your markup is not your profit. From the couple’s price, subtract in this order: the lab cost, shipping if you absorb it, payment processing (a few percent of the sale), any platform commission, and sales tax handling if the store does not do it for you. Check what your gallery platform actually takes before you set the multiple. Some charge a commission on every order; some charge nothing beyond the plan.

In the FOCL print store, prints are made by WHCC, you set a markup over lab cost and keep the difference, and FOCL handles payment and shipping. Orders appear in your studio and payouts arrive through Stripe. Details are in the help center under print store.

The sizes that sell

As a rule of thumb, most of what a wedding gallery sells is 8x10 and smaller: 4x6 and 5x7 in quantity for grandparents and the fridge, 8x10 for parents’ frames, and one or two 11x14 or 16x20 for the couple’s wall. Canvas and metal rarely sell from a gallery store unless you sell them in person, because the buyer cannot judge the size on a phone screen.

Offer fewer options rather than more. A store with 6 sizes and 2 finishes converts; a store with 40 products is a decision the couple postpones. Keep 4x6, 5x7, 8x10, 11x14, 16x20 and one wall product. Add more only when someone asks.

When to give prints away

Sometimes the right price is zero, or a credit:

A print credit in the package. Include $50 to $100 of prints in the wedding package, as a rule of thumb, and say so in the delivery email. Couples spend the credit, and many spend past it. The trade-off is that a credit costs you only when it is used, and it is used most often on the small sizes with the best margin.
A gift for the parents. An 8x10 of the family photo sent to each set of parents costs you a few dollars each and is the print that gets shown to everyone who visits. It is the cheapest referral you will ever buy.
A sample for the couple. One printed photo in the thank-you card shows the couple what a real print looks like, which a phone screen never does.

Do not give away wall art, and do not discount the store to compete with drugstore prints. The couple can print a 4x6 anywhere. What they cannot get anywhere else is the color you intended on paper that lasts, and the price should say so.

Make prints part of the delivery

Prints sell in the first month after delivery and around the first anniversary, and rarely in between. Mention the store 3 times: in the delivery email, in the 2-week follow-up, and in the anniversary note. Gallery delivery email templates includes those lines. The couple’s favorites list is the natural starting point; a couple who has hearted 40 photos has already told you which ones they want on the wall, and album design from client favorites uses the same list.

A pricing checklist

Get the lab’s current price sheet, with shipping.
Choose a multiplier per size band from the table above.
Set a minimum price for small prints.
Round every price up to a clean number.
Check what your platform takes per order.
Turn the store on before you send the gallery, not after the first order request.
Revisit prices once a year.

Print pricing is one line in the delivery flow; how to deliver wedding photos to clients covers the rest of it.