Only if you’re only differential is price which I am sure you don’t want. If you’re not cheaper, you need to be different/distinctive. No business can sustain itself on price alone. Instead photographers, or any business really, needs to focus on the new stuff selling points. All businesses need to move the conversation beyond price!

Ann

hmmmm would you surf a property site if it has no prices on it?

eddie

It’s extremely pretentious for a photographer to make you jump through hoops just to find out whether or not you’re in their budget. You’re wasting the bride’s time and your own time. This is a business, and one of the basic fundamentals of business is having clear, easy to find prices for what you provide. I can understand only having a “Starting At” price, in fact I think that’s probably the best route to take, but simply listing nothing is just plain rude.

When I was shopping for wedding photographers for my own wedding, every time I inquired with a photographer who didn’t list pricing on their site, all I got in return was a super-short e-mail telling me they were available, and their prices started at $XXXX. Not even a full price list! It took me nearly five e-mails to get a full pricing list from one of them, and the other one refused to even talk to me about my wedding until we were less than one year out.

Don’t be obnoxious with your pricing. Brides are stressed out women who have a LOT to do in a short period of time. Be respectful of that and make it easy for them to find out if they can afford you.

Interesting results in the poll. I am one of those photographers that lists starting prices on my website, but I’ve been reading a lot lately that has talked about “doing what everyone else is doing.” One of my favorite quotes recently is that if you want to be successful look at what everyone else is doing and do the opposite.

Based on your poll above, I should take my pricing off my site…interesting thought and I appreciate your willingness to engage your readership with such a topic.

Best,

Russ

We are selling a service and products. People need to know what the prices are. No more games people!

Would a bride call a dress shop and ask “What are your prices for wedding dresses”. How about a pair of shoes? Can you call a shoe store and ask “How much are your shoes?” I’m thinking these are the kind of things you have to look at and not just shop buy price. We do not list our prices on our web site. People do call on the phone and ask price (like shopping for that dress on the phone). We have almost never booked a job, or rarely had a bride come in after giving a price on the phone. Many brides shop for photography by price alone. How sad is that. I can’t belive how many brides have come into our studio after their wedding and told us they never got their photos because the guy disappeared and they can find him. His price was right though. Duh? Some have disappeared with their money before the wedding. Unfortunatly you can have some business cards printed up online for next to nothing and that make you a pro in their eyes. Too bad the wedding business has come to this.

Speaking as a consumer that has reviewed quite a few photographers’ websites when looking for a photographer or out of curiousity, I want to see prices. I have already spent my time looking through portfolios and now I want to know if I can afford you before I contact you. I think having some prices on one’s website helps to save both partes’ time.

A bride-to-be friend of mine complained of the lack of information that she found on wedding photographers’ websites so I recommended a pro that I have used for a couple of different portrait and senior shoots. She checked out his website and then his prices, which range from $2,500 to $5,000. She loved his work, knew she could afford his prices, met with him and booked him at the highest package.

Every photographer is going to have their own idea of what everyone else should be doing on their own website. List prices, don’t list prices, how about this, do what works for you. Are you booking weddings showing your prices? If the answer is yes, then why worry about it?

I think there is alot of great information out there for photographers, but take it with a grain of salt, and use your own brain. Just don’t do something because some photographer tells you to.

If I’m searching for a product on the web and there is no prices, I would not continue searching on that site, I want full disclosure. As a customer, I want to have an idea what I’m dealing with, the same goes for photography. Why play games by not showing the prices,customers nowdays are more sophisticated, they approach you with a great deal of information.

I actually sell on the very point that my prices are there for all to see, there are no secrets, I don’t make you jump through hoops and nothing is secret. I can differentate myself from my local competition on that point alone. Some won’t even disclose prices without an appointment and I find that incredibly arrogant. I prefer to be open with clients from day one and work very hard on relationship selling. The first step in that it trust and full discosure is the beginning of that process.

I just don’t understand why people feel the need to hide their prices? I agree with Alison, above, – it’s incredibly arrogant not to disclose prices without an appointment.

For me, I want to filter out those brides who are looking for the cheapest photographer. If they see my work, then look at my prices, and I’m not for them, then they don’t bother with an inquiry. But, if they see my work, like my prices, then 9 times out of 10 that bride books. So far it’s a good filtering system help to get the clients I want.

As a consumer, I definitely prefer when some type of price is indicated on a website. I don’t understand all the secrecy. Even if all you put on the site is a base price, and then keep all the option prices hidden, that is still better then nothing.

Anyone that can afford your prices won’t be deterred from contacting you, while you won’t have to waste time conversing with those that can’t or won’t pay your asking price.

I have taken all the prices from my website and I must say I should have done it along time ago, potential clients have become clients just by being able to talk to them and finding out what there needs are instead of them making a decision just by if they can afford me or not.

It is really a tricky one – By putting your price on the site it qualifies your client straight away which is a good thing if you are time poor and busy already. If on the other hand you are starting out I wouldn’t as you may have priced yourself out of the market.

interesting observation, you can’t even check the pricing of a DWF membership without a username & password…regardless, a range of pricing would seem to avoid wasting time for both client & photographer

I thought that this was a very interesting poll. We are part of the small 14% that feel prices shouldn’t be displayed. When we recently redesigned our site, I was torn between the idea of having or not having prices posted. In the end, I decided not to for one simple reason – I didn’t want to miss any opportunity. If I posted my prices on the website, then brides would simply shop us by price and not by our work or personalities. With prices posted on the website, we might also turn away a bride because we’re just outside of her budget when there might be a chance for us to work with her to create incredible memories!

If there are no prices on a website I will leave.

I currently list “starting from” prices for wedding and engagements which makes it easier for Brides to decide if they should contact me. I tested out having no pricing on my site which worked fine for awhile back when there were fewer photographers and more money being spent on weddings.

This is interesting. I just started my website, and haven’t had the time yet to determine if it’s beneficial or not to list the prices. I will do some tests and make the best decision. Thanks for the poll, it gave me a good idea.

As a photographer I have my prices on my site. As a consumer I find it annoying when people don’t display there prices.