Fair Market Price for Donated Prints

[jeroldharter]

I am an amateur and have never sold much. Many people have asked to buy them but I don't know how to set a fair price so I end up giving them away.

I have a chance to donate a number of prints to charity and need to set a "fair market price" for the donation.

My prints are not genius, but they are very nice large format negatives printed on fiber based paper toned in selenium and dry mounted on archival board over matted and framed in Nielsen aluminum frames with plexiglass. The sizes of prints range from 8 x 10 to 20 x 24 framed one size larger.

Please give me a round number, or a basic price for this sort of thing. I know that "it depends" but I need a starting point on the low end. My initial thought is about twice the material costs. Thanks.

 

[Dave Miller]

That's as good a number as any.

 

[David H. Bebbington]

As a very rough guide, no one could (or would) sell this type of item commercially for less than $250 (artist's price, not including any gallery commission, sales tax, etc.). If you take a look around and see what else is on offer for the same amount, I think you will conclude that this price isn't too much!

Regards,

David

 

[danschmidt]

I have donated a number of prints to auctions.

I think the organization running the auction is looking for the fair market value for two reasons.

The first is tax purposes. Typically someone providing an item for a charitable auction can claim the fair market value, while the winning bidder can claim the winning bid amount minus the fair market value. However for art, i recall that the artist can not claim more than material cost. I think there have been some efforts to change this.

The second reason is opening bid, which they will probably start at 1/2 to 2/3 of fair market value.

As far as value: As a new unknown photographer a good starting point for an 8x10 is probably 100-150. If your work is a good that's a deal. The best prices for your work will be when you are starting out. If reception is good raise your prices next year. You can also raise prices with time.

Auctions like this can be tough, even if it is an auction of 'fine art' items most people don't have any idea how to price photography. Price too high and nobody will bid on the print, and the charity holds onto the print for next year and gets nothing.

you should treat the whole experience like a little experiment. After a while I found that most auctions did not provide good exposure, so I only donate when people I know are involved.

 

[blaze-on]

Most items donated can only be "written off" on your taxes for material costs. Labor, artistic value mean nothin' to the tax man..even if yhour prints sell for $1000 you can write off maybe $30-40 for cost of paper, mount/mat/frame.

At least that's how it is in CA last tax season.

Value or starting point for auction is up to you.

 

[Monophoto]

Most items donated can only be "written off" on your taxes for material costs. Labor, artistic value mean nothin' to the tax man..even if yhour prints sell for $1000 you can write off maybe $30-40 for cost of paper, mount/mat/frame.

I have heard this also.

I wonder if the situation would be different if the donation is to a charity that then auctions off the print, and then supplies the donor a statement assigning the value at the sale price.

Any professional tax folks out there?????

 

[bill schwab]

From what I know, an appraisal is needed for contributions of art valued at over $5,000. FMV is what is considered on artwork owned by you for over 12 months, but I believe there is stipulation that the artwork donated be used by the charity to advance its non-profit status. They should provide you with documentation that it was in fact for an auction and not just hanging on their wall somewhere. You may want to get council from your accountant if you have one. Documentation that your work does in fact sell for what you claim it is worth may be a requirement for donating your own work as well.

 

[jeroldharter]

Thanks for the feedback so far.

Specifically, I have about 100 prints hanging throughout one of our facilities. I want to donate those to the hospital foundation. also, I want to set up an arrangement in which I can donate future prints on an on-going basis so that the prints will be displayed in other buildings that the hospital system owns. The hospital has to buy something to put on the walls, so I want to donate prints and tax a tax deduction to help offset the cost. Also, they could auction any of the prints at their discretion for any fundraisers.

I suppose that the safest route would be to assign a fair market value to the cost of materials only. Even that would be significant.

 

[jgjbowen]

I suppose that the safest route would be to assign a fair market value to the cost of materials only. Even that would be significant.

Please note that the "fair market value" of the materials is irrelevant. What matters is the "cost" of the materials. You will need receipts to prove the cost of your materials. Otherwise, when I donate a print made on grade #3 Azo, the FMV of Azo would likely be something like $3,500 per sheet (only kidding ), but my actual cost is less than $1 per sheet....