destroying the value.

How many artists do you no that will tell you stories about how there is some local shop or house master thats just cuting the prices of tats and piercings to the maximum.I am not talking a few bucks i mean tattoos starting at 20$ piercing with jewelery for 15$ what the hell is going on here.I blame the companies that sell supplies for not monitoring there customers. But why would they thats like a drug dealer monitoring who they sell crack to.I did my apprenticship years ago and the prices are the same as they were.YES SOME PEOPLE CARE ABOUT QUALITY BUT NOT MANY IN COMPARISON WITH HOW MANY GET TATTOOed OR PIERCED.The more people that are not respectfull of the art get in this world of tattoo the more are value gets lower.Supply and demand.When i started tattooing there were only a handfull of artist in my area which was staten island new york they were all booked all the time and all had the common sence to keep there prices level.Now there is to many people mixed with customers that are not educated enough to understand why one [place is cheap and one place is not.And a large amount of disrespect on top of it.

Hmmm. Some good points. I'm just a collector and artist though, I'm gonna leave this one to somebody who is slingin' ink...

Hey, I have a tattoo gun (it's a Daisey), and I'm a good shot! If anyone one want's one of my abstracts, I'll hook ya up for cheap!!! TG

We get people in all of the time who bring us art and ask us to quote them. When we tell them they're always like "Oh well the shop down the street said they would do it for $20 cheaper". We tell them that if they are going to compare prices at least do it with a shop that we would get tattooed at. Long story short, they get the piece done for cheap and then end up paying double for a cover up at our shop. Go figure.

Any body who looks for a "deal" when it comes to tattoos is a moron....Tattooing is an invasive proceedure.....would you go to a doctor who advertised cheap surgeries? We hear it all the time..."you are too expensive"...we just smile and tell them good luck....75% of come back and pay out the ass to get the crap they "got a deal on" and when they do we tax em!! I think a major problem is the pros see the hacks doin cheap tattoos and think they have to compete...well pros ya just do NOT!!! Keep your prices fair and the work will get the biz...the hacks just never last man....quality tells....TAz

I always hear you guys say good tattoos aren’t cheap and cheap tattoos aren’t good! I have an appointment on Monday with a phenomenal artist close to where I live now and it will be quite a stretch on my budget but it is so worth it. I figure I will be alive for another 50 years or so and that makes the tattoo only cost about .11 cents per day!! Taz can I email you?

Okay most shops have a minimum....our minimumis based as closely as possible to the cost of a setup plus a reasonable fee for our time and skill....Think about it....When my accountant and I sat down with the vills and figured it out...it costs me on average about $300 PER DAY just to open my doors!!!...Hell I didn't believe him till he showed me on paper...with Lease, utilities, licensing,insurance,taxes,accountant fees, supplies and the biggest advertising...I hit three hundred a day easily. Ok so a lady comes in and ya do a "house rose" you know those cute little things that sometimes pay the rent....ya do it bada bing bada bang...she is in and out of the chair in 10 minutes....her hubby says,"fuck me runnin you just made 75 bucks in 10 minutes!"...thats 750 bucks an hour! I work my ass off for a measley 25 bucks an hour!....whattya go to say for yourself?' So I give em "the speech"...Sir do have any idea just how many hours actually went into that 10 minute tattoo?....No...well first theres the 7 years of college then the literally hundreds of thousands of hours drawing and honing my art skills not to mention the years I spent workin nights bouncin in seedy bars comin home with broken knuckles and cracked ribs so I could afford to eat while I worked in the tattoo shop for free "makin my bones" so to speak"during the day.Then there are the months of medical training that I paid for out of my pocket so I could be assured I didn't let your wife get some infection or worse a deadly disease....how about that three thousand dollar sterilizer ya see there in the back room...that ain't for cookin pal!! And when ya came in ya said ya saw our ad on television ...do you have ANY idea how much that ad...just that ONE LITTLE 30 second spot cost?...well see this is the deal if I figure up all that time even at minimum wage and all the money I have spent for safety for my clients and ads just to let ya know I'm here ....out of that 750 bucks an hour I am lucky to take home fifty bucks my friend" You didn't just pay for a little 10 minute tattoo ...you paid for safety, for quality for skill...you got MORE than what you paid for... The man hande me a 50 dollar tip and walked out. Think about it people!!!...Its not just the tattoo you are paying for!!!

On top of what you said, Taz, Tattooing also has the following in common with any other 'craft'.. the longer you do it the better you get. You get used to your tools, you get used to technique. You aquire confidence and experience. Your tools become an extention of your hand and what once took you an hour now takes you 20 minutes or even less...By far the single most annoying question I get asked when someone is looking at my jewelry is "How long does it take to do that?" Ask me about the process, ask me about the materials, ask me about my inspiration...I like answering questions...but how long does it take? If it used to take me an 8 hr day, but now, after 12 years, I can do it in an hour, should I cut the price to reflect this?...Will you value it more if it took me 5 hrs rather than 1? You like it? You can afford it? Buy it! Civilians listen up! Next time you are at the craft fair and you see some art you like, ask anything but that most annoying and rude question:"How long did it take to make?"

Well of course you can e-mail me Molly!! Wanna talk dirty dontcha?... NO? Ok well e-mail me anyway!!!...Ta ta

Good post and some good replies, people just seem slow to grasp the concept that if someone will do a tattoo dirt cheap, there is a reason and I know I've had some of 'em watching comment that it didn't look like it was so hard to do, etc., but I am noticing a small light at the end of that tunnel, long overdue and still way too slow but it is there. Personally I think and some of the comments I've heard support it is partially due to Inked and Miami Ink, people watch those shows, and sometimes, just seeing their friend tattooed by someone good and see the artist seemingly do the work so 'easily' and think therefore, it must be something they can do. Apparently they do not consider how long that artist worked at getting that good, the training that took, or the training it takes to do it SAFELY. I think 'price hunters' are always going to be around but as any good artist or even collector knows, that is never a very good idea. I think what Taz said is a damn good explaination regarding Price from a legit, good studio. I've told folks for years, watch ANYONE good at their craft/profession and of course they make it look 'easy' but as most intelligent folks realize, that rarely is the case...Doc

BOU...your points are as usual, intelligent and to the point! I just hope I live long enough to see you tattoiong my friend!...You are gonna do this art GOOD!!!! And you are already good FOR this art. Its people like you and Legacy and Mikey from Barron County Tattoo that give me hope for our profession...and guys like Mario J...that kid is just fuggin awesome and doesn't even KNOW it!!!'You just keep on the path you are walkin and good things will come!!!..TAz

i get that alot too .."how come it took the other guy an hour and you did it in 20 min ,and he charged me less?".....well i have had ten plus years to hone my skills in order to be able to perform at this level. Like bou said should i charge less because im faster than the fucker down the block ...........................fuckem! ............in the eye

Do you think it has to do with the age old belief that art is easy. I got so sick of hearing that in college I could have killed someone. Oh you're an art major? Is that because it's easy? You try taking a figure drawing class and then have a critique where they tear your ass to shreds. I bet most of those people couldn't sit through that. When people ask about price and time you should start telling them that you can take a crap and call it a sculpture real quick and charge $10 for it, but what would they be paying for … merely a pile of shit. Everyones always looking for the bargain. Then maybe they should start shopping for temporary tattoos at the dollar store.