I like the way this is heading
 
Personally, I would appreciate some universal guidelines as to 'what to charge for what' if this gets going.
 
I do have a question.... wouldn't leaving it up to the artists result in variable prices for the same scope of work? I have done a few customized cards and most of them have been a simple text change on a single card purchase for which I would not be inclined to charge. These have all been wedding series cards where I do offer customization for any attendant or relation. Really quick and simple.
I have heard from others here how a simple text change turns into a back and forth with a change to this and that and endless emails, I wonder how we can price for that up front?
 
I think this is a great step forward by GCU and not trying to pick holes
Thanks GCU for always striving to improve.
Pamela

I am new here and I haven't had any custom card requests yet, but I think that $50.00 seems extremely high in a bad economy. Unless, the customer is wanting you to create a brand new card with an outside illustration (either art or photography) that you don't yet have on display just for them and no one else. I mean... if you have to go out and take a specific picture just for their card or create a certain art piece just for them that they don't want you to sell to anyone else, then it sounds appropriate. You might could even get $100.00 for something like that. Some people like knowing that they have the only card of their kind, and no one else has one like it.
 
Also, it would be great if we could create unique cards just for them with their pictures that they have sent to us to do so. Of course, we wouldn't be allowed to use them in our store to sell over and over again because of it being their pictures, but we could offer them a new kind of unique card that they could be sure of, not to be out there. Since I haven't been here long, I do not know if anyone here has ever done that. I am still learning my way around. If we did this, we would have to delete their pictures after they verified that they were happy with their cards and bought them.
 
But, as a writer I do know that selling full rights to anything will pay you more. If they are willing to pay the price for a full rights card, maybe their names could be added to the back of the card where ours usually is. We would just create and write it for them. That would make us ghostwriters or ghostcreators, which ever you want to call it.
 
I think asking (a non-refundable) $5.oo or $10.00 up front on custom creations is appropriate as a deposit to assure that the customer is indeed serious about their wanting this done. I am a dog breeder too, and a lot of dog breeders I know take deposits to find their puppies a home way before they are ready to go. If the customer backs out, they keep the deposit. This way, they got something for holding the puppy for them for that amount of time.
 
Besides, what if you create the card for someone and they do not like it? They do not buy it and you wasted your time with them and received nothing for it. The deposit is a good thing then. People can really be picky. Dealing with the public is very hard work. I have done it my whole life. I had someone tell me over the phone one time that she only wanted a girl dog and didn't want to even look at a boy... when she got here, she took the boy home smiling. So, they never know what they want until they see it.
 
Just a few of my ideas. Probably already thought of, of course. I just don't like the idea of negotiations. I do not do that on my puppies. They can take it or leave it. Someone will buy!  

and I agree that if customizing is offered that all of us should agree to a set price range for them - perhaps we should brainstorm what kinds of fixes customers might request and discuss what seems like a reasonable fee for such customizations.  Simple changes for me are also really no big deal but there might be others who don't have this as the case.  Either way and no matter what the artist's method, it would seem reasonable to have set fees that perhaps can be posted on the website for customer reference as well as artist reference.  Artists can decide if they wish to offer these extra services or not and it should be stated on the artist's store page if customizing fees apply.  I think this would cut out a lot of confusion on the part of the customer and would prevent any bickering potentially resulting in the loss of a sale.  If there's a set fee, customers would be aware of this up front and can choose what they want to do before even beginning the process of requesting such services.  In the case of a totally new creation, then obviously a higher fee to cover cost of artist's time and GCU's time to get the card made and printed should be put in place and this fee should not be subject to any returns of monies paid by the customer therefore binding the committment and paid up front by the customer before work is done.

Regarding the differentiation of design work involved, maybe they could be considered "levels."
 
The artist could determine the level. - level 1 costs X, level 2 costs x, etc.
Then when the custom request comes in, the artist could state that the work involved would be a level 2.
 
The levels and pricing could be in various places, such as in the email template that comes up when someone initially places their query, etc. It could include suggested types of work in a particular level, but would be determined by  
each artist per request.
 
When the artist responds, then they could state that their request would be a level 3, but if they did xzy instead, that it would only be a level 1.  
 
Quantity is an important issue here as well. An order of 100 cards of the same designs could warrant the artist "waiving" the fee altogether. Or the idea of custom card minimum of 24 cards warrants a lower fee level.  Or with a purchase of any 10 cards from that particular artist, then the fee drops a level.
 
Just random thoughts...    
 
This way the pricing could be set by GCU but the actual level of work to be done is  
 

I think it is a great idea. I think it conveys professionalism and uniformity.  
 
In reguards to email issues: We currently have an email system here at GCU for artists- well if we could somehow incorporate an emailing system through GCU that we could use to communicate with customers- then we could reply directly from GCU when we are signed into the forums.  
Customers would be able to add:  
customcardreply@.gcu.com  
to their address books so they will receive all email communications from artists and our personal email accounts are not given out either.
 
Anyhow- just food for thought.

before i comment on this thought... i would like to pose a question to mindy or nasser  should these types of discussions be in an "artists only" news and announcements section and not where customers can read them.. i just think anything in this nature, pricing, sources, etc should not be part of what the buyers are privy to.. just my opinion.
 
any way on this thought.. we need some sort of across the board fee for these customizations.. i remember saying this a long time ago..  
 
i have my customizations turned off for this reason but still get requests ... start out small changes okay i will go ahead and then change after change for what may at the most amount to a 2 dollar commission.
until we get a system going  i may be saying no to further custom work.
 
.  we need clear cut, up front fee schedules for the work that will be done. and we need the buyer to understand gcu will not be the one contacting them, as the others have said..this causes problems.
 
gcu is the vehicle to originate the custom work but then we are the ones doing all the email/fussy/piddly work and we should have some compensation for our time.  the commitment deposits should be paid to the artist if the order is canceled or an order does not come to fruition.   the 25/75 percent split would still be beneficial to gcu but would compensate the artist in a very small way for their time.  commitment fees or custom fees need to be paid upfront.

 and yet i went ahead and blabbed  

This is really great. I am a great believer in the idea that people will value something much more if they have to pay for it. If I have a "free" box at a garage sale, people won't even glance at it, bt if I sell the items for a dollar apiece they will buy them. Doesn't make sense, but there it is!