I like to look at my trees like the Japanese. All trees are for sale. There are two Types on my bench though.

First are the trees that for some reason I don't want to part with and will be with me until the end. These have unreasonably high prices. Secondly are the trees that have little meaning or future or have taught me all they can. These you will probably get for the asking or for a low cost.

I have found that people almost never give you a problem when quoted a high price. They just politely move on to the next.

NUT, kudos to you on that one, That is it exactly

I'd charge what [bI[/b] felt the trees were worth at the time. I would have a very hard time putting a value on some of my trees. I like to sell seedlings. I haven't put much time into them and I can sell them at a reasonable cost with a 350%-400% markup which is the going rate for nursery stock these days. If I put anymore time to in to train them then the price goes up. It's supply and demand.
I'm not really a seller though. If I were importing or growing for profit I'd know what I paid and tack on the profit....like Brussels or any other Bonsai nursery does to stay in business.

Well, first off I'm not going to necessarily feel sorry for the guy just because he got ripped off online. That's life. Everyone has to learn the ropes somewhere. On the other hand I wouldn't look at it as a chance to make easy money either.

Assuming he picked out a tree that I wanted to sell, I would expect to get the price of the pot plus the original tree plus something for the time I've spent on the tree [ art value ] if you will. How much I charge for the art value is going to be greatly dependant on my opinion of how good a bonsai it is and also how I think others might value it if it where for sale at say, a bonsai nursery or a vender area at a bonsai show. I don't think you can charge a straight value for time spent alone. After all, you can spend 10 years and still have a crappy tree that isn't really worth much money. He'd go home with a better deal than the online bargain I'm sure.

nooooo........ On second thought it would never happen like that. The guy would pick out my best tree that I didn't really want to sell and I'd say something like: naaahhhh, you don't want that old thing..... Looky here! I'll sell you this for only $ 75! That's half the price you paid for that crappy online tree.

Tony

Attached Images

crap.jpg (63.4 KB, 46 views)

Hi, Craig and others interested. This thread is getting a bit long so I started another on the Walter Pall article, it is not on the whole article but the last paragraph. The Thread is Opinions whats your Take.