Sell as a Set or Price Separately

I see it often.  A dealer will paint a set (bedroom set, table and chairs, desk and chair...) and put one price on it all.  Since it was a matched set or has been painted to match, the dealer thinks it must all be sold together or that it would be a shame to split the set.  In my humble opinion, that's a mistake.

I just posted this pretty set on The BoneYard's Facebook page.   This vendor did it perfectly.   She made three price tags and she tied them all together for different pricing options.

I love that all three tags were together rather than only on the different pieces, but occasionally it may be preferable to split them up.

Make the price of the set less than the total if buying separately.  Note the savings when buying this set.  When someone buys it all, there should be a savings.  If purchased separately, the cost adds up to $948.  That's $150 less than the price if purchased separately.  The savings doesn't have to be that much.  This is just one example.

Why offer to sell separately?  Not everyone shopping needs a complete set. In the case of the dining set above, someone may come in and want just the table because they already have perfectly good chairs.  If this table were only available as a set, that shopper will likely pass this set by.  Another shopper may have a nice table, but just need chairs.  Don't pass up sales opportunities by insisting on selling everything as a set.

If this dealer sells these items separately, she'll make more money in the end.  :-D

What if it all doesn't all sell together?  When I have suggested separate pricing to some dealers, they worry about what to do with a partial set, such as a table without chairs or chairs without a table.  TRUST ME.  That's no problem.  These things sell just fine alone.  I promote at two different stores and I see what sells.  There's no question at all - things sell separately just fine!!!  Also, it's easy to find another set of chairs or another table.  You can paint them to match or put chairs that aren't an exact match with it.  You don't have to have everything match.

Look at Current Magazines - 

They hardly ever show a matching set 

in any room.

I happen to be a person who prefers NOT to have a matching set.  I like chairs that are different from the table (not made to match).   There are many many people out there like me.  Just check out my DINING ROOMS Pinterest Board. Very few of the tables and chairs are sets or made to match and most of those were pinned for other reasons.  Here's one example from that board -

Source

This dining room is from Marian (of the famous Miss Mustard Seed blog).  She has 4 easy to find maple chairs that match. She has two completely different end chairs.  She painted the base of the table in the same color as the end chairs.  Marian swaps things out in her home often.  She has switched tables 4 or 5 times in the last few years.  She changes chairs about as often. She finds things that work together, but they are definitely not a matched set.  You can click the link above to see a tour of her home.