Does color matter?

[vakmere]

Of course matching your blank to the component/kit set is the right thing to do however do you think folks other than pen turners avoid particular colors? I have heard "it's a nice pen but I don't like the color" even though they matched.
Do you think the human brain likes one plating color over another? Enamel vs satin, chrome vs gun metal?
What do you find most people go for?

 

[JimB]

I didn't vote because I don't think there is an overall preference where customers ask for one color over another. I think it has more to do with how they match to the turned material.

Your comment about customers not liking the color even though they match only means you think they match. It doesn't mean the customer thinks they do.

 

[ed4copies]

In 15 years of selling pens, my opinion has become, "If you make it, someone will like it, even if hundreds hate it". As long as you keep the pen where it can be seen, it will eventually be purchased.

 

[OKLAHOMAN]

In all honesty customers will buy what you as a salesman tell them the benefits are as far as plating goes. I agree with Ed when I was doing shows what I thought was ugly always sold, some took longer than others but I never had one that did not sell eventually.

 

[Karl_99]

The color of the hardware is less important if there is a good story with the blank.

 

[SteveG]

This is one man's experience...

When I first started turning and selling pens at a vendor's table (at a resort on Kauai), I offered a modest mix styles and plating colors. It was basically some gold and some not-gold (either chrome or rhodium), with no BT or gunmetal in the mix. The result: non-gold FAR outsold gold. I had been selling my crafts at that same location for many years, and was (and am) a decent sales person at that type of venue. I concluded that for that sales environment, gold does not sell nearly as good as non-gold. So I greatly decreased the amount of gold in the mix (which of course decreased the gold 'market share' at my table even further). I am quite content to display few gold IOT allow more display space for what sells (Rhodium, sterling, chrome, and in recent years stainless, BT and gunmetal). I will mention that gold accents are great on pens that are predominately another plating.

 

[Chasper]

Color matters, pen body color that is, not so much plating color.
But plating color does matter as a sales talk point, jewelry grade rhodium is much better than chrome.
But what matters most is the part you make, not the part you buy.
I didn't vote but I sell significantly more in the silver tones than gold in most parts of the U.S., but there are places where gold sells best.

 

[vakmere]

that is pretty much the information I was looking for. I don't sell a lot of gold either. it seems to scratch very easily. Satin gold seems to be a little more attractive to me. Gold accents are fine.