By Jacob Smith, Guest Blogger – Selling art is easier than ever before thanks to the World Wide Web. However, if you’re just starting out with selling art online, then be sure to consider the five following options;
Your Own Website
We’ll get into some great third-party websites in a moment, but don’t forget that it’s important for you to have your own site, too. For one thing, you won’t have to worry about losing money on overhead related to someone else’s site.
Also, if you build up enough of a following, you’ll only ever need to concentrate on your website, making it much easier to display your work and sell it.
Finally, having a site is like having a business card these days. If you meet someone in real life who wants to see your art, you should have a site of your own to send them to. Otherwise, they may take you for an amateur.
Websites Your Market Frequents
Again, we’ll get to specific sites in a moment, but this is worth bringing up. Many of you have a very niche market for your site. You could probably describe your average buyer in pretty decent detail.
If that’s the case, then it shouldn’t be hard to figure out where they frequent online, too. Look into how much ad space would cost on those sites or, if it has a forum, get involved on there to generate interest. These are great shortcuts to bringing people to your site where they’ll become customers.
Etsy
Alright, let’s start our actual list with one of the most well-known options on the Internet. This site already gets a ton of traffic, so while you will need to work hard to stand out from other artists, the upside is that there are thousands of people visiting Etsy every single day.
The site also has a very supportive community that will provide you with lots of helpful advice on how to make the most of it. https://www.etsy.com
Artplode
If you plan on listing your art for more than $1,000, Artplode is definitely worth checking out. The site takes a $60 fee to post any piece of artwork, but that’s remarkably low when you consider you’ll pull in at least $1,000 per buyer. https://www.artplode.com
eBay
eBay may not be the Internet powerhouse it used to be, but its art section still gets plenty of traffic. You could easily begin selling art today by uploading photos of your work.
While you’ll want to put some time into making sure you understand the best practices for selling art on eBay, it will be worth it.
One of the major benefits of eBay is that, after enough sales, you’ll have a very good idea what prices you should be charging. This is always a challenge for artists, but eBay will give you some very real feedback to start with.
There are countless other sites you could sell on, too. For now, though, focus on getting your own site up and running, figuring out if there are specific sites that would be best based on your audience and then choosing one of the other three we listed. http://www.ebay.com
About Jacob Smith
Jacob Smith is a designer and retoucher living in Chicago, Illinois. ProductViz is Jacob’s illustration studio, focusing on digital imagery and branding. Jacob has developed the Visual Intelligence method of presenting art. Visual Intelligence is the name coined to describe this process: turning a jpg (or other image file or your art) into a professional photograph in the context of a beautiful interior, gallery, or setting. www.productviz.com
