Saturday, February 23, 2008

Four Places to Sell Your Art Online

There are so many artists today that it can be hard to distinguish yourself and make a real income. However, selling artwork online is easier and more flexible than it has ever been. There are now dozens of sites that will host your art while helping you to promote yourself. Here are a few that have stood out to me because of their good site design, high traffic, and quality of art that is hosted:













Art Break - In my opinion this is one of the best sites to sell your artwork. Sign up is free and you get a virtual store where you can host your art. They host everything from oil paintings to screen printed t-shirts. They charge a 7.5% sales fee when a transaction between the buyer and seller is made. All other profits go directly to you.












Etsy - Etsy is one of the most popular art sites, bringing in thousands of buyers every day. They sell mostly crafts and clothes on the site, but there are also opportunities for painters and drawers. It is free to set up a store on Etsy and they often feature artists on their home page. They charge a 3.5% sales fee which is considerably lower than most other art sites.

Ebay - Ebay has the largest market of buyers for arts and crafts online. It also has the largest number of artists selling their work. It can be a competitive place, but there is still room for new artists to emerge if they have the talent and dedication.

Before you set up an auction you should look at popular artists and find out what they are doing right. Look at the titles and descriptions of the auctions, the categories they put them into, and the starting bids and bidding trends. This will give you an idea of what works on eBay, and how you can also succeed.















Boundless Gallery - Boundless Gallery is newer and has less traffic than the previous sites I mentioned, but it struck me with its clean design and high-quality artwork. Its design lets the customers chose by color, size, and price, and its high-quality graphics showcase the art nicely. They charge $5 a month for hosting. Right now they are having a trial-period where you can set up a store for free.

21 comments:

Nicole V. said...

Etsy is the greatest! I found it a few weeks ago, and I have fallen in love. They have this great feature where you click and they will bring up the 5 items that just sold. It is really neat. I am a bit tured of eBay, so Etsy was a fantastic find!

fizetés és állás said...

eBay has only one problem: if you are new and dont have good scores, very few people will dare to buy from you

so the beginning is hard

Josef said...

Great resources for artists to sell their works online. Thanks for sharing.

cameron said...

Don't you just love the internet. How difficult it must have been for starving artists to have their work seen. Gotta love it.

Medical Lasers said...

I need to check etsy out. Ebay is just too cheap though huh?

new zealand tourism said...

I have had great luck with Etsy! I do large photo prints either framed or not. I recommend it to all artists I meet.
I have to admit I had not come across the other sites yet, so I need to swing by and check them out.

veryheaven ouverture said...

dear crystal, your e-shop research vvas very helpful for me - i am looking for things to buy, thank you so much. veryheavenly greetings

Stefanie said...

Great resource list. I passed this on to my mom and she was quite thrilled at the possibilities. She's an artist, but she's always been limited by the fact that she lives in a small area.

Jenna said...

Great links. I'll have to look more into this! Thanks a ton for sharing!

Entrepreneurs said...

I think, DeviantArt would be number5. There are so many good artists there. And the works they are selling are worth it.

Polina said...

I have occasionally stumbled upon your blog, am now in hurry, so am bookmarking the page to get back later to check all the links.
Thank you very much for sharing the list!!!

Wholesale Drop Shipping said...

its crazy how expensive art can be... altho it does add a nice touch to most homes.
~Mariah

hijinks said...

I have a friend that is a struggling artist and this info would be great for him. I will be sure to forward it on!

Paris Trains said...

What happened to this blog man? I thought you were going to share some real info on your adsense success???

I see you put adsense back on huh.

Banner Boy said...

Thanks for a great post.
I'm actually interested in starting a site promoting local artists (we're on the Big Island of Hawaii) and there are so many talented people here.
thanks,
Chris
(Banner Boy)

Dropship Design said...

interesting... the only places that came to my mind were ebay and amazon o_o
-Kathy

SarahL said...

You forgot to mention CafePress which has graphic design capabilities. Great post and resources!

large mens clothes said...

My girlfriend is an artist and this is perfect for her. She does wire sculptures. Is it easy to set these shops up?

Bugle Occasion said...

Very nice, there are a few sites there I didn't know about. Got to love the traffic that Ebay pulls, I wonder what amount of traffic the other sites attract?

aalcyndore said...

great links...thanks

sumaiya said...

i prefer Etsy than eBay..
because its really fast and comfortable to use..
well now the users like me will know the better..
but all thanks goes to this post..which helps us to make it easy to sell and buy our talents...
keep going !!