Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Selling Art on the Internet

Websites discussed during "Selling Art on the Internet" for Artspace & Open Studio. If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment or email me.

Selling
1. Etsy.com

  • is a market place not an auction
  • 20 cents each item
  • 3.5% percent of the total sale (excluding shipping)
  • paying fee – credit card on file - billed or auto billed once a month
  • built in shopping cart so not needing to have one on your website
  • can use your own logo and put links to your website in profile


2. Ebay.com

  • do a search for self representing artist to see what others do
  • fees vary to price listing – 20 cents to $4.80
  • percentage of total sale starts 5.25 and then goes down high the price it sells forself
  • representing artist – then broke down into medium, subject or style


3. yessy.com

  • fee yearly - $59if you use –their shopping cart then the fee is a 10% percent of sale but if you use your own merchant account then no additional fee


4. artbyus.com

  • free - you put up your items but you use either your merchant account or paypal
  • also good for networking


5. Boundless Gallery - Stephanie mentioned this one. It looks like they have a free sign up and many free features but I am not sure if you sell things via them - their might be a fee. But I haven't signed up or know enough about them to know for sure.

6. Absolute Arts - I don't know anything about them - but came upon them in some searches the other night. It looks like there is a free sign up but if you want more features then it costs.


Networking & Marketing
1. a blog - Sept 10th Class is on Blogging

2. many of the above sites where you can sell your work also have forums which are good for networking - make sure when you sign a post to forums that you put your web url under it.

3. EBSQ Art

  • $78 yearly fee for artists
  • Portfolio
  • links to your website, etsy, ebay, blog
  • in rotation for being a featured artist
  • online community
  • not a site for selling but a site for showcasing and networking

4. Wet Canvas

  • a forum
  • articles


5. writing articles - because the more your name is out there the more you will get unexpected hits from many sources (I haven't used any of these yet.)



6. Yahoogroups or Livejournal Art Communites

Yahoogroups - do a search for your medium or just a general search of art and see if something catches your eye. There is not only valueable information for marketing your art online in many of these groups, it is a place to market, network, find new techniques and communicate with other artists.

Livejournal - it is not only a place to blog but it has many artists communities - again do a search for your medium or art in general.

7. Myspace.com, 723.com, deviant art, indiepublic

They are all similar. They are a place to have a profile, blog (I would never use it as my main blog though), network and communicate with others. They are all free for sign up.

Myspace.com - I don't really have a fondness for as most of the time when I got to people's myspace pages they are very clunky in loading.

The rest of these are geared towards artists.

723.com - it is like a myspace but for artists. It is fairly new so not sure on where it will go.

indiepublic - Again like a myspace but for artists

deviantART - it is more like EBSQ where you can have a gallery, people can comment on your art, there is a shop but it is for prints of your work, and there is forums also



Tips
  • make sure your business cards, letterhead, brochures, advertising has your website address
  • make sure when you do emails to anyone - everyday correspondense or online forums have your web address in your signature

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