Places to Sale your Artwork Online

[Nina]

I thought because there are a few artist on this forum I would start a list of places to sale your artwork online. I’m sure by now we all know about E-bay but there are other great sites too. Feel free to add your feedback about sites I list and sites links to sites that I miss.

E-bay
I’m sure everyone knows about it but I’ve been surprised how many people think it’s just for used items and car parts lol.

Pros:
Great place to get your name out there
Reach millions of people all other the world

Cons:
Fees, and they keep going up
Seller protection is not that great anymore
So many items you get lost

Etsy
I did really well on Etsy when it was first started. Sales are slower now but still about 1 or so a month.

Pros:
Only hand-made items can be sold
Great place to sale original art

Cons:
Just like e-bay there are fees but they are much lower
Lots of people are using it now so your items can get lost

FAEBAE
A great site to sale Fantasy related art. I’ve been listing on this site for a few weeks, while I haven’t had any sales I have had a lot of hits and some commission request.

Pros:
It’s Free!

Cons:
It’s still small and not known that well

Art Fire
Kind of like Etsy, where it’ just hand-made items. I’ve had one sale from this site 🙂

Pros:
Basic store is Free

Cons:
To really get noticed you have to get the paid for store
Not a ton of traffic but it’s newer

Shop Hand Made
A nice looking site that again sales only Hand-made items. This one is competing with Etsy and doing pretty well. I’ve had a few sales from this site.

Pros:
Free for basic listings
Easy to use

Cons:
Still not as large as Etsy
Just like all the sites listed you have to sign up for an account to buy anything

Bear Pile
A great site to sale plush animals.

Pros:
Collectors go to this site a lot
Lots of advertising

Cons:
Fees are kind of high

Face Book
Yupe you can “kind of” sale your artwork on Facebook. Just search for art promotion groups that fit the type of artwork your selling. Or simply post the artwork your selling to your wall.

Pros:
It’s Free
Seen by millions

Cons:
Takes some networking time

Everyone feel free to add links to sites I might have missed and add your pros and cons to any of the sites I listed!

[Adaneth]

Ah, your links aren’t working because you spelled them [a herf] rather than [a href]

Never heard of FAEBAE before–thanks for the list! 🙂

[Carolyn]

Nice info . Hope it helps someone . My creations are fun . I like making them .

[Nina]

Oops how do I edit them? I can’t seam to find it lol dang dyslexia ^_^

[Nina]

Oops how do I edit them? I can’t seam to find it lol dang dyslexia ^_^

Nevermind I got it. They should all work now hopefully

[Carolyn]

Yeah getting use to edit is fun . It’s at the top and can be easily missed .

[Jennifer]

eBay

As an artist, I refuse to use eBay to sell anymore. It is remarkably easy to get ripped off as a seller because most of the time buyer protection overrides seller protection, even if you prove you shipped the item. I know that there are probably 1000 good buyers for every bad one out there, but once you’ve had a bad one you get jaded. I can’t afford to sell a $200 painting only to have an ebay/paypal claim filed against me and loose both the painting and the money! 🙁
I have found that in general, people go to eBay to find good deals, and not invest in expensive art. Windstones are one big exception that I can think of. But if you go look at the original art offered by the artist and look at completed listings, you will see for the most part sales are dismal.

Etsy

I did etsy for a few years. It’s easy to get lost, and people again are not necessarily looking to spend a lot on original artwork. Items under $50 are best for the majority of the Etsy crowd. Etsy charges listing fees, which is reasonable, but part of their user agreement states that you can’t have the items for sale elsewhere (it competes with them) and you can’t link to another site where you sell said items. So they are sort of trying to be exclusive with your items. I respect why– but internet marketing is all about getting your stuff seen by as many people as possible. Since I have my own web store and sell my items elsewhere I can’t use Etsy.

I have tried a few different services … Cafepress, Zazzle, etc, but found that my customers sometimes complained about quality, and since the actual manufacture is totally out of my hands I was often frustrated. I vowed then to only sell items that I was able to inspect before sending to a customer, to ensure the quality was up to my standards.

It used to be that the art show sections of conventions were my biggest sellers, but these days most of the conventions have gotten so big that the competition is fierce, and it costs far more just to attend than I make in sales.

These days I just use my own online shop connected to my website and try to promote it. 🙁

Thank you for the other links! I haven’t heard of some of them before.

Volunteer mod- I'm here to help! Email me for the best response: nambroth at gmail.com
My art: featherdust.com

[Jessie]

some really great ideas! i’m definitely going to try out some of the newer ones as i only have my etsy shop (which does okay) and the occasional ebay sale.

[Amanda]

I agree with Jennifer. Ebay has gotten too expensive, Etsy is big, and they are restrictive. Artfire I like for the most part, but sales are slow. Handmade Artists Shop I just became a member of, (too new for sales yet). I used to have a FuzzB shop, but I became suspicious, and didn’t renew.

Here is a good place for selling Fine Art, and other Art work : http://fineartamerica.com/index.html

They are good. I have gotten views, but no sales as of yet. It is at least worth looking into.

I find, that having your own website is ideal, and if you are hesitant to commit to purchasing a shopping cart system, it is easy enough to have buyers contact you directly, and then use paypal. (I do this all the time) 🙂

[Nina]

Here is another site for selling your artwork wholesale
Artful Living Wholesale
http://artfullivingwholesale.com/index.php?

A place you can sale your artwork wholesale to retail outlets

Pros:
It’s Free no fees

Cons:
They keep 3% of the sale (which really isn’t bad)

[Nina]

I couldn’t agree more Jennifer about E-bays buyers protection and no protection for sellers. A big down side is, because PayPal is the same company they have the same buyers protection. I had someone buy a print off my website direct and say they never got it. Even tho I had a delivery confirmation number PayPal didn’t see it as a tracking number 🙁 So they sent the person a full refund.

[Nina]

Here is one just for ACEOs!
http://www.artcardswanted.com/index.cfm
You can buy, sale or trade ACEOs

Pros:
It’s Free!

Cons:
It’s only for ACEO sized artwork.

Red Bubble
http://www.redbubble.com
OK so I was wrong this one is more like another Cafe Press or Zazzle. Where you upload your artwork and they put it on different items. I thought at one time you could sale original artwork. You might still be able too and I’m just missing something LOL
Another site to sale artwork or anything hand-made or at least I think you can LOL Haven’t figured this site out yet.

Pros:
Free as fare as I can tell

Cons:
Not easy to use. I listed an original painting for sale once & can’t remember how to do it now LOL

[Nina]

I used to have a FuzzB shop, but I became suspicious, and didn’t renew.

Oh what happened with FuzzB? I was just about to list that site too. I thought it was just like another place to promote your work but not really a place to sale. I might be wrong. I noticed it’s connected to a lot of Ning sites.

[Nina]

I didn’t mean for this to be research when I started this topic but I noticed a common trend with all these sites. My husband and I where talking and came up with the idea to start our own website for artist to sale their work. I know there are a ton of sites out there. But I want to do something different and have it for artist and made by artist. So basically if any of you artist out there would like to volunteer a little of your time. Here is the info

I’m starting a project/website called Bzopa.com. What does Bzopa mean? It’s artist in Tibetan! What is Bzopa.com? It will be a site for artist made by artist. Where they can sale their artwork online and be seen by collectors, licensing agents, galleries and more.
I need a few volunteers that are willing to answer a few simple short questions. Don’t worry nothing personal will be asked and your answers will not be shared. This is for research only on my end so I can build a better website!!

If you’re willing to volunteer just send me a PM or e-mail me at ninabolen@featherheart.com

Thanks everyone!!!

[Nina]

Zibbet
http://www.zibbet.com

It’s basically like Etsy, hand-made items, vintage & supplies. I’ve seen more artist start to use this site so it’s gaining popularity! They have a free account & 2 options for the paid account. No sales yet but I just set up an account. My items already appeared on the front page!

Pros:
There is a free account! It’s very easy to use, just like setting up something on Etsy. They even have an Etsy & Artfire imported tool that’s pretty easy to use, but took sometime to edit everything. Because it’s not as “big” as Etsy your items don’t get lost as easy

Cons:
With the free account you only get 50 listings at a time, but that’s still plenty for me. Another site people have to sign up for to shop at. Not as well known as Etsy or Ebay so you have to advertise yourself

Yardsellr
http://yardsellr.com

It’s more like E-bay because you can sale anything you want just about on this site, but there are no auctions only buy it now. I have sold a few small items on this site.

Pros:
It’s free to set up & because it’s owned by FaceBook it gets a lot of traffic

Cons:
It’s owned buy FaceBook lol. They have fees after your items sale & the biggest issue is you have to mail the item before you get paid. They hold funds until you show prof of shipment. This can be a big problem if you don’t already have money to cover the shipping cost

TopHatter
http://tophatter.com

This is a “live” auction site, where your items go up on stand by until someone makes the first bid, then it goes up for bid in the “live” auction. People actually have to be in the auction room to bid on the items

Pros:
It’s getting a lot of traffic & has been showcased on major news shows. I’ve done really well with this site but not with my artwork (only sold 2 pieces of artwork, but that’s better than nothing). Very easy to use. Live auction so there is no “sniping” like e-bay & people can get into bidding “wars” so your items go for more. You can set up community auctions, where you can invite members & only allow items you want in your auction.

Cons:
The fees are not always the same. Fees keep changing & different types of auctions have different fees. An example is the jewelry auction might have a 10% while the hand-made auction has a flat $1.25 fee. Tophatter seams to change fees a lot. One down side is you have to attend the auction to bid, so if an item you want goes up for bid you can miss it. People have to move your items out of stand by, so your items may or may not go out for bid.

[Author]

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