How to Sell Art Online Pt 3

 

This is the final in this series of posts looking at and comparing a few of the ways to sell art online.

I want to say a big thank-you to those people who wrote in after last weeks post and shared valuable “tidbits” from their own experience using Etsy. If you’re thinking of trying Etsy for yourself, I urge you to take a look at the comments as well as last weeks post. There are actually two points that were raised about Etsy where my info was out of date or incomplete, so I’ll be posting an addendum on last week’s post to correct these.

This week I’m writing about RedBubble and the option of adding PayPal to your own blog or website. So here it is!

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RedBubble.com

What is it?

RedBubble works in a very different way to Etsy and BigCartel. It is a print-on-demand site where your artwork is made into a product eg matted or framed print, card, t-shirt, calendar, stickers. It is also the actual shopfront where the item is sold.

So you upload your images onto their site, write up your profile which accompanies the work and they do the rest.

Fees

• Free to join and you don’t actually ever pay them anything
• Before you get too excited – they are paid by your purchasers. Items have a “base price”, all of which goes to RedBubble for their manufacturing and other costs.
• You set your prices as a percentage on top of the base price and you receive all of this monthly.

 

 Art 4 XMVR

 

Advantages

• Low work load: you focus on the artwork, but don't have to produce the actual product or post it off
• No financial outlay
• Australian-based
• Buyers can search by tag word/s, medium, time and popularity.
• Has a community feel, with groups and challenges etc. I am still to get into this aspect so I can’t comment much further on that, except to say that I have received welcome emails and invitations to introduce myself to the groups I joined.
• In my experience, manufacture and delivery is fast – about a week from order to arrival at my door. It would of course be slower for items ordered from overseas.
• For readers of this blog, RedBubble is not a venue for selling artists books. However, it is highly appropriate for selling photos, prints and drawings, which many of you also produce.  Even gorgeous photos of your artists books could look good on cards, calendars or whatever.

For a tiny investment of time and no investment of money, it’s a great avenue to get your images out there, and via your profile you can always entice art lovers to your blog or website, where they might just buy a book.

 

Disadvantages

• Not as well known as etsy, in my opinion
• Earnings must reach $20 before they will transfer them to you.
• You have to drive people to your work within the site from your other web “presences”. Your products are competing with everybody else’s and there is a lot on there to distract them.
• Lack of control over finished product.

This is obviously the “biggie” in using RedBubble. I know this will bother some of you more than others. Of course, it is the other side of the coin which makes this such a low effort approach. The two are in direct relationship to one another, and only you can decide whether the equation balances for you.

I suggest that you order something to do your own quality assurance. I ordered some greeting cards, which was not a huge outlay and put my fears to rest. If you are really worried, you could also order a small matted or laminated print for a moderate outlay. You do of course get your own items for the base price.

 

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4. PayPal on your own site

What is it?

Paypal is a service which allows you to pay and receive payments from people without setting up a credit card facility. Basically, you join up, link a bank account or debit/credit card to PayPal and off you go. It is considered very safe, with strategies and procedures in place for both Buyer and Seller Protection.

There are three types of accounts. As a sole trader you can use either a Personal or a Premier account. If you already have a Personal account, it’s easy to upgrade to seller status.

From this point on, I will just be discussing the use of PayPal as a mechanism for selling items from your website or blog.

 

Fees

• No joining fee & no fees until a sale is made.
• Charges are 2.4% plus AUD 0.30c for each transaction. If your sales total AUD$5000+ in a month, you can apply for the merchant rate, which is 1.1%
• When items are purchased by an international buyer, the rate increases to 3.4% (less if sales are AUD$5000+)

 

Advantages

• You can be in complete control of the process, from the making of the artwork, the packaging, and the postage.
• You have your shop on your own space (blog or website) and you won't lose people easily to other sellers.
• Low fees, especially in comparison to gallery commissions etc.
• Can be added to your existing blog or website &
  whether or not you use Paypal to pay for items already, its easy to get set up.

 

• Features which allow you to easily customize your buyer’s view, as well as assist with processing orders, keeping accounts etc.

Disadvantages

• You have to attract people to your website/blog in order to sell, but presumably that is what you are  trying to do with or without a PayPal facility. You still need to be active in some other online forums so that people will see your work and your name when you comment, and decide to click on that link and check you out.
• It seems to me that, if you make work and you would like to sell it, even if you sell in shops “in the real world”, I can’t see any disadvantage to using this PayPal facility on your site.
• Despite the customization options, this facility won’t have the slick finished appearance of “your own online shop” unless you have HTML skills at your fingertips.

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Well, that’s all that I have to say on this subject for the time being. During the course of publishing these posts, I discovered yet more options for selling art online. I’ll list them here with links, but I haven’t checked them out myself.

1. Artfire.com
2. DaWanda.com
3. Folksy.com

I really hope that these posts have provided you with some valuable information and I encourage you to get in touch via the comments. Your thoughts and experiences with selling art online would be most appreciated.

How to Sell Art Online pt 2

 

This week I’m going to share the research that I did into a number of online selling options. Now I didn’t explore absolutely everything that is out there. I felt that examining three or four ways to go was good enough for me to make a decision. I probably would have gone further if none of those seemed a good “fit” for my needs, but as you know if you read last week’s post, I chose RedBubble for my first online selling domain.

I will compare four options – Etsy, BigCartel, RedBubble and using PayPal from your own blog/website. I’ll talk about each in turn, starting with an overall description and their fees, then listing the advantages/disadvantages. Of course, some features may be viewed either way depending on your needs and viewpoint, so these are really just my own thought processes, but I will try to present both views.

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1.  Etsy.com

What is it?

Etsy is an online shopping space where literally thousands of craftspeople and artists sell handmade or vintage items, or supplies. Basically you join up for free, set up your own shopfront, with its own style and flavour, and set your prices independently. All prices are in US dollars, so there may be a few currency conversions before you receive your money e.g. a buyer in the Netherlands has to exchange their Euro to US dollars, and then that will be exchanged to whatever currency you as the seller use, in my case the Aussie dollar. You won’t be paying for the first conversion, but you probably will be for the second. I believe there is some sort of “back-door” arrangement some people offer to buyers in their own country, as I’ve seen it offered, but haven’t looked into it.

Fees

• For each item you list, there is a 20 cent fee.
• If the item sells, you pay 3.5% of the sale price, but not on shipping.
• If the item has not sold after 4 months, it will be unlisted. You may re-list it for another 20 cents.

Advantages

• You have full control over production of the items you sell, how they are packaged, shipped etc. You are definitely in control.
• An established site, known by potential buyers
• Relatively easy set up, no need to know HTML or whatever.
• Reasonable costs, in particular low set-up cost
• Groups and teams, forum, community atmosphere – there is a lot of support, tips & encouragement provided to help you get started and continue to expand your business.

Disadvantages

• Your shop name will be a derivative of etsy.com e.g. etsy.com/shop/Amanda’sArt
• You have to list work often to keep your profile up on the site. e.g. I did a search for “handmade journal” and there were 44 pages of results. On the front page, there were 40 items with pictures – the most recently listed items. You can also sort by relevancy (which doesn’t make much difference) and price. So you can see that if you haven’t listed work lately, your beautiful journal could be buried somewhere around page 20.

• In the same vein, you compete with everyone else on etsy to entice buyers to your shop. It can be easy to lose potential buyers - they can just click on another image and they are away.
• You really need to be active in other forums eg blogging, facebook, flickr to drive customers to your shop.
• You do all the work yourself – packing, posting items yourself. (Some may see this as an advantage)

Post Script: In the comments, Sara & Buechertiger mentioned a couple of improvements on Etsy that I had missed.

1. It is possible to relist items for AU 0.40c, which will cause them to bounce back up to the top of searches etc
2. Transactions can now be done in numerous currencies (including the Aussie $), not just US $s – so if a buyer is international there will only be one currency conversion – from their money to AU $. Hope this makes sense! Feel free to get in touch if I haven’t explained this clearly.

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2. BigCartel.com

What is it?

BigCartel functions as an online directory and shopping cart for all sorts of creative products ranging from bands selling their CDs and vinyl (yes! its the latest trend - again), up-and-coming clothing designers, artists and craftspeople. You can create your own online shop, list your items and use their shopping cart mechanism. A number of currencies are supported including the US $, Aussie $, GBP, NZ $ and the Euro.

Fees

• There is a sliding fee schedule, ranging from free to $29.99/month. For free, you can list up to 5 products, but only 1 image per product. There is basic customization of your shop available.
• $9.99/month: 25 products with 3 images each. Much better customization & features including your own url e.g. Amanda’sArtShop.com.au (you will have to buy this).
• $19.99/month: 100 products, 5 images each, best features.
• $29.99/month: 300 products, 5 images each, features as above.

Advantages

• Sell in your own currency (for Aussie’s anyway)
• Some might argue with me, but I think BigCartel is about as well-known as Etsy. Possibly it has a broader profile, because it is well-known for clothing and music. Perhaps this is a disadvantage, if these people aren’t into buying art, but I think there would be plenty of crossover.
• BigCartel shops can be integrated with Pulley for digital downloads e.g. e-books.
• Personally I like the search system on BigCartel. I searched for “handmade journal”, and got only 5 results, but these were shop-front graphics, not individual items. I could then work my way through each shop in turn. This just seemed much simpler.

As a seller, this means you don’t have to rely on a particular item drawing a potential customer in, and similarly, some gorgeous item in someone else’s shop can’t lure your customer away. On the other hand, I’m sure some other searches come up with many more results, and you need to name and “brand” your shop accurately to attract the right people.

• There is a “store directory” where you send your graphic and your store will be included. This is in addition to the search mechanism. Stores who opt to be in the directory may be featured from time to time.

 

Disadvantages

• You are competing for the buyer’s dollar with a broader range of product.
• You need to have a PayPal account. Personally I don’t see this as a problem, but some might.
• Less of a community feel. No teams or forums, although the help section seems pretty good. This is pretty business-like, as the name, BigCartel suggests.
• You do all the work yourself – packing, posting items yourself. (Some may see this as an advantage)

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This post is pretty long and there’s a lot to digest, so I think I’ll hold RedBubble and PayPal over to the next post.

In the meantime, I would love to hear from anyone out there who has a shop on Etsy or BigCartel. It would be terrific to hear about your experiences, how it is going and any tips or advice you can add. That way, we can create a useful resource for artists who are thinking about selling their work online.

 

 

 

 

No Art-Making This Week...

Despite the best laid plans I have not been able to get to work this week. I have simply been too tired and had a migraine on Friday and Saturday after trying to push myself. Today my head feels better, but I just don't have the energy or the concentration to make anything.

I am finding this terribly frustrating and difficult to accept after feeling so well while I was in Melbourne - I guess I was on a high and simply emptied the fuel tank.

In an effort to try to see that I have achieved something this week, I am going to be completely indulgent and list what I have done that is art-related:

1. made a full-sized transfer of self portrait image onto kozo paper - this did not turn out perfectly, but it is the largest transfer I have done, and may be usable.


2. decided to test my MIL's Epson printer for a comparison transfer - made original on sandwich wrap and collected some Epson Photo Quality Inkjet paper (recommended for transfers on the Yahoo inkjet transfer group)


3. researched a source (Paperboys) for paper for my flag book after going to an exhibition of artists books (more later) and seeing the beautiful Mohawk Superfine paper. I don't know how to explain it, but it is soft to touch! Irresistable! It isn't inkjet paper, but I should be able to use InkAid on it to ensure full colour reproduction, if I'm not happy with the result. The lovely people at Paperboys are sending me a sample to test.


4. I also found out about some opportunities to get my work "out there" later in the year - if I can just get any work made, that is! Grahame Galleries + Editions here in Brisbane is again organising the Artists Books Fair in September. So any book that I make in multiples (maybe the flag book?) I could enter there. Also Fusions, the Australian Network of Clay and Glass Artists, recently called for Expressions of Interest for their newly constructed gallery space, which should be ready by late 2007. I am planning to put in a proposal for the Self Portrait work as soon as it is finished and I can take some images.


5. Finally, something I did before I went to Melbourne came to fruition this week. I was asked to write a profile on my work for the Fusions newsletter and this has been published.

I guess I can see that even in a week where I can't get to make much, some progress does still happen now that I have the ball rolling. Hopefully this will let me relax into resting and help the energy build up again.

Incidentally I noticed that Alyson B. Stanfield over on the Art Biz Blog was recently talking about writing bios and profiles. She has some advice over there, including her own bio.... what I can see from all this is that it is one of the hardest things we do, and that everyone needs to develop their own in a style that represents them. I am going to post the profile I wrote for the Fusions newsletter on this blog in the next day or so, and while I don't necessarily think it is an example of the best, hopefully it might help clarify what you do and don't like in a profile.

Finally, because a post with no picture can never be as good as one with a picture: This image shows some pages from an artists book by Australian indigenous artist Judy Watson entitled: "a preponderance of aboriginal blood". At Grahame Galleries I was able to hold this in my hands. This is what I love about artists books.

Unfortunately the image doesn't show the wonderful graininess of the red ink - it really looks like blood. The book explores the incredible situation that went on prior to granting indigenous people in Australia the vote in the 1960s. The exhibition is entitled Lessons in History Vol 1 and comprises about 35 artists books exploring both personal and political history in book form. I spent about one and a half hours there, pouring over the books, and talking to Noreen, and would love to go back for a second visit if I get the chance.

Focussing My Blog

Too much time has passed since my last entry. I could blame my health or blame the weather here in Brisbane (it's been 30 deg+ and 60-70% humidity this past week) but I think I really need to acknowledge that the real reason is that I haven't recognised the value of blogging and made it a higher priority.

Regular readers will know that I am off to Melbourne for supervision for my masters in just two weeks from today...so I have been trying to make a start on as many works as possible so I have plenty to share and discuss. I figure I will be able to get more feedback if I have a number of works underway rather than a couple completed or nearly completed.

This is quite demanding but also very exciting. At the beginning of a new work you have to really start focussing your ideas, select media and process, not to mention run around for any supplies you don't have on hand. There is a lot of testing to do, as well as a number of decisions to be made. And I am loving it!

Along with just doing the work, I do feel that I can gain a lot by documenting this process as thoroughly as possible. This will help me with my thesis writing but my research background also suggests that it will be useful to my practice - it is so frustrating to look at an example of something that you love and want to re-create and not knowing how you did it, or alternatively making something which fails, only to realise you've done that before and should have remembered! Such a waste of time and energy - things that not only I frequently run short on...

Then today I received my weekly update from Alyson B. Stanfield, an art business coach who writes the Art Biz Blog. If you are interested in taking a more professional approach to the business side of your art, you should check her out. I'm not a paid up subscriber, but her site, blog and newsletter offer lots of useful free advice and tips.



I am not really a big fan of the idea of life coaching or business marketing, (just another of my hang-ups - I value humility in this age of "put yourself out there"). Consequently, I am actually at a bit of a loss when it comes to knowing what to do in this area. Somehow I stumbled onto the Art Biz Blog around New Year and Alyson got me in by suggesting that readers write a summary of their achievements for 2006. That sort of task is always fun and encouraging, so I did it and followed up by signing up for the newsletter - much of which I find useful and relevant to me.



Anyway back to today's update -it is about focussing your blog! Alyson introduced the artist, Margaret Short who started documenting her current project in her blog, Fine Arts Blog. I'm not a painter but I adore painting and I find this blog fascinating. Another of my absolute favourite blogs is Woodblock Dreams by Annie Bissett. She documents her explorations in moku hanga, traditional Japanese woodblock printing.



This has made me realise what sort of blogs I like - the ones that teach me stuff, especially if it is something I dream of trying some day. So this is what I would like to do with my blog - focus on documenting my masters work and share some of the techniques I use. And to do this I really do need to post more regularly - perhaps 2 to 3 times per week, especially at this time, when I am testing so much.



So you can look forward to more output from this little blog, and as a teaser, I'll finish with one image. This is the middle section of a sculpture I'm working on. It's only one piece of a larger multi-piece installation with the working title "Cocoon". It's made from japanese paper, beeswax, acrylic gel and shellac. More to follow...