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.

 

 

 

 

Craft Revolution

Marisa Molin: From the series Symbiosis

Last week-end I went to see "Craft Revolution" at QUT Art Museum. From the website:

"Craft Revolution explores the idea that craft is radical and revolutionary, through an exhibition and online discussion. Rejecting the dominant culture of consumption and the loss of community, craft is a means of creation and engagement that is slow, purposeful and often cooperative. It is this rejection of the dominant consumptive culture and the return to historic or traditional practices that makes craft revolutionary."

The show is only quite small, I found it disappointingly so. It includes some traditional craft works as well as more contemporary pieces. Personally, I'm not really sure they really added much, although the message was clear: your craft doesn't have to be highly conceptual in order to be radical. Still, it was works with a conceptual base that I found most inspiring.

Marisa Molin's works (above) were a case in point. Contemporary jewelry makers are currently among the most radical craftspersons, in my opinion. Working with the relationship of adornment to the body opens up so many avenues. I was especially pleased to see the actual works by Molin, in addition to the photos depicting them in relation to the body.

Another work that really appealed to me was a gorgeous dress by Tallulah Filloy which brought together aspects of traditional Maori costume with a skirt made from a beautiful red bathmat. Yes , I said bathmat. And yes, if it was in my size, I'd wear it!"Our Father Who Art in Heaven", 2008 by Ann-Maree Hanna

But my favourite work was this one by Ann-Maree Hanna. Unfortunately I couldn't find a picture of it as it is installed for this show. It is quite breathtaking in it's beauty and profound in it's message. The work is made from embroidery thread and is a scrolled version of the Lord's Prayer written in arabic. The calligraphic lines of the script rendered in gold are suspended from one end and gently fall to the floor, where the rest of the prayer remains on its giant bobbin. The lighting is used to great effect to cast the shadow of the words onto the wall. The bringing together of Christianity with the language of the troubled middle east is such a beautiful sight, I'd recommend this exhibition for this piece alone.

You can read and see more about this show on the QUT website (where I found the photos, and sorry, I don't have permission) and on the associated blog.

Certain Trees

This is the second exhibition of artists books that is currently on at the V&A Museum. It focuses on a group of British book artists and includes multiple works by each published by their small presses. These included Tarasque Press, Coracle Press and Wild Hawthorn Press. It’s interesting to see works by artists who specialize in a medium, and compare their works with those in Blood on Paper. These works seemed very “English” to me. By this, I mean that they were thoughtful, understated and exhibited a very particular sense of humour.

The artists shown here have all made a number of artists books, and as such, the works were part of each artist’s body of work exploring the book form. There was a lot to be learnt from examining these books and having the time to absorb what they were saying, but unfortunately they were all displayed in cabinets. This meant that you could often only see a single spread, and while what you could read was often amusing, or quite lovely, I felt I was missing a lot. Standing in front of a glass cabinet really doesn't encourage you to spend time with a work. I'm always disappointed when I don't get to handle artists books, but especially so in this case, where the content was quite crucial. Nevertheless, there was still enough to see to make the visit worthwhile. There’s some more information on the V&A website.

A-Painting-A-Day: Taking Stock So Far

I'd love to be able to say that it was my intention all along to do a big end of month summary of this Painting-A-Day exercise - but the truth is I've been so caught up making art that I just haven't had a chance to update this blog.

The positive of this is that it means the month is going really well. There have been a few changes to the Painting-A-Day "rules" - when you're making it up as you're going along, this is not surprising! First of all, it doesn't have to be a painting. In fact it doesn't absolutely have to be 2-D, although I have tried to stick to this in the main. However, I think that all but 2 works do include paint! Secondly, the daily was never really realistic, unless I wanted to make all the works very spontaneous and quick. Instead I have gone for at least 4 per week and made it to 5 once. By taking it a little more slowly, I think I can get some good "starters" going, things I can return to and look at developing in the future. It also gives me a chance to try out a few different techniques I've thought of or read about in the past 12 months. So the collage above shows pictures of all the works created so far.

Week 1

The first week I made four works, two collages and two mixed media drawings. None of these really work but I did try out some new techniques, including sgraffito using wax pastels and Jonathon Talbot transfer technique which I've mentioned in earlier posts. I've been focussing on developing imagery that I may use in my masters work and there are lots of "bits" that I think I can work with here.

The big disappointment for me was the sgraffito. It's a technique I'm familiar with in ceramics, and while it worked, I just didn't really like the effect - but that may be due to the multicoloured surface I created - you can see it here. It just looks lazy and messy to me.

Week 2

This week was my most productive so far. I was still in an exploratory mood despite my dissatisfaction with the sgraffito, so I tried my hand at a variety of media and techniques. The theme for Illustration Friday was buzz and anyone who knows my work knows I have included a reference to whipper snippers in a past installation - I HATE THEM! So I quickly got the idea to do a Noel MeKenna-esque painting of a whipper snipper in suburbia. I have to say that this was the most fun I've had all month. I had planned to work in acrylics, but was scared off by my total lack of experience with this type of project, so I opted for aquarelles. From a distance I am actually reasonably happy with the result, despite my obvious compositional goof - just don't examine the surface too closely, please!

I also experimented with two ideas I've had for a while. One is using tissue paper to sculpt close-ups of the body, inspired somewhat by Brent Harris - this is harder than it looks, and this one is not really working, but I will experiment further. The second idea shows lots of potential and I am really excited about it. I used Japanese paper dipped in wax to construct a box. I'm really happy with the translucency and am thinking this may be a way for me to work in 3-D other than with clay.

I also managed to complete my "start" for the Library project on Flickr and finished off with a photoshopped work for Artwords, seen in the previous post "graffitti". Okay I know that photoshop is not paint, but it is 2-D and for this one I did experiment with something I've not done before, as you'll see if you check out the post.

Week 3

All right, now we are in the home straight! Week 3.

This week I became almost totally wrapped up in the Library project. I started work on the start that Alex Itin from Brooklyn had sent me. I have to admit that it's been sitting here for 2 weeks and I've been looking at it, coming up with ideas, but terrified of actually making a mark. After all, this is another artist's work I'm about to work on. Eventually I bit the bullet and was able to find some images that I thought suited perfectly, including this map of the world from 1581 in the shape of a flower! (Alex's start included a butterfly with the words "Korea, China, Vietnam, Japan" on its wings.) You can see the completed collaboration on Alex's blog. I also polished off a book page Alex had included, a la the Humument.

By this stage I was really rolling on the collages and dieing to incorporate some of my anatomy imagery. I started a new book cover with the intention of posting it to the Library for collaboration, but was having so much fun that I ended up just continuing on with it myself!

I finished last week with a failed experiment. I had this idea to try a Jonathon Talbot transfer onto Japanese lace paper. Technically, it did work, but the effect is not what I had hoped. Not sure now what I hoped! Well, yes I am. I'm looking to express impermanence, but not in an old moth-eaten document kind-of-way, like this. I'm interested in change, transition. Hence the butterflies, life-cycles and so on. I think the faded effect of the transfer says more about this.

Well that brings us up to date. I am hoping the remaining 7 days will be just as productive. I think I should try to use this last week to experiment some more - then next month I can start to develop some of these ideas. I have booked my first trip to Melbourne to see my supervisor, Kevin White, in March. By then I need to have some solid progress to share.

Inspiration Part 2 - End of Year Review

Well here are the artworks that formed the collage in the previous post. The artists are: 1. Timothy McDowell; 2&3 Marisse Maas; 4. Darlene O'Connor; 5. Nancy Selvin; 6. Martin Puryear; 7. Steve Briscoe; 8. James Casebere; 9. David Prifti; 10. Aparna Agrawal; 11&12. Sally Smart (BTW, I have no idea why this collage has January 2003 on it - Picasa just did it automatically!)


It's interesting to view them all in one place like this and see what stands out to me. As I mentioned in the last post, I've set myself a challenge for the month of January. Other than photos and digitally alterred images, I really haven't done that much work on paper. I've spent the past year learning some techniques - some home printmaking, some transfers, collage, a little mixed media and a little encaustic, but I don't really feel that I have a "style" or direction. I am hoping that by working intensively (well, for me) for a month something will begin to emerge that I can continue to develop. It always amazes me when I look at the work of other artists and their style is so recognisable. I feel I am still in an experimental stage, trying this and that, and really don't have much of an established aesthetic or way of working on paper.

I selected the works above because they all really speak to me aesthetically and I want to try to identify colours, marks, etc to work with over the next month. So I'm going to try to identify what it is about each artists work that I respond to....

When I came across Timothy McDowell's work on the net I had an incredible reaction to it. I just find it soooo beautiful. I love the antique paper he works on, the fine pencil and watercolour work and the vintage nature-based imagery he uses. I also love that style of composition - sort of a cross between a collage and a mosaic in an integrated piece.

Marisse Maas is one of my favourite Australian painters. I love her use of line - not quite outlining the object and sgraffito. As a potter, this is a technique I know well. Her compositional style is similar to McDowell's.

Darlene O'Connor and Nancy Selvin are American ceramists and they don't have a huge web-presence, but I stumbled on their work while researching print and ceramics. Although I am looking at doing mixed media work now, I can envisage transfering some of the ideas into clay when my energy improves. The fine printed line work on O'Connor's work appeals strongly to me and I love the rough slip finish on Selvin's terracotta bottles.

Martin Puryear does wonderful etchings that demonstrate the beauty of line, texture and pure forms - a good lesson for both ceramics and 2-D work. I've only found this one series of Steve Briscoe's work, focussing on text and bunnies! I love text and I'm a sucker for cute animals! Will I be including any cute animals in my future artworks? Who knows, but never say never!

James Casebere is a photographer who has a series on water-filled interiors. This is not something I think I'll be pursuing soon, but it does relate to a recurring dream from my childhood, so I included this image as a reminder for the future. David Prifti uses light-sensitive emulsion to "transfer" his photographic images onto all sorts of objects. This relates closely to some work I've been doing for my Masters, so Prifti was included here as another "note to self".

Aparna Agrawal is another artist whose work really excites me. As a ceramic artist, I find it much easier to think in 3-D than in 2-D. Agrawal has made sculptural works using paper with wax and thread, and I am hoping these media might work for me too.

Sally Smart is another terrific Australian artist. I love her style of working with cut-outs on the wall. This is something I have been thinking about for over 2 years. I envisage a giant collage - where the wall operates as the support surface. I also like the strong black silhouette style of Smart's imagery. It relates to shadows which I have often included as part of my own work with objects. If I do create 2-D work, I'll like to integrate it into this type of larger work.

Finally, the colour scheme seems pretty obvious - I've worked a lot with greys, blacks and whites in the past, and I also love sepia and brown. I see there's a touch of red in there too - sounds perfect!

I hope you have enjoyed this little trip around these favourite artists of mine. It's certainly been useful for me as a precursor to spending a month exploring a new direction. Stay tuned to see what comes of it all - if anything....


and I want to take this opportunity to wish everybody who has visited my blog a safe and happy time in 2007. I am especially grateful to those who have visited more than once and those who have left comments for me. Blogging has become a genuine source of friendship and a wonderful way of reaching out from our little boxes in the suburbs. You have all touched my life in a way far beyond my expectations. Thank-you!