selling art on line? art prints, canvas etc.

[london gift]

hi,

what do you think,

do people much buy art on line?

pete

 

[Spock]

Very competitive area already

 

[Red Eye Media]

There's always room for someone to do it better. I would have thought that the hardest part of this sort of business is organising the artists. the few that I have come into contact with are so focussed on their art that their business heads are shot away. So lots of room for people to organise them.

 

[awebapart.com]

It is a competitive area, but there are always niches, more so in the original art area.

I would never recommend to an artist to sell original irreplaceable one-off artwork online, because there is always the chance of a fraudulent transaction. Imagine how soul destroying it would be if you had worked for weeks putting your heart and soul into a painting, then sold it online, to later find that the transaction was fraudulent, you had been had, and you weren't getting any money.

On the other hand if you are not selling irreplaceable one-offs, but say prints, the type of product where if a fraudulent transaction happens, you can live with it (these things do happen), then that is more viable for selling online.

In our client website portfolio, we currently have one watercolour artist client who has a non-ecommerce website due to the reasons given above, but off-line sales and commissions can still arise from these kind of websites. We are also in the website prototyping stage with a photographer client, for an ecommerce site for canvas prints of their photographs.

 

[KidsBeeHappy]

All will stand on the quality of your images. You can't sell art with a poor photograph.

(Which is why old/antique pictures are not good sellers on ebay)

 

[YooHee]

i there are art collector on the net.......

as long as your art work is worth spending...

they will buy i'm sure...

 

[Spock]

I would never recommend to an artist to sell original irreplaceable one-off artwork online, because there is always the chance of a fraudulent transaction. Imagine how soul destroying it would be if you had worked for weeks putting your heart and soul into a painting, then sold it online, to later find that the transaction was fraudulent, you had been had, and you weren't getting any money.

I know what you mean but you wouldn't send anything out until the money came in would you?

 

[Red Eye Media]

You could sell prints but when it comes to orginal art, I would suggest you use the site as a catalogue. Make it clear where abouts the art is housed and only do cash transactions.
I would imagine that if someone is keen to buy an original, they would want to see it first anyway so make it clear that cash is the only payment method for originals.

 

[awebapart.com]

I know what you mean but you wouldn't send anything out until the money came in would you?

This could work if you do things like just accept cheques and wait for them to clear, but then that isn't really ecommerce, selling online with online transactions, since the monetary transactions are offline. It is possible to set up websites using ecommerce software and not have any online payments, e.g. pay by cheque, pay by BACS.

If you are accepting online payments, e.g. credit cards, even though the transaction is initially a success, there is a risk period which can be up to 80 days when a chargeback can occur. So for some online payments by credit card, you can only know for sure that you have the money, with no repercussions that can bite you, around 180 days later (which is an unacceptable delivery lead time).

 

[Spock]

Thanks I didn't know that

 

[Kwackers]

Everyone buys everything online...ok bit of an overstatement but..

its about getting your product out there.

You can have a fantastic product with no sales and a rubbish product with loads of sales.

Promo, Promo, Promo.

 

[london gift]

anyone know them?
magnolia soft

looks like they provide soution.

i plan to sell quite expensive items 150-200 GBP minimum. so i cant imagine i have many orders every week

 

[Poppy Design]

Hi

I have a canvas art site www.funkycanvas.co.uk - I could not live off the sales! but then again I have never marketed the product properly (currently do not have the time).

I do get regular sales but art is very much a personal thing and in this time of "credit crunch" probably not at everybodys top of list!

However I believe there is a market for everything if you market correctly.

 

[london gift]

Hi

I have a canvas art site funkycanvas - I could not live off the quote]

to be honest these images are crap!

 

[london gift]

selling globally with address in london city- i think it makes a good impresion,

what u think?

 

[kaysingh]

Hi I'm actually looking into this already, I'm setting up a second business that actually sells t-shirts and canvas prints but the artwork is unique in the sense that it's retro based work and it's heavily influenced by the bollywood movie industry.

The best thing is that I'll be doing all the artwork as I'm a graphic artist.

Definitley worth looking into, but you have to make sure your artwork is quality and unique and that you have a wide selection to choose from.

 

[london gift]

what u think of fury forms, kind of artificial fur used for making toys,

steched that on frames of any shape, similar to canvas, on line choosing every options- color, shape, design.

 

[Poppy Design]

Hi

I have a canvas art site funkycanvas - I could not live off the quote]

to be honest these images are crap!

Thanks for the ever so charming compliment "London Gift"

I guess that is why my canvases have been featured in House Beautiful, House & Home Ideas etc!

This is a business forum for advice and tips not slagging off companies that have not asked to be reviewed.

 

[pgraves]

There is an interesting dilemma for sites like artists and photographers - they usually try to make their images do the talking, for obvious reasons, but that doesn't really wash onthe web.

The only thing a search engine can index is words, and you need a lot of them. Well chosen too, but still a lot. Otherwise you don't really exist in search engines, won't get any traffic, and no one will see, let alone buy your lovely pictures. So do try to factor in search engine optimisation concerns if you want visitors!

We see this with a lot of photographers' sites too - they barely exist as far as a search engine is concerned. So you need to make both your images AND your words work - good luck!

 

[london gift]

so its all about traffic...

is it that simple?

 

[pgraves]

Well without traffic you've got no one to buy your stuff.

With traffic it depends on how good your stuff is, how relevant it is to the visitors you've got, and how well you sell it to them.

Each one of those is a big subject in itself though so you're right - its not that simple - but its the essential first step! I got asked to improve the results of some "picture" web sites recently, and though they looked lovely, they were almost non-starters from a search and sales point of view. And I hate telling people they've just spent a fortune on something that won't do what they'd hoped....

 

[Spock]

to be honest these images are crap!

That's not a nice thing to say and totally unjustified. I quite like the images

 

[Poppy Design]

That's not a nice thing to say and totally unjustified. I quite like the images

Thanks Spock!

I sold a £1000 worth in the last 2 weeks so a few people like them!

However back to the original subject (funny enough I never posted asking for a review)

Art comes in all forms and is a very personal thing ... however there usually is a market for all types .. it is how you market things and whom you market it you.

 

[Poppy Design]

That's not a nice thing to say and totally unjustified. I quite like the images

Thanks Spock!

I have sold a £1000 worth in the last 2 weeks so a few people must like them!

However back to the original subject (funny enough I never posted asking for a review)

Art comes in all forms and is a very personal thing ... however there usually is a market for all types .. it is how you market things and whom you market it you.

 

[london gift]

sorry poppy design if i did it wrong to comment u in that way...i just wanted to point that yr all images are almost the same...easy to create...
but well done with yr sales:redface: x mas comming:redface:

i cant wait to see my art gallery on line...i want to have different artists and make fury forms and hand painted and design picture frames myself.
so its gonna be

-canvas prints
- fury forms,

- and hand crafted frames, covered with kind of plaster, and structure, any color to be choosen from on line.

what u reckon ?

 

[Poppy Design]

Hi

London Gift - no problem!

Yes my images may be easy to create but a lot of time and thought is taken by me when actually photographing the plants/flowers - a lot of which have been planted and grown by me.

There is a market for all types of art out there - from £9.99 mass produced prints to one off 6 figure paintings!

Anyway good luck with your venture (whatever fury forms are?!)

 

[Bruce_Andrews]

so its all about traffic...

is it that simple?

No different to a real shop.

Tell people you are there i.e. advertising
A good shop window attracts people in.
Good products means people buy.
Good products and service means that people tell other people.

The only difference is that online is 24/7.

 

[awebapart.com]

No different to a real shop.

Good point. I would also add that with real shops you get shop lifters and people buying goods with credit cards that aren't their own (which are later charged back), and with online shops you also run similar risks, more so on the fraudulent transactions but there is also the chance that some customers will just say that the goods never arrived, so you have to protect yourself in these situations too (e.g. insurance, recorded delivery).

So online shops and real shops both have their own risks, weaknesses and threats too (if you are running a SWOT analysis - Stengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats - of the project).

With online shops selling photographs there are additional risks of theft to consider. Whilst photography websites do not normally provide photos in a resolution high enough for print, their lower web resolutions do make them targets for other forms of theft. Some people will quite happily copy photographs from your website and place them on their own websites or on social networking websites (e.g. a youtube slideshow). Some people will use web resolution photographs for their mobile phone backgrounds/wallpapers, or DVD menu backgrounds, taking photos from your site rather than paying for photos sold specifically for these markets.

For these reasons, it is worth adding watermarks to the photographs you display on your website to minimise the risk of this form of theft. Watermarks are faint transparent messages of ownership you place in the photo. We are currently in the early website prototyping stage for a photographer client selling limited edition photographs who intends to go live with their website early next year, and this client is watermarking the larger web versions of the photos in the online shop section of their website. You cannot stop photo theft completely, but if someone does use your watermarked photograph on their website, the watermark might help prove that they have stolen your photo, and if the watermark includes your web address, it can also provide a bit of free advertising!

 

[Esk247]

well i also deal in selling art online but we are talking £5,000 a piece and its not shifting at all..this isn't some kind of printed on a machine shizz either..its hand painted by a degree level british artist and designer and she will never sell them for ebay prices i'd rather not sell any of them than let them go for £99 in TK Maxx.

think its best to sell them via art shows when it comes to that type of work though and i haven't had the time to get out there, get to london and leeds or paris for the art festivals.