How to Sell Your Art Online

Being an artist and a business person isn’t always easy. I love being an artist but the only way I am able to do this as a career is to access my ‘business’ side. I have to say that a lot of this comes naturally to me but I know a lot of artists have a hard time turning their art into a career. They don’t know how to price their work, how to advertise it, how get ‘out there’. A lot of artists are introverts and would rather not be ‘out there’! But if you want to make money doing what you love, sometimes you have to push your boundaries. This is a quick tutorial on how to sell your art online. This is one of the first steps you can take in order to monetize your masterpieces!

Third Party Vendors: CafePress & ImageKind

There are various vendors online that will do all the work for you! If you are just starting out and are unsure of how well your art will sell, this might be a good place to start. I started with both of these vendors (CafePress and ImageKind) and found them to be a helpful place to get my feet wet and see the interest for my work. Both of these vendors will allow you to upload digital files to their website and they will print, package, and send the artwork to anyone who purchases it. You can sign up for free for either of these sites but there are also upgraded packages that require monthly costs. The catch with these sites is that they take a small percentage of your sales. This isn’t necessarily so bad since you aren’t dealing with the time involved in printing, shipping, customer service, etc. The other benefit of using one of these sites is the automatic advertising you’ll receive by being on their site. Both vendors feature artists on a regular basis, and you will also come up in search results for customers looking to buy similar artwork.

Do It Yourself!
If you’ve already used third party vendors or would just rather do everything yourself, then the rest of this info is for you! I decided to remove my work from both of these sites as I was ready to take the whole process into my own hands. I wanted my customers to feel like they are supporting me as an artist and that they are getting something lovingly made by myself! I’ve designed special packaging for each print and hand signed all my artwork. I also like to communicate with my customers and deal directly with them. Another benefit to doing it all yourself, there is potentially more money to be made. So if you have the time and are ready to take the plunge, please continue to read below!

Printers
The first thing you’ll need is a printer. From my research, most artists are using either the Epson R1900 or Epson R2880. Of course, there are a thousand printers out there and there is no one stopping you from researching other brands! The Epsons are the standard in the industry and both these printers work well with specialty papers and use archival inks. Archival inks are important if you want your prints to stand the test of time. This is a big selling feature for buyers as well. I personally own the Epson R1900. The main difference between this one and the next model up is that the Epson R2880 is very good at printing in black and white. It has a range of blacks and is specially made for black and white photography. The R2880 is also better at handling very thick art papers so this is something to keep in mind when deciding which model is best for you.

Paper
You’ll want to decide what kind of paper will best display your work. If you create watercolours or other fine art, you can purchase beautifully textured, thick papers that will make your prints look almost like the original. I print on Epson Ultra Premium Presentation paper which is a bright white, non-glare paper with a luxurious weight and feel. It is a smooth paper which I think works best for my illustrations. The best bet in order to decide which paper would work best for your work, is to visit your local printer/photographic supplier and examine the samples. You can also buy sample packs to bring home and create test prints in order to decide more accurately. You’ll want to consider the cost per sheet for your prints when you’re later deciding on pricing your art.

Print Sizing
When starting out, it’ll be easiest to work with one paper size. This way, all your packaging, shipping rates, etc will be the same. A very standard size for a print is 8.5×11. If you want to offer a larger size, you can move up to 11×13. If your artwork is square, you can also consider offering a square size within these dimensions. I would stick to one (or two at most) sizes to start in order to keep things manageable.

Packaging and Shipping
You’ll need to take special care to package and ship your prints so that they aren’t damaged en route to their new home. I use a stiff cardboard mailer with ‘Do Not Bend’ stickers on it in order to keep each print safe and sound. You’ll also want to package your print in a plastic sleeve in order to protect in from getting soiled. You should also consider adding a sticker or cardboard label somewhere on your packaging with your logo, contact info, etc. This will allow for your print to look professional.

Pricing
If you are working with a typical 8.5×11 print, pricing can range anywhere from $10-$30 on average for a relatively unknown artist. This is average and you can of course, charge as much or as little as you want! Before deciding on a price, you’ll want to determine the cost of each print. Once you know this cost, you’ll also want to consider the idea that one day you may want to sell your prints wholesale (which is usually 50% of the retail price). You’ll want to give yourself a big enough margin to still make a decent profit if you decide to also sell wholesale.

Resources to Sell Online
There are various ways to sell your art online, including creating your own online store. The one way I highly recommend is through the popular site Etsy. Etsy is a large community where artists can sell their work online. They are a beautifully designed and functionally sound site that allows you to take the headache out of designing and programming a site yourself (not to mention the cost!). There are many benefits to using Etsy, but one of the biggest ones is the exposure you’ll get to new customers. They don’t charge a monthly fee but they do charge $0.20 per item you post and take 4% off each sale. This is relatively low considering the benefits. I am still relatively new to Etsy but so far, I am happy with its success.

This is a very basic run through of how to get started. I know that this info would have been invaluable to me when I started out so I hope some of it is helpful to you. If you have any resources to add (other online vendors or tips/tricks), please feel free to add them in the comments!

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