The Best Platforms for Selling Your Visual Art Online, (For Fine Artists)
Hello artists! Can I just start by saying this is not a comprehensive list. These are companies I have seen, used or done some research on as a fine artist, painter and drawer mostly, trying to selling my art online with third party companies. Not all have worked for me (yet)! That being said, if you are curious about selling your art online, read on. I would encourage you to try one site to start, give it a bit of time and energy, and then diversify once it starts working.
Absolute musts for using these sites: you must have high quality images of your work. Over 300 DPI is the standard, but I tend to go a bit higher. More importantly, spend dedicated time learning and testing your images on prints at home before you start uploading them to sites, even just for color checks. This will help you immensely for the future!
Saatchi
Pros: The self-styled premier online art gallery, Saatchi is the only gallery I have found that is selling original artworks, managing shipping, and pricing in a wide range (above $100) for a lot of artists. Most online galleries are working with prints and on-demand, unless it is a gallery specifically curated with designed exhibitions. Saatchi (and potentially others I have not come across) seem to cater to a wide range of artists and actually manage to sell original art.
Have you had luck with Saatchi Art? Get in touch, let us know!
Cons: This site gave me a ton of trouble with my shipping address. When I tried to contact them, it was impossible to get in touch. It seems their customer service is seriously lacking. I am hoping this gets resolved and I can report back with a better result!
Society6
A bit more focus on design and new trends, this site is still good for fine artists if you are able to make great quality images for prints of your art. I have noticed that there is definitely a certain aesthetic that works better at Society6 - it could be worth studying this style a bit before diving into this site. Finding the right platform for you will make all the difference - if this is not your style, so be it! There will be others.
Pros: This platform is very user-friendly, compared to some others like Saatchi and Fine Art America. The broad range of products is also very excellent.
Cons: Potentially better geared for designers and graphic art but again, not entirely necessary.
Fine Art America
If you are a bit more traditional, Fine Art America may be for you. This platform hosts the most traditional “fine artists” that I have found which is also a third party seller and who make many art products. They have much less emphasis on style trends and design. The platform is not my favorite for user friendliness, but I do like how they have kept the site feeling a bit old school.
Pros: Wide range of products, traditional feel, not too hard to use if you have high quality photos of your work (as always).
Cons: Bigger focus on old posters, art from dead artists, sports, photography - less focus on living, original artwork.
Etsy
By far the most successful platform that I have sold on, it did take way more work to start selling on Etsy than the other platforms, up front, just because you are doing all the listing work yourself. What do I mean by listing work? On other sites, all you do is upload a single photo (print quality image of your work), choose your products, a bit of sizing, and the site does the rest - on Etsy, your listings are completely yours to create, meaning you make the framed style shots, the product shots and decide exactly how you want your art to be sold. On Etsy, you are also in charge of actually sending the products whereas others are intermediaries to do that for you.
Pros: Larger freedom of products that look how you want them to look, listing freedom, huge client base of people searching art, especially custom and personalized art, great place for craft makers, artisans and stationary brands. In fact, Etsy is an actual place to build a real shop online; if you do Etsy, I recommend doing Etsy well, and putting your focus into it entirely for a while. Otherwise, it will be hard to get up and running. It took me about three years to really start making sales on Etsy as I was scattered and un-focused in my shop.
Cons: If style shots or making listings are not your thing, Etsy can work, but probably is not your ideal seller. Further, if you do not want to ship your own prints or do the work of using another print company, Fine Artists may find better luck on other sites. I have had luck with Etsy, but it has taken years and a lot of time and energy. Further, Etsy is very good for niche markets, so if you are getting into Etsy, set your ideas clearly before you start and just show one type of art for the time being.
Have you had luck with online selling platforms and galleries? Especially third party print companies? Let us know in the comments, or send us a message at AveryChesFineArt@gmail.com.