Where can I sell my art for free on the internet? This is one of the most popular questions we have been asked, and one we have tried to answer as much as possible over the past year.
Thankfully, this question is very easy to answer – though with so many opportunities for artists, it may be difficult to choose the right place to sell your own art on the internet.
The internet is overladen with portfolio sites and social networks for artists. Certain of these may be more suited to promotion of your own artwork than others.
Here is a selection of what we think are some of the best places online for promoting and selling art. Please realize that success anywhere online mostly depends on your own consistent use of that site and continuously building your network there.
Please refer to the mentioned articles for more details about each free portfolio site, along with plenty of tips.
Where Can Artists Sell Paintings on the Internet for Free?
- Wix
Nowadays, creating a website of your own is very simple. Virtually anyone can easily piece together their own professional looking portfolio site for free. Services such as Wix make this possible. With hundreds of templates to choose from and an easy to use Wix website builder, artists can have their own website in no time. The site is completely free with no obligation to upgrade. But, if you decide to use it to promote to collectors and patrons, we do recommend upgrading for a personalized domain and removal of the Wix logo.
We will be continuing our Wix website builder series soon. If you are interested in building your own free portfolio website with Wix, please refer to these articles, and subscribe to receive new articles when they arrive.
Part 1 - Name a Website
Part 2 - Fix Paintings in Photoshop
Part 3 - HTML5 Slideshows
Part 4 - Building a Keyword List
Part 5 - Social Networking Buttons
Part 6 - Artwork Gallery Pages
- Facebook
Facebook pages are GREAT for art promotion, and there are no shortage of tips on how artists can use this social network for marketing of artworks.
I see many artists get frustrated and giving up too easily on growing their follower list at Facebook.
Advice - Don’t focus on quantity but quality. Remember, its not about how many likes you get, but the the quality of the followers you have. Work on befriending people who buy art.
Where can artists find art buyers at Facebook? It’s surprisingly simple, really. Follow successful Facebook pages related to your type of art. Sometimes people post that they would like to to buy a certain painting. These are the people to befriend. Please do not spam them or beg them to buy your artwork though – or even promote your art to them directly. Work on establishing friendships. If they like your art… and like you, they will be more likely to buy from you.
Here are some of of our best articles covering Facebook tips for artists:
How to Increase Facebook Edgerank
10 Things Artists Should NOT do on Facebook
How to Increase Engagement on Facebook Pages
3 Artists Who Use Facebook to Promote Art
Tricks to Get Facebook Likes
- Ebay
If you think your art is suited to auction sites such as Ebay, why not give it a try. Simply sign up for an Ebay account. Remember though, the type of buyers at Ebay are generally deal seekers. The most successful Ebay artists have been selling there for awhile, and have learned how to sell their art successfully. They have started by selling cheaply, and gradually raised their prices over time.
Here are our articles concerning selling art on Ebay:
How to Sell Art on Ebay
Tips to Auction Art at Ebay
Create an Ebay Auction Listing
- Fine Art America
Fine Art America is a print on demand service whereby any artist can upload artworks and sell prints from their free portfolio. It is actually the largest print on demand website online. It should be mentioned that I have heard many complain that Fine Art America is too large and diverse for its purpose. They say that with the intense competition, it can be very difficult for new artists to sell anything. Our reply - No matter what site you are hoping to sell your art, the artist still has to promote it actively. Art does not sell itself.
Fine Art America provides plenty of free tools which artists may use to promote their FAA portfolio. To increase your print sales, use these as much as possible, and actively promote your FAA artworks via Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and at your website.
Soon, we will continue this series of free online places to sell art. Please subscribe to receive future posts in this series.
Artists please check out our site at www.artFido.com where you can sell your art to the world for free!
ReplyDeleteAlso check out http://www.myartisticboutique.com/, you can create both public and private galleries where you can invite your friends. It is all completely free!!!!
ReplyDeleteAlso check out http://www.myartisticboutique.com/, you can create both public and private galleries where you can invite your friends. It is all completely free!!!!
ReplyDeleteAs far as Selling prints of your work, there is etsy, cafepress, zazzle, and deviantart. Etsy for me is too much of a hassle b/c I need to actually handle the shipping and printing and everything. Personally I use SMugmug.com as a printer and shipper of my work. they give you a whole gallery option and pricing plans. They have their bare minimum prices, and you keep anything over that amount. Say it costs them $2.30 to print out and ship an 8x10 print. if you price it for $12, you get 10 bucks.
ReplyDeleteHere is an example of my smugmug gallery.
http://obilex.smugmug.com/Art/Obilex-The-Artwork-o
Also, you want to get all of your social media networks on par with one another, make it easy for people to be connected with you. on my homepage http://Obilex.com you can see that I have links to all of my different outlets (twitter, facebook, instagram ebay etc.)
Hope this helps, and keep up the hard work!
Sam