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Selling on Etsy.
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Message
Posted
No Peter. I have bought small items, mostly buttons for knitting, but not tried to sell. I like to support individual makers which is what Etsy was I think set up to do. I just had a look at its painting/art section. Much of it is very cheap but there are a few people who do commissions (mostly pets!) at a better price.
I used to work for a few years for a fabric company and we regularly sold quite a bit through Etsy. I guess it is a site people use for specific items, but not sure about paintings. Only one way to find out! Good luck if you do.
Posted
It’s probably worth a try Peter! I have heard reasonably good reports but I’ve not tried selling my work personally.
I wouldn’t mind giving it a shot, I’ve got literally hundreds of paintings that aren’t quite, let’s say ‘gallery standard’, in my view anyway. Oil on board mainly and oils are the most popular I believe! All unframed which doesn’t necessarily help…
So, I’m not looking for a king’s ransom for them, in fact I could do with them out of the way!
I believe it’s better than eBay for selling paintings, but whichever one you choose, there will be a limit on what punters will pay… my gut feeling is something around £50 or so, could even be less…which I realise for say a 40x50cm oil on board is giving them away, but that’s the online market!
300 paintings at £50 each is 15k… hmm…
Posted
Well, I was only generalising about prices… I would have to change postage!
Keep in mind that a lot of my oils are completed in say 90 minutes… some less, not all though!
But I agree that it is almost giving them away! Which is why I haven’t gone down that route… yet!
I do have a presence in a couple of galleries, but that’s a whole different pricing structure - albeit a commission of 40% at least does make you wonder why bother.
But as they are just stored away in several cupboards, maybe some of them would be better off going on display in people’s homes… I just can’t be bothered with the hassle at the moment.
Pricing is difficult, but these types of websites don’t necessarily attract big spenders, and art is such a difficult commodity.., a none essential luxury to many.
Edited
by Alan Bickley
Posted
I’ve just had a look at their website, under original paintings… a mixed bag of quality and prices as expected!
I did spot an oil at 18k+, but I think he’s being a bit optimistic with that!
Unless on stretched canvas, they do all seem to be framed… I’ve got a lot of fairly large oils on stretched canvas, unframed but they don’t necessarily need to be if on stretched canvas - I might think about putting them on when I’ve got more time to spare. I’m busy working on features with deadlines looming, so they have to take priority!
I’d have to be looking at something in the region of £300 though as a minimum, there’s some industrial landscapes among them that took me a fair few hours to complete!
Posted
I haven't tried this - to be honest, it's such a fag to get into selling, and I'm getting older and less inclined to make the effort. My best sales always came from exhibitions - one-person exhibitions far better than those held with others, though I think a couple of people could probably enjoy similar success to one: it's when you get ten or twenty artists all competing together that there's no theme, and people find it hard to choose - and so don't!
The idea of packing paintings up, finding a courier, posting them off, hoping they don't get damaged in transit, sorting out the varnishing, then counting the balance of costs vs. income, not to mention the time it all takes - I just don't want to be doing all that any more.
The question was about Etsy, though - and I do know of people who make a satisfactory amount of cash by selling prints, or even mugs, cushions, duvets, displaying their work - but ..... do you want to do that? I really, really don't, without for a second disparaging those who do. You'd need to maintain a consistent source of supply, seek out those who can print your work - on paper, china, or fabric - leaving enough profit for you to make it all worthwhile: it'd be a business. Then there would be earnings. Then there would be tax returns. And postage, and secure packing, and..... and I just can't be bothered!
Galleries may be a bit of a stretch for most of us, but if I could find one to show my stuff - not that I've seriously tried that, either! - I'd choose that route: because they'd do most of the work for you (and charge accordingly). It'd be worth it in terms of convenience; as to whether the sales would justify the effort involved, I don't know. It does help, I suspect, being in or being prepared to travel to the right places to show your work. I do know of an artist who set up his own gallery and sells his own work through it - but self-evidently, he had the money to do that in the first place, and chose a spot where there's a good passing trade - I think that a physical presence is helpful in selling work; I've not found much profit in online sales unless you're prepared to diversify into putting your work on scatter-cushions...
Posted
Having just taken a look at the Etsy site, I can imagine the most difficult part of selling here is somebody actually finding your painting. The search option isn't terribly effective, and when I searched for 'acrylic paintings', there were over a hundred pages, each with about 64 items on them, and no obvious logic behind the ordering, or ability to search. I do have to say I was amused by the occasional items marked as 'original painting' when there was more than one in stock.
Posted
Well done you Peter , hope it pays offf.
Another place I have use in the past are pubs and restaurants, both have done OK ish .
They also rarely ask for commision as they are happy to decorate
their walls.
I have also just sold in a local Hospital , a small one, not a big life or death place, and i did give a tenner to the league of friends That was with a group and they let us have space in the waiting room/.
Also in the near future our local village is about to open a community shop so i am going to ask for wall space in there in exchange for running a kids group drawing and paintig in the school hols, hopefully i will be able to see what I am doing....Otherwise like most of us they mount up.
Edited
by Sylvia Evans