Selling Art Online - an introduction for artists
Whether you are an emerging or experienced artist, this site will provide you with a link to information and advice about:
- driving traffic to your blog or website
- finding out more about tools and webware which can help with ecommerce for artists
- reviewing the various sites offering to help you sell your art online
- ecommerce and payment systems for selling online
- the law and regulations relating to selling online
- other matters relevant to the business of selling art online.
Much of the advice is generic and applicable to all artists no matter where they live. Where information is country-specific, it tends to focus on on the UK. It also provides information relevant to the US market
This site is part of the "selling art online" series and is a developing resource of links to suppliers and reviews of ther service they offer. Check out the other sitesPrint Art on Demand - Resources for Artists | Online Art Galleries and Stores - Resources for Artists | Sell Daily Paintings - Resources for Artists | Email Newsletter Software - Resources for Artists | Blogging for Artists - Resources for Artists | Packaging, posting and shipping art - Resources for Artists |
Check out also other sites relevant to the business of being an artist (see other lens listed in the right hand column)
Art and the Economy | Copyright and Orphan Artworks | Art Equipment | Art Supplies in the UK | Art Supplies in the USA
If you like this site please rate it (see above) and feel free to add a link to it on your website.
You can find out about...
...just click a link and go straight to that topic
- Options for selling your art online
- Sell original art - including daily paintings
- Selling from your own website and/or blog
- Auctions, Stores and Online Galleries
- E-commerce
- Selling Art Online - Law and regulations
- Email Marketing
- Selling your art using an affiliate system
- Selling practices to be avoided
- Comments and Feedback
- BOOKS:
Options for selling your art online
Your options for selling your art online
- from your own website
- from your own blog
- via an auction site on a third party site
- via a gallery page on a third party site
- via an online store on a third party site
- using email marketing to alert your mailing list
- use an affiliate system where other people get paid for selling your art
HOWEVER....
you won't make online sales simply because your artwork now appears on the web. You need to make sure you're on a site (whether it's your own or that of a third party) which gets good traffic and includes people who are interested in buying art.
You can drive traffic to where you sell your art online by:
- using a blog specifically for sales - this can link to where you have the artwork set up for auction and/or have an ecommerce set up for doing business online
- using a blog to generally promote yourself as an artist
- use social networking sites/services (eg Facebook/Twitter) to promote relationships with potential buyers
Finally you need to be aware of the potential for fraud and take appropriate steps to protect yourself.
This information site generally follows the format of the options listed above
Sell original art - including daily paintings
companion sites in the "selling your art online" series
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Online Art Galleries and Stores - Resources for Artists
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Any number of services want to help you to get your ORIGINAL ART online - but do they actually work and which is the best? If you're trying to find out more about online art galleries and print-on demand services this is the site for you! If you're...
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Sell Daily Paintings - Resources for Artists
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Do you want to know more about how to sell daily paintings online - or improve your knowledge about the painting a day movement generally? Check out this site to find out about websites which aim to help daily painters to sell their art online. Whet...
TIPS for art marketing and selling art online
- Internet Art Marketing Basics: How to Create Your Own Plan of Attack
- The point of today's article will be choosing "quality" over "quantity" when it comes to marketing your art online. I'll be giving five steps for making your chosen method work, and hopefully you'll walk away with a better idea of how to create a personal, internet art marketing strategy
- Making a Mark: What should artists do about marketing their art in a recession?
- ....anything which impacts on homes and stimuli for changes in decoration (like house buying and selling) and the amount of 'free' money which is around to spend on and invest in art is likely to have a very major impact on sales of artwork
Plus, let's face it, at the end of the day unless you're involved in high end investment art, most of the art which is bought is actually purchased to decorate a home whether or not the artists who produce it would like it be called "decorative art". Which means both galleries and sales can be very vulnerable to economic shifts. It's just not the sort of thing which people buy when their financial status is uncomfortable or possibly under threat.
So what are the alternative options for artists? "Fight or Flight" is a dilemma for both investors and those marketing art at the moment. - Art Market Trends - Art in a Weak Economy
- ART MARKET TRENDS - ART IN A WEAK ECONOMY
November 3, 2007 - Making a Mark: Making art and selling art - communities of interest for artists
- The issue of selling online has become more critical for artists with the very rapid onset of a recession. It's now an option that more and more artists looks at as they try to diversify the ways that they can get their art in front of potential purchasers. After all, what's the point of focusing only on galleries if the galleries themselves are also finding it difficult to keep afloat?
- Five super-simple tips for selling online
- Five super-simple tips for selling online
Prepared by Anda and Vanessa of Etsy.com (www.etsy.com)
Selling from your own website and/or blog
Selling from your own website and/or blog
- your website - a generally static site
- your blog - a dynamic site. Items posted will become lost from view
- a dedicated blog set up specifically to sell your art
A team blog is shares many of the same characteristics on an online art gallery and will be covered in that section
Some artists choose to use blogs to sell:
- "daily paintings" - if this term is used credibility is enhanced if postings are at least very nearly on a daily basis
- small works - this is often a size which gallery artists don't sell in their B&M galleries
So can you explain the price difference between:
- framed and unframed works of the same size?
- matted and unmatted works of the same size?
- different sizes of artwork - sold in different places? (eg large works in a gallery and small works from a website or blog)
CONTENT TIPS: Getting people to subscribe and visit
- Making a Mark: How to improve your art blog
- A year ago I wrote a couple of posts about why artists should blog. A year later this post is about how to improve your art blog.
Recently I gave some advice to a successful artist who wanted to use her blog as part of her marketing of her art but wondered why she wasn't getting much of an audience for her blog. For those of you who would also like to improve your blog profile and traffic and/or use it to market your art, you'll find that this post develops the themes in some of the advice I offered. Some of my advice comes from having managed a major marketing operation in the past and the rest comes from having blogged most days for the last 20 months!
If you're blogging just for the fun of it - that's great too. If you'd like more readers and more people to comment on your blog you may also find some of the following comments to be useful pointers - Problogger - How to Sell Niche Products With Your Blog
- How to Sell Niche Products With Your Blog (using a craftsperson with two blogs as an example)
- Making a Mark: Will you be a success if you blog your paintings daily?
- Discusses the characteristics of people who do well and achieve success in selling daily paintings online.
TECHNICAL TIPS - Driving traffic to your blog or website
- Making a Mark: Keywords, site descriptions and meta tags - how search engines find your website and content
- This explains about:
- keywords and meta tags and why they act like signposts and are important to your website and blog
- how a search engine works
- why a site description is important
- why it's important to check your meta tags for title, site description and keywords - and why it's a good idea to use labels and categories for your blog posts
- how to decide which keywords to use
- keywords and meta tags and why they act like signposts and are important to your website and blog
- Making a Mark: How to find and change key words
- This post follows on from the one about Keyword, site descriptions and meta tags - how search engines find your website and content.
It concerns itself with:
- How to review/revise page descriptions and keywords for individual pages in SiteKreator
- How to use Google Ad Words to identify keywords
- How to use keywords in Blogger
- How to use keywords in Squidoo
- How to review/revise page descriptions and keywords for individual pages in SiteKreator
- How to Increase Traffic to your Art Blog by Describing your Artwork for Google
- Blogging is a good way to promote your art online, but only if you do it the right way. To help, I'm starting a new series called SEO for Artists, and today's article will explain how to describe your artwork for Google.
- Making a Mark: How to add a sitemap to your website
- Does your website get the traffic it deserves? Do you have an xml sitemap on your website? Can the Google and Yahoo bots crawl your website and add its pages to their index of webpages?
I was going to write about this on Saturday but after just completing the exercise to rewrite my page descriptions and keywords plus create a sitemap and deliver it to both Google and Yahoo (phew!!!) I thought I better do it now - while I can still remember what I did! - Blogging for Artists - Resources for Artists - How to increase your subscribers and get your content to them
- This is a collection of posts about increasing blog subscribers
People wonder why they don't have subscribers. It's generally because they've neglected to include a bit of webware which registers subscriptions and then makes sure that people get your content every time you post - via RSS feed and feedreader or via e-mail direct to the inbox
Make it easy for people to read your blog - offer them subscriptions options and then deliver your content to them. - Two Tried and True Methods for Drawing Attention to your Art Blog
- an explanation of two methods for immediately drawing attention to your blog posts: the first is pinging and the second is simply smart social networking.
- Problogger - How to Optimize Your Blog for Search Engines
- Darren Rowse of Problogger - a professional blogger - provides an extensive guide to how to optimize your blog for search engines
- Making a Mark: Unique vs. repeat visitors - and the impact on sales
- How many repeat visitors do you get? Is the number increasing over time? Do they bring you repeat business if you use your blog to help you market your art?
This post looks at site tourists versus repeat visitors and their impact on sales. - Making a Mark: Contact details: how can I send you an e-mail?
- Today's Techie Saturday post is about e-mail addresses on websites:
* advertising your e-mail address;
* leaving your e-mail address; and
* avoiding e-mail spam.
Blogging for Artists
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Blogging for Artists - Resources for Artists
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Are you an artist and want a blog? Or maybe an artist who wants to work on improving your blog? If you are then read on - you'll find links on this site to sources of advice, information, and all other matters which are relevant to blogging for arti...
Tools to aid online selling by an artist
Test keywords you'd like to use
- Google - Search-based keyword tool
- The Search-based Keyword Tool provides keyword ideas:
* Based on actual Google search queries
* Matched to specific pages of your website with your ad and search share
* New to your Adwords account (typically excluding keywords matching those already in your account)
You can either check out the way in which you have described your artwork - and then create keywords
Or you can check out the value of different keywords - which can help with titles for web pages and blog posts and core text. - Google - Keyword Tool for Keyword Ideas
- Keyword Tool: Use the Keyword Tool to get new keyword ideas. Select an option below to enter a few descriptive words or phrases, or type in your website's URL. Keyword Tool Tips
- Free Keyword Suggestion Tool From Wordtracker
- Use the free keyword suggestion tool from Wordtracker to help your website rank higher in the search engines.
- SEMRush.com SEO tool to keyword and AdWords research.
- SEMRush use 25 million of most popular and expensive keywords to analyze Google search results. And we do this regularly. SemRush can show you keywords for any domain that ranking high enough to be in top 20 results or buys AdWords.
- SeoDigger.com
- SEOdigger is an interesting tool where you can enter your domain (or competitor's) and find out which of your keywords rank high enough to be listed within Google's top
Useful articles about selling art online
articles and blog posts
- Making a Mark: Selling art - online art websites, tracking marketing data and a new survey for artists!
- This week I've had approaches from three brand new online gallery sites, who have all seen my work, have all been impressed and who all want to host and sell it for me! What did I do? Run around and jump for joy? No, I looked at the sites, marked all the e-mails as spam and binned every one of them - which is why apart from the latest one this morning I don't have the names and URLs of the individual websites to hand.
Why did I bin them? Let me explain - and bear with me, it's a longish post but you will find out about what I know about
* the simple economics of an online art gallery business (the sort that sends me spam e-mails)
* what you need to know to asses the value of a site you give money to - 7 Tips for Selling Art Online: How to Help Buyers Find your Artwork
- Selling art online can be difficult, but you'll definitely sell more art if buyers can find your artwork on the internet in the first place. Use these 7 tips for selling art online to help bring art buyers to your portfolio or art website.
- Selling Art Online: Information on Where (and How) to Sell Art on the Internet
- Need help selling your art? EE has tips for how to sell art online, reviews of art-selling websites, and online art marketing advice. Learn what art buyers want, how to price your art, and which online art galleries you should use to successfully make art sales online.
- Art Biz Blog: Selling Art Online
- Art business blog for marketing, promotions, and general business help for artists. From Alyson B. Stanfield.
- Kevin Kelly -- The Technium - 1000 true fans
- A creator, such as an artist, musician, photographer, craftsperson, performer, animator, designer, videomaker, or author - in other words, anyone producing works of art - needs to acquire only 1,000 True Fans to make a living.
A True Fan is defined as someone who will purchase anything and everything you produce. - Web Analytics Primer: Five Metrics Demystified
- Don't know your Site Overlay from your Bounce Rate? Don't worry, Google Analytics evangelist Avinash Kaushik breaks down five basic analytics metrics that will help you boost the bottom line
The Art Business - book for artists
books on Amazon
Taking the Leap: Building a Career as a Visual Artist
Cay Lang's "Taking the Leap" has helped thousands of artists jumpstart their careers and make real the dream of exhibiting and selling their work. An internationally exhibiting photographer and teacher, Lang offers the wisdom of experience, as well as enthusiasm and gentle humor, to guide artiststhrough the ins-and-outs of the art business. Practical and inspiring, this revised and updated edition offers two new chapters-on using the Internet and the media to best effect-as well as step-by-step advice on preparing presentation materials; finding and dealing with galleries (as well as bypassing the traditional gallery system); handling therights, royalties, and taxes; an extensive resource list; and other invaluable information and advice for both beginning artists and those ready to take the next step in their careers.
Avg. Customer Rating: 
Amazon Price: (as of 11/07/2009) 
How to Survive and Prosper as an Artist, 5th ed.: Selling Yourself Without Selling Your Soul
The classic handbook for launching and sustaining a career that "explodes the romantic notion of the starving artist", with new and expanded resources for succeeding in the burgeoning Internet art market (The New York Times). Now in its fifth edition, with over 85,000 copies of previous editions sold, How to Survive and Prosper as an Artist is the top guide in the Amazon Art Business charts - and offers a way of taking control of your career and making a good living in the art world.
Avg. Customer Rating:
Amazon Price: $16.20 (as of 11/07/2009)
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Auctions, Stores and Online Galleries
Online Art Galleries, Auction Sites and Stores
Online Art Galleries - Resources for Artists
If you're considering using an online art gallery or print-on-demand service then doing a bit of research upfront can reduce disappointment later. Unfortunately, unlike their offline counterparts (who provide customers with independently audited data), it can be very difficult to get marketing data about the efficiency and effectiveness of these companies.
On this site you can find links which help you to:
- find out what services a site can offer
- identify where you can get your artwork printed on demand
- read reviews about different sites
- see for yourself what the traffic trends are for the sites you're considering
- compare the costs of different packages
- see how effective a website is at attracting traffic and buyers
Selling art online - Resources for Artists
companion sites in the "selling art online" series
These sites have both have links to all the major sites offering auctions, online galleries and/or stores to sell original art and/or daily paintings and/or print of demand artWhere data is available, charts are included of the number of visitors each site got each month in 2008 - plus how long each visitor stayed on average. Why not check them out - you may well be surprised when you see them!
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Online Art Galleries and Stores - Resources for Artists
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Any number of services want to help you to get your ORIGINAL ART online - but do they actually work and which is the best? If you're trying to find out more about online art galleries and print-on demand services this is the site for you! If you're...
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Sell Daily Paintings - Resources for Artists
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Do you want to know more about how to sell daily paintings online - or improve your knowledge about the painting a day movement generally? Check out this site to find out about websites which aim to help daily painters to sell their art online. Whet...
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Print Art on Demand - Resources for Artists
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Are you interested in having your artwork printed using print on demand technology? Do you want to check out who are the suppliers and what people think of them? Find out about: what is print on demand / publish on demand?suppliers of print on demand...
Selling Art Online - Relevant Blogs
- Making a Mark: sell-art-online
- Making A Mark - all the posts tagged "sell art online"
- EmptyEasel.com: Painting Tips, Artist Reviews, Selling Art Online and more
- Welcome to Empty Easel, the online art magazine with practical advice, tips, and tutorials for creating and selling art.
- Art Biz Blog
- Art business blog for marketing, promotions, and general business help for artists. From Alyson B. Stanfield.
- Art Print Issues by Barney Davey
- Barney Davey's News and Views on the Business of Fine Art Prints and Giclees. Practical information visual artists can use to learn how to sell art prints and giclees.
Art and Business - Resources for Artists
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Art and the Economy - Resources for Artists
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Are you concerned about the impact of the economy on artists and selling art? What will a recession mean for artists? Find out about making and marketing art in an economic slowdown. Topics include: - rethinking your approach to art - being business...
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The Art Business - Resources for Visual Artists
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Do you want to know more about the business side of being an artist? Or maybe you're looking for a particular piece of business information for artists? Whether you are an emerging or experienced artist, this site provides you with a link to informa...
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Copyright and Orphan Artworks - Resources for Artists
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Visual artists need to know how to protect their images - both on the the internet and in the wider marketplace where artists have to deal with the fact that not all countries operate copyright law in exactly the same way. At the same time they need...
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Packaging, posting and shipping art - Resources for Artists
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How do you pack art? How do you post art? What about international deliveries? What about customs? How do you get it back again?This site doesn't pretend to have the answers to all the very many questions people have about getting art from artist to...
TOP TIP: Do you know who buys art?
REMEMBER - People who make art often like to acquire art. Never ever forget the artist could be a potential customer as well as somebody you talk to online in forums, groups and when commenting on blogs.
Think of ways in which you can create and sell art which are artist-friendly.
HOWEVER.....People tend to be polite. Lots of nice things might get said about your art. You can start believing all the nice words when you find that the people who say them actually start buying your art
E-commerce
What is E-commerce?
article about e-commerce on wikipedia
Electronic commerce, commonly known as (electronic marketing) e-commerce or eCommerce, consists of the buying and selling of products or services over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer networks. The amount of trade conducted electronically has grown extraordinarily with widespread Internet usage. The use of commerce is conducted in this way, spurring and drawing on innovations in electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, Internet marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data interchange (EDI), inventory management systems, and automated data collection systems. Modern electronic commerce typically uses the World Wide Web at least at some point in the transaction's lifecycle, although it can encompass a wider range of technologies such as e-mail as well.
A large percentage of electronic commerce is conducted entirely electronically for virtual items such as access to premium content on a website, but most electronic commerce involves the transportation of physical items in some way. Online retailers are sometimes known as e-tailers and online retail is sometimes known as e-tail. Almost all big retailers have electronic commerce presence on the World Wide Web.
Electronic commerce that is conducted between businesses is referred to as business-to-business or B2B. B2B can be open to all interested parties (e.g. commodity exchange) or limited to specific, pre-qualified participants (private electronic market). Electronic commerce that is conducted between businesses and consumers, on the other hand, is referred to as business-to-consumer or B2C. This is the type of electronic commerce conducted by companies such as Amazon.com.
Electronic commerce is generally considered to be the sales aspect of e-business. It also consists of the exchange of data to facilitate the financing and payment aspects of the business transactions.
TIPS for ecommerce online
- eCommerce 101 - TopTenREVIEWS
- An outline of steps for getting started selling online
- ECommerce-Guide Essentials E-Commerce FAQ - ECommerce-Guide
- The E-Commerce FAQ provides information on how to set up and market an online business.
- E-Commerce Guide - E-Commerce Payment Processing Beyond PayPal
- We offer a checklist of considerations when selecting an online payment processing service and highlight features of plans beyond PayPal and Google Checkout.
- E-Commerce Site Optimization Primer: Set Up and Tips
- In this article we cover all you need to know to optimize your e-commerce site, from meta tags to directory submissions.
- eCommerce Selling On The Internet - TopTenREVIEWS
- Near the bottom of Google's homepage is a big number in small print. This number-now over 8,000,000,000-represents the total number of webpages it's searched, indexed and has ready to instantly respond to any online query submitted.
So, how can your website stand out in such an overwhelming crowd? This article covers key points every ecommerce newcomer should know-each vital to getting your website noticed and increasing online sales. - Tips for Avoiding eCommerce Consumer Fraud - TopTenREVIEWS
- An eCommerce business can provide flexibility, convenience and often it can be a lucrative experience. However, as an online merchant, you must be prepared for the bad with the good. Here are some tips to protect your business from fraud.....
- E-Commerce Trends for 2008 and 2009
- It was both a challenging and rewarding year for the e-commerce industry. We highlight the trends and issues that grabbed headlines this year - and promise to do the same in 2009.
- Trying to Cash In on Social Sites
- EBay Undergoes Huge Changes
- Shipping News
- Customer Reviews and Video Ads/Marketing
- International Sales on Tap
- Trying to Cash In on Social Sites
- Tips to Sell Securely - PayPal
- As a seller, you can reduce the possibility of disputes, claims, chargebacks, and fraud. Here's how:
1. Overall precautions
2. Before accepting payment
3. Shipping tips - Web Shop Design: Five Makeover Dos and Don'ts
- With the New Year underway, it's a perfect time to assess your e-commerce site, both in terms of design and function, and give your Web shop a marvelous makeover.
- Etsy :: The Storque :: How-To :: Web Analytics Recap: Seller Chat in the Virtual Labs
- Recently, we held a Virtual Lab on the topic of Etsy Web Analytics, which enables sellers to do tracking with Google Analytics. We had a great turnout, with over 100 sellers in attendance. If you were not able to attend, I wanted to recap the top questions and big ideas from the talk.
E-commerce software
- E-junkie Shopping Cart for selling downloads & tangible goods
- Site Description:
E-junkie provides shopping cart and buy now buttons to let you sell downloads and tangible goods on your website, eBay, MySpace, Google Base, CraigsList and other websites using PayPal Standard, PayPal Pro, Google Checkout, Authorize.Net, TrialPay, ClickBank and 2CheckOut.
For merchants selling downloads, we automate and secure the digital delivery of files and codes. If you are selling tangible goods, we automate the shipping calculation and inventory management. Our shopping cart has a built in sales tax, VAT, packaging and shipping cost calculator.
You can sell ebooks, sell mp3 tracks and albums, sell software, icons, fonts, artwork, phone cards, event tickets, cds, posters, books, t-shirts and almost everything else you want to sell.
E-junkie has no transaction limit, no bandwidth limit, no setup fee and no transaction fee.
Reviews of ecommerce software
- Compare E-commerce Software reviews and best prices on Review Centre
- E-Commerce Software, Compare Web Software Reviews and Find Cheap Prices at Review Centre
- eCommerce Software Review 2009 - TopTenREVIEWS
- 2009 eCommerce Software Product Comparisons
- E-Commerce - Reviews and Price Comparisons from PC Magazine
- PC Magazine provides up-to-date coverage and reviews of e-commerce software and services
Wikipedia - E-commerce payment systems
An e-commerce payment system facilitates the acceptance of electronic payment for online transactions. Also known as Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), e-commerce payment systems have become increasingly popular due to the widespread use of the internet-based shopping and banking. In the early years of B2C transactions, many consumers were apprehensive of using their credit and debit cards over the internet because of the perceived increased risk of fraud. Recent research shows that 30% of people in the United Kingdom still do not shop online because they do not trust online payment systems. However, 54% do believe that it is safe to shop online which is an increase from 26% in 2006 Third of internet users too scared to use credit card to shop online. (2009). Retrieved: May 12, 2009 from The Telegraph http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/technology/technologynews/5305146/Third-of-internet-users-too-scared-to-use-credit-card-to-shop-online.html.
There are numerous different payments systems available for online merchants. These include the traditional credit, debit and charge card but also new technologies such as digital-wallets, e-cash, mobile payment and e-checks. Another form of payment system is allowing a 3rd party to complete the online transaction for you. These companies are called Payment Service Providers (PSP), a good example is Paypal or WorldPay. (Note Paypal also offers its own payment system)
Ecommerce payment systems
- Online Payment, Merchant Account - PayPal
- PayPal is the safer, easier way to make an online payment or set up a merchant account.
- Google Checkout - Merchants
- Site Description:
Sell more. Spend less. Grow your business.
Every online merchant has two goals: sell more and spend less. Google Checkout%u2122 is a new way to process transactions that helps you achieve both. Customers who use Checkout can buy from you quickly and securely, using a single username and password - and you can use Checkout to process their orders and charge their credit or debit cards. - Payment Gateway to Accept Online Payments
- Payment gateway enables internet merchants to accept online payments via credit card and e-check.
- 2Checkout.com - Merchant Account / Credit Card Processing Alternative
- Site Description: Instant credit card processing services accounts for merchants with internet businesses. Only $ 49 Set Up Plus Transaction Costs.
- Artspan Blog Using PayPal to sell art online
- I've discussed in Marketing to Your Niche Online the value of using PayPal to sell your own art. PayPal is a secured service that allows to your customers to pay for goods and services online with a credit card.
This protects you from bad checks and allows for expediency in the purchasing process: something that can only help your art sales.
News about the ecommerce marketplace
- E-Commerce Payment Processing Beyond PayPal
- We offer a checklist of considerations when selecting an online payment processing service and highlight features of plans beyond PayPal and Google Checkout.
Selling Art Online - Law and regulations
Virtually every commercial website is covered by Regulations for selling art online.
So if you want to sell online you need to become familiar with them
Selling Art Online - the Law and Regulation in the USA
The links listed below are primarily to government sites (rather than articles by people writing about the legislation and regulation). However you should check out dates on all information. What has been true in the past may no longer be relevant.
This site does not warrant that all links lead to the most current and up to date information. If you know of more relevant and up to date information, please contact me by leaving a comment and a URL for the site which is provides that information.
- Online Business | Business.gov
- Business.gov is the U.S. Government's official website for small businesses. Business.gov provides access to Federal, state, and local information that helps business owners successfully start and operate while staying compliant with laws and regulations.
Learn rules and regulations for running an online business - U.S. Chamber of Commerce - E-Commerce
- The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the world's largest business federation representing more than three million businesses and organizations of every size, sector, and region.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce addresses several specific issues relating to e-commerce - U.S. Chamber of Commerce - Privacy Issues Overview
- Advocate for workable privacy laws that protect consumers without unduly inhibiting e-commerce.
The following are key priorities for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce:
* Industry Self-Regulation Efforts - Business recognizes the importance of a meaningful self-regulatory privacy policy. Third-party online seal programs (BBBOnline, TRUSTe, and Web Trust) foster voluntary privacy measures. In addition, the Platform for Privacy Preferences technology enables individuals to customize their Internet browsers to implement their own privacy standards.
* Data Security and Identity Theft Protection - The majority of privacy bills in the 109th Congress are related to data security and the prevention of identity theft. These bills would pre-empt state privacy laws by creating national standards that require businesses and other organizations to disclose data breaches, restrict the use of social security numbers, and enable consumers to review the data that is being collected about them. - Advertising and Marketing on the Internet: Rules of the Road
- Advertising and Marketing on the Internet: Rules of the Road [PDF]
Explains how businesses can comply with truth-in-advertising laws when marketing on the Internet. - Federal Trade Commission: The CAN-SPAM Act: Requirements for Commercial Emailers
- # The CAN-SPAM Act: Requirements for Commercial Emailers [PDF]
Explains the federal requirements and penalties for those who send commercial emails, including consumers' right to ask emailers to stop spamming them. - Federal Trade Commission - Dot Com Disclosures: Information About Online Advertising
- Dot Com Disclosures: Information About Online Advertising [PDF]
Describes the information businesses should consider as they develop online ads to ensure that they comply with the law.
Selling Art Online - the Law and Regulations in the UK
(Out-Law.com - Selling online: an overview of the rules)
The Distance Selling Regulations ('DSRs') give buyers:
- A right to know who they are dealing with
- Key information about what they are buying
- An unconditional right to cancel within seven working days, and to receive a full refund
- Protection against online payment card fraud
The Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002 ('ECRs') also require businesses to, among other things, provide an email address for direct and effective communication.
(Office of Fair Trading - Internet Shopping)
The E-Commerce Regulations require that all commercial web sites make the following information directly and permanently available to consumers via the website:
* the company's name, postal address (and registered office address if this is different) and email address;
* the company's registration number;
* any Trade or Professional Association memberships;
* the company's VAT number.
All of this applies regardless of whether the site sells on-line. In addition, any commercial communication - that is any email or even SMS text message - used in providing an "Information Society Service" must display this information.
- Office of Fair Trading - Key information for online retailers (pdf file)
- If you are an internet retailer, you may be required to provide certain information and to provide cancellation rights. The list below identifies key obligations. It is not a complete list of legal requirements. Businesses should undertake their own assessment to ensure that they are complying with all relevant law.
- The Office of Fair Trading: Advice for businesses (UK)
- Understanding the laws that affect you is an important part of running a successful business. This section is a quick guide to the main rules covering how you sell, how you treat your customers and how you compete.
- Selling online: an overview of the rules | OUT-LAW.COM
- Selling online: an overview of the rules
There has been a steady growth in the variety and volume of goods and services which are available on-line to both businesses and consumers, and on-line selling is increasingly seen as a major way for all businesses to save costs. Almost inevitably, as the practice of on-line selling proliferates so does the amount of legislation governing it. This article provides an overview of the law governing on-line sales in the UK and an analysis of the issues that a business should consider before setting up an on-line sales process. - The Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002
- Statutory Instrument 2002 No. 2013
The Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002
Crown Copyright 2002
Statutory Instruments printed from this website are printed under the superintendence and authority of the Controller of HMSO being the Queen's Printer of Acts of Parliament. - The Office of Fair Trading: Selling online or at a distance
- Advice for businesses about distance selling and selling online
- The UK's E-Commerce regulations | OUT-LAW.COM
- The UK's E-commerce Regulations. This guide is based on UK law. It was last updated in December 2006.
- The UK's Distance Selling Regulations | OUT-LAW.COM
- The UK's Distance Selling Regulations
This article is based on UK law. It was last updated in November 2006. - Selling online: structuring your e-commerce process | OUT-LAW.COM
- Selling online: structuring your e-commerce process
This guide is based on UK law. It was last updated in January 2005.
More people than ever are purchasing goods and services online. As an online business you have to ensure that you protect yourself and your consumers. The following guide contains some 'recommended' best practice techniques to ensure that your sales process is legally correct and contractually enforceable. This guide applies to sales to individual consumers rather than to other businesses, although many of the principles will apply to both.
There are three stages to the contracting process which it is important to make sure are in place:
* developing and correctly incorporating the terms and conditions;
* actively applying the terms and conditions; and
* concluding the contract.
Being safe and secure when selling online
Advice and information about being safe and secure and avoiding scams
- Office of Fair Trading - How to protect yourself when trading online (pdf file)
- The OFT has prepared the following advice for businesses who want to
protect themselves, and their customers, when trading online.
Selling ACEOs online
- How to Sell or Trade ACEO Art Online | eHow.com
- How to Sell or Trade ACEO Art Online. Collecting, selling and trading ACEO art (Art Cards Editions and Originals) is as easy as buying and selling anything on eBay -- and it has the advantage of a specialized market. Here's how to turn dr...
BOOKS: Marketing Art and Selling Art Online
books on Amazon
You also need to bear in mind that both the economy in general, the art economy in particular and the range and scope of tools for selling art online are changing all the time at the moment. What used to be tried and trusted recipes for success in the recent past may no longer work in today's market.
Internet 101 for Artists, Second Edition: With a Special Guide to Selling Art on eBay
Educate yourself on all aspects of promoting your artwork online. This book includes a thirty-page chapter on the methods Susan F. Greaves, a California artist, has developed to successfully sell her work on eBay and make thousands of dollars per year. You'll also learn about: acquiring a URL, broadcasting for results, designing your homepage, meta tags, guerrilla tactics, search engines, tracking visitors, and more.
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Art Marketing 101, Third Edition: A Handbook for the Fine Artist (Art Marketing 101: A Handbook for the Fine Artist)
Artists need help with the business side of their career and this 302-page, twenty-one-chapter volume aims to answer all the questions they could have. It provides a guide for creating long- and short-term marketing plans and provides an education about how to gain a competitive edge in the marketplace. Artists will learn about: overcoming roadblocks, the secrets of successful artists, alternative avenues for selling art, building name recognition, sales and publicity tactics, pricing artwork, planning an exhibition, creating a beautiful portfolio, photographing artwork, the proper way to contact a gallery, succeeding without a rep, promotion, maximizing value, and much more.
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Email Marketing
Permission Marketing
Permission marketing is a term coined by Seth Godin
used in marketing in general and e-marketing specifically. The undesirable opposite of permission marketing is interruption marketing. Marketers obtain permission before advancing to the next step in the purchasing process. For example, they ask permission to send email newsletters to prospective customers. It is mostly used by online marketers, notably email marketers and search marketers, as well as certain direct marketers who send a catalog in response to a request.
This form of marketing requires that the prospective customer has either obtained explicit permission to send their promotional message (e.g. an email or catalog request) or implicit permission (e.g. querying a search engine). This can be either via an online email opt-in form or by using search engines, which implies a request for information which can include that of a commercial nature. To illustrate, consider someone who searches for "buy shoes." Online shoe stores have the searchers' permission to make an offer that solves their shoe problem.
Marketers feel that this is a more efficient use of their resources because the offers are only sent to people that are actually interested in the product. This is one technique used by marketers that has a personal marketing orientation. They feel that marketing should be done on a one-to-one basis rather than using broad aggregated concepts like market segment or target market.
In the United Kingdom, an opt-in is required for email marketing, under The Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003. This came into force on the 11 December 2003.
Email Newsletter Software
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Email Newsletter Software - Resources for Artists
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Are you confused by the different software options for generating a newsletter delivered via email? You're certainly not alone - and this site is starting to try and sort out what are the free and paid options and how they compare. Plus tips on using...
Find out about e-mail marketing
article on wikipedia
E-mail marketing is a form of direct marketing which uses electronic mail as a means of communicating commercial or fundraising messages to an audience. In its broadest sense, every e-mail sent to a potential or current customer could be considered e-mail marketing. However, the term is usually used to refer to:
* sending e-mails with the purpose of enhancing the relationship of a merchant with its current or previous customers and to encourage customer loyalty and repeat business,
* sending e-mails with the purpose of acquiring new customers or convincing current customers to purchase something immediately,
* adding advertisements to e-mails sent by other companies to their customers, and
* sending e-mails over the Internet, as e-mail did and does exist outside the Internet (e.g., network e-mail and FIDO).
Researchers estimate that United States firms alone spent US$400 million on e-mail marketing in 2006.DMA: "The Power of Direct Marketing: ROI, Sales, Expenditures and Employment in the U.S., 2006-2007 Edition", Direct Marketing Association, October 2006
Email marketing for artists
- HTML Email Newsletters for Artists | ideas for promoting and selling art from the lazarus corporation
- Explaining how to design your HTML email marketing newsletters to promote your artwork, music or writing
- How to Grow Your Mailing List - Here’s One Artist’s Story of Success
- As artists we're often told that a comprehensive, in-house mailing list is the greatest asset we can have to sell our art. Unfortunately, actually adding people to a mailing list seems to be one of the most difficult things for artists to accomplish.
Selling your art using an affiliate system
Affiliate Programmes for selling your art
Issues to think about include:
- the need to think about the 'fit' between affiliate and art
- affiliates need to know that they will get paid if they introduce you to a potential client
- galleries won't release the details of their client list to you - for fear you'll go direct to the client and cut them out next time around. So how does this work for affiliates? Should their be a repeat fee for any future repeat sales to the same client?
- Want to Sell More Art? Try Marketing Your Art Through Affiliates
- About a week and a half ago I came across what I think is a very smart art marketing technique used by Chris Bolmeier. It isn't necessarily a NEW technique in the online world, but up until now I haven't seen it employed by individual artists online, and I think it's worth a mention.
- Art Biz Blog: Podcast: Get people to sell your art for you
- Alyson Stanfield outlines how artists can use an affiliate programme for selling their art (links are included below)
An affiliate program can reward your fans and encourage them to promote your art. [4 min. 16 sec.]
Extras These resources are mentioned in the podcast:Chris Bolmeier shares her guidelines for her affiliate program.John T. Unger uses E-Junkie affiliate links and has extensive instructions. - How To Earn Money Selling My Art Guidelines | Chris Bolmeier Art
- .....after looking at how professional bloggers promote products by affiliation on their blog, I decided to add an art affiliate program on my blog. This is the current state of the program and with time I will tweak it to see what works best. The first piece of art I'm selling under this program is from my post a couple of days ago - Painting of the Day, Sell My Artwork!
- How To Earn Money Selling My Art | Chris Bolmeier Art
- The original post introducing Chris Bolmeier's idea of selling art through other people
- John T. Unger Firebowl Affiliate Sales Program: John T Unger Artist's Portfolio
- Part of what makes the success of my business thrilling for me is the fact that I've been able to expand and help others at a time when everyone else is forced to cut back. I'm ready to expand more, and that means I can share more as well. So I've set up an affiliate program through my E-junkie shopping cart to make it easy for you to earn monthly payouts by helping me to promote and sell my work.
- Become an ArtBizCoach.com Affiliate and Earn Money
- Art marketing resources to help you sell more art. An example of how an affiliate programme works (but not re selling art)
- Affiliate Program Directory - Art
- Examples of affiliate programs for artists - take a look at how other people do it
- Learn to sell your art online - Online Arts Marketing - review of e-junkie
- E-junkie also includes an affiliate program that you can set up with any product. This allows you to pay a commission to people for selling your product. You determine which products are included in the program and you also decide if you want the seller to receive a percentage of the sale or a flat fee. Once you set it up, E-junkie handles all the rest of the details for you.
- Marketing your Art Online: Introducing a New Kind of Artist's Agent
- a new tweak on the concept of the artist's agent!
Selling practices to be avoided
Prohibited Practices
- The Office of Fair Trading: What is prohibited?
- Information for businesses about anti-competitive agreements
- The Office of Fair Trading: Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008
- Information for businesses on the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations
Bait and switch
article by Wikipedia
In retail sales, a bait and switch is a form of fraud in which the party putting forth the fraud lures in customers by advertising a product or service at an unprofitably low price, then reveals to potential customers that the advertised good is not available but that a substitute is. This use of this term has extended to similar situations outside of the marketing sense.
and finally......
Making A Mark
Katherine Tyrrell's blogging portfolio about: - Making a mark creating drawings with pastels, pencils and pen and ink - Art projects - Notable Artists - Developing art careers - Art blogs and blogging about art - Reviews of art books and exhibitions - Inf
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ang wrote
In PA the state tax office advised to me today the following: If you are selling art online through a wesite, you need to register with the state to get a tax sales number. You must charge sales tax to people purchasing your art in PA. You must file state sales tax quarterly, plus file federal tax. (sounds exhausting and perhaps not worth the effort) I can't find anything online about taxes. Does anyone know the deal with taxes in other states regarding selling art online? Please advise. THANKS.
Posted September 28, 2009
henzy wrote...
thank you, i am a struggling artist selling, or atleast trying to sell my work online and these articles you have linked to are full or great tips i am going to start applying right now
Posted February 19, 2009
EditionH wrote...
This is certainly a great resiource for artists who want to sell more online.
The best advice I ever got from you Katherine is starting blogging. For me blogging is more than ever on the top of the list what an artist can do to promote/sell online.
Posted February 16, 2009
annanelson wrote...
This has been very helpful. Thank you. View my lense if you have time.
Posted February 14, 2009
singaporehosting wrote...
This is a must read for all doing ecommerce online, not just for artists.
Posted January 29, 2009
henzy wrote...
Lots of great tips, as a photographer who is trying to sell her work online, this lens proves to be a great resource
Posted January 27, 2009
Who is makingamark?
-
Who is Making A Mark?
-
I'm an artist with a very wide range of interests who enjoys learning about art, making art and sharing information about art. I've combined all my information sites with sections of my other websites and blogs to highlight my main interests and acti...
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See the right hand column if you want to create a bookmark or link to be able to check back to this site and/or e-mail this site to a friend who is interested in this topic.
Disclaimer
BOOKS:
2009 Artist's & Graphic Designer's Market
Since 1975, Artist's & Graphic Designer's Market has been the most complete resource for fine artists, illustrators, designers and cartoonists who want to show and sell their work. This essential guide gives creatives completely updated contact and submission information for more than 1,500 art markets such as greeting card companies, magazine and book publishers, galleries, art fairs, ad agencies and more. Informative interviews with successful artists and art buyers offer advice on how to make contacts and succeed in the competitive art industry. Readers will also discover valuable resources for obtaining grants, marketing and promoting their work, and networking with fellow artists.
Amazon Price: $19.79 (as of 11/07/2009)
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