How Artists Sell Art Online: Guide to Platforms & Profit

The internet has truly changed the way creatives work and make money nowadays. There are lots of artists selling art online and making a ton of money by reaching a global audience and building a reliable and appealing personal brand.
A huge advantage of selling art online is that artists no longer have to rely on traditional galleries or agents to sell their creative work. Whether you are a painter or a digital artist, you can learn about the best websites to sell art on and enjoy scalability and creative freedom.
In this guide, we'll help you discover the best place to sell prints online, along with the most effective platforms and beginner-friendly strategies.

Where do artists sell their art online?

Artists have a variety of options to sell their art online, including different marketplaces, print platforms, and personal websites. Each of these options have their own set of advantages and key features, depending on your experience and the type of art you want to sell.
Let's discuss each of these channels one by one.

Online Marketplaces for Original Art

Online art marketplaces are a highly popular starting point for beginners to sell their art online. These are even more beneficial for artists who are selling original and one-of-a-kind art pieces.

Here are some of the best marketplaces for artists:

• Etsy: A popular platform for handmade and decorative art.
• Saatchi Art: An ideal platform for fine artists targeting collectors.
• Artfinder: This platform focuses on independent and original artwork.

These platforms get millions of visitors on a regular basis. Etsy, for example, is synonymous with online art pieces. The benefit of selling art on these marketplaces is that you don't have to build traffic from scratch on your own.

Benefits of Marketplaces for Beginners and Independent Artists

• Quick and easy setup with minimum technical skills.
• Secure payment processing protocols and buyer protection.
• Integrated audience analysis to find the right audience searching for art.

Overall, marketplaces are great for independent artists as well as experienced ones to sell art because they minimize the technicalities and make it easier to focus on the art itself and reach a large audience.

Cons of Marketplaces

Despite the many benefits, there are also some cons you need to be aware of:

• Some platforms have high fees and commissions, so it can reduce your profit margins.
• You have limited control over your branding and data management.
• There's lots of competition in saturated art categories.

Selling Art Prints Online

Selling prints is a highly effective way to scale an art business online. These are different from the original because prints enable artists to sell the same artwork again and again without going through the creation or recreation process.
This is why many artists consider print platforms to be the best place to sell prints online.

Why are Easier to Scale than Originals?

Print designs are also easier to scale than the originals because:

• One viral design can generate a massive revenue and can be a great passive investment.
• Print designs have lower pricing points that appeal to a lot of buyers.
• Prints are great for gifts, offices, and home decor.

Overall, prints are useful to make your art accessible to a large audience who might already love your work, but can't afford the originals.

Types of Art that Perform Well

Some of the types of art that perform really well online as prints are:

• Digital art and illustrations.
• Photography and landscape shots.
• Abstract and modern wall art.

Online platforms allow artists to upload their designs and sell prints without paying any upfront costs. As a result, these are the best places to sell art online for free. Prints also have a low-risk entry point with high revenue in the long run, which can be beneficial for beginners.

Selling Art Through Your Own Website

Building your website for personal branding and selling art online is also a powerful way to have maximum independence and brand growth. Platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, and many other such custom personal websites help artists in selling original artwork, prints, and even digital downloads directly to customers.

Pros of Selling via Your Website

Some of the reasons why artists should consider creating their own website to sell art online are:

• Complete control over pricing and art presentation.
• Strong personal branding.
• You can collect emails, build a large email list, and send regular newsletters to build a loyal audience.

Overall, you can turn your website into your own digital gallery, where everything is designed as per your vision.

Key Considerations

While selling art through your custom websites has many benefits, there are certain key things you must keep in mind:

• You have complete control over the website, but it means you also have to manage everything from design, SEO, social media, and site maintenance.
• Even with a well-designed website, there is no guarantee that you'll get significant traffic, especially in the first few months. So, you must be patient and make efforts to drive traffic.
• Expect slow initial growth, especially compared to marketplaces that usually have a large customer base.

Overall, it is recommended that beginners rely on the other methods, such as marketplaces, to sell art online. However, if you are a professional with significant experience, a personal site can be the best place to sell art online.

Bonus Tip: How to Sell Art Online with Print-on-Demand?

Print-on-demand (POD) industry and services have transformed the way artists sell prints online. Now, you don't have to print artwork in bulk and pay a huge amount to store the inventory. Instead, POD services are available to help artists sell first and print later.

POD services like PODpartner are useful for artists because:

• There are no upfront production costs involved in POD services.
• You don't have to worry about inventory management.
• Professionals handle packing and shipping responsibilities, while artists get to focus on their creative work.

Overall, POD is the perfect model for selling art online for beginners as well as professional artists. It minimizes risk and maximizes creativity. You can rely on platforms like PODpartner to enjoy all these benefits. As artists, you only have to upload your designs for the right products, and let the experts at PODpartner handle everything from order production to fulfillment.

Conclusion

The online art market is accessible more accessible than ever before. The availability of numerous platforms and websites to sell art online means that whether you are a beginner or an experienced artist, you can rely on these secure and reliable platforms to sell art online and build sustainable income streams.
If you are just starting your art business, you should consider exploring the online marketplaces or partnering up with a PODpartner to sell your creative artwork and designs online and let the professionals handle order fulfillment procedures.
The key is to start with the best platforms and grow step by step through consistency and a smart marketing strategy.

FAQs

What is the best website to sell your artwork?

There's no single option that can be considered to be the best website to sell your artwork. Generally, Etsy and Artfinder are great marketplaces to sell online, while PODpartner is another ideal option to sell artwork with custom designs.

Is selling artwork online profitable?

Yes! Selling artwork is highly profitable, especially if you sell your creative work on the right websites, platforms, and print-on-demand platforms.

What type of art is in high demand right now?

Digital illustrations, minimalist wall art, and abstract designs are some of the main types of art in high demand nowadays.