In the past, only a very small percentage of artists could make a living from selling their art, and many of them were poor. Today there are many more options available to artists, thanks to internet connectivity and digital devices. They can create a brand online and give customers the opportunity to engage with them and buy their artwork in many different forms.
Inventory issues
If you sell physical art, you need a place to keep your inventory. If your work is large in scale, you may need to have a very large space which can cost a lot. One of the difficulties is that you could end up sitting with unsold artwork that costs you money to store.
A way to deal with the problem is only to create physical art when a customer places an order. You can create a digital image and upload it online for customers to see. A print-on-demand service offers you a way of turning digital art into physical art. The service handles everything for you after a customer places an order, from printing and packaging to shipping the item. You don’t have to sit with dead stock or excess inventory issues.
Stiff competition
If you sell your art online, it means you don’t have any of the geographical limitations that you have when selling it physically. Anyone from all over the world can see your art online and buy it. You can use various online platforms to sell your artwork. They will take a commission of each sale, but you get exposure to their built-in customer base. Make sure you read the terms and conditions on any online platform you choose to use.
Setting up a store on a platform like Etsy isn’t tricky, and your potential customer base is probably already using the platform. You can also launch your own website to sell your art, but this requires much more effort. The advantage is that you don’t have to share your profit.
Correct pricing
When determining the price for physical artwork, you need to take into account the time it took you, your expertise, and what you laid out on materials. If you already have a name for yourself as an artist, you can charge much more for your work. If you don’t yet have a name for yourself and you set your price too high, it will be out of the reach of many people.
With exposure to many online buyers, you have the opportunity to sell much more of your artwork. You create an artwork once, upload a digital image online and sell prints to buyers who order it. Using a print-on-demand company to print, package, and deliver your prints saves you a great deal of trouble. This opportunity to make more money from one piece means that you can offer your work for a reasonable price. You can also limit the number of prints for a single artwork which adds value to them and allows you to sell them for more.
Filling orders
If you have to send a physical artwork to a customer, there are many issues that could prevent it from reaching them in good condition. Digital art is available immediately online, and some artists offer buyers the option of buying a digital download for use in various ways, such as desktop wallpapers.
In most cases, customers would rather receive a print than have to print digital artwork themselves. A print-on-demand service can make art prints and deliver them. Artists can also choose to publish their work on other items such as mugs, t-shirts, etc., to bring in extra income. It’s important to choose a quality, reliable print-on-demand service that will fulfill orders quickly and correctly.
Shipping costs and return policies
Shipping costs are going up all the time, and if you can have prints and other physical products produced and shipped close to where you want to send them, it will save on time and shipping costs. If you are going to sell art online, you need to make sure that customers know that they will receive items on time, in good condition, and that they can return them if they aren’t satisfied.