How to Sell Art Online: 15 Online Galleries and Website Builders

This article was originally published at The Abundant Artist 

Are you ready to start selling your art online? There are several ways to get started, and it’s not as overwhelming as you may think! We’ve put together two lists to make it easy for you to start selling your art online. The first is a list of our favorite online art marketplaces, and the second is a list of the top artist website platforms we personally recommend. 

Top Marketplaces to Sell Art Online

Artfinder is a curated online art marketplace that requires an application with multiple examples of your work. There are a variety of seller plans available with different commissions taken out depending on the plan chosen. Artfinder sells original art only.

Artfire – A little bit like Etsy, ArtFire is a marketplace, craft, and maker community where people from around the world come together to buy, sell and interact. Podcasts, forums and articles keep buyers and sellers in the loop.

Artplode – On Artplode galleries, dealers, artists, and collectors can list art for a low one-off fee of $60 per artwork for advertising. No commission is charged to buyers or sellers. Artworks must be priced at $1000+ to be offered for sale on Artplode.

Artspan is a hybrid that’s been in business for 20 years. They offer an integrated eCommerce platform for your own website as well as a dedicated online art marketplace. Artists pay a monthly fee ranging from around $8 to around $25 based on the package.

Artsy – A massive, venture-funded online gallery that sells art from thousands of artists from all over the world. “Artsy’s mission is to make all the world’s art accessible to anyone with an Internet connection. We are a resource for art collecting and education.”

CafePress – Turn your art into unique products and get featured on the site without having to worry about managing an online storefront.

Ebay – The world’s largest auction site. Follow @ebayart on Twitter to get a good idea of what kind of art does well on Ebay. 

Etsy – A well-known site catering to a community of artists who make handcrafted pieces.

FineArtAmerica.com – Sell prints at any price you want to set. Fine Art America handles the logistics of fulfilling each order.

Imagekind – An online marketplace offering artists a place to sell their art with print-on-demand, high-quality printing and framing options, a supportive community, and marketing tips. 

Pictorem sells print on demand reproductions and handles all the printing costs. Artists can create an online gallery of their work, determine the price of their art and keep all the proceeds without commission taken out.

Saatchi Art– Saatchi Art is an online art marketplace through which artists can sell both prints and originals. It’s free to sign up to sell, and Saatchi handles shipping– the artist pays for the packaging. Saatchi takes a 35% commission on each piece sold. Artists of all mediums can sell on Saatchi, and can even use the platform to offer commissions.

Singulart is a curated online art gallery that provides digital sales tools for their artists and handles all payment, insurance, shipping, and delivery. Artists must apply to join Singulart, and they favor artists who already have some level of recognition.

UGallery. According to UGallery, their “mission is to ‘democratize’ the process of selling artwork by connecting artists directly with collector.” UGallery is a juried platform with an application process that ensures that all art sold through the website maintains a high standard of excellence. They cater specifically to emerging and mid-career artists looking to get from under the shadow of the traditional gallery system.

Zatista is an online marketplace for artists to sell their original work. Artists are selected via scheduled rounds of curation, keeping the overall quality higher than other online art marketplaces, but it does mean you’ll have to apply to join and wait for the next round of curation.

Top 5 Website Platforms for Artists

Although art marketplaces are useful, we always recommend that artists sell primarily from their own website. This allows you to retain customer information for future communication and marketing, and also eliminates having to give a percentage to a third party website on commission. Here are our top five picks for website platforms for artists. 

ArtStoreFronts.com: ArtStoreFronts.com is a newcomer to the website building space. They originally positioned themselves as a way for artists to sell prints on demand, but have pivoted to being a full service eCommerce platform for artists.

FASO (Fine Art Studios Online): FASO has been around for a long time, with a customer satisfaction rating of 4.62 out of 5, largely because of their origins. Their templates are designed for artists and they have artists staffing their support lines. The downside is their templates can be inflexible and don’t connect well with third party services.

Shopify: Shopify offers arguably the most powerful eCommerce experience on the web. They also integrate with nearly every third party marketing tool available. 

Squarespace: Squarespace offers a free trial and extensive documentation. They make building a website very easy. The Abundant Artist offers a course that will help you plan your website and gather your branding and marketing materials in preparation for building. Check out Artist Websites That Sell.

Finding the best online galleries and website builders are a great help for artists and creatives. There are so many ways to get started, and it’s not as overwhelming as you may think! Check out our lists to make it easy for you to start selling your art online. The first is a list of our favorite online art marketplaces, and the second is a list of the top artist website platforms we personally recommend. #acrylicpouring #fluidart #fineart #artgalleries #guide #helpfultips

WordPress: More than 10% of our surveyed artists liked the hosted WordPress solution the best. More than 60% of responses said that WordPress.com is easy to use and inexpensive. The most commonly reported drawback to using WordPress is that there is a steep learning curve. This leads us to believe that many WordPress.com users are more tech savvy than the average user. 

 

 

 

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