There are a lot of opportunities for selling on the internet. Instagram, Facebook, Etsy, eBay, even Craigslist—if you’re looking for a place to sell, the digital marketplace is vast.
Once you’ve become experienced at selling and have gotten your production process down, you might think about expanding into the wholesale universe. In case you aren’t familiar, wholesale is when you sell your products in bulk to a retailer for a discounted bulk price. Wholesale differs from consignment, which is where a retailer will allow you to display your products in their store, but will take a portion of the proceeds. Personally, I prefer wholesale; payment is guaranteed for your products and if your product is successful, many retailers will turn into long-time customers.
If you are not there yet that’s perfectly normal, just quickly check out our Four Tips for Photographing your fluid art to attract buyers article.
You might be wondering, what could I sell wholesale as an acrylic pour artist? As an example, I make coasters using the acrylic pouring technique on ceramic 4×4 coasters. I’ve been approached by several shops who have purchased these coasters wholesale to sell to their customers. Products that can be reproduced in bulk like coasters, trivets, or other home products are a great sell to local businesses and sometimes, national businesses, too.
Introducing RangeMe
If approaching potential wholesale clients isn’t your thing, or if you want to broaden your wholesale range, you may want to consider RangeMe.
RangeMe is a website built for people who are looking for wholesale clients. Advertised as a “product discovery platform”, it’s a little bit like a social networking site that connects people who are looking to purchase products and those who are selling. To start, you populate your listing on RangeMe with pictures of your products, details about the size and makeup of the products and any variations you have available. You’ll also answer questions about the availability of your products, so be prepared to have this information available.
The Cost of RangeMe
RangeMe is free to set up, and if you don’t want to go any further with a paid membership, you aren’t obligated to. I set up two listings this way, and although the interface isn’t exactly “user friendly”, it wasn’t difficult; just very time consuming. In this way, the cost of RangeMe is going to primarily be your time, and your success will largely depend on the amount of time you spend on your listings, and the details you provide.
If you’d like to get more out of the website, you can upgrade to RangeMe Premium which is a paid, yearly subscription that gives you some benefits over and above the standard free service. Upgraded benefits include the opportunity to become RangeMe Verified, which is a way for potential buyers to see instantly that you’re prepared to sell, and you also get access to further insights and possible business leads. However, the premium upgrade for RangeMe is a jaw-dropping $1,399 per year—if you’re serious about throwing your hat into the wholesale ring and just can’t get enough out of the free services, be prepared to pay quite a bit for the premium services.
Is it Worth It?
I’ve been on RangeMe for a few months now, and my knee-jerk reaction to this question is no. I have not gotten a single wholesale offer, and I did spend a good amount of time on my listings. Now, it could be that the market is saturated with acrylic pouring art currently, or that buyers are concerned about the turnaround time for my products. But, I have had much more luck selling and promoting through Facebook and Instagram using both free services and paid ads, the cost of which has totaled me only about $75 for the year—not a high cost for a targeted ad campaign that has brought me many new customers and followers.
This being said, maybe your experience will be different. If you’re looking to get into the wholesale arena, I encourage you to sign up for a free account and put your products out there—there’s no harm in more advertising, even if it doesn’t necessarily bring you a ton of business. I would not recommend jumping right into the premium subscription though; I’m just not sure this service can provide the opportunities that one would expect from that price tag.
Have you used RangeMe? What did you think?
Sara Wagner is an author and artist from Upstate New York. She is the owner of Studio Blackwater and can typically be found covered in paint, cats, or her two young daughters. You can find her on Facebook and Instagram as @studioblackwater.
Hi! Thank you for the information. I am fairly new to acrylic painting and resin pouring. I am also 74 years old and am somewhat computer illiterate so have not been able to post any of my art online with any of the above mentioned sites. I am embarrassed to say I don’t have a clue how to go about it. I have done some paintings, jewelry, clocks, lazy Susan’s, tons of coasters, etc. I would love to sell them and am setup for a holiday bazaar. I do have a customer who has ordered several pieces from me for Xmas gifts and I am grateful for that as I have spent thousands on supplies and equipment. Do you have a website idea that can explain how to access and use the above mentioned websites to sell some of my wares or at least get them out there for people to consider purchasing? Thank you for your time.
Hey Francine! I don’t know that I have a resource online that can help, but I’d be happy to help you one on one if you’d like. My email is [email protected], email me any time with questions and I’ll help if I can!
Sara,
I have several Acrylic pours of various sizes.
They are very nice and I would like to be able to sell them at a low key art fair…. or even a flee market, but I have no idea how to price them.
Can you help me ?
Thank you
Hi Lynn,
Of course! My pricing has varied a bit as I test the waters. For craft fairs or flea markets, I would offer products that do not contain pricey embellishments such as metal flake or vinyl cutouts, and typically the pieces I offer will be sealed with Polycrylic instead of resin.
The reason I do this is because these markets often attract a buyer who is looking for a deal. They likely have a set amount of money they are willing to spend and will often walk right past people who are charging hundreds of dollars for something. To compensate for this, I offer pieces that have a lower cost to make, but would bring a few small, higher quality pieces to entice those who might want to order a custom piece.
For these pieces that are perhaps less complicated and less pricey on my end, I charge cost of materials x 4. So, if it costs me $2.50 to make a set of four tiles, I will charge $10 for a set. This means I have recouped my cost, have enough to make another set, and have made a small profit.
If you have any more questions, feel free to email me at [email protected]-I’m happy to help!
I would love to know how you did the painting with the horse. That looks amazing. Did you paint the horse after pouring or was that part of the pour itself. I have done some where I pour additional paint after the original started to dry so that the new paint spreads with the old but doesn’t spread to much. I have been doing pour art for about a year and have a lot of fun with it and hope to start selling soon. I got a lot of insight from this offering. Thanks
Hi Kenneth,
The horse that you see is a vinyl cutout. I love the look of silhouettes, but I also love the 3D look of a cutout resined over a pour!