by Leigh-Ann Lemire

Advice I have read about selling online mentions that you should visit eBay and Etsy to find out what other people are selling their creations for. While that is good advice, there are other factors to take into account when selling your art online so that you don't create a "losing" with your art instead of a "living".

Selling you art online and correctly pricing it starts in your studio. You should be aware of the items that you use to create your art so that the cost can be included in your final price. You also need to add around 5% towards more supplies so that you can not only create one more piece but also have extra to complete more works of art. The amount of time that it took to produce the work, the competence and the ability should also play a part in the price. Don't depreciate your own value.

To increase your online art sales, it is important to write full details about your artistic works. Explain in full detail about how the art piece was created, why you utilized the materials that you did and include a story of how your artwork came about or what happened while you were doing it.

What is the background of the artwork? What gave you the idea to do it? Tell a story about the art that you created because, doing so, will increase your sales.

The best tip to sell your art online is to produce great photographs of your work. Words cannot tell as good a tale as a very good picture does. To take great pictures of your art isn't hard to do. You only need a large piece of black material that is not shiny, a flat surface and a step ladder. Put your artwork on the material, get on the top of the ladder and shoot the photographs from above.

When taking the photographs, take lots of photos. Get close-up shots and full shots of the item. When adjusting the photos in your graphics program be sure to make the width of each photo the same. Keeping the width the same makes it easy to line up your photos in your description.

You want to convey professionalism in the details that you provide about your piece of art. Having your photographs of different widths speaks "amateur" because your presentation doesn't look quite right.

One point that should be mentioned is that the height can be any size, it is the width that is the only thing that needs to be kept the same. Ensure that the photos stay between 400-500 pixels wide - no bigger and no smaller. Keeping the width this size makes more white space on your presentation which in turn makes it easy to read and view so your potential customers stay to find out more.

The most important question to answer in your description is what is in it for the potential buyer. You created your artwork with the intention of selling it, so explain what the person will gain from owning it. Keep the focus off of you, eliminate "I" from your description and write as if you are talking to one person.

Art is communication and you want yours to go to the person that your art most speaks to. There are certain things that an owner of art would find beneficial when considering owning it such as pleasure in ownership, that it's one of a kind, the artist signed it, the color palette is one that would match any decor, that it would be a great piece in the home and even in an office setting, etc. Include several reasons that a person would feel are beneficial in owning an original into your presentation.

It is fine to include a brief bio of yourself that is 2-3 sentences at the end of the description, if you so desire. Doing so gives your reader more reason to buy from you because of your training, appearances and dedication to your art.

To make reading the description easy, use small paragraphs. This creates more white space which is a style that keeps a reader interested.

Have an extremely good time selling your art online and may you thrive as an artist.

Learn how to sell your art with the information, downloads, tips and services at Help 2 Succeed. This article is available as a unique content article with free reprint rights.

The Help 2 Succeed May Newsletter has new articles, info about the new artists community, two successful methods to get more people to visit your site to see your art works and a quick review of available services at H2S that enable you to easily get the word out about your art. You can read the newsletter here
>> http://www.help-2-succeed.com/help-2-succeed-newsletter-12may09.html

by Leigh-Ann Lemire

When it comes to selling art whether online or off it is always best to know what the competition really is doing.

The Art World has had it's fair share of corruption from early on including the time period of the famous Renaissance artists where other artists simply mimicked their style and signatures, to the present time mass production of "authentically" painted art. You have some unfair competition!

Imitators That Undersell

There was a great artist that sold on the beach front in California some time ago. He created a beautiful western style of painting that was three dimensional and pleasant to look at. Perfect art for an office or for the home. His sales were phenomenal and he had repeat business, too.

Another artist that sold in the same area as he saw the amount of sales and put aside his own art to imitate the first artist. Although his imitated art wasn't as good, he priced his imitations much lower thus taking away many of the sales from the first artist who created the style.

This now happens online, too. Be sure to browse other peoples art to see what is being created - not to steal their show, but to make sure yours isn't. You can also point out that the style is your own and that you have been painting in the same style for years.

Mass Production

There are assembly lines of people that have one part of a painting to do before sending it on the conveyer belt to the next person who adds his part. The "artists" are trained to rapidly paint a certain part of a painting. The entire painting is done within a matter of a couple minutes.

The "paintings" are sold at unbelievably low prices - less than wholesale and less than it would cost a real artist to buy the canvas and paint - let alone the time, care and talent to paint it.

When you next see a semingly gorgeous piece of art that is being sold for an extremely low price, you can guess it is created by the competition as above.

The Make a Buck Off Art People

There is an article online that gives explicit details on how to find cheap art, frame it and then sell it on eBay for a profit. The details include how to find art at swap meets, yard sales and Craigslist. A tip that was mentioned is to find art that is signed to sell as you can get more money that way.

The person spoke about how easy it is to exploit art to make a decent income. A tip to remember when selling your own art is to be sure to point out in your description that you are the person that created it. Mention also that you are an independent artist.

The People That Undersell Their Own Art

I saw an artist that was trying to make a living selling his art on eBay against the fierce competition at that site. There are many listings where art is sold very cheaply. Plus he was up against sellers as above with the exception that his art was original.

He did make art sales, but I do not know how he stayed in business. There was one auction where he sold a series of three large paintings for $150 with free shipping. I did a price check, from that sale he could not have been able to pay for the canvas and supplies to do all three paintings, pay for the shipping plus the listing and selling fees at eBay. He was an artist making a "losing" with his art.

Don't fall into a trap of trying to keep up with the competition. Be aware of what your competition really is. Your real asset is that you are an authentic, talented artist - get what you are worth.

Find more information, tools and services at Help 2 Succeed to help you to sell your art.
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Here's how you would add a Paypal Link within an eMail:

1. Sign in to your Paypal account.

2. The tabs at the top read: My Account, Send Money, Request Money, Merchant Services, Auction Tools, Products & Services

3. Click on Merchant Services

4. At the top of the page, you will see "Buy Now Button", "Add To Cart Button", "Send Invoice" and "Virtual Terminal".

5. Click on "Buy Now Button"

6. Add the information as you would like it.

7. At the bottom of the page, you will see a Button to click on to "Create Button"

8. On the next page, you will see the code to copy and paste for your button PLUS a tab that gives you the code to copy and paste into an email.