Online Marketing and Sales Venues for Artists and Craftpeople

The advent of the Internet has made it possible for artists and craftspeople all over the world to have access to buyers with a minimal amount of expense or start-up costs.

With a computer, camera, and the use of the US Post Office and other shipping options, artists now have easy access to an unlimited potential customer base.

A sole proprietor living in a remote area has the same ability as any other larger commercial entity to sell their work with the use of the internet. No longer are the barriers to entry a primary concern for start-ups or a one person operation with little capital.

Prior to the internet, artists and craftpersons sold their work through galleries, art shows and fairs or flea markets. This was geographically limiting and required start-up costs and expenses that are not necessary to begin essentially the same commercial operation at a global level.

In the vein of Ebay, which brought every garage sale in the world to eager consumers, there are now websites devoted to promoting handmade crafts and pieces of art. Ebay is still the largest site for products of every nature, but quality vs. quantity has become an issue. Also with the rise of more competing websites has come better web design. Consumers want easy to navigate sites along with something that is visually appealing.

The recent addition of blogs to the internet allow the artist or craftsperson the ability to create a site of their own. A blog gives the artist total control over content, resulting in more freedom and opportunities for marketing than an online retail host site provides. The artist can access all of this with the use of a free blog service or as a blog hosted on their own server for as little as $20.00 per year. There is greater freedom of content and advertising when the artist hosts their own domain.

The home page for a website or blog is important because it sets the tone to the viewer for what might be found there. As with everything else in life, first impressions are important, even more so when the customer is looking for an art related or handcrafted item.

A few of the many websites available for marketing crafts and other art are: etsy.com, yabblebabble.com, craftmall.com, strictlyhandmade.com, artsefest.com, icraft.ca and artbyus.com. I will review a few of these to illustrate the marketing possibilities.

CRAFTMALL.COM

This site opens to a dull page in terms of color and design, complicated by a hard to read side bar. Links might be better served toward the bottom of the home page as they don’t enhance the initial presentation of the page nor do they entice the buyer. Instead, the items for sale are at the bottom of the page and immediately give a bad impression as to how much work this site might be to navigate.

Craftmall.com advertises their site on Google and Yahoo. The site also displays statistical information about site performance, the viewing frequency, and the duration of items each seller has listed. This isn’t really useful information to a non-internet savvy lay person who doesn’t understand what this information is communicating.

Craftmall.com charges a flat monthly fee based on the number of items listed and the seller is responsible for shipping and related costs. When an item is sold payment is made directly to the seller’s PayPal account.

STRICTLYHANDMADE.COM

This site starts off a little bit better with a welcoming salutation and good photographs. The work on the home page however is uninspired, the text format is boring and there is lots of dead space on the right side of the page that could be used to showcase more artwork.

Despite it’s name this site has items which are imported, and not handmade. They charge the seller a fee of $25.00 per category listing and 10% of the sale price of each item. This structure makes it limiting and expensive to offer a variety of things for sale.

In addition they take frustration a step farther by requiring the artist to ship the items to the website’s home location, they in turn ship the item to the customer. Most consumers want shipment of their purchase as soon as possible and this system creates a longer wait time with the item being shipped twice.

They pay the seller after waiting another 48 hours past receiving the goods! This could easily be made easier and cheaper for all concerned.

ARTSEFEST.COM

This site begins to make better use of the entire page but again it is using a boring and small font for navigation of the site. The quality of the pictures on the home page is especially bad and makes one wonder if the rest of the site will look this way.

Artesefest.com also makes it difficult to sell as they have 3 different rate plans depending on what kind of vendor you are and how much you might have already devoted to your own website and marketing efforts. In addition to the rate plan they charge 2.9% of the sale price plus $0.30 per item to allow for reimbursement of the fees that PayPal charges the website for each sales transaction. Seems a little cheap.

ARTBYUS.COM

This site looks very much like Ebay, complete with the ‘Buy it Now’ price prominently displayed. It is clearly a no-frills auction site but it feels too much like Ebay and not enough like a site where artists and quality craftspeople would sell their work.

This site is free to use unless you select optional text and other features on your sale items.. Shipping is the responsibility of the seller.

ICRAFT.CA

They do a much better job with their home page presentation than the above mentioned sites. It has a pleasing and good quality image design and has links to items through very nicely done photographs.

Icarft.ca is currently offering unlimited free listings for a year for those who register and offer something to sell by the end of April 2008. Shipping is the responsibility of the artist and this site specifically states that it does not allow product resellers, meaning that all items have to be handmade or artistic endeavors.

ETSY.COM

This home page has a clean look with good photographs that encourage further exploration. It also has a side bar list with large text and stimulating graphics to take you directly to different areas of the site.

Etsy charges $0.20 per item listed and 3.5% of the sale amount of each item and produces a monthly invoice that the seller can pay in full or make partial payments. The seller is responsible for shipping the item to the buyer. Etsy allows some commercial items to be sold as long as they are either vintage or supplies to be used in the creation of artwork or hand crafted items.

Etsy.com is also very good at helping their sellers become successful. Within the website they have many links that help with everything from taking quality pictures of the work for sale to accounting ledger sheets, tips for pricing and success stories on how others were able to market their work. The Geolocator icon allows someone to find artist in any geographical region they choose. This is an especially nice feature for those who like to purchase locally or for a gallery owner who may want to find artists through this venue.

BLOGS

When the seller sets up a blog to work in cooperation with their website they can write about what they are currently working on, offer instruction or tutorials about specific art processes and techniques and they can imbed pictures and video links into their blog.

This can be used as a marketing tool by adding links directed to their retail sites or to the sites of affiliate programs for related items which will also generate income for the seller. On blogs where the artist is also the host they can sell items directly without having to direct them to another website or link.

A good example of a blog is one by Betz White. She utilizes a communication style which is very personal, like a letter to a friend, and includes a link to purchase the book that she recently wrote on the subject presented in her blog. This friendly style of communication is generally the preferred technique for having consumers spend time at a seller’s website or blog. Society has grown to accept and prefer a non-slick approach because savvy internet users can spot a ‘used-car sales approach’ and shy away from this. A blog sets up a peer to peer relationship with nearly instantaneous feedback with comments about preferences regarding the blog content or items available for purchase.

In my opinion the three best sites for selling handmade items and artwork on the internet, based on the examples above are etsy.com, icraft.ca and strictlyhandmade.com.

No longer do artists have to pack up their wares and travel to shows either locally or across the country to sell their work to a larger audience. They also need not lose the 50 – 60% commission loss to a gallery owner to have their work shown in a professional setting. Through the use of their own websties, hosted sites or blogs, they can market and sell directly to waiting customers.

WORKS CITED

http://allbuttonedup.wordpress.com/2006/12/02/needle-felting-a-tutorial/

Artbyus.com

Artsefest.com

Craftmall.com

Etsy.com

Icraft.ca

Strictlyhandmade.com

Update: Please read the comments sections for a correction to this post. Sorry for the confusion.