There’s no shortage of online platforms to move your creative genius and make money through online art sales. Many art sites get your work out there quickly, providing a good option for artists looking to take their work to the world.
As you grow your brand awareness and online business, consider listing your works on specialist art marketplaces. Online magazines and art galleries, like Azucar Gallery, can be great for exposure, but you need a sales component to complete the sale. Listing your art on e-commerce websites allows for direct sales.
Your Own Website
The most obvious platform to promote your art is your personal website. Building from scratch can be hard work because you need to secure a domain name, choose an ecommerce platform, and set up your products.
However, there are many platforms, like Shopify, where you can make professional-quality websites within a few hours. Running your own online shop, such as a Shopify Store, means you’ll save on commission fees. But you’ll have to hustle hard on advertising to build brand awareness, grow your email list or list of buyers, and handle the full customer experience.
Use social media marketing to guide your existing fan base into viewing your fine artwork online.
Amazon
Competition on the popular online retailer is fierce nowadays, but it has a large market share. Before you set up shop, you might want to check out 10 Amazon selling tips to boost your art sales.
Amazon Handmade is one of the online craft platforms specifically for artisans to sell their crafts online. This platform for artists waives the Professional selling account (usually $39.99 per month) for accepted artists. Creating a shop is free, and upon a sale, Amazon Handmade deducts a 15% referral fee. There are no other listing or payment processing fees.
You can use Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) to store products in Amazon warehousing centers that they will pick, pack, ship, and provide customer service for.
eBay
Since it was established in 1995, eBay has become one of the most popular e-commerce marketplaces worldwide, connecting an audience of potential buyers and online sellers across the globe.
If you’re a casual seller, it’s free to list your art on eBay Art. If you list over 250 items per month, then you pay a $0.35 insertion fee per listing. When your art sells, there is an art commission of 5% on the total sale, plus $0.30 per order.
Etsy
Etsy is legit up there as one of the most incredible craft marketplaces for handmade products. It’s free for anyone to create a storefront and sell their handmade goods and craft products.
That said, competition is intense on Etsy, especially for printables and digital downloads, jewelry, and hair accessories. You’ll have to put in a real hustle to promote your store. But there aren’t many craft sites like this one.
Etsy’s fees are typically lower than what you’d pay on Amazon or eBay. List your first item for $0.20. Pay transactions, commission, payment processing, and any off-site advertising fees on sales. Plus, you’ll get your money transferred to you immediately after the sale. With eBay and Amazon, you’ll have to wait until the monthly payment date.
Sell on Facebook Marketplace or create a full-fledged online shop from within the social media platform. If you’re just getting started, you can create a marketplace listing for your art directly in Facebook. Choosing the right category for your art will help people find it. For example, Facebook marketplace has a category for Posters, Prints & Paintings.
You can also use your existing Facebook or Instagram account to create a shop directly on your Facebook page or Instagram profile. If you already have a separate website or another Internet store, adding Facebook as a sales channel can help you reach a larger customer base.
Instagram is a common way today’s generation shops online and how you can sell physical goods without having your own website. So it makes sense to have an online art store on the platform.
With over 2.3 billion monthly active users worldwide and 130 million users per month clicking on shopping posts, listing products on this site could be a game changer. Instagram Shop activates more sales by removing any unnecessary steps before a customer makes a purchase. When you use shoppable posts, you make it easy for customers to buy your work.
A business account is free. You can use this to set up an Instagram Shop without the cost of maintaining a separate ecommerce website. Your profile then becomes the main landing page for your art business. Work between Insta and Facebook under the parent company, Meta.
This social media platform allows users to share images and videos. It has 445 million active users (86 million in the United States), and it’s rapidly growing. Create an account, link your own online store to Pinterest, and start product pinning to reach a huge audience of potential art buyers.
You won’t pay a listing fee or other upfront costs when selling on Pinterest. However, there are a few things you’ll need to foot the bill for, such as ads and shipping. With ads, you’ll pay based on how much you spend on promoting your products. Shipping costs will vary depending on the product and the delivery destination.
Artfinder
Supporting independent artists, Artfinder allows shoppers to purchase directly from an artist.
The site’s worldwide audience of art buyers includes over 500,000 art lovers, and the community of selling artists receives exclusive benefits and discounts. Artfinder also has dedicated marketing tools to support business growth.
Commission rates and sales insights depend on the monthly Seller Plan subscription. Factors include:
- number of listed artworks
- monthly charge or commission
- creative works with limited edition prints
- site search tags
- promo and discount packages
- other marketing and profit insights.
Artsper
Focusing on modern artworks for sale, Artsper bills itself as Europe’s leading online contemporary art marketplace.
You can boost your art’s visibility and sales by tapping into their:
- community of art collectors in over 130 countries
- substantial reach
- unlimited instant sales
- marketing tools and gallery profile pages.
Freelance artists’ rates are free or €39. You get two months free with annual subscriptions.
Online Gallery
This online art powerhouse uses a freemium model, showcasing over 30,000 artworks, and comprises a community of over 2,000 artists.
Choose your subscription plan (free or $10.79 per month), then create a professional portfolio page in 4 simple steps with this fast-growing digital art marketplace.
For an extra $10.79 (the Premium membership), you get a complete website with your own URL besides a profile. Choose from 3 available themes and use your own logo. The website automatically adjusts when you change your profile, so updates won’t cost you any time. You can have your art participate in an auction, write unlimited blog posts, and sell unlimited art directly from your profile page. You’ll enjoy secure online payment and both artist and buy protection.
There’s no commission on sold work with Premium Plans but a 25% commission fee for Basic Plan subscriptions. If you continue to sell more than five pieces of art, you’ll likely end up needing a Premium subscription.
Zazzle
Make money doing whatever type of artwork that you love, as Zazzle helps you monetize your creativity and designs by providing:
- advertising both onsite and offsite
- “Name Your Royalty” program, specifying your artist margin on each sale
- 100% of the fulfillment and customer service for you.
You can get:
- started at no cost, without monthly fees
- paid through PayPal or check.
Art Please
This is an absolutely amazing site to sell on because it:
- facilitates a connection between artists and collectors through specialized listings
- has a 0% seller commission.
Upload your original artwork, then collectors can make requests for a specific piece. To start selling art, create a free listing by providing the following information:
- Your name
- Title of the artwork
- Year created
- Medium
- Condition
- Frame details – Is it framed? Wood or metal framing? Does it have glass or plexiglass?
- Signature info (hand, plate, or estate signed, not signed)
- Dimensions
Upload product photos of your masterpieces, then proceed with the rest of the on-screen instructions to complete your listing. Repeat for all the artwork you want to list.
Displate
Put your art prints on one-of-a-kind collectible metal posters. The Displate is a sturdy, magnet-mountable, durable modern canvas that can be set up in 20 seconds without power tools, wall damage, or customer frustration.
The company delivers to 46 countries, with 2.4 million social media fans and over 42,000 artists onboard. Submit your online portfolio to open your own free shop. Then, upload your designs, and Displate will promote your original art to 50 million people per month.
You earn:
- commission on original pieces sold, fees, and discounting applies
- 50% commission of the total sale value by sharing the links to your artwork on social media.
Fine Art America
Fine artists looking for a spot to sell their original artwork on canvas or framed prints trust Fine Art America.
Power players sell art, prints, lifestyle products, and original items here, grow a fan base and use its fulfillment center. This online art industry baller also provides artists and photographers with sales and marketing tools to scale their careers. These tools allow art sellers to:
- set up branded web stores
- sell prints on Facebook
- create e-newsletters and more.
Choose a membership level and set your own art markup selling price on top of the base manufacturing cost.
Fine Art America has:
- 14 distribution centers in 5 countries to get items to customers in the fastest way.
- solely uses its site to sell products, so no integration methods are available.
Jose Art Gallery
This gallery service showcases:
- fine paintings
- popular graphics
- internet-based art
- sculpture
- photography.
Artists can register online in just one click to become a member of the Jose Gallery community. Fill in your profile, get verified, upload your art, and start selling online. They’ll take a 35% gallery commission.
Society6
Designed by artists, Society6’s artwork for sale primarily focuses on a wide range of home decor. Their global community includes over 450,000 creatives from over 170 countries.
If you’re a creator in the interior beautifying sector, you can lay your creative vision down on:
- wall art
- tapestries
- welcome mats
- shower curtains
- furniture
- acrylic trays, and a wide variety of other items!
Sellers that use Society6 determine how much they sell their creations for and how much profit they make.
When you sell products on Society6, you use their site. Therefore, no integration is available.
ArtPal
If you’re looking for free online galleries, then Art Pal is the artist stop. You don’t pay membership or commission fees.
Use it to list your art and buy art online from over 263,000 other artists. You can:
- start selling in minutes with unlimited space to sell all of your art
- sell any type of art, from artwork and photography to sculptures, handmade jewelry, crafts, and more
- get paid instantly with many payment options.
They also have a print-on-demand service that makes it easy to sell custom prints with framing. As a bonus, they’ve got materials to help you learn marketing so you can make more online sales.
Artplode
This is where dealers, artists, galleries, and collectors buy and sell art with no commission charge. You keep 100% of the price for the artwork sold.
Artplode charges a flat fee of $60 to advertise each piece on the site.
You control all sale aspects of your art, including:
- the ad information and photos
- contact with interested buyers
- purchasing details and arranging payment
- sending the work to the buyer.
Design by Humans
It’s all about wearable art here, with print on demand clothing products like:
- T-shirts
- sweatshirts
- tanks
- tote bags
- phone cases.
Add your custom artwork and create a huge following thanks to the order printing services of this team.
As for integration access, the site can be linked up to your store and helps to promote creatives by using a Featured Artists section.
For payment, Design by Humans sets a schedule of royalties that the sellers earn.
Pro Prints
This leading professional photography and print on demand site allows photographers and graphic designs to produce their art on:
- metal
- acrylic
- canvas
- calendars.
They also offer framing options. Pro Prints charges by product and is ideal for artists and designers who are searching for printing and packing help for individual jobs as opposed to an online marketplace.
Items are created and shipped from Longmont, Colorado, and individuals can pick up their orders directly from the manufacturing and fulfillment area.
Redbubble
Redbubble is a well-known printing website option with a world audience.
Customers discover and buy products that feature the designs that you’ve uploaded to products in your shop. Redbubble manufactures and ships the items to order. Choose from over 70 unique, high-quality products like:
- mugs
- notebooks
- postcards
- scarves
- apparel
- stickers.
With a massive following of potential customers and a huge variety of merch, Redbubble draws both creators of artworks and collectors.
You earn a percentage for each sale that is successfully shipped. This doesn’t:
- include any applied sales or discounts
- take account fees into consideration.
Your payment is calculated when you add an artist margin (or markup) to Redbubble’s base service fee.
In order to make the selling and shipping process a quick one, Redbubble uses third-party printers across the globe and fulfills orders at locations closest to the purchaser’s location.
Saatchi Art
This online art marketplace represents artists from over 110 countries. Saatchi does more than sell art. They also organize art fairs and curator groups and actively promote artists.
This world-leading online art gallery is:
- one of the original art galleries for artists
- a brilliant choice for new and upcoming creators looking for top-rate exposure.
Because of the volume of artists, it’s difficult to get visibility. That’s where building relationships with the curating team comes in handy. If you become a featured artist at Saatchi, it can catapult your brand and global audience.
What to know about getting paid:
- Free to create an account
- Shipping handled but you pay for packaging
- No fees
- Receive 60% on every artwork sold
- Non-exclusive policy
- Secure online payments and financial protection
Threadless
Set up a free, fully customizable store through Artist Shops, powered by Threadless.
You choose either controlling the sales price or letting Threadless manage pricing and promotions for you. You make a margin profit on the difference between the retail and product costs.
For over 20 years, this site has partnered with hundreds of thousands of artisans to get their creative work on a range of products like:
- graphic designed t-shirts
- accessories and headwear
- wall art
- homewares.
TurningArt
With this site, your work will be incorporated into collections the company creates for clients, including:
- businesses
- commercial properties
- healthcare institutions
- private residences.
They take care of all the marketing, sales, and logistics detail and also have an Artist Services team to help you with anything else you might need.
You can earn revenue through:
- sales
- leasing
- commissions
- prints
- listing originals.
Compensation depends on if you are an Affiliated Artist or a Partner Artist.
What Is The Easiest Way To Sell Art Online?
Ultimately, it’s easier to use a marketplace. List your artwork across multiple marketplaces for greater exposure.
There’s nothing wrong with building a store to sell artwork online, but it takes more time and effort to get established than an existing platform. You’ll have to work harder to create traffic to your site. To increase potential sales, you’ll want to increase both organic traffic and direct traffic.
When you first get started selling art online, working with online marketplaces is easier. They’ve already got an established presence, which helps with publicity and reach. Art buyers are likely already familiar with many of these platforms for artists, so it’s a matter of letting people know your art is available on these sites.
