Selling - online vs. offline

It’s been awhile since I posted on here, thought it was time to share some info.

For the past 6 months I have sold far more offline than I have online. Online includes DPW as well as Facebook & my own website. It’s a happy problem that I hope will continue.

The sales I’ve made on DPW have dwindled to a low number. In January I suddenly had 7 sales and I thought the online was improving. However, 1 of those 7 is now up for resale through the auction site EBTH (I’ve mentioned them before) - and I suspect the other 6 will follow. Sad thing is that my label on the back, with all my contact info, was removed. So although my signature is on the front, I doubt the final buyer will be able to track me down. Currently the piece is actively bidding at double the price it sold for on DPW with a few days left for the auction.

So, long over due, I have (a) removed much of my “Availables” - leaving only those that I would frame & submit for shows & galleries. (b) And I have also raised the prices on the remaining available pieces to reflect what they are selling for offline. This will probably not increase my DPW sales but I will monitor to see. Since I no longer do daily paintings of small pieces, I may be leaving DPW later this year.

But I did want to point out that I did find other artists pieces selling/sold on that auction site. It seems that $50 is the magic threshold. Sales above that don’t seem to get re-sold, probably because the 50% commission the site charges can’t be easily covered. Just thought I’d pass the info along.

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Wow - I can hardly believe my eyes, even tho I keep re-reading this. How did you find your paintings - there seems to be a ton of stuff out there. I did find one using your name to search.

Sorry you had to find this - thanks for letting us all know!

I have Google alerts setup for my name, my art name & variations. I get email alerts when my name appears out there. The artwork being sold does say it’s a Nan Johnson piece, so I got a Google alert for it. The resale of my art has been going on now for a few months, and I can usually sense when the work is being picked up for resale (buying multiple pieces at the same time, no conversation from the buyer). The main office for EBTH is in Ohio, so any Ohio sales jump out at me also - not that all Ohio sales are resales, but quite a few were. All the past resales were older pieces I had auctioned off on eBay, but this current one was from a DPW sale. Granted, my pricing was so low that it invited resales. There’s nothing illegal with what is going on, and buyers do have the right to do whatever they want with the art once they buy it - I just wanted to let others know about it. Many artists are selling their work cheaply, hoping to build a following - unfortunately, many are getting resold, and for quite a bit higher than their original prices. Perhaps the 2nd (or 3rd) buyer will look up the artist, but I haven’t seen an increase in clicks to my website since this all started. I was long overdue in adjusting my prices (my bad). :slight_smile:

By the way, I spoke to someone at EBTH who was very nice & very helpful. She suggested I submit all my old pieces through them to sell at auction. It’s a thought… but a word of warning, ALL auctions start at $1 - and if the final bid is $1, you MUST sell for that amount. And they do take roughly 50% for commission. It would be my luck to submit my work & have them sell that low. :grin:

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FYI - Just a quick update, EBTH filed for bankruptcy. There is a possible buyer but it sounds like the deal is having issues and may not happen.

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