What is Your Experience Selling Prints?

The Business of Selling Art Other Business Stuff
1

I’m curious if anyone here would like to share their personal experience in selling prints?

Is it worth it?
Do you print on demand and ship yourself?
Have you had success through one of the big print sites like fine art america?
Does the quality of the print effect how well they sell?

Thanks!

2

I uploaded some art to FineArtAmerica but did not sell enough to make it worth it. And you have to know how to get photos high res of your art that are color correct in order to make good prints.

I don’t know that it would make enough money for me. I want to spend more of my available time on painting though the prints would be great for more passive income. Though I did look into selling note cards and that wasn’t worth it for me though I may still do that just for promotions sake at some point.

3

My personal experience is not worth it unless you are working with a publisher.
When you sell prints you don’t usually sell originals. Most middle class folks will go for a print.

4

I sell a lot of prints. I sell 8x10 and 8x8 prints that I print myself with a regular Epson printer and package in “Showpacks” which are Mats enclosed in plastic. I have painted a fair number of Christmas characters and art parodies that lend themselves well to prints. I don’t think that size print would work well with landscapes or still life.

I sell them for $25 and I think the all-in cost for the matting, ink, etc is probably around $8 or so.

I have had people ask about larger prints of landscapes but the one-off cost of having those done by a print service was rather ridiculous.

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5

I upload to Fine Arts America. I did try to self print and sell them on Amazon and it was a nightmare…the buyers complain about paper, colors, sharpness, etc. I finally took them all down and wash my hands of it…let Fine Arts America have all the aches and pains.

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6

I uploaded quite a bit of art but never promoted so it’s my fault I didn’t sell. But when I first uploaded, I ordered several pieces to test quality. They were good. But that was about 3 years ago.

7

When I realized modern technology was not going away, I looked into getting a website. Fine Art America caught my eye. The FAA website is great for someone who is not computer tech savvy; plus it has the bonus of selling prints of my art (taking care of the whole end of that process). Even though I do not sell much in the way of prints, this is an affordable way for me to have a place where my artwork can be seen after I refer people to it when they ask what kind of work I do. Selling prints and other things helps to pay for the sight. I could probably make more money if I promoted my pages more, but right now, I that is not where I am spending my time. Having said that, this is the place where I sell my originals on line.

8

This sounds interesting, Where do you buy showpacks?

9

I usually get them from a site called matcutter.com Look for “showpacks”. These include a front mat, backing mat, and mylar bag.

Jerry’s Artarama has something similar without the backing mat, which doesn’t look nearly as good.

Blick occasionally has them, look under pre-cut mats if you want to try them.

10

Thanks Tom. What type of paper do you print on?

11

I use matte presentation paper. But I’m no expert, so there may be better choices out there…

12

I sell a lot of prints because it’s more affordable for my buyers than the originals.