{"id":22606,"date":"2021-05-09T15:18:00","date_gmt":"2021-05-09T12:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.x-cart.com\/?p=22606"},"modified":"2025-03-26T13:10:53","modified_gmt":"2025-03-26T10:10:53","slug":"how-to-sell-art-online-11-places-to-sell-art-online-in-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.x-cart.com\/blog\/how-to-sell-art-online.html","title":{"rendered":"How to Sell Art Online: 11 Places to Sell Art Online in 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This blog post was originally contributed by Jake Rheude, Vice President of Marketing at Red Stag Fulfillment. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thousands of artists are making solely through online sales and commissions thanks to virtual galleries being unlimited and many new systems having marketing tools built right in \u2014 it\u2019s never been easier to find an audience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Choosing the right platform, however, has become the tricky part because there\u2019s only so much time in the day to make art, photograph it correctly<\/a>, put it up for sale, and manage the business side of things. Whether you\u2019re focusing on selling prints, creating unique sculpture, or want an online gallery to highlight your work, it can feel like there are too many tools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re looking at 11 of these to highlight the best places artists told us that they got started. You\u2019ll find options designed to showcase new work, some that can work on your site, and a few services that do it all for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a move that\u2019ll shock some artists, we\u2019re leaving Etsy<\/a> out of this list! Why? Because many we talked to said that every artist knows about it, and the recommendations and if it is worthwhile can vary greatly based on artist ability, type of work, and more. There\u2019s no single answer for any platform, but Etsy was the one all artists said was worth reading about in the community to see if it is the right choice for you to stand out from the crowd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, now that we know the king isn\u2019t on the list, let\u2019s see what artists told us should make the cut.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n Selling Art Online via X-Cart eCommerce Platform <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Already an established artist with your own website, pulling decent traffic? You might want to sell directly to the people finding you. There are some pre-built services and integration tools for eCommerce that can help artists. Among the most customizable is X-Cart. We\u2019ve got several stellar guides on how to sell your art products on Pinterest<\/a> and Etsy<\/a> via our eCommerce shopping cart.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Need Help Setting Up an Online Store With X-Cart?<\/h2>

Reach out to our solution advisor and take a tour around the platform. <\/p>\n Talk to an Expert<\/a> <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n\n

This online shopping cart platform is all about selling goods and making it easy for you. That means you can customize and adapt to your site and needs as you\u2019d like. There are more than 120 sales channels and 128 marketing tools designed to help with sales that also integrate with X-Cart and plenty of tools to make it easy to sell, collect payments, get clients to pay for shipping, track sales and inventory, and much more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

X-Cart is flexible and adaptable. It powers 38K+ businesses worldwide and can get you selling for as little as $495. It\u2019s a one-time fee which means you are not tied with monthly charges as when you sell with Shopify or BigCommerce. On top of that, there is a free version, not that feature-rich though but perfect for evaluation purposes. You can also set up a free trial and upload your artwork just to test the waters and see how the software looks from the inside. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a bevy of artist website templates to sell art and photography<\/a> online that will facilitate website design and development process. <\/p>\n\n\n

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\n \"Selling<\/picture> <\/figure>\n <\/div>\n \n\n\n

And if you need an example, we\u2019ve got a success story about Ann ‘N’ Eve<\/a>. These entrepreneurs create gorgeous western wear and sell it online with X-Cart for over 5 years already. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you want customized work, X-Cart has many in-house developers who have experience with artists and are ready to code whatever comes to your artistic mind.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n Chapter II<\/span>\n Selling Your Artwork on Instagram<\/span>\n <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Instagram is a highly visual service, making it a perfect place to sell your art online. You can build your own channel and interact with people, driving them to your website and making sales, all by only investing some time. You can showcase your work, process, and anything you like with an extremely large potential audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many emerging artists use Instagram to help find fans, ask what people want to see, and even to share work that isn\u2019t for sale. People can become interested in what you do and follow you on the service, so your posts and artwork show up in their feeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you want to run traditional marketing campaigns, you can also highlight products through paid ad campaigns and even sell content directly on Instagram with special purchase buttons. The Instagram Shopping<\/a> tools make it easy to run promotions, set costs, and feature multiple products in your ads. The service wants to help you get more viewers and interactions, so you get plenty of tools to help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instagram is highly valuable, whether you sell through it or just create a following. Hashtags make it easy to find you, and you can take part in events like #inktober to reach a wider audience. People like to share Instagram content, especially if you interact with your audience.\u201cOn Instagram, you rely on people finding your page, and frequently larger artists will shout out your work to their followers to give you a boost. I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s just the fiber arts community or if this is common across the art spectrum, but there have been so many kind and supportive artists out there that don\u2019t feel threatened by you doing well. There is even a popular hashtag for it: #communityovercompetiton,\u201d said Caitlin Rethwish of Etcetera Embroidery<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n Chapter III<\/span>\n Using Twitter to Sell Art Online<\/span>\n <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Twitter is a hot place for artists to promote their overall brand instead of individual pieces. This means many successful sellers are using it to post about sales and promos, share news and announcements, or give people a way to find their store<\/a> and exhibits. It\u2019s how you let the world know what you\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are many collaborations that happen on Twitter and the art community is very engaged. This means enthusiasts and other artists will share and retweet your posts, helping you gain wider acclaim. To be most successful, you\u2019ll need to do the same too! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s all about building your own community and driving people to buy on other platforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Reminder: if you'd like to get a Muppet-ized movie commission (or any ol' commission) of your very own, you can write me at brucemccorkindale@gmail.com for details. Right now, I'm looking at April for new requests! pic.twitter.com\/vQErFmwEjM<\/a><\/p>— Bruce McCorkindale (@brucemccorkinda) March 16, 2020<\/a><\/blockquote>