Online Selling

Got an email from ImageKind today. That’s the place where you can buy prints of my fractal art. It seems they’re now selling greeting cards, in addition to art prints.

So it made me stop and wonder… where should I be trying to sell my stuff? Because there are hundreds of places out there, and I’ve been trying all sorts of them, from A (ArtCardsWanted) to Z (Zazzle) and a whole bunch of places in between. And here’s what I’ve noticed based on my online sales over the past year: I sell everything on Etsy. Not most everything… everything.

(OH wait, no! I have sold ONE item from my website! And that was really cool, but those PayPal Buy Now buttons are a pain in the tush.)

And that makes me question why I keep any of these other sales venues active. I’m a member of Worldwide Women Artists, and a number of the other women have had success with these other venues. Maybe it’s the abstract nature of my art that keeps the sales down (or non-existent outside Etsy). Goodness knows I’ve seen plenty of puzzled looks when people pass by my booth at craft fairs. Art shows are a different story, of course, because people expect to see all kinds of art there. Maybe the internet is more of a craft fair than an art show. I don’t know.

Some people have said my prices are too high, others say they’re too low. If that doesn’t make me crazy, probably nothing will at this point. (Or I could consider myself fortunate that I was a little daft to begin with.)

Or maybe it’s that evil “marketing” word. I’ll admit to knowing less about that than I know about, say, setting up a primary domain controller with Windows 2003. (Ok, that’s not a fair example… setting up a PDC is only scary the first time.)

Feel free to chime in on any thoughts you might have.

Ah, and one last thing. No updates on Etsy until after my mid-term on Wednesday. I have to pull together another set of works to upload, and that means manipulating scans and writing descriptions, which would take away time from studying. Gosh. It’s so weird to be back in school taking tests again…

(Oh, and apparently our men’s basketball team is playing in some sort of championship game tonight. Like I pay attention to these things. But… Go Saints!)