Comment

Comment by Judy Sall on May 16, 2012 at 10:18am

I have had an on-line shop at artfire.com for over 3 years now.  It makes up about 30% of my annual sales, and I don't find it to be too time-consuming.  I did spend quite a bit of time in the beginning setting up my shop, uploading my listings, and I have a large inventory.  Now I upload items as I create them, and if I sell something at a show, I delete it from my inventory right away.  I like artfire over etsy because they charge a flat monthly rate, and my listings are there until I sell or remove them.  Much easier than having to re-list every few months.  I also have a site on Trunkt.com, which is a wholesale venue.  Have yet to get a sale there, and it's been over a year...    

Comment by Sandra Tyler on April 23, 2011 at 10:07am

Selling on line is difficult; needs constant attention, between facebook, twitter, shops, and forums. I haven't done very well so far, but really enjoy the blogging world which surprised me!

Comment by Susan R. Sorrell on March 9, 2011 at 9:16am

Thanks Sue for the advice! I will check out your blog post. :)

Comment by Sue Andrus on March 8, 2011 at 10:46pm

Also, I don't know if anyone mentioned or has heard of Zibbet.com I have a shop there from a promotion they did quite a while ago where I got a lifetime Premium shop for $100. I have not done much with it except to put links up to my ArtFire studios and put Rapid Carts to show what can be purchased from there.

This is a link to my Zibbet Shop.

 

They seem to be modeling themselves after ArtFire and only have a monthly fee with no listing or selling fees. I haven't had any sales from there yet, but I have not done any promoting there at all since I added the few items.

Comment by Sue Andrus on March 8, 2011 at 10:40pm

I just happened to pop in to the FAMM site and found this group.  I have been selling from ArtFire for a couple of years now. I started out with a shop at Etsy, then ended up with 3 shops there because the different things I do seemed to make for a cluttered looking shop. I never did get many sales, but I could not afford the renewing game to keep things up in the searches.

 

I started my first studio on ArtFire early 2009 and didn't do too much with it for a while. When I finally started filling it and promoting, I started getting sales. I now have 3 studios there and have closed up all on Etsy. I like the ability on ArtFire to promote my website and other places my work can be found from my ArtFire studios. You pay a monthly fee for the Pro Studios and no fees for listing or on the back end when sales are made. I don't have to worry about having to list a special item a customer might request to be added to an order if they would rather just send the $ directly to me from PayPal. No breaking TOS rules with the site not charging a percent of the sales or for listing the items. This is the first year I have had sales in the months of Dec. through March.....

 

For me, I find that keeping my Art Quilts in one studio, more gifty, lower priced items in another, and my patterns, de-stash and other things in a third, keeps things less cluttered. I have links from each studio to the others, so if someone who really wants a pattern finds the finished items, there is a link to the pattern studio.   The guys behind ArtFire are doing a great job working with the artisans and there is a lot of information to be found in tutorials and forums to help with setting up studios, marketing, SEO, taking good photos, etc. Administration is very much involved, and there is even a phone number you can call and actually talk to a real human to help you if needed. They are up front with changes they are making and do not hide out from the vendors. They have made it super easy to quickly tweet, FB, or otherwise promote items with just a click from the item pages.

 

There is no need to do any renewing or re-listing of items except for after they have sold, and if you have something that you can reproduce, you can list a number of them and keep all the SEO that it has built up, so you don't have to start all over again with the search engines (I list 5 available of each set of note cards I sell) . For me, it is much cheaper than Etsy because I now have over 300 items listed between the studios, and at Etsy, I would have to renew every 4 months (unless that has changed again). It does take work to get things rolling, and I find that I tend to get the most sales and keep them going if I am diligent about posting occasionally in the forums, tweeting, posting on FB, etc. Having a lot of items helps give customers choices, too. 

 

Pardon the blathering on in this post... I am not great with words....

Here is a link to a blog post I wrote with lots of info...

http://www.andrusgardensquilts.com/blog/artfire-a-handmade-sellers-...

The post is one of a series I wrote, and you can access the others from links to previous and next posts at the tops of the pages.

Comment by Christine Marie Ford on March 6, 2011 at 9:33pm

One other thing I thought I should mention is that my online shop has been a good showcase for getting me into juried shows etc. I also have a lot of items that sell much better in person. For example, I sell hardly any jewelry on Etsy but it's what I sell most of in my studio. Also, I sell major fine art pieces mostly in my studio as opposed to online. I used to list what I thought would sell online and now I just showcase more of my best work. A lot of people access it as a portfolio. 

Comment by Susan R. Sorrell on March 6, 2011 at 11:40am

Thanks Connie!! I have places that do carry my work, and people can come by my studio. I am talking about setting up a web shop using https://www.miiduu.com/ it is free and it's suppose to link to your Facebook business page. I haven't played with it a lot. ;)

Comment by Connie Berlin on March 6, 2011 at 11:12am

That's a great idea, Susan.  You mean you're going to get a physical shop?  Have you sold from your website?  I could go and check but I'm going to write this instead.  It does make sense - especially with certain mediums - that they sell better if seen "in person", also.  I know that photos of my "felteds" never do them justice - could be my inability to take good photos.  I support you in any of your endeavors - you were the first person who got me into the mixed media side of art.

 

Comment by Susan R. Sorrell on March 6, 2011 at 10:48am

Connie...I think I am going to set up my own shop to link to my website since I can't find a venue that really rocks me. Thanks for the compliments on my work, but I know it is pricey and people would like to see it in person before they lay down big money for a piece.:)

Comment by Connie Berlin on March 5, 2011 at 6:21pm

Hi Christine,

I will certainly check out those teams you mentioned. Thanks so much. As for BNS and BNRs, I don't make any pieces for such a low price.  I've bought in a few times but never got a sale, anyway.  

Susan, I can't imagine that you didn't sell anything through these venues!  Your pieces are amazing!  

Artfire seems to be the one that is mentioned by people on Etsy - it has a nice feeling about it - but not as good looking as Etsy.  I took a look at Bonanza but I don't like the look of it.  

I think its difficult to find just the right venue and it may be true that more than one is better - of course, you have to have the inventory.

 

 

 

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• Next ›
• Page