Selling Prints Via The Web

[Mort54]

I have a question for you all, if you don't mind. Hopefully it's not too sensitive a topic (if it is, please feel free to give me a one fingered salute and send me packing   ) OK, now that I've given it such a great buildup, here it is:

Is selling fine art prints from a web site worthwhile? I'm not asking for dollar amounts or quantities, obviously. I'm just curious whether web-based stores get only occasional sales, or whether they are significant contributors to the bottom line (lets say 20% or more of annual gross). Do web-based sales compare favorably with gallery sales and/or art fair sales in earnings? Obviously, the big name photogs will get lots of web-store traffic, but what about the average guy or gal who does good work but doesn't have lots of name recognition?

Thanks,
Hans.

[David Anderson]

I put a site together for my fly fishing photos after getting several orders from people who have seen my stuff in the magazines, but I have to say it creeps along more then it runs.

Twigwater

The cost of advertising the site in the magazines is expensive and after a years worth it's just now starting to pay, I expect it will take a couple more years to really be worth the time.

I see it as a long term project.

The main thing is all my fishing trips are a 100% tax write-off now..

[Mort54]

The main thing is all my fishing trips are a 100% tax write-off now..

Now we're talking    A man with a plan. Thanks for responding.

[alainbriot]

You can make a lot of money at it or you can lose a lot of money.  It all depends how much you know about selling on the web.

[LoisWakeman]

I sell a lot more at galleries than I do online; the site is cheap for me to run as I do my own design/content and have a web reseller account, but if I'd had to pay for decent hosting and get someone to write and design the site, it might not be worth the candle.

Like David says, you have to take the long view: it takes ages for sites to creep up the search engine rankings, even if you know what you are doing and have a strong USP.

One of these days I want to add online purchasing to capture impulse buyers, which might help a bit or a lot.  (Case of the cobbler's children having no shoes!)

[Dale_Cotton]

Obviously, the big name photogs will get lots of web-store traffic, but what about the average guy or gal who does good work but doesn't have lots of name recognition?

People are understandably reluctant to buy a print based on a jpeg - which tells nothing about print quality. For a relatively unknown artist, a web site probably serves best as an adjunct to a strong in-person sales effort, such as arts and crafts shows.