Recently were Part I,  Part II, Part III, and Part IV in this art marketing series – this is all in response to Sue O’Kieffe of Sacred Circle Mandalas (http://sacred-circle-mandalas.blogspot.com) who recently wrote me “i am curious to know out of all the ways you sell your art, which is the most profitable for you and which is the most enjoyable?” I have been getting some good feedback from various people that this is being helpful to them.

What a great question, Sue!!  I know some other artists sometimes read my blog – I hope everyone will chime in – this could be very helpful to us all!  I am really looking forward to hearing from others too!  We have already done an overview of offline selling (much more to be said about that!), online selling from a shop where you the seller ship directly to your customer, online selling from a shop where the site produces the merchandise and ships directly to the customer and an overview of Etsy.

Today we will focus on one online shop (1000 Markets) where you the artist (and seller) ship directly to the customer.  Check back in Part II to refresh your memory of some of the pluses and minuses of this method of online selling if you like. I have several online shops where I ship directly to the buyer – there are LOTS to chose from.  I will give you details about my 2 current favorites and tell you why I like them.  They are Etsy and 1000 Markets.  These are links directly to my shops – it is easy to go to the main pages from there. Some artists have other favorites and I hope you (they) will post about them in the comments!  Yesterday we looked at Etsy and today will be 1000 Markets.

This Art Card, ACEO from my 1000 Markets Shop showcases my vibrant, colorful painting of Reflections in Blue III.  1000 Markets is my other favorite online place to sell where I ship directly to the buyer.  You can see that they also have room for the description to capture interest, details of what one is selling, and also the various views of your item. (Refer to yesterday’s post if you want more on this.)

Reflections in Blue III-ACEO © Diane Clancy

1000 Markets has a similar concept to teams – but these are called Markets.  Each Market is focused on a theme – whether it be ACEOs, Photography, Hats, the 60’s …. here is where you can see them all – there are tons of Markets!! Like Etsy, you have your own shop … then you can join (or apply) to Markets to team up with others to promote and market together.  Again, like Etsy, anyone can join 1000 Markets – you don’t have to sell to join this site. One does have to have their shop approved once it is set up – before it can go public.  But that is probably a good thing to make sure things are a reasonable quality and to make sure it is not an shop that is selling illegal copies of paintings.

One great thing about the Markets as opposed to teams (Etsy) is that each Market has its own marketplace you can go.  At Etsy, VAST (Visual Artists Street Team) does not have a place where buyers can go to see what different team members sell.  1000 Markets gives each Market a marketplace.  Here is the marketplace for ACEOs – Art Cards, Editions and Originals.  This is a team I belong to and they are wonderful and active.

The Markets have another level of visibility and promotability that I don’t think the teams at Etsy have. This is part of why I like them so much.  And the Market structure and the set-up of the marketplace for each Market give another level of interaction with the customer.  Even my own shop at 1000 Markets has more built-in tools for promoting myself as an artist.  One’s shop cannot go public until you have a good amount of information there – it also protects the customer to make sure things are interesting.

People seem to feel that 1000 Markets has incredible potential.  It is fairly new and supposedly they are going to promote it well.  Perhaps it is more art-friendly than Etsy.  I enjoy it quite a bit!!  I like that the Markets I belong to have a real marketplace where we are promoting our work through the Market directly (unlike Etsy) …  I like how the team can discuss things together right there … in structured forums and not just through email.

Now I have not made a sale there yet … but I like how it works a lot.  I need to get going on marketing my shops again … so hopefully my sales in general will pick up again.  I have not spent as much time on 1000 Markets as I have on Etsy – I don’t know its potential as well.   I like the look and feel of 1000 Markets. I enjoy it a lot!  (Sue, your second criteria.)

I also have a shop at ArtFire – I have a free shop so I can have only 10 items.  Also, they do not promite my shop like they promote the paid shops.  I would love to hear how some others like ArtFire … I know a lot of people have started shops there … the jury seems to be out on whether ArtFire is good to be at. I have sold one item there – from someone that I know from other parts of the internet.   I have a shop at iCraft.ca – Creativity without Borders.  I have sold one item there – to someone that I never met before iCraft.

So I recommend both Etsy and 1000 Markets as the best for me so far.  I welcome hearing from others what your experiences and thoughts are!!  We may differ for sure!  I hope that we can help each other know the strengths of each shop.  Please feel free to ask questions to get more information … thanks for coming by!!

UPDATE: 1000 Markets has closed and Artfire no longer has free shops

Technorati Tags: Diane Clancy, vibrant colorful painting,   Reflections in Blue III, Etsy, 1000 Markets, Sacred Circle Mandalas, Sue O’Kieffe, marketing, iCraft, ArtFire, Market