Best Way To Sell Paintings?

by KabirC
18 replies
My friend is an artist, his work is extremely cheap but is amazing quality. Where would be the best place to sell his work?

Here is a couple of samples:


#paintings #sell
  • Profile picture of the author RobCopywriter
    Ebay would be a good option? Unless it is a .jpg, if it is then im not sure where you can sell it, but im sure you can.. just google it!
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    • Profile picture of the author KabirC
      Originally Posted by RobCopywriter View Post

      Ebay would be a good option? Unless it is a .jpg, if it is then im not sure where you can sell it, but im sure you can.. just google it!
      These are actual oil paintings. Ebay doesn't really get much traffic for this kind of thing.
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      • Profile picture of the author travlinguy
        Originally Posted by KabirC View Post

        These are actual oil paintings. Ebay doesn't really get much traffic for this kind of thing.
        Not sure how you've come to this conclusion. There are more than 200 pages of oil paintings listed with more than 20,000 actual auctions. That's huge. And, from the looks of your samples, the artist is very good. I'd put up a couple of small paintings and test the water if I were your friend.
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        • Profile picture of the author KabirC
          Originally Posted by travlinguy View Post

          Not sure how you've come to this conclusion. There are more than 200 pages of oil paintings listed with more than 20,000 actual auctions. That's huge. And, from the looks of your samples, the artist is very good. I'd put up a couple of small paintings and test the water if I were your friend.
          He did that last year, and if you look through completed sales not many sell...he put up the first one for sale just now.
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          • Profile picture of the author travlinguy
            Originally Posted by KabirC View Post

            He did that last year, and if you look through completed sales not many sell...he put up the first one for sale just now.
            eBay has a little secret. It's not really a secret but very few people seem to know about it. You can get a 30-day listing in their Classified Ad section for $10. I'm not talking about the free classifieds. They have an ad section where the stuff offered displays alongside auctions.

            The cool thing about it is you have unlimited space for your ad, can put in as many images as you want and can place live links in the listing. They don't allow links in regular listings.

            The last part is important because then people can go to a site where your friend can show an entire portfolio. This is more of a traffic generating strategy than one to sell. Good luck.
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  • Profile picture of the author lotsofsnow
    If you position it properly it does get a lot of traffic.

    The pics look like some baseball champ. There are a lot of people that spend a lot of money on sports collectibles and memorabilia. Just go to eBay but don't look for "Oil Paintings" but look for the sports stuff.

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    • Profile picture of the author KabirC
      Originally Posted by hpgoodboy View Post

      If you position it properly it does get a lot of traffic.

      The pics look like some baseball champ. There are a lot of people that spend a lot of money on sports collectibles and memorabilia. Just go to eBay but don't look for "Oil Paintings" but look for the sports stuff.

      HP
      I have, also I have SEOd his site to the top of Google for "hockey paintings", "baseball paintings", "football paintings" and "basketball paintings".
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      • Profile picture of the author lotsofsnow
        Originally Posted by KabirC View Post

        I have, also I have SEOd his site to the top of Google for "hockey paintings", "baseball paintings", "football paintings" and "basketball paintings".
        No. That is not what I mean.

        People do not look for "baseball paintings." Maybe they look but that is not what you need.

        You need: "Babe Ruth painting" or whatever the name of the dude in the pic is.

        There are fans that are willing to spend a fortune on that stuff. But they will only search for "their player" they are not interested in paintings. But if it is a painting with "their" star they buy it.

        Price: does not matter.

        These guys are completely nuts!!!

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        • Profile picture of the author KabirC
          Originally Posted by hpgoodboy View Post

          No. That is not what I mean.

          People do not look for "baseball paintings." Maybe they look but that is not what you need.

          You need: "Babe Ruth painting" or whatever the name of the dude in the pic is.

          There are fans that are willing to spend a fortune on that stuff. But they will only search for "their player" they are not interested in paintings. But if it is a painting with "their" star they buy it.

          Price: does not matter.

          These guys are completely nuts!!!

          HP
          I know that, I have sold a lot in the past...I am a sports fan. Those keywords are all getting over 150 searches a month exact. A lot of his work is custom painting for people.
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  • Profile picture of the author dcc1980
    The best way to sell something is to teach others how to do it ( words from my old art teacher ) Maybe your friend could do online videos or teach painting. This is a great way to offer his products and drive traffic to his work.
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
      Banned
      This "where to sell paintings online" question comes up quite often, here. I remember posting in at least two other similar threads, not so long ago.

      It strikes me that whereas with quite a lot of online marketing, one needs to attract the traffic to one's site, different criteria apply, here.

      What you actually need to do is go to where the traffic already is.

      People who buy paintings online (which I've done a couple of times myself) know which sites they like/trust and want to look at. In the UK, for example, one such site is minigallery.co.uk, and there are loads of others, and US equivalents. I think that to sell art online without being listed at those sites (even if one also has one's own sites, to which to direct viewers, as many artists do) is probably putting oneself under a big handicap.

      I suspect that "keyword research" may actually have little to do with this question.
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      • Profile picture of the author KabirC
        Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

        This "where to sell paintings online" question comes up quite often, here. I remember posting in at least two other similar threads, not so long ago.

        It strikes me that whereas with quite a lot of online marketing, one needs to attract the traffic to one's site, different criteria apply, here.

        What you actually need to do is go to where the traffic already is.

        People who buy paintings online (which I've done a couple of times myself) know which sites they like/trust and want to look at. In the UK, for example, one such site is minigallery.co.uk, and there are loads of others, and US equivalents. I think that to sell art online without being listed at those sites (even if one also has one's own sites, to which to direct viewers, as many artists do) is probably putting oneself under a big handicap.

        I suspect that "keyword research" may actually have little to do with this question.
        He put things up on Fine Art America, the one site consistently ranking above him.
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  • Profile picture of the author superboy66
    You can open your own online store, or open an account in some famous B2B website.
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  • Profile picture of the author Rose Anderson
    Has he tried etsy.com?
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    • Profile picture of the author KabirC
      Originally Posted by Rose Anderson View Post

      Has he tried etsy.com?
      Yup, didn't give much success...
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  • Profile picture of the author RandySeet
    Originally Posted by KabirC View Post

    My friend is an artist, his work is extremely cheap but is amazing quality. Where would be the best place to sell his work?
    I believed this is the thread Alexa is referring to:
    http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...rk-online.html

    There are great information and in one of the posts there is a list of resources where you can market the painting.

    Hope it help.

    Yours Sincerely,
    Randy Seet
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