How Does Fine Art America Work For You?

I use this site for the interaction with other artist, for the web site and the search ranking. Could care less about selling prints.

Reality is that there are.....

"Hundreds of thousands of artists and photographers have uploaded million of images to FineArtAmerica.com - with thousands of new members and images being added each week."

You have to have realistic expectations and be willing to put in the time and effort to get noticed. Plus obviously a lot depends on how much the market wants your work.

It has helped me in selling a few prints here and there and also has enabled a few collectors to find me resulting in sales of original oil paintings. It has helped me "better" my social, painting and advertising skills. Fine Art America gives what you are willing to put into it. You can not just slap your work here and expect to sell, you have to do the groundwork so to speak.

I've been selling a few here and there since I joined a year and a half ago but it doesn't come close to funding my hobby, nor does it cover all the time I spend editing and uploading. It would be nice if it did but I never expected that it would and I'd keep at it even if I knew I'd never make a sale because the practice helps me improve my work and I learn a lot from others here.

I'm here to sell my art. I discovered a love of abstract and found this site via utube. I've only sold one large print so far hopefully that will increase as time goes on.

I have sold a few originals from here. I have also sold two prints. Mostly its' a place to store a record of my work and to collaborate and meet other fellow artists. I sell more of my art from art shows, word of mouth and through facebook than any other method. It's too hard to promote yourself amongst millions of other pieces on FAA. It's simply too large. But it's fun and keeps me motivated so I guess it's one big fat motivational tool.

I guess I should answer the questions....

Why did you join Fine Art America - to sell my artwork.

and how does it work for you? Rather well after years of marketing, artistic development and hard work.

Do you just use it as a way of displaying your work or does it really work when it comes to selling prints etc.? I use it to display lots of non-selling works as well as ones that sell

.....

The pattern you see over and over is this...

Someone gets excited by the possibility of selling their unique artwork.

They open an account put up a few images and then pepper the forum with lots of questions.

Then you don't hear from them again.

After a few months of not seeing a sale, they get bored and move on to the next thing.

There must be a tremendous amount of churn on these POD sites. Creating a business against the odds is not a sprint but a marathon.

It works well for me...I had low expectations when I joined 14 months ago. I just hoped that I would sell enough to pay the $30. I really wanted a place that made great prints that I could order for myself online and also be there whenever anyone asked me if I sell my work anywhere. I had business cards made for the same reason, shout out to moo.com and started posting on fb, twitter, pinterest.
My first sale came 5 months into it from somebody on the other side of the country...a fan of the coast guard I guess found my CG boats in a search, 5 months later someone in Canada bought a print of my Orcas photo, two weeks later I posted a photo of a beautiful moonset during the supermoon with the canal entrance to our community framing the shot on my fb feed and a neighbor ordered one as a 36 in canvas, faa did such a great job on her big canvas that when I gave her a cd full of shots I took of her dog and granddog while I was taking care of the pups she asked if faa could make a canvas print as a gift to her son instead of just taking the cd to costco. I assurred her there was no reason to do this for me as I don't need to make profit off the the shot of her son's pup but she was impressed with the quality of her canvas print and she wanted the best for her son's gift so I posted it and put a $1 markup on it she ordered it from here. That brought me up to 4 sales and two weeks later I sold another shot of that CG boat that started it all.
I've been in a major slump for 3 months with lots of views and no sales so if you want to help out go here http://bob-vondrachek.artistwebsites.com
Discounts available for fellow faa artists.

I use faa to warehouse all of my images so as not to clog up my real site.
I also love the good google ranking.I
I depend on original painting sales, so any print sales from here is a bonus over and above the two mentioned reasons.
oh yeah, the discussions are very entertaining. ;)

I joined FAA to view the work of others. I don't expect to sell an original on FAA...not the right market. Otherwise, so far so good.

"Why did you join Fine Art America and how does it work for you? Do you just use it as a way of displaying your work or does it really work when it comes to selling prints etc.? "

I've had my own website for years to sell my event and stock photography, as well as post cards and brochrues, however, the internet the past few years has really changed the photography business. So when I was looking to convert my website into an online storefront the business model of FAA is everything I was looking for and more. So, I over time shut down my website and do it here and through my WordPress blog mostly.

I love it here! I have been here since November and wish I had joined much sooner.

I initially joined to test the waters with selling prints, but gained so much more through interactions with other artists. I also use this site to let potential clients view my previous work before they commission artwork from me. The latest commission came in mid last week (and yes, she checked my FAA website before committing herself).

All good :)

i went in because it was another place to sell at and at the time they were paying by check, or i never would have or could have joined. i wish more would pay that way. in any case, it works fine for me, but you still have to push your work and the work can't just be good, it has to be unique and interesting.


---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

After modest, but steady, sales on FAA, the bottom fell out and I haven't had a sale in four months. I also use it as a way to market my work for freelance jobs unrelated to FAA. I got a freelance photo/writing assignment by using my FAA site as an introduction to my work. Can't beat $30 a year for a professional-looking web site and all you need is a couple of sales a year to pay for it. I got business cards with my FAA web address through VistaPrint that I hand out when seeking jobs. I had hopes that this would provide a small, steady income to supplement my eventual retirement, but that doesn't look realistic at this point.

Does nicely for me. I also sell through other channels (physical galleries, online retail outlets), and FAA is one of my top income producers.

You have to do the work to market it, though. It won't happen organically.

I use FAA as an online portfolio that has the added benefit of fulfilling any orders I may get.

I joined FAA as a place to share my photography and sell my work. I've been here for a bit over a year and a half and have made enough sales to make it well worth the time I've put into it. The quality of FAA's products is excellent, and the site is easy to use. For me, it's a great place to be!