So here we are, the best sales month of the year for those of you who sell, get your listings out there in the world wide web (www)!!!
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| Value sets, great trick for the holiday bargain shoppers! |
This year I have three shops open and so far the sales in September are up, well in two of them. Listed below with a tiny review of each in case you're thinking of taking the ecommerce plunge. No reason not to, really, good way to empty out those flat file drawers.
A couple of tips or three:
- Research the online hand-pulled prints world, search for woodcuts, see prices, see how others list, study the store's policies, etc.
- Branding is important so make sure your shop's name is same/similar across the web.
- Take decent photos, describe well, have good store policies, give great customer service.
- Promoting is key, the minute you take your foot off the accelerator, sales stop. Tend to your shops, promote items, have sales, change things around, chat in forums, post in social networks, blog, as much as you can stomach.
- Be ready for ups, downs and below downs, such is the world of sales. And while you're at it, develop a tolerance for scammers, unscrupulous fellow sellers, and other web trolls.
- Have fun, nothing in art life is doing if it isn't at least a little fun. Find your fit, it's different for everyone.
EBay, the selling place everyone loves to hate:
http://stores.ebay.com/1000woodcuts
By far my best seller, the worst customers, most stressful, easiest to post items, easiest to maintain, most features, did I mention worst customers? Anyhow, eBay is definitely not for the faint of heart but my art sells consistently, who knew? And they have a great free little listing tool that I use as a database for all my other shops, shhhh...
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| Engravings are great sellers, priced right! |
Etsy, the selling place everyone loves to love:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/1000woodcuts
Really much improved over the years, still 1 to 10 the sales to the 'bay but geez, nice people there, huh? Not exactly efficient listing but easy enough, features improving all the time as is traffic. Sales solid this year.
If you chat, feature, build treasuries, send convos and socialize more you sell more. Love that Etsy jargon! Sigh.
ArtFire, the new kid:
http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/studio/1000Woodcuts Just reopened, had zero sales last time but it's an easy import from Etsy items so what the hey! Kind of quirky but they all are really. Good looking studio, more features than last time I was there. Connect to a Facebook Kiosk, good feature. We'll see...
Others I have tried:
RubyLane, much pricier to own a piece of the lane, but higher quality items so if you sell on the high end, go wild there. No sales in a year so I dumped it but maybe I wasn't a good fit. The cheaper sister RubyPlaza did so poorly that it closed.
Bonanza, easy enough, friendly enough, no sales in a year but lots of featuring and all that stuff. Eventually overtaken by cheap repros so I dumped it too.
Anyhow, 'tis the season!
