Know the Competition When Selling Your Art on the Internet

Image by cinnablythe via Flickr

by Leigh-Ann Lemire

Knowing what your competition is actually doing is beneficial when it comes to selling your art on the internet.

Corruption in the art world and making a profit off of the hard work of artists is not a new subject. Artists copying the works of famous painters, including the signatures and then selling the works for a huge profit and factory hand painted art are just a few of the things your "competition" is up to that you need to watch out for.

An Imitator Selling for Less

Some years back, I knew a very talented artist that sold his art in an area for artists to sell at the ocean in Southern California. His style was western art that was textured and colorful with incredible sunsets and lighting. It went with any decor at home or in a business. He sold a lot, had repeat customers and referrals.

The area had many artists with booths. One of the regular artists saw the success of the western style painter. Instead of staying true to himself, he copied the work of the other - it didn't look as good. To make matters worse, he set his prices lower and took away business from the western style artist.

You can find the same thing now occurring online. Spend a while each week to look at what other artists are doing to ensure that you are not being copied. When describing your art, be sure to mention that it is original and that you have painted in the same style for a number of years.

Factory Produced Original Art

There are assembly lines of people that have one part of a painting to do before sending it on the conveyor belt to the next person who adds his part. The "artists" are trained to rapidly paint a certain part of a painting. The entire painting is done within a matter of a couple minutes.

You may find the most incredible huge painting that is framed for less than a hundred dollars - something just isn't right with that. A real artist is unable to purchase the supplies such as canvas and paints for the price the mass produced painting is sold for.

When you next see a seemingly gorgeous piece of art that is being sold for an extremely low price, you can guess it is created by the competition as above.

The Make a Buck Off Art People

I recently read an artist on how to sell art online thinking that there were going to be tips for artists to sell their works. The article was not about helping artists, it was about exploiting artists to make a living. It went into how to find cheap art and then sell it for a profit. It outlined how to find art at auctions, tag sales, thrift shops and other places. The article went on to say how it was more profitable to get paintings that were signed as you can get more money that way.

The article writer explained in detail how to take advantage of artists for your own profit. When selling your own paintings and creations, be sure to mention that it is an original painting that you created. Say that you are an artist that is selling your art to make a living.

Cut Rate Pricing

While researching, I found an original artist selling his works on eBay. For an artist, eBay has a huge amount of competition from low prices to the quantity available. Then there is the competition from the sellers of art that are explained earlier in this article.

This artist made sales but not in a way that would help him to stay in business. One of his auctions was for a matching set of three paintings. He did as his competitors did and put free shipping on the auction. The auction started at a ridiculously low price and ended at $150. For the size of the canvas and supplies - even if he got them at wholesale, plus pay for the shipping, the artist did not make any money. He didn't get any payment for his time. This artist in business was creating a "losing" instead of a living with his art.

Point out what is good, special and original with your art and forget about attempting to keep up with the competition. Know what your competition is doing, but don't do the same. You are your own real asset because you are authentic, original artist - you are very valuable.

About the Author:
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