Over the past few years the practise of selling art online has become increasingly popular as sellers have found the online marketplace as competitive and profitable as the traditional bricks and mortar one. Of course, the primary reason why it is so much cheaper selling fine art online is that in the virtual world your picture doesn’t take up any physical space hanging in a gallery, so a part of its sale price doesn’t go towards subsidising the rent or paying the gallery staff. And galleries are naturally restricted to traditional opening hours and dependant upon reputation, word of mouth, customer loyalty, marketing campaigns and the passer-by on the street, whereas your online presence reaches a global audience twenty four hours a day every day of the week, including weekends and bank holidays! So you not only save money by cutting out the middle man, but you can also reach a global audience of art collectors and enthusiasts.
However, as with all things in life, some methods of selling online are more successful than others. To start off with it is advisable to learn as much as you can about the art you intend to sell in advance, including determining its provenance and historical significance. Look into the circumstances surrounding its creation. Was the year in which it was produced a particularly significant one in the artist’s life, or did the subject matter hold any special importance for them? Is there any additional documentation about the art, such as it being mentioned in the artist’s correspondence or meriting special comment in a contemporary exhibition? And if the piece of art was not produced by a well known artist, is it emblematic of a particular school or period, or does it depict an event or location of especial historical significance? Perhaps it could attract a niche interest, such as classic car enthusiasts or mountaineers or lovers of the French countryside. It is important to identify anything about the artwork that could be a selling point and is worthy of mention in the description, because any or all of them might be the deciding factor that sells it, in addition to being a guide as to how much it should be priced at.
Next: >> Guide to Selling Fine Art - (Part 2)
