On Selling Art Online

After eight years, today I've closed my shop on Etsy.

Selling my artwork there has been a mixed experience. Originally, I liked having an online shop where people could see my linocut prints, small watercolors, and larger pastels -- it was a simple solution that gave me control over my own sales with a commission much smaller than a gallery, and allowed me to offer custom paintings. I rather enjoyed the process of setting up and maintaining the shop itself. I've been delighted when friends or people unknown to me have purchased a print or painting - but some of them would have done that anyway. I have received several large pastel painting commissions that came to me through Etsy, and I appreciate that. But I've decided that, with rare exceptions, I'd rather not work on commission; I think my days of doing commercial design and art to a client's specifications are pretty much over. As I enter a phase of my life where I have more time for my own artwork, I find I am taking the process itself more seriously, and am gradually loosening those professional-designer ties to a lifetime of commissioned work=financial reward. That's not a particularly easy transition for someone like me who has been fairly successful in business, but it's necessary. I want to follow my own heart, and do the work that comes from myself, for itself. If others find that work beautiful, interesting, or desirable, I will be very gratified, but pleasing others has to change from being the primary goal to something extra. The client, in fact, is now myself.

While I've been pondering these issues for a while, the impetus to actually bail out came from a policy change at Etsy: the online craft site has recently required all of its sellers to switch from PayPal-only payments to allowing credit card payments tied to the seller's bank. PayPal is still allowed, but only if this "Direct Payment" method is also enabled. PayPal has been an extremely secure and professional online "bank" that I've used for many years, both for Phoenicia Publishing and my art sales. I don't think the same is true for Etsy, which is reportedly in some trouble. They've recently extended this deadline from May 17 to the end of May, presumably because not enough of their sellers have made the required changes. When I saw this, I became doubly concerned. Why, in today's climate of internet fraud and hacking attacks, should I give bank account information to Etsy? I could open a single account at a different bank, specifically for this purpose, and keep a small balance there, to protect myself - but is it worth the trouble? I decided it wasn't.

But that's not the only reason. Etsy has become a place where, in my opinion, people look for handmade items that cost less than fifty dollars. I do it myself - I've bought handmade jewelry there, some ceramics and clothing, some craft and textile supplies, and it has been a good source for gifts. But I've increasingly felt that while it is good for crafts, particularly on the "cute" side, it isn't appropriate for serious artists. Etsy does function as a search engine for people who are looking for art with, for example, an Icelandic or Vermont theme - and these people may reach my shop. The stats indicate that they do. But while they might buy a set of cards for $10 or $15, if I offered them, few buy a painting or even a print.

It is difficult enough to be paid for art of any kind now; the internet has convinced people that art and music are free. Is the choice, however, to devalue one's work, or to fit oneself to the market? At this point in life, I don't want to do that; it's really that simple. On the other hand, I feel like I need to do more to help educate people about how to buy art, because for so many people it can be intimidating, as well as why it's good value to spend the cost of a couple of restaurant lunches-with-wine for a print you can live with and enjoy for years, or the price of three lattes on a beautiful edition of a book you can hold in your hands.

It's likely that I'll set up a gallery or some other online presence to show my recent work, but as in blogging/website domains vs. social media, I want to be in control of my own online presence and not follow someone else's rules, or be used for their business plan or data harvesting purposes, and I certainly don't want to put myself at financial risk -- we all need to be extremely vigilant about our passwords and exposure online.

But the bottom line is that I will always love it when people want to live with a piece of my art, which is why I sometimes give work away, too -- it is not, primarily, about the money, but about what feels right and good to me, and how I feel about art in general -- and right now it feels like time for a change. Thank you to everyone here who has supported and encouraged my artwork, as well as the books I publish; they're not going away!

Comments

[Natalie]

I think you made the right decision, Beth. It's essential to outgrow the 'pleasing people' stage, whatever form it takes.

[Roderick Robinson]

So here's a paradox: your work may well improve, even become your best work. But it won't be for sale. And yet the circle of your art is completed when someone acquires it and creates their own relationship with it.

Mind you I sympathise. Art demands huckstering and I tend to think I'm above that. Maybe. But what I write remains unknown. Moral: effort takes different forms.

[Huw]

Beth,

When the web was a little more amateur (in the best way) I used to buy quite a few prints online. I don't so much now, but I hope you find a solution that works for you.

Huw

[Gary]

How has "the internet" convinced people that art and music are free?

[tupelogal]

I think that you've made the right decision. Brava! It's a sign of your artistic growth. I, too, "gave up" commissioned work to spend my time creating artwork for an audience of one . . . me. It's been a game changer.

[Ilaria]

Agree on everything. As a fellow artist, these are some of the reasons why I founded Print Solo: to provide an online outlet for the serious artist printmaker. ( and we use Stripe, a secure payment system )
Check it out: www.printsolo.com

[Beth]

Thanks to all of you who've written. I just felt that Etsy was not the right place for me, and that I needed to cut myself off from that aspect of commercialism for a while. Showing my work on my blog or on Instagram doesn't feel the same, and I'll continue to do that.

Robbie, I'm not saying my work won't be available - some of it is, and will continue to be. I agree with you that the circle is complete when others acquire and live with a work and form a relationship with it, and I don't intend to go into some sort of little enclosed space where it's just me and the work forever! Artwork is a bit different from music and writing, but I have always felt that art of all kinds is meant to be shared with others. Mainly, I don't want to do work on commission anymore, and I don't want to sell my work for less than it is worth, in a venue that feels cheap.

Gary, the internet doesn't convince anyone of anything, that was probably a poor choice of words. But ask any musician, for instance, what has happened to their ability to sell their CDs in the past ten years; ask small book publishers like myself, or bookstores or small record companies. Online retailing by mega-companies like Amazon has undercut all independents, and the ability to view art and movies and download audio for free, or very little, has had a huge impact on artist's abilities to be paid fairly for their work. On the other hand, those of us who promote and sell our work online have the advantage of being able to use the internet ourselves to reach a wider audience, without middlemen controlling the distribution or taking part of the profit. It cuts both ways, and each artist has to decide for themselves how they want to deal with it. If the goal is to share one's work, see other people's work, receive and give feedback and encouragement, and form a sense of creative community, then the internet is a blessing - it certainly has been for me.

Ilaria, I follow you on Instagram and greatly admire what you're doing at Print Solo, and wish you every success with it. As a publisher, it's clear to me how hard you are working to promote the art and artists in a totally respectful way, and to educate the public about prints and buying art. (Having been mainly a commercial designer/illustrator until recently, with a liberal arts degree rather than fine arts, I don't fit enough of your artist guidelines or I'd apply!)

[Ilaria]

Thank you Beth ! Please keep following and all the best for your practice !

[Huw]

Yesterday I went to Tate Modern to see the 'Radical Eye' exhibition before it closes tomorrow, and serendipitously there was an self-publishing (or small print?) book and photography fair (Offprint London) in the turbine hall with maybe a hundred stands. It was a pleasure to browse through them all and come away with a couple of books and a photography pamphlet (?) bought from the people who made or published them. The best of all worlds!
Huw

[Marly Youmans]

Additional thought for Gary: I see pirated copies of my out-of-print books online all the time--they come and go, and I do nothing about them because in the current climate being invisible is more of a problem with writers than any piracy. It may be more of a problem as some currently out-of-print come back into print.

Another thought: Jordan Peterson (U of Toronto psychologist) talks about the problem for the artist (painter, writer, etc.) at the moment being the need for a conjunction of stellar work of art, a network of supportive people, and hitting the market at exactly the right time such a thing is desired. He says that the probability of worldly success is so low that it's better to do something sensible, but that creative people simply can't do that because it's like asking an extrovert to live in a cell, that creative people who are not being creative "just wither and die." So what's the place of the internet in all this? The internet is not exactly that "network of supportive people." It is a more neutral sort of network that doesn't intend to help an artist--and some are more adept at using it than others.

Beth, I have found--as you seem to be finding in various ways--that putting a stop to certain practices is important. I've made both good and bad decisions in that way with writing, I have to admit, but I've been glad to free myself from certain situations.

And I hope this means we'll see your work somewhere in Montreal and also somewhere near your childhood home. Maybe the Earlville Opera House gallery? I would love to drive over for that!