Originally posted by jatrax I have sold on Etsy, Amazon, Zenfolio and Fine Art America.
Etsy requires you to jump through hoops unless you actually make the print yourself. They consider you using a photo lab as a commercial act. Sold OK for a while but as Etsy changed my sales dwindled. Still a viable platform if you do all your own marketing and printing.
Amazon Homemade is Amazon's answer to Etsy. Dealing with Amazon is a little frustrating unless you have really good computer skills. They have a long list of specifications and if you do something like put too many characters in a listing it gets dropped from the search. Again you will need to do your own marketing. Sales have been OK there but be prepared to put a lot of work into getting listings up and maintaining them.
Zenfolio is a nice professional portfolio site. See mine here:
www.zigzagmtart.com Sales have been almost non-existent but I use them for printing things I sell elsewhere so its worth it to have the site for that alone. If I sell something locally or through Amazon or Etsy I just place the order at Zenfolio and they drop ship it to the customer.
Fine Art America advertises themselves as the largest online art site. I suppose they are but that also means you will get lost in the giant bucket of 'art' being sold there. Still it costs only $30 per year and some people I know do very well there. I have not sold much but then I never put a lot of work into promoting that platform either.
There is also Red Bubble which I do sell at occasionally.
And also there is Art Storefronts which I have no experience with. I'm on their email list and they are constantly sending me updates and promos trying to get me to try them. Maybe someday I will.
I think stock photo sites are no longer worth the effort. I have over 10,000 images on stock sites and it generates no more than $300 per month these days. It was a good business while it lasted but the sheer volume of images in those catalogs means you will be unlikely to ever recover your cost of uploading. The only site I still upload to is Alamy. Sales are infrequent but the returns are better than the micro-sites.
Most of my fine art sales have been from local art markets and galleries. Which is also a lot of time and work. Before COVID we did up to 12 shows per year. I am still booked for one this year but its not certain it will actually go forward.
I have a friend who is a Facebook guru. He loves the platform and really knows his way around it. He gets very good and consistent sales from his FaceBook postings. Better than I get from all of my online markets together. But he has the skills to use the platform and make it work for him.
Bottom line any of the above platforms (and others) will work if you put in the time to learn how. If you expect to put up your portfolio and make sales without extensive marketing and promotion please just forget it and don't waste your time and money. Online selling is very hard work and very time consuming. If you treat it as a business and put the effort into it then you can make money. Otherwise you will just have a nice website and no sales,
... carrying from I posted earlier and what jatrax says: I also, tried Etsy, used Facebook marketing tools and Alamy. Again, my thoughts are that so many of these outlets for photographers are now swamped with quality work the rewards are just too small.
If you consider physical sales:
About 4 years ago when I was selling well at shows/exhibitions I was enjoying the work. Then it started to change. I maintained great engagement with potential customers, but many now wanted to know how/where I produced the shots, equipment & printing advice etc. I would hear comments about them being able to do that with their 5D etc., ignoring the fact that the printing, framing and willingness to drag myself up in the middle of the night time and again, was likely to thwart their ambitions.
The best sales where from the quality, invitation exhibitions and the somewhat off the wall shows, eg agricultural shows where I was alongside tractors, equestrian and cattle products - the take-down and cleanups were often very messy. (A friend has done well at bird watchers shows selling botanical and abstract prints.) I think this is because customers saw our work with fresh eyes and there weren't any jewellery stands. Beware the small item stands!!! With a fixed amount of cash in their pockets (probably) and their walls already decorated, customers find it easier to buy another piece of jewellery to be lost in a drawer.
High end, invite only events were profitable. Fewer visitors, but they had different budgets and probably bigger walls too. I once sold 4 A1 framed prints to one customer as well as other smaller items.
Be prepared for wet days, hot days, windy days, sporting events too. I had one event (an outdoor gardening event which had 10s of thousands of visitors normally over several days). The set-up was in the high 30 centigrade under canvas - steamy. The first day in rained continuously as the heatwave ended. On the second day a gale blew so hard the event was cancelled as items were being launched into the air. The rain meant the few visitors who'd braved it, huddled together in the marquees - after shaking their wet umbrellas and coats. The windy day was just deserted. Just imagine how long it took to clear up from that event and how much stock I lost.
So sales on-line can work, but I doubt many will manage to establish themselves just by this route nowadays. The hard graft of targeted events where the customer profile and competition is fully understood, can, I suggest, return recent rewards, but beware the 5Ders, the jewellery makers and the weather.
Finally, the monetary value of sales is not just the only reward. Shows can be fun. Interactions with customers and other exhibitors, who were mostly very appreciative and supportive, is a great boost. It gives purpose to the snapping, buys equipment and is very fulfilling. When commissions are taken and quality exhibition organisers make approaches, this is the icing on the cake.
Perhaps don't give up the day job ...