18 Tips on How to Sell Your Art on eBay
EBay is ONE way artists can start selling their artwork online and get instant exposure to art buyers around the world. However, as more and more artists are selling their artwork on eBay, the competition has become fierce. With over 60,000 works of art currently being sold directly by artists on eBay, it can seem like your artwork disappears into the abyss.
Below, I share my tips and tricks on how I sell my paintings on eBay. For a view of my own eBay listings, please visit my eBay store.
- Take at least 2 or 3 clear photos of your art. Include a picture of the front, side(s) and back of the artwork. If there’s a lot of detail in the piece, take close-up pictures.
- Make sure that the background of your photos is attractive to the eye! You don’t want to take a picture of your artwork next to an opened garbage can. Image is everything, especially in the art world!
- I definitely recommend that you select the “Gallery Plus” option (US$0.35) when listing your art. This is your first chance to impress buyers when they’re browsing for art.
- Write A LOT of information about the artwork, but keep your eBay listing organized. You want the buyer to be able to find information quickly and easily. Information to include:
- Title of the artwork
- Artist’s name
- Year
- Size of the artwork
- Weight of the artwork (optional)
- Medium used
- A description of the piece (may include which country the artwork was made, its condition, whether its an original piece, if a certificate of authenticity is included, etc.)
- Colors (Here I always include: “Colors of painting are represented as accurately as possible, although colors may vary from monitor to monitor”.
- Shipping & Handling (Include delivery times to different countries if possible.)
- Discounts available (optional)
- Sales Tax (if applicable)
- Payment information
- Refund Policy
- The only way eBay buyers are allowed to pay sellers is through PayPal. Make sure you have your PayPal Business or Premier account all set up BEFORE listing anything on eBay. My advice is to sign up for a PayPal account now.
- Definitely create an About Me page. This is where you should tell people who you are! Telling eBayers about yourself makes them more likely to trust you. Also, the About Me page is the only place you’re allowed to link to your website(s). So, take advantage of it!!
- Feedback on eBay is one of the most important ways for people to see if you’re trustworthy. If you don’t have any feedback, I suggest that you buy 10 small things on eBay. Not only will you get feedback, you’ll also get to experience how eBay works.
- I always leave feedback for the buyers, but I never ask buyers for feedback. If they want to give you feedback, they’ll leave it.
- Try to ship the artwork within 2 business days of receiving complete payment. Never ship your artwork without being paid first.
- After the buyer has won an auction (or used the Buy It Now option), send an email to thank them and to let them know that you’re there to answer any questions they may have. Opening the lines of communication right away makes the buyer feel like they can come to you with any question or problem they may have about paying and receiving the artwork. This decreases your chance of getting negative feedback posted on eBay.
- Reply to a buyer’s email ASAP. (I try to reply to my art buyers’ emails within 12 hours). Excellent customer service is one of the best ways to get an eBay buyer to come back and buy more of your artwork in the future. Also, it increases the chance that the buyer will refer you to family and friends.
- If you’ve tried all of the above and you’re still not getting traffic to your listings, try a 99¢ auction with a reserve price.
- The more artwork you list on eBay at one time, the better the chance of someone “bumping” into one of your listings and finding out who you are as an artist.
- In each listing, put an image (or image gallery banner) of all your other works of art. If an eBay buyer doesn’t want to buy the art in that particular listing, they might see another piece they would like to buy.
- Get an eBay store. I personally like the basic subscription, which is only US$15.95/month. An eBay store will provide you with a mailing list. USE THIS FEATURE! It’s an easy way to remind people of how fabulous your art is. You don’t even have to write anything, just present beautiful pictures of your artwork! Inspire their eyes and their souls.
- Try using social networking sites such as twitter, facebook and youtube.
- Have an blog with a link to your eBay store. The more content you put out on the Internet, the better your chances of getting new visitors from search engines such as Google.
- Last, but not least…. Create a niche. Sell artwork that is unique and different from the rest of the artists on eBay. For example, my niche is selling contemporary Japanese calligraphy paintings. A niche is probably one of the hardest things to come up with, but it is definitely the thing that helps me out the most as an eBay seller.
Here’s a video about The Unconventional Guide to Art and Money; by one of the authors, Chris Guillebeau.
“If you have a friend that dreams of one day becoming a full-time artist, think about buying them this guide. It would be such a great gift! I mean really… what better gift than to give your loved ones inspiration and knowledge in how to pursue their dream job? Seriously, name me one gift better than that.” – Soniei, Full-Time Contemporary Artist
Buy The Unconventional Guide to Art and Money!
Tags: Artist Tips, eBay
October 11th, 2009 at 11:37 pm
Thanks for the great information!
I think that much of this advice applies to selling art on the web in general, not just selling on eBay. Since I am just starting out peddling my art (re-starting, since I used to word-of-mouth sell portraits), I will be putting most of these tips to use, just on my website instead of my eBay page.
I’m going to keep this page bookmarked, however, so that I can refer back to it as I venture onto eBay.
October 25th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
[...] Her whole site is great; very professional without being sterile. Her blog has useful articles like 18 Tips on How to Sell Your Art on eBay. [...]
November 10th, 2009 at 7:18 pm
I agree with Matthew above, this advice can be applied to selling art online full stop! Great information, thank you.
I have subscribed to your blog it is fabulous just like your work.
Best
Adelaide
January 4th, 2010 at 3:55 pm
I like the post. Thanks, it was a real help.
January 27th, 2010 at 6:10 pm
Hi Soniei,
First I’d like to tell you I like your paintings, we have a similar style sometimes. I love anything Asian and your works are beautiful.
Regarding your post, I feel like eBay is dead. I used to have a vibrant eBay shop and auctions every week (ebay ID oneofakindmosaics), sold tons of art on it. With every ‘upgrade’ eBay rolled out, the site got worse, more complicated to list items, more disconnects (where all my hard work is erased while inputting my listings, where I have to re-upload all images, etc). On top of that the fees got more and more exorbitant. eBay will have to work hard to win me back and I’m doing much better on my own.
Just to get any hits you have to pay for a featured item, it’s just not worth it anymore with all the people listing things for $1. There is a very small select amount of people who are successful selling art on eBay but they are a very small minority.
When you look at how high the fees are to sell there it’s not worth it. I used to be a silver powerseller and my fees were almost 1/2 of my overall profit after you take into account the upgrades and re-lists.
I wish they went back to about 5-7 years ago when listing something was simpler, when they still had traffic, and the fees were more economical.
What do you think? I don’t see you selling that much on eBay anymore either.
Nathalie.
February 24th, 2010 at 3:36 pm
I hear ya! I find it’s hard to sell art anywhere since the economy collapsed in September 2008. Do you still sell art online? If so, where? I hear that eBay is lowering their fees this spring. It’ll be interesting to see by how much. I did find eBay was dead for a long while, but this month it’s actually been picking up for me again… for the first time in almost 2 years. =D I also just started listing on Etsy, so I’m curious to see how that will go. So far, I’m having better luck with eBay (I sold a several paintings this week) but I’m not having any luck with Etsy just yet. Maybe it’s because I’m just starting out and people haven’t found me on there yet. Who knows. lol It’s a guessing game sometimes.
March 1st, 2010 at 4:42 pm
Hi Soniei,
I relate to what you’re saying. I’m an artist who is trying out what works, what doesn’t in the pursuit of making a living off your art. I’ve tried Ebay and did sell some work, but not for much, mostly because it didn’t have a feeding frenzy like I hoped for. I recently took an Etsy class and learned how great the potential is for that site. No auctions, a community of artists, low fees, and up to 5 thumbnails per image. I just opened it over a week ago, but I like the potential it has. I also sold several prints of churches through a print site called “Fine Art America” ( you can find both of my stores on my website to see what I mean). I would like to have a niche, and I’m still experimenting. But your site and work inspire me, so that’s why I decided to write back. It gives me hope that artists like yourself can do what you love on your own terms.