As an artist, you've probably already realized that the "creative" end of your profession is handled. It's the "marketing" of your work that is the challenge! In a previous article, I covered some of the key points of traditional Artist Marketing through participating in Art Shows and Festivals. This article will cover one online approach to marketing your work -- Selling on Ebay.

As a venue for selling Art, ebay is a much debated issue. Some artists say that ebay
devalues an artist's work and that one should never sell their work on ebay. This is
certainly a valid opinion -- a large percentage of ebay buyers are looking for
bargains. That being said, here is another way to look at it: selling work on ebay to
obtain exposure and advertising of one's work, along with making sales. Let's face
it, there is no way to get around the fact that MILLIONS of people visit ebay everyday
with the express intent of SHOPPING. It is unlikely that any other online site for
marketing artwork will generate that volume of traffic.

A few years ago, before many artists entered the ebay marketplace, competition was
light and making money on ebay a bit easier. Presently, ebay has grown to the point
where jumping in and making a living selling your art exclusively on ebay would be
challenging at best. If you can approach ebay as part of a comprehensive marketing
strategy, as opposed to "putting all of your eggs in one basket," the ebay experience
can be quite valuable.

As far as selling prices go, yes, often times ebay prices are below other markets. If
this bothers you, stop now -- ebay may be a waste of your time. However, if you
don't mind having some pieces sell for less than average, the ebay experience can
simply mean well spent advertising dollars in addition to income. And what about
those customers who paid full price for your work? Business is business. Your
response, should they ask, can be that you dedicate a limited number of pieces to
auction for advertising purposes. (Countless artists have donated their work to
fundraisers, with zero input on the final selling price.) If you are going to "protect"
the value of your work, you have to market it...

The actual "how to" of listing items on ebay is quite simple, though time consuming.
There is no need for a "how to lesson" here, as every aspect of the ebay selling
process is explained through onsite links to additional information. Any questions
you have about fees, guidleines, etc. can be found right on ebay with a little
patience.

The "philosophy" of the approach is up to you. I will suggest some guidelines for
making ebay part of your over all marketing plan:

If you already have your own website, or plan to start one, great. Ebay can be used
as a method for getting people to your main site. While you can't advertise your
website on an auction page, you can mention your site in the "About Me" section of
your Seller Preferences. Also, you can mention your site in correspondence email to
anyone who contacts you through ebay or wins one of your listed items. Ebay is
quite particular about Sellers advertising other websites (ebay would of course
prefer that all business transact through them!) so make sure to exercise care and
only respond to those who contact you first. (See the ebay User Agreement for
details.)

If you don't maintain your own website, or even if you do, you may want to consider
opening an ebay store. It's relatively inexpensive, with basic stores starting at
$15.95/month, you can list as many items as you like in the store. Listing fees for
store items are far less than listing fees for auction items. Of course, there is a
catch -- only auction items show up at the top of a search when folks go looking for
items to buy. So, your store items will seldom be found by the average shopper.
However, you can advertise your store on your ebay auction pages. So one
approach is to continually keep several items up for auction, and loudly declare that
you have many more available in your ebay store (active links to your store help!)
Also, you will find that after items have been in your store for a period of time, they
may be indexed on Google and Froogle! Given the intense competition for site
ranking on Google, an ebay store is a great way to get your work out there to be
seen.

It probably goes without saying that you will need to post a picture of your artwork,
and that image quality is very important. Try to avoid sitting your painting or
sculpture on the sofa and just snapping a picture. Well displayed and well lit images
will help a great deal. Also, you will need to consider how you plan to ship the item
before listing it. Ebay will require you to enter shipping options and pricing that you
plan to offer to the winning bidder. You will also need to decide if you are willing to
ship internationally or to US-only destinations.

A final note on listing your items, whether at auction or in an ebay store: remember
to chose quality keywords! This is most important in the Title line of your item.
Put yourself in the buyer's shoes. Few people are probably looking for "Look at this
very pretty view of flowers in a vase." A much better title, littered with popular
search words, might be: "Floral Painting, Still Life, Art Print, Limited Edition." Ebay
provides a list of popular Keywords to assist in your homework.

One great way to prepare yourself for entering the ebay market is to BUY something
on ebay! In this case, try buying a piece of art. This will give you experience from
the Shoppers perspective on searching, bidding and winning an item. You can use
your likes and dislikes of your experience to create a plan all your own!