Selling prints, paypal and more...

shifty_uk

shifty_uk

shifty_uk

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After my previous threads and a load of feedback from you lot agencies and other boards, I'm still looking into developing a line of art prints to be sold online in limited quantities to earn money as I continue studying.

I've looked through the various online art sellers and can't find a single one that offers a reasonable commission? I have however contacted a local printer who will print these pieces in any desired quantity for a reasonable price.

Next step, store front: There's no point buying or developing an e-commerce system for this but I do have a paypal account. I was thinking along the lines of, if interested, contact me and arrange payment via email and paypal? Any opinions on this? I'm not getting ahead of myself but I'd rather not have to deal with ever growing orders being placed at random, this would keep things 'limited' and manageable, imo. Gaining trust may also be an issue?

I'm after any general advice you lot could offer, I'm sure there's a few experienced buyers/sellers on these boards. It would be greatly appreciated.

Lastly, as for my work, is there any particular style of painting or drawing from the things I've produced so far that you could see on a wall in a house or establishment :)

Apologies for the wall of text!
 
You just need an E-Commerce Package and set the desired stock level for each print then once they are sold out they cannot be ordered.

Just get an entry level hosting package if you don't have one already (Vidahost or TSOhost will be perfect)

Then install OpenCart which is free from here: http://www.opencart.com/

This is probably the best (and easiest) way to keep track of orders etc. Opencart will work fine with paypal too :)
 
Thanks for both suggestions. I had contemplated oscommerce, hadn't heard of opencart!

The demonstrations available on both websites give a pretty complex shop interface. I was thinking something more along the lines of my own website, display a list of work, prices and some relatively indepth information on ordering and whatnot at the bottom of the page.

How easy would it be to customise both these systems? I have had a look at theme extensions for both and they remain fairly complex in terms of interface.

:)
 
I personally find OSCommerce's code to be really bloated and dated so not really spent much time using it.

OpenCart is more lightweight and easy to customise for me, it all template driven so very easy. Also all the sidebar boxes and featured products boxes are just modules so can be just switched off in the Admin CP.
 
Fantastic, I might give that a go and install it. Greatly appreciate the suggestion.

I presume you simply choose paypal as the payment process and away you go? :)
 
shifty_uk said:
Fantastic, I might give that a go and install it. Greatly appreciate the suggestion.

I presume you simply choose paypal as the payment process and away you go? :)
Click to expand...

Yep just select paypal as the payment gateway and your sorted. There is even a Test gateway you can use while setting up the store so you can do test orders and get a feel for the system :)

If you get stuck let me know, I have a test install of opencart running so should be able to answer most questions. They also have a good support forum on their site.
 
The other option is to use Gallery2. It has an easy to use paypal cart system and using one of the themes you can very easily integrate it into a site. There is also an option to order without paying, letting you choose how they finalise the order*.

I do something similar (see http://wildaboutlife.net ) and it seems ok... However I doubt you will be over run with orders unless you publicise massively so I wouldn't worry about that... :(

I thought of using one of those already mentioned but they are way too heavy for what I think you want tbh.

*I have the option to "pay on collection", they choose the print and then go through the checkout, choose pay on collection and then fill out the form with all their info (email, phone, address etc). That gets emailed to me and then I go around sorting it out. At least that's the theory. It's only been up a couple of weeks and it hasn't been used yet.
 
Apologies for ignoring the thread, I've been trying out the suggested options. :)

@Amp: Those are some expensive prints you have there, no orders unfortunately? What methods do you use for printing? Do you have a ready made batch of prints available for shipping? Or, do you print on demand? Are they digitally printed? :)

@sist_si: Thanks, I completely forgot bigcartel, it seems they have the whole package I'd be after for a minimal fee, which is awesome. I've signed up and may opt to use that when I get everything sorted.

Problem is, people keep telling me to try selling but fail to specifically state exactly which artwork catches their attention or would even sell? My work on my site is varied, from science fiction scenes and knights right out of my head to figure studies and abstracts. Any opinions from you lot? :)

I don't want to print and have a load of copies I can't shift. It's expensive, with an initial file handling charge, printing, postage, packaging and of course the website. This doesn't even include labour.
 
I'm going for the ltd edition "fine art" style instead of sell em cheap and in bulk style really. Expensive frame and high quality print (digital photos printed with a high quality professional printer, not just an inkjet printer or Tesco). In conjunction with that (and the important bit) i'm going to display a few example framed shots in local restaurants etc. so people see them and then head to the website to buy.

I've spoken to a framer that is willing to sell individual frames at trade price and I'll probably order just a couple or so prints every order, means other than those on display I won't have a lot of "stock" lying around costing money. The good thing about prints is that they cost peanuts (relatively), it's the mounts and frames that are the major expense for me.

I very much doubt there will be many people (whatever the price) that will just stumble across the website and buy, which is something you need to think about too. How are you going to advertise the site? No one is going to just buy from an unknown website so you need to get your work known, best way for prints/drawings is to get them in exhibitions or in shops/cafes in your local area.
 
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