How to Overcome the Difficulties of Selling Physical Art

Artists in the past had difficulties selling their work and few could make a full-time living from it. Today there are many more options open to artists. They can create an online presence and allow customers to buy their art in various different forms. 

People love to own and display artwork. However, there are various difficulties that come with trying to sell physical art. For a start, you need a place to store your artworks and this can be expensive if they are large in scale. If you want to sell physical artwork by marketing it online, setting the right prices and shipping them to clients can be an intimidating process. Here are some of the challenges of selling physical art and how to overcome them. 

You need to store physical art

If you sell physical art, you will have to keep it somewhere. Large-scale artwork can take up plenty of space. You may have to rent space for your artworks and then there’s always the problem of sitting with them if they don’t sell. 

One of the solutions is to find out how to make prints of your art as making art prints gives you the option of selling the same work over and over again. If you use print-on-demand services, you only need to produce a physical print when a customer places an order. This means you don’t need to rent space to store inventory or sit with stock that doesn’t sell. The company will take care of printing, packaging and shipping for you.

Deciding on the right price is difficult

When selling physical art, deciding on the right price can be difficult. You need to take your time, material costs and other factors into account. At the same time, you need your prices to be competitive or you may battle to sell. If you already have a name for yourself as an artist, people will be prepared to pay higher prices for your art. 

If you sell unlimited prints of your art, you will be able to sell them at lower prices, and more people will be able to afford them. Transferring your work to physical products like mugs or clothing also gives you more items to sell at a reasonable cost. You can also sell limited edition prints of your artwork with your signature at a higher cost. 

Delivery on time can be an issue 

Digital art is immediately available for download whereas physical art can take time to reach its destination. There are various problems that can prevent physical art from reaching its destination on time and in good condition. Shipping physical artwork is also expensive, and the prices are increasing all the time. It helps if you can produce and ship physical items in close proximity to clients to reduce shipping times and costs. 

If you choose a reliable print-on-demand service, you can deliver art prints and transfer your art to many different physical products, such as phone cases, stationery, mugs or t-shirts. The company will deliver them to clients quickly and make sure they arrive in good condition. 

There’s lots of competition

If you want to sell physical art today, you have a great deal of competition. Selling your art online exposes it to a much wider audience. There are various platforms available where you can sell your art. They will take commission, but you will have access to the customers already using the platform. 

Setting up a store on a platform like Etsy isn’t that difficult, and it has a very wide customer base. It is harder to set up a website with your own online gallery, but this gives you control over your own work, and you won’t have to share your profits or compete by lowering your prices. 

Conclusion

Artists, fortunately, have many ways to make a living from art today. They can create digital images for potential buyers to see. Once a customer places an order, they can use print-on-demand services to make prints, package them and ship them. They can also print their art on other items such as t-shirts, mugs etc. to bring in more money. Anyone from all over the world can see the images online and place an order.