Need advice on web gallery/store please.

[paintingsbydonna]

Need some info please. I've been considering opening a website hosted somewhere on the web, where I can sell my paintings, have a paypal shopping cart, and not have to share so much of my profits. 1. Does anyone have such a store, or have you had one. 2. What are the pros and cons. 3. Where would you suggest such a place be hosted. If you have experience you wouldn't mind sharing, it might keep me from reinventing the wheel. Thanks in advance for any comments. (Jillian if this type of discussion isn't "allowed" please feel free to delete this thread.) THANKS ~ Donna

[poozybear]

It's allowed, as long as we don't link to sites that have art for sale. I have a domain that has yet to be turned into an actual site, so I can't be of much help with this one. Right now I use the site for image hosting, and will get to the rest when I have time. Get it, when I have time! :^O A lot of people sell their art directly from their blogs. You have to do a lot of social networking to steer people there, but it can be done. You can have a PayPal shopping cart from a blog. It can be done. As for actual web hosting, I wouldn't know where to begin. There are quite a few free sites, and others where you pay a fee. Be warned with free sites: once they become popular they might end up charging. I first started on Yahoo when they had the free Geocities pages. Then they closed the free area and started charging $4.95 a month for basic service, or $12.95 a month for the better-than-basic service. So if it sounds too good to be true, it just might be. That said, if you plan on selling from the site, a small monthly fee can be easily offset by your profits. -- Kathy

[lottatalent]

I do see a lot of people selling their art on their blogs.....not sure of the success rate, but it's your own outlet anyway. I've seen a site called Art By Us. I have no experience with it, I've just seen it... might be worth checking out.

[lottatalent]

Well, I just realized that my previous post is auction style, so forget that. If you go to Squidoo, there's helpful info there about resources for artists to sell their own art online.

[drawdog5]

Setting up a store on your own web site is time consuming if you do it yourself, and can be expensive if you pay someone else to do it. ZenCart offers a free shopping cart system for your site, but you have to be comfortable with html to use it - it works, but is not user friendly. You do need a hosting service for that. BlueHost and GoDaddy are good web hosting services. You can sell from your blog - with your PayPal account, you can add "buy now" buttons to items on your blog. You can do the same on a page of your own web site - so you can set up a mini shop in that way. You could also set up a shop on some place like Bonanzle - yes you pay a fee if the item sells, but it's free to list and they handle the payment processing. With any of these methods, you have to do your own marketing/networking - the odds of anyone finding randomly finding your work on the web and buying it are pretty slim. -- -Ann "So I got that goin' for me, which is nice." ~ Carl Spackler

[artistjillian]

I use directnic for hosting my main website - these guys stuck around in NO when Katrina hit, and helped out. So I support them. $15 for a domain. $15 for bannerless hosting p.a. I also use bravenet - lots of tools for websites there. A bit cheaper for domains I think - but what they do have is lots of templates WYSIWYG. For free website see tripod.com - lots of templates WYSIWYG. Try free then can switch to paid, no ads. PayPal shopping cart is easy to add to any website. I have PayPal on one item as a special on my regular website plus ALSO on my blog (blogger dot com). Just copy the code from PayPal for button (carts also available). Always you should have lots of options online. eBay is still the most immediate for sales. I love art by us, but so slow, I use this site for miniature art - helps me keep stuff organized. There are other places. Check my signature line. Google my name and check my places, or see my 'about me' page - as we are allowed to link there to our website. Can't really discuss sites, but check out other artist's about me page for links, etc., same as I've suggested here. -- ~Jillian artist, Jillian Crider ... google me!

[paintingsbydonna]

Thanks again for all the good info. Hoping for a little down time to pursue it more thoroughly. I have so many projects in the planning stages, it doesn't seem to stop me from dreaming up more to add to my list. ~ Donna