We'll look at some galleries regarding the value they deliver to visual artists and how likely your work will be noticed and purchased.
It seems that selecting an online gallery comes down to the same criteria as selecting bricks and mortar galleries; will they give you exposure to qualified buyers, what services they provide, and how much it costs for their representation?
When evaluating online galleries examine questions like; do they will help prepare your work, which includes setting prices, posting photos, and writing descriptions of the work and a biography about you. Do they merchandise your art on the site, adding it to collections and featuring it where possible? If the gallery is curated, will it will ensure your work is unique relative to the other artists it represents.
What are the Costs for different online galleries?
One site to illustrate the cost question is Arfinder. Artfinder sets its commission at 30 percent, enabling them to promote its artists online and offline; recruit new potential buyers (they have 350,000 members); give special promotions like free shipping weekends, and offer free returns at no cost to the artists. On the other hand, a site like Artmajeur only charges a nominal commission on free accounts but cancels this out when an artist pays for a monthly subscription. How much a site pays out to an artist truly varies from one end of the spectrum such as 20 percent (DeviantArt) to 100 percent on a site like Artplode because they charge no commission.
List of Online Galleries
Following are some excerpts from a website that evaluates and ranks online galleries.
We've done some digging and come up with a pretty good list of online galleries and a little bit about each. Keep in mind, that this is only a partial list. Please comment with the names of any online galleries you like.
The best place for each artist to start is by exploring several and making your own assessment of which one will likely be the best fit for you. To help with your evaluation, we've included a link to the best article we could find with a pretty sophisticated analysis of a number of online galleries.
Here's the introduction to their rating system.
Ratings are from the perspective of an art buyer. We rate each online gallery by Print Options, Usability, Service, Return Policy, Selection, and Overall Score (maximum 25 points). For service reviews, we use TrustPilot. Detailed review criteria are available here. Some offer web hosting to help brand your website (independently from the hosting service). These are shown with a small artist icon displayed in the lower right corner of each rating chart.
Go to https://artstreamvideos.com/online-gallery-reviews/ to see all the reviews.
Keeping in mind that the rating is from the perspective of the art buyer. Here are the top six, in order of their scores:
Fine Art America
Art.com
Great Big Canvas
iCanvas
Saatchi
Artfinder
Take a look at the list and visit lots of galleries to properly educate yourself on the differences.
SaatchiArt
Saatchi Art is a great website where artists can sell their artwork. This website is run and treated more like an actual gallery. Art collectors from around the world use and trust this website to make their purchases of art.
Being such a large platform allows the possibility for more people to see your work. You’ll notice my emphasis on the word possibility. It also can make it more difficult to get seen because the website is so saturated with other artists. You never know who will see your work!
All in all, if you are looking to get your artwork in front of more people and don’t mind Saatchi Art taking a cut for helping you find customers, then this website is worth looking into for you. If you already have a solid base of customers (or a way to find customers) then a 35% commission is probably too much of a profit that you will be losing.
Artmajeur
Based in the city of Montpellier in southern France. Artmajeur is a digital marketplace that connects both amateur and professional artists directly with buyers. With more than 5 million page views every month, it's a terrific online gallery for getting artwork seen by collectors and art enthusiasts all over the planet.
Artists can sign up for a free account and showcase up to ten of their best works. For each item sold by an artist on the basic (free) subscription, a 10% commission is taken. With the Platinum + Website offer, artists can take advantage of Artmajeur's extensive network to promote their masterpieces and showcase their best works on websites with their own domain names.
Also with this account, which costs just over $12 (USD) a month, artists can sell original pieces without having to pay any commission on sales. If artworks are sold as licensed digital files, the seller receives 70% of the royalties they have set. Check out how you can advance your art career at Artmajeur.
FineArtAmerica.com
Fine Art America has transformed the online art industry with the largest digital art marketplace in the world. Their global audience, easy setup, and print-on-demand technology make it a mouthwatering resource for any artist. Throw in career-accelerating tools — from newsletter design and branded web stores — and the offer is irresistible.
No surprise then that they’re home to hundreds of thousands of artists — selling anything from wall art and home decor to apparel and fine paintings. And their buyers are treated to a ready-to-hang product manufactured at one of FAA’s trusted plants and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
ArtPal is a popular, FREE gallery to sell art and buy art, representing many thousands of artists. No membership fees. No commission. Completely free with unlimited space to sell all of your art! You can sell originals, prints, and also use their free Print-on-Demand service for custom prints & framing. Importantly, they also guide you through marketing your art and getting a lot more sales.
Since ArtPal is the only completely free gallery where you can sell your original artwork, prints, framing, and more, having a free gallery on ArtPal is probably worth a tryi. It’s also quick and easy to set up.
Artfinder
Artfinder connects creative types who come up with unique, handmade artwork that's produced ethically and sustainably with like-minded art enthusiasts all over the planet. More than 15,000 new artworks are introduced by Artfinder every month, from thousands of artists in over a hundred countries.
Selling on ArtFinder is a good idea for many reasons. Artists gain access to a global audience of more than half a billion art lovers, receive partner discounts, and can take advantage of dedicated support and tools to develop their careers. Establishing a virtual store on Artfinder makes it easy to manage product pricing and listings. Performance stats and insights are also easily accessible, so artists can tweak their strategies to gain more exposure and sell more.
Commissions are based on the type of Seller Plan subscription an artist chooses. For the free Starter Plan, a 40% commission is levied, while the Standard Plan and the Professional Plan have lower commission rates at 33%. Note that value-added tax (VAT) is also deducted for sellers who are based in the European Union.
Great Big Canvas
At Great Big Canvas, their team of curators, craftsmen, and customer service agents live and breath art because we believe that art wields the power to inspire, energize, and transform people and places. To that end, their purpose and vision are to help you find the art that speaks to your unique vision, passions, and style.
ArtStorefronts
This platform allows for more experienced artists to create their own website to sell their original work as well as reproductions of their art. Beyond only building your website, ART STOREFRONTS also has an extensive educational platform to help artists manage their business in a more efficient manner.
The tools made available by their websites combined with their educational material make for this platform an excellent opportunity for experienced artists looking to take the next big step in their careers.
Scroll through their home page to view all of their features and benefits.
UGallery
With a reach that spans every U.S. state and 50 countries all over the world, UGallery is a terrific platform for artists to promote and sell their work. Operating since 2006, it represents approximately 500 artists in the USA and abroad.
The four-step application process to become a UGallery artist takes only 10-15 minutes to complete. Artists working in virtually every medium, genre, and style--excluding video art--are welcome to send in an application, which costs US$5. Successful applicants benefit from UGallery's comprehensive marketing campaign, which includes online ads, social media promotion, and public relations blitzes. Custom art boxes and prepaid FedEx labels are provided to artists in the USA and Canada, while artists living in other countries will be reimbursed for their packaging and shipping label expenses.
UGallery takes a 50% commission on each sale and requires artwork shown on the website to be exclusive to UGallery for the entire time of its representation. t
artful home
From its beginnings as The Guild in 1985, Artful Home has become a powerhouse in the world of online art merchandising. Its juried collection of more than 20,000 items includes art glass, sculpture, apparel and shoes, furniture and lighting, jewelry, home decor, wall art, and more.
Applying to be an Artful Home artist is pretty straightforward. Just send an artist statement, information and high-quality photographs of your artwork, and pay the one-time membership fee of US$300 once your application is approved. This fee can also be paid in installments of US$25 a month for one year. Artists can set the prices for their artwork, keeping in mind the 50% commission that Artful Home takes on each sale.
The benefits of being an Artful Home artist are legion. In addition to being part of a prestigious group whose works are juried by art professionals, artists are also supported with active and direct marketing. The company represents mainly North American artists, and its website receives well over a million visitors every year.
Singulart
Singulart is an online art powerhouse with 50,000+ carefully curated artworks, made by established and emerging artists from over 80 countries. Launched in 2017, Singulart has not only established itself as one of the most promising and dedicated original art galleries but also continues to grow at an impressive rate, thanks to its dedicated team working to support artists and collectors alike.
Zatista
Zatista is a highly curated online art gallery that features original pieces from artists located in more than 20 countries. Its discerning curators actively seek out exceptional original artwork in categories that include oil and acrylic paintings, pen and ink drawings, sculpture, limited edition photography, and hand-pulled prints.
Applying for artist membership on Zatista involves a three-step process: completing the online application, creating a user profile that includes several pieces of art to be listed, and waiting for a decision on the application. Once an artist is accepted, he or she benefits from Zatista's sophisticated marketing program, direct relationships with the site's network of designers, collectors, and buyers, access to partnerships with top retailers, and many more.
A flat commission fee of 45% is applied to each piece that's sold through the website. There are no listing or membership fees, and no additional fees are charged when payments from sales are sent to the artist's PayPal account.
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