There's a POD forum here on MSG where discussions like this usually happen. 

FAA is the big one, I sell a few there.   I have zero promotion of my own, any sales I get are though keyword search on the FAA site.  FAA has serious problems and shortcomings, but IHMO all the other PODs  are worse.  FAA at least reads IPTC on upload and lets you set your own markup.

I tried Society6 but the upload process was so tedious and slow (they don't read IPTC), I decided not to bother.  To make any sales on a POD you need hundreds of photos, and the time it would take to upload those numbers on S6 is just out of the question.

Many of us had high hopes for Crated.com but it seems to have gone nowhere.  I never sell anything there, others do report a sale now and then.

You'll probably here from others in this thread with more optimistic views :-)

After two years waiting I got a sale on S6 this summer, $20 for me. Wow, that was a long waiting! At the same time on RB I get a sale every few days, sometimes few sales a day, on FAA every week or two, sometimes few sales at once.

I sold something on Artflakes lately. I was surprised to get the order from them by Paypal to send back some % of my earnings (VAT?). Also, I set up my markup on 50% and in their report I see 20%. Another glitch or...?
Still waiting for the first sale on P4M, Crated, and few others. Take a look at other threads in this forum. I warned before joining Saatchiart in due to huge files preview (full res.?) without any protection. I never had luck with Zazzle, zero views on my products tells everything about this crowded place.

Back to S6. They improved the upload system lately however it's full of glitches and still needs lots of work. No reading IPTC with lack of sales makes them wasting time for me so far.

RB and FAA is what? sorry

RedBubble and FineArtAmerica

For products like mugs, pillows, etc you have no control over pricing and the margins are low. I've sold a few small things and that earned me a total of $5.

can you share your S6 profile? Can you look at my profile (link in original post) and give your opinion? I've sold nothing directly (a few prints were sold via friends) and I'm just wondering if there's something I need to do different / something that sells better?

Quote from: PaulieWalnuts on December 30, 2016, 08:52

For products like mugs, pillows, etc you have no control over pricing and the margins are low. I've sold a few small things and that earned me a total of $5.

can you share your S6 profile? Can you look at my profile (link in original post) and give your opinion? I've sold nothing directly (a few prints were sold via friends) and I'm just wondering if there's something I need to do different / something that sells better?

I looked at yours and I also do landscape and cityscape type of work. Which now that I think about it may also be part of the problem for both of us. If you look at the Society6 homepage it's unique custom illustrations and artsy stuff for the younger crowd. Younger people aren't going to buy a picture of a city for a tshirt. So in general the buyers they market to may not be right for landscape/cityscape work and for selling more expensive prints.

I suspect a lot of their sales are to contributors themselves - people buying their own images on coffee cups and bags - and also to their friends and relatives.  That might be why the upload process is impossibly slow; they really don't care about supporting people with a lot of images that will make only a very few sales over time.

I suspect a lot of their sales are to contributors themselves - people buying their own images on coffee cups and bags - and also to their friends and relatives.  That might be why the upload process is impossibly slow; they really don't care about supporting people with a lot of images that will make only a very few sales over time.

I suspect you just hit that point hard. Some of the best sellers on FFA were using it for fulfillment. Nobody was going to buy that many dog portraits with some wonky stars and flares filer. Guy sold them over and over. Zazzle maybe more of the same.

I looked at yours and I also do landscape and cityscape type of work. Which now that I think about it may also be part of the problem for both of us. If you look at the Society6 homepage it's unique custom illustrations and artsy stuff for the younger crowd. Younger people aren't going to buy a picture of a city for a tshirt. So in general the buyers they market to may not be right for landscape/cityscape work and for selling more expensive prints.

Also a good point. Not for most photos, cityscape or landscape. More for designs and artsy artwork patterns.

I sold enough to leave Zazzle, it was greeting cards, ties and phone cases. Not worth the effort. Somebody who does graphics would be much better there and these product places. Or maybe Etsy or eBay, make your own product, fulfill on one of the sites when ordered.

does anybody know if it is ok to upload photos without model and/or property release to sell them as canvas or on mugs and the rest of the stuff? thanks