I think we can, some suggestions and considerations on my blog:

https://luisafumi-digitalart.com/blog/2025/01/01/an-own-print-on-demand-website-yes-we-can/

Enjoy 

I think it would be more effective to sell this on eBay. 

I admire your tenacity with the stock site and POD in spite of taxes, governments and the rest of the blocks to simple, free enterprise.

Take orders, mark up to your liking, use Vistaprint, and have Vistaprint drop ship?

POD sites, if someone wants something, I upload, set prices and make some profit, based on the price I have set myself. I can leave it open for that image pricing or make a one of a kind product for the buyer. I actually like it better, leaving it up to them to make all the choices for size, materials and framing. FAA does the work, I get the money.

Quote from: stoker2014 on January 04, 2025, 16:08
I think it would be more effective to sell this on eBay. 

Unfortunately Ebay is no more was used to be two years ago. I made a lot of good bargain there.
But now they manage your money directly and not in a way I like (pointless delays, misunderstanding, useless bureaucracy and so on...)
I think that the microstock business is currently in its sunset phase and finding valid alternatives is the only way to stay afloat 

Quote from: Uncle Pete on January 04, 2025, 18:23
FAA does the work, I get the money.

The pocket change, dear Uncle Pete.

Quote from: gameover on January 04, 2025, 12:30
I think we can

Yes, we can. Made my own POD website as well  .

Quote from: mike123 on January 05, 2025, 13:04

Quote from: gameover on January 04, 2025, 12:30
I think we can

Yes, we can. Made my own POD website as well  .

Congratulations! 

I can understand the enjoyment from creating your own site, but in terms of the business case, one word comes to mind - Symbiostock. That is one for the older readers here...

Steve

PS - I'm a great believer in a two-pronged approach. You need to enable the "passing trade" of people just searching for a particular image and mine pops up on Google search and they buy it from Pictorem, say. Then you can have a more focused site with your favorite images that you promote on social media and Etsy is suiting me well there. After all, $1500 in profit in December is a fair measure of success.

Quote from: steheap on January 05, 2025, 15:10
I can understand the enjoyment from creating your own site, but in terms of the business case, one word comes to mind - Symbiostock. That is one for the older readers here...

Steve

PS - I'm a great believer in a two-pronged approach. You need to enable the "passing trade" of people just searching for a particular image and mine pops up on Google search and they buy it from Pictorem, say. Then you can have a more focused site with your favorite images that you promote on social media and Etsy is suiting me well there. After all, $1500 in profit in December is a fair measure of success.

Yes, I know Simbiostock, I was there the last times, when Leo was not in charge anymore 
My grounds are quite dissimilar. I know you as successful and I respect you, but I'm interested actually in a different approach.

Quote from: gameover on January 05, 2025, 09:58

Quote from: Uncle Pete on January 04, 2025, 18:23
FAA does the work, I get the money.

The pocket change, dear Uncle Pete.

Good luck, in a positive way, with your self hosted projects. I wish you continued success.

I have same idea in my mind. And also love building sites. Currently own 6 websites. I think it's good idea, however success is not guaranteed

Quote from: Faustvasea on January 06, 2025, 01:15
Currently own 6 websites.

What do you use to make your websites? Wordpress? Wix? Squarespace?

6 websites are a lot to manage!

Quote from: Uncle Pete on January 06, 2025, 00:40

Quote from: gameover on January 05, 2025, 09:58

Quote from: Uncle Pete on January 04, 2025, 18:23
FAA does the work, I get the money.

The pocket change, dear Uncle Pete.

Good luck, in a positive way, with your self hosted projects. I wish you continued success.

thank you ❤️

Quote from: Bauman on January 06, 2025, 07:24

Quote from: Faustvasea on January 06, 2025, 01:15
Currently own 6 websites.

What do you use to make your websites? Wordpress? Wix? Squarespace?

6 websites are a lot to manage!

Well, I use different  CMS, I don't use anything that requires subscriptions, like Wix or Squarespace.

Here are the links:

https://macroderie.com - Oldest site I have built for macro photographers
https://explorness.com - And general photography website
https://happyfeelings.co.uk - My Photo business, which sadly didn't had any client since last year. Thinking of closing it.


These are new sites:
https://myprochannel.com - For my YouTube channel. Hopefully to kick off.
https://iskymedia.io  - Trying selling prints directly through my website. Not luck yet.
https://finaladventurer.com - My Blog.

I have tried drop-shipping as well, but gave up: https://www.smartypet.co.uk

It's all about trying stuff around. Wordpress is good for blogs, otherwise, I found it rubbish. Had a photography website, but due of Wordpress issues, I couldn't restore the site and had to build everything from beginning.

Quote from: steheap on January 05, 2025, 15:10
I can understand the enjoyment from creating your own site, but in terms of the business case, one word comes to mind - Symbiostock. That is one for the older readers here...

Steve

PS - I'm a great believer in a two-pronged approach. You need to enable the "passing trade" of people just searching for a particular image and mine pops up on Google search and they buy it from Pictorem, say. Then you can have a more focused site with your favorite images that you promote on social media and Etsy is suiting me well there. After all, $1500 in profit in December is a fair measure of success.

Steve, may I ask you what service do you use to fulfill your Etsy orders? Do you use Pictorem for that? And if yes, do they support usage of your own branding (so the customer receives a package from "you" and not from Pictorem)?

I use both Pictorem and Easy Canvas Prints depending on what is bought. And sometimes print and ship paper prints up to 13x19 myself. Pictorem does have a drop ship approach where they include my certificate and don't include any invoice or other details. I think you can modify this to make your own brand, but I haven't bothered so far. I'm only offering to send prints to the USA and Canada at present, so I don't have to bother with international shipping or getting them printed in other countries. I may do, but not yet.

Steve

Thanks Steve! I am in the exact opposite position - I'm located in Germany and sell my prints in Europe, but I'd like to also try and sell on the US market as well

Good luck! It is hard judging what is going to sell, to be honest!

Quote from: steheap on January 08, 2025, 19:19
Good luck! It is hard judging what is going to sell, to be honest!

Thanks! Absolutely!
Also funny how different platforms tend to sell completely different images. I often sell photos through my website, which I never sold through POD sites. And the ones popular on PODs don't sell through my website 

Quote from: mike123 on January 08, 2025, 19:56

Quote from: steheap on January 08, 2025, 19:19
Good luck! It is hard judging what is going to sell, to be honest!

Thanks! Absolutely!
Also funny how different platforms tend to sell completely different images. I often sell photos through my website, which I never sold through POD sites. And the ones popular on PODs don't sell through my website 

How do you get traffic  to your website , through social media?

Quote from: Faustvasea on January 08, 2025, 22:05
How do you get traffic  to your website , through social media?

Through search engines. Also some through social media, but those are mostly other photographers and they don't buy prints.
I think we had a similar discussion already

Quote from: mike123 on January 08, 2025, 22:38

Quote from: Faustvasea on January 08, 2025, 22:05
How do you get traffic  to your website , through social media?

Through search engines. Also some through social media, but those are mostly other photographers and they don't buy prints.
I think we had a similar discussion already

Most likely, probably I forgot. Are you running ads ? I guess you had your website for a while if you have sales through search engines

Quote from: Faustvasea on January 09, 2025, 00:04
Most likely, probably I forgot. Are you running ads ? I guess you had your website for a while if you have sales through search engines

No ads (yet). Yes, the shop is online since 2023.

Quote from: mike123 on January 09, 2025, 06:53

Quote from: Faustvasea on January 09, 2025, 00:04
Most likely, probably I forgot. Are you running ads ? I guess you had your website for a while if you have sales through search engines

No ads (yet). Yes, the shop is online since 2023.

Congrats, seems you done something good. What you running the shop on? Or if you can share a link.

Quote from: Faustvasea on January 09, 2025, 09:56
Congrats, seems you done something good. What you running the shop on? Or if you can share a link.

Thanks!
I use Woocommerce, because it's free. But the underlying platform doesn't matter. Important is to offer quality works, take care of your SEO and make it easy for customers to order - then the sales will come.