FAA - The Largest Art Site in the World?

[luissantos84]

just got an interesting email from FAA, the link below:

http://fineartamerica.com/newsletters/little-known-facts-2013.html?id=87262

another interesting link, that you can find at the end of their email/newsletter:

https://www.facebook.com/fineartamerica/app_183192038389060

[Ed]

I know some people that attempt to sell through Fine Art America.  They are a VERY large art site....and everyone and their brother uploads to them (worse than the micros).  No different than Red Bubble, Trevillion, Cafe Press, Behance, etc...

If you want a good site, open a smugmug or a Zenfolio account and select a printing partner.  You can do your own SEO and get listed on Bing and Google - no different than Photoshelter.

[luissantos84]

I do see many people selling nicely at least looking at what they report on FB, do you think they are lying? I am talking about daily sales some going over 100$ each..

[Ed]

I do see many people selling nicely at least looking at what they report on FB, do you think they are lying? I am talking about daily sales some going over 100$ each..

Take a look at this website...

http://www.johnfielder.com/

This is one of the most widely known nature photographers in Colorado - his Calendars sell at the local Costco, he has an art gallery on the trendy side of town.  Take a look at the price of his prints...compare them to FAA.

This is what your own site can do for you...and yes, he sells images daily.

I get my prints done through Miller's here in the U.S. - they are absolutely exceptional.  This is not Mpix or Bayphoto, this is Miller Lab.  I ordered a 20x30 print for a client yesterday...my cost is $43.

Here's one of the cover images from FAA - very creative art....

http://fineartamerica.com/featured/lightninghead-frank-robert-dixon.html

Look at the pricing...do you think he's making any money?

I think what you're looking at is similar to Alamy reporting - gross sale vs. net.  I know people that have experience with FAA and it's not that great.

[luissantos84]

that's what I see and that's what you see, same goes with our own experiences in stock agencies.. lets hear more, thanks for sharing!

[Pixart]

Well, he sets his own prices Ed, he must be happy with what he is asking on FAA.

This is their POD price list and he added his own markup.
http://fineartamerica.com/printondemand.html

Doesn't FAA also have a self-fulfilled option as well?  He can go ahead and print at Millers if he wants to!

[Sedge]

Sandralise posted in a similar thread about FAA that she does quite well there, with regular payouts.  She has some outstanding work.

[Ed]

Well, he sets his own prices Ed, he must be happy with what he is asking on FAA.

This is their POD price list and he added his own markup.
http://fineartamerica.com/printondemand.html

Doesn't FAA also have a self-fulfilled option as well?  He can go ahead and print at Millers if he wants to!

There is no self fulfillment option.  In order to have more than 25 images on the site, you must pay $30 per month.  That's $360 per year.  Zenfolio does the same for $150 per year (if you use Bay Labs or Mpix) or $250 per year if you self fulfill and don't want to pay Zenfolio extra.  Smugmug is a little more expensive.

It's not that great of a deal.

You're better off working through Zenfolio (or Smugmug) and building your own brand and your own identity if you're selling Fine Art.  It's a different market than stock...in stock, you are anonymous by nature.  Fine Art - it's all about your name.

[Pixart]

No, it's $30 per year not per month
http://fineartamerica.com/membershipplans.html

You are right, I couldn't find self fullfill option. 

[luissantos84]

Ed you are way too skeptical, have you even tried?

[BaldricksTrousers]

I put some stuff up there in order to have a store where I could order my prints. I didn't try to promote my work there in any way and I've had $800 revenue in sales in two years, so I've built up my portfolio there to about 400 files.
There are several ways to use FAA. One is simply as a printer (their printing is very good and really quite cheap a 20x30 print costs me $35 + postage, but it will cost you $170 to buy my work there because of my $135 mark-up), another approach is to market yourself online in various forums to try to whip up interest in your work, and a third approach is to make direct contact with people in your area who have an interest in buying art and direct them to your "artist webpage" as being your sales site.
However, FAA does not do anything much in the way of marketing.

[PaulieWalnuts]

Pretty amazing that the place was built and is run by one guy with two support people. He's an automation engineer and everything is automated. And the site works great, is stable, and performs well.

I get some sales but the people that do well there create original art. Madart does some really beautiful unique work and seems to sell quite a bit.

[RacePhoto]

another interesting link, that you can find at the end of their email/newsletter:

https://www.facebook.com/fineartamerica/app_183192038389060

This link above should not get lost, very interesting reading and information.

Reminded me that when I cash out at Zazzle, I want to close my account. Maybe by 2020?  When I read that they closed the forum for the holidays I figured, that's good for them, they have a small staff and no one to watch the monkeys in the zoo, so they just closed it.

Friday, January 30th, 2009

Zazzle, the online shop that lets you order custom-decorated clothing, mugs, and a variety of other items, has laid off nearly 25% of its corporate staff and 15% of the overall company, which includes workers in its manufacturing factory.

More recently: (Zazzle Correspondent) We�re looking for more than 600 enthusiastic and talented individuals to join the Zazzle team. We have open roles in both our corporate office in Redwood City, California, as well as our manufacturing facility in San Jose, California. By December 2012, we anticipate that more than 1000 people will be working in both locations combined. Unfortunately, Zazzle does not disclose the total number of employees, but we can assure you, this is the largest we�ve ever been! (part time holiday jobs and other)

I'm beginning to like FAA more all the time. I need to add that to my list of things to do, with all my free time. (which I don't have, but if I did... I'd be adding FAA!)

[luissantos84]

Pretty amazing that the place was built and is run by one guy with two support people. He's an automation engineer and everything is automated. And the site works great, is stable, and performs well.

I get some sales but the people that do well there create original art. Madart does some really beautiful unique work and seems to sell quite a bit.

3 full-time employees, its really amazing, how many does iStock have?

#7 - Most POD companies have huge employee payrolls to sustain.

FineArtAmerica.com has three full-time employees.   That's it.

We have the lowest overhead anywhere in the industry.

Art.com has more than 250 employees.

CafePress.com is getting ready to go public with an IPO and had to reveal all of their financials in a public filing:

http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1117733/000119312511162782/ds1.htm

They have 423 employees!

If you ever wondered why these companies need to convince their artists to lower their prices (see #1, above)... wonder no more.   They have huge payrolls to sustain.

[Poncke]

Some posters here are posting stuff that isnt true and are talking gossip. At FAA you set your own price and you get a part of the material$. FAA also only cost 30 per year not per month as pointed out. And FAA does really well. There is thread on SS where basically a lot of people said they do well on FAA. Like Louis said, try it out and see. You might be surprised.

[luissantos84]

what is the default print prices you guys have up there? I have asked them what they recommend and they told me to use whatever I want, what do you think?

[Poncke]

My 108 inch goes for 350 dollar, my smallest goes for 10

[luissantos84]

My 108 inch goes for 350 dollar, my smallest goes for 10

thanks for sharing, I just adjusted mine from 20 to 245 and the cards a little lower than I had, anyway with only 25 pictures I believe it will be hard to get noticed..

[luissantos84]

http://fineartamerica.com/showmessages.php?messageid=871423

[Mantis]

http://fineartamerica.com/showmessages.php?messageid=871423

Lots of images.  That seems to be the common theme....MS'rs need to consider volume and link that to success....along with appeal, of course. I also find it interesting that one successful poster stated that general MS images do well too. 

[luissantos84]

in the case of Rizzuto, he never been in stock

[Mantis]

on FAA, what does "Dimensions and Price (Originals and Non-Print-On-Demand Prints)" mean and I would think that it would pick this data up from the camera. I certainly wouldn't want to put that info in manually for every one of my images. And it looks like you have to upsize if you want more money.  I'm shooting a D700, 12 mp.

[luissantos84]

on FAA, what does "Dimensions and Price (Originals and Non-Print-On-Demand Prints)" mean and I would think that it would pick this data up from the camera. I certainly wouldn't want to put that info in manually for every one of my images. And it looks like you have to upsize if you want more money.  I'm shooting a D700, 12 mp.

I have a 5 MP picture that goes up to 22.00" x 24.00", have a few with 12MP and they go up to 26.75"x
40.00"

you don't need to put anything beside the usual title, description, keywords

[Newsfocus1]

on FAA, what does "Dimensions and Price (Originals and Non-Print-On-Demand Prints)" mean and I would think that it would pick this data up from the camera. I certainly wouldn't want to put that info in manually for every one of my images. And it looks like you have to upsize if you want more money.  I'm shooting a D700, 12 mp.

To answer the first part - As I understand it, that is only needed if you are selling an original piece of work (for example a painting). You're telling potential buyers the physical size of the painting/sculpture etc and your price for selling it. Just ignore that bit if you are uploading images for print on demand.
Regards, David.

[gostwyck]

I put some stuff up there in order to have a store where I could order my prints. I didn't try to promote my work there in any way and I've had $800 revenue in sales in two years, so I've built up my portfolio there to about 400 files.
There are several ways to use FAA. One is simply as a printer (their printing is very good and really quite cheap a 20x30 print costs me $35 + postage, but it will cost you $170 to buy my work there because of my $135 mark-up), another approach is to market yourself online in various forums to try to whip up interest in your work, and a third approach is to make direct contact with people in your area who have an interest in buying art and direct them to your "artist webpage" as being your sales site.
However, FAA does not do anything much in the way of marketing.

Interesting, thanks for the details. What sort of stuff sells there? I see you've got quite a range of images in your portfolio, not just 'fine art landscapes'.