Author Topic: Fine Art America (Read 30446 times)

aeonf · « **on:** July 17, 2012, 03:10 »

Does anyone here contribute to FAA ?
Worth my trouble and time ?

sharpshot · « **Reply #1 on:** July 17, 2012, 03:55 »

I don't but I've read a lot about them and I don't think its worth it, unless you have lots of images that are more likely to sell as art than stock. Zazzle still seems to be the best non-stock site to sell products.

Poncke · « **Reply #2 on:** July 17, 2012, 04:38 »

I have 133 photos on there and one sale in the last 3 months of a 3 dollar post card. I am also on Zazzle with 800 products, no sales.

I think for these sites, you need to put in a lot of effort in marketing the portfolio

stockastic · « **Reply #3 on:** July 17, 2012, 09:50 »

What I’d really like is an order-processing and POD service that I could integrate into my owm site – that has no subscription fee or minimum order.. All I’ve found so far is Fotomoto, which has some severe limitations…

click_click · « **Reply #4 on:** July 17, 2012, 10:01 »

I was interested in the same question whether FAA was worth the effort.

Many of these POD sites offer premium accounts for an extra fee where it starts getting sketchy.

Apparently those artist's that have a free account won't be featured at all or get really crappy search positions. That makes it even harder to sell stuff there.

steheap · « **Reply #5 on:** July 17, 2012, 10:13 »

I have had a bit more luck there. I only had 5 images online in a free account and did no marketing. I have sold a card, for next to nothing, but then I sold a 30 x 20 canvas wrap for which I had set my share at $25. You can set different prices, but I think that was probably the default. They then give you a page to publicize your sale (here it is if anyone is interested!) http://fineartamerica.com/saleannouncement.html?id=dc5063f6ca89b2ec779e5c51681e369a

As usual with me, once I get one good sale I get all enthusiastic and have now uploaded a total of 25 "fine art" type shots. The upload process is easy - they pick up the title, description and keywords. 25 is the most you can have in a free account.

I think the site is best for arty/fine-art images - I have uploaded ones that I have printed myself for my local camera club competitions, and as it doesn't cost anything, has little effort associated with upload, I have stuck with it.

I'm also on Zazzle and have had numerous sales of one shot of Washington DC - although usually as post cards. Just got to the $100 sale point on Zazzle although I don't try very hard on that site.

Steve

Roadrunner · « **Reply #6 on:** July 17, 2012, 10:20 »

FAA is all about marketing yourself! If you do a lot of tweeting and are on Face Book, you might snag some sales. I have about 100 images on there, but doubt that any sales will result.

If you are primarily interested in integratring a printing service into your service work, then you might benefit by checking out MPIX. For enlargements you could use FAA by putting a password protectcted Gallery where your client can order an enlargement.

I never had any luck with Zazzle, because those sites require a lot of time on the computer. I prefer shooting pictures and less time on the computer.

Hope this helps!

antistock · « **Reply #7 on:** July 17, 2012, 11:15 »

FAA is a bad joke !

first of all they're just resellers, as the prints etc are done by an outsourced service.

secondly, it's just one guy and one crazy girl running the whole fly by night operation and make sure to
not fuck about politics with that girl in their forum, no matter if she's the one starting flaming political threads !

sales : near zero, as it's basically a storage service, they don't move a finger to sell your stuff.
i'm sure you can have better luck on Flickr, HotShots, 500px, Saatchi, Behance, or even FotoLibra or Photographers Direct.

stockastic · « **Reply #8 on:** July 17, 2012, 11:45 »

None of the fee-based services could possibly pay off for me.

I want a free site where I can have a clean, uncluttered, organized "store" page and sell greeting cards and prints with no minimum order (i.e. as little as one card), by PayPal or CC. Or a shopping cart/POD service I can integrate wiith my own site.

Doesn't exist, as far as I know.

antistock · « **Reply #9 on:** July 17, 2012, 12:40 »

Quote from: stockastic on July 17, 2012, 11:45

None of the fee-based services could possibly pay off for me.

I want a free site where I can have a clean, uncluttered, organized "store" page and sell greeting cards and prints with no minimum order (i.e. as little as one card), by PayPal or CC. Or a shopping cart/POD service I can integrate wiith my own site.

Doesn't exist, as far as I know.

that's not the issue, the issue is that none of the actual POD sites have a sizeable number of buyers, their whole idea is "crowdmarketing" that is you're expected to bring buyers in, not them ... what a F joke !

after all, if we talk of fine-art the real market lies in art galleries, not on the web.

PODs have a potential for postcards and small merchandising but c'mon, their best sellers are always cr-ap, t-shirts, vectors, it's never about stock photos, the photos sold on Redbubble or FAA for instance, take a look and it's the typical sh-it you see on Flickr .. sunsets .. dogs .. cats .. backgrounds .. i don't even shoot that junk, redbubble must be the only place where one could ever sell it.

stockastic · « **Reply #10 on:** July 17, 2012, 12:58 »

Quote from: antistock on July 17, 2012, 12:40

that's not the issue, the issue is that none of the actual POD sites have a sizeable number of buyers, their whole idea is "crowdmarketing" that is you're expected to bring buyers in, not them

I have some ways of getting a few buyers to my page on my own - I agree these sites can do nothing for us in terms of marketing. How could they, given the vast amount of repetitious junk they offer? The only reason they want our 'fine art' photos is to bring in a few more buyers for the cute baby cards and funny cat stickers.

noodle · « **Reply #11 on:** July 26, 2012, 20:21 »

I have just a free basic account, and have uploaded a handful of images there... got a few views here and there and wasn't expecting anything to come of this site - and BAM! I made my first sale of a 24x36 print for which I got $36 cut.

Nice surprise for me since I do zero promotion and have no social media accts like facebook twitter, etc

YAY!

Pixart · « **Reply #12 on:** July 26, 2012, 22:00 »

Have you ever thought of putting a Paypal buy it now button on your site and self-fullfilling? I have an account with a pro-lab and get about a 30% discount (plus level based rebates for everything over $2500/year). They print the usual stuff plus canvas, plaque-mounting, calendars, greeting cards, sports bottles etc. They will even drop ship for me. I have another guy that prints decals (wall clings). Another guy that prints traditional business cards etc. This way you would keep all of the markup, and you are not paying an agent to host and market.

BaldricksTrousers · « **Reply #13 on:** July 27, 2012, 02:26 »

I've made over $300 from less than 250 images in about a year there, and that is without even trying to push sales there - which is considered essential to getting good results - so I regard it as potentially very worthwhile.

I don't know their internal structure but if the jibe about it being a two-man-band is true, then they are being remarkably effective duo. It's certainly not a "fly-by-night" operation, as it has been in existence and paying its members for at least a couple of years.

I would suggest that people avoid making flagrantly libellous and untrue statements about other businesses.

noodle · « **Reply #14 on:** July 27, 2012, 06:02 »

Quote from: Pixart on July 26, 2012, 22:00

Have you ever thought of putting a Paypal buy it now button on your site and self-fullfilling? I have an account with a pro-lab and get about a 30% discount (plus level based rebates for everything over $2500/year). They print the usual stuff plus canvas, plaque-mounting, calendars, greeting cards, sports bottles etc. They will even drop ship for me. I have another guy that prints decals (wall clings). Another guy that prints traditional business cards etc. This way you would keep all of the markup, and you are not paying an agent to host and market.

I have no website either

For me this sounds like a lot of work to setup - and what happens if someone decides to return a print?
I dont think I am ambitious enough to undertake anything like this - but I do admire those who really work hard at this as a viable business

Sandralise · « **Reply #15 on:** July 27, 2012, 07:56 »

Have to disagree. I do extremely well on FAA with a good payout every month!
It has become one of my top earners. It's not so much the artistic that sell well but the stock images which surprises me. You do need to have at least 200 or more good quality images and to me the key is to upload regularly.
I highly recommend selling there.

http://sandra-cunningham.artistwebsites.com/galleries.html

stockastic · « **Reply #16 on:** July 27, 2012, 12:51 »

Sandralise, you have a nice looking page on FAA. You must be on one of the paid plans (monthly fee), am I correct?

Roadrunner · « **Reply #17 on:** July 27, 2012, 13:06 »

@stocktastic - The fee at FAA is $30.00 per year.

Wim · « **Reply #18 on:** July 27, 2012, 13:23 »

Quote from: Sandralise on July 27, 2012, 07:56

Have to disagree. I do extremely well on FAA with a good payout every month!
It has become one of my top earners. It's not so much the artistic that sell well but the stock images which surprises me. You do need to have at least 200 or more good quality images and to me the key is to upload regularly.
I highly recommend selling there.

http://sandra-cunningham.artistwebsites.com/galleries.html

Ah, there she is, lovely Sandra.
Good to see you are still doing well in stock milady but then that's no surprise to me with a port like that, your RM work looks stunning too btw.
Take care

Wim

Sandralise · « **Reply #19 on:** July 27, 2012, 13:43 »

Quote from: stockastic on July 27, 2012, 12:51

Sandralise, you have a nice looking page on FAA. You must be on one of the paid plans (monthly fee), am I correct?

Thanks Stockastic!
Yes I am...it's the second year that I'm there. The first view months were very quiet but after increasing my port I started to get sales. This year it has really taken off...not sure why but maybe sales increase visibility.

WarrenPrice · « **Reply #20 on:** July 27, 2012, 13:46 »

Fine Art America seems much more appealing (branding?) than any POD sites I can think of. I'm interested.

Sandralise · « **Reply #21 on:** July 27, 2012, 13:56 »

Quote from: Wim on July 27, 2012, 13:23

Quote from: Sandralise on July 27, 2012, 07:56
Have to disagree. I do extremely well on FAA with a good payout every month!
It has become one of my top earners. It's not so much the artistic that sell well but the stock images which surprises me. You do need to have at least 200 or more good quality images and to me the key is to upload regularly.
I highly recommend selling there.

http://sandra-cunningham.artistwebsites.com/galleries.html

Ah, there she is, lovely Sandra.
Good to see you are still doing well in stock milady but then that's no surprise to me with a port like that, your RM work looks stunning too btw.
Take care

Wim, you are very special...

Wim

Wim · « **Reply #22 on:** July 27, 2012, 14:16 »

Let me translate that into a language men understand:

Wim, you're a weirdo...

Sandralise · « **Reply #23 on:** July 27, 2012, 15:23 »

Quote from: Wim on July 27, 2012, 14:16

Let me translate that into a language men understand:

Wim, you're a weirdo...

You said it not me!!

Wim · « **Reply #24 on:** July 27, 2012, 15:31 »

Quote from: Sandralise on July 27, 2012, 15:23

Quote from: Wim on July 27, 2012, 14:16
Let me translate that into a language men understand:

Wim, you're a weirdo...

You said it not me!!

Hey, have you checked you pm's lately? some people here don't get notifications for new pm's, just so you know (and read mine hehe)

Have a good weekend milady! well you and the rest of the microstock group.

mtkang · « **Reply #25 on:** July 27, 2012, 20:17 »

do you need to pay to sell on that site? thanks.

noodle · « **Reply #26 on:** July 27, 2012, 20:54 »

Quote from: mtkang on July 27, 2012, 20:17

do you need to pay to sell on that site? thanks.

NO PAY - you get to upload max 25 images and you set your profit margin

YES PAY $30/yr - you get unlimited uploads and you also get a small percentage of the framing and extras the customer orders when buying your image for print

BaldricksTrousers · « **Reply #27 on:** July 28, 2012, 01:00 »

You're not likely to get much (if any) return out of 25 images so you really need to be prepared to pay if you want to make any progress there.
BTW, my main reason for joining was to use them as a storage place where I could get prints of my own work when I wanted them. Their print quality is good and they charge a pretty reasonable rate if you order copies of your own work from them.

WarrenPrice · « **Reply #28 on:** July 28, 2012, 09:53 »

Quote from: BaldricksTrousers on July 28, 2012, 01:00

You're not likely to get much (if any) return out of 25 images so you really need to be prepared to pay if you want to make any progress there.
BTW, my main reason for joining was to use them as a storage place where I could get prints of my own work when I wanted them. Their print quality is good and they charge a pretty reasonable rate if you order copies of your own work from them.

Isn't this a lot like Imagekind?

BaldricksTrousers · « **Reply #29 on:** July 28, 2012, 10:25 »

Quote from: WarrenPrice on July 28, 2012, 09:53

Isn't this a lot like Imagekind?

No idea, I've never heard of them.

stockastic · « **Reply #30 on:** July 28, 2012, 11:13 »

NO PAY - your page looks like a Walmart outlet, cluttered with distracting junk.

PAY - you create a clean looking page that looks the way you want.

Karimala · « **Reply #31 on:** July 28, 2012, 18:20 »

Quote from: Sandralise on July 27, 2012, 07:56

Have to disagree. I do extremely well on FAA with a good payout every month!
It has become one of my top earners. It's not so much the artistic that sell well but the stock images which surprises me. You do need to have at least 200 or more good quality images and to me the key is to upload regularly.
I highly recommend selling there.

http://sandra-cunningham.artistwebsites.com/galleries.html

Lots of businesses need generic wall art and stock is perfectly suited!

Sandralise · « **Reply #32 on:** July 28, 2012, 21:54 »

Totally agree Karin!

Wim · « **Reply #33 on:** July 29, 2012, 02:34 »

What I don't like about the site is the big thumbs with tiny watermarks.
Aren't you guys worried about theft?
I know watermarks can easily be removed anyway but this is like giving them away no?
That's the only gripe I have with FAA.

Sandra, each image in your port is a masterpiece, I wouldn't exactly call it plain stock, no wonder you sell well there. I don't think there's a place where you wouldn't do well

Sandralise · « **Reply #34 on:** July 29, 2012, 08:28 »

Thank you Wim!
I have to agree with you about the thumb size and watermark that has always bothered me but most art sites like RedBubble and Artflakes have fairly large thumbs so if you want to sell some work you have to put up with it. Hopefully they might change that...it is certainly not worse than Photodune's thumb size.
Sad to say but people will steal no matter what!

Wim · « **Reply #35 on:** July 29, 2012, 08:46 »

Quote from: Sandralise on July 29, 2012, 08:28

Thank you Wim!
I have to agree with you about the thumb size and watermark that has always bothered me but most art sites like RedBubble and Artflakes have fairly large thumbs so if you want to sell some work you have to put up with it. Hopefully they might change that...it is certainly not worse than Photodune's thumb size.
Sad to say but people will steal no matter what!

True Sandra, not much we can do about that anyway.
Yeah photodune has medium size thumbs with bad watermarking, Yay-Micro though has king size but improved watermark (click loupe below image in right corner)

Later

oboy · « **Reply #36 on:** August 03, 2012, 15:38 »

So I will try them out too http://henrik-lehnerer.artistwebsites.com/ Hopefully I will see some return.

Does it help to submit the images to some groups?

oboy · « **Reply #37 on:** August 13, 2012, 18:09 »

I also created a Squidoo lens for promoting FAA profiles at http://www.squidoo.com/how-to-promote-your-fine-art-america-faa-profile-store

Please feel free to add your links to the Squidoo lens.

sharpshot · « **Reply #38 on:** January 01, 2013, 08:00 »

I was going to pay for the premium account but it looks like they only take credit card payments in dollars. Why wont they accept PayPal when buyers use PayPal?

Does anyone outside the US use a pre-paid dollar credit card? I get annoyed with the foreign exchange fees. There are credit cards with no fees but I don't really want another credit card.

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Author Topic: Fine Art America (Read 30446 times)

Poncke

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Wim

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