i do agree about the fine art part, i'd say 50% is now stock. 20% are snapshots. and the rest is fine art. and while the collections seems like an ok idea, it will only confused customers. especially if they can't find anything.

it is a let down that the search is ordered the way it is. and the new stemming thing he does, where it now understand plurals, also chops into other words making it more spammy as a result - cow - you get cowboy and vice versa. people have to use google because its much easier to use google. this search only works well if you have something no one else has much of. but they did fix the search, you can view all 1000 pages now if you want. i think that's the other reason they  made pixels, it doesn't conjure up that fine art notion.

redbubble was super slow. then they made it possible to change prices globally and now they have more products. because of that i'm getting more sales. that, and they are in google shopping (a place faa doesn't seem to be), and i'm getting sales there. but even though i have more images there, have been there for 7 years or more, i still only get like 10 sales a month at RB. mostly because the site doesn't have any kind of organization.

i never used the ref program. i doubt it works, many have complained. i wouldn't worry too much about that one. the only thing that bugs me about the place is the customer support. they either drag their heels too much. or don't reply. many have had complaints about that.

@mantis - $30 gets you:

customer service more or less - you don't have to deal with them anyway
they take care of returns
you get a free website
and unlimited uploads.

many sites charge 3-5 times that amount.

it wouldn't be a sales pitch if it said - you might or might not make sales. 

it would be totally impossible for that site to advertise you, and if you have so-so work, even harder. they have a ton of people, and especially at $30 - you won't get any site that will advertise you. this is your store, you have to do some of the work.



@shadysue - unless you saw those images on the sales page then its moot. if you saw it there - no they didn't push that person (unless it was geddes), that person sold it in person and sent them right to that page. if you do that you don't need the other stuff.

every image search i've ever done in google - stock was first. and it covered the entire length of the page. many people will get a sale or two at first, because of how the search works there. but you still have to market yourself. and build up a client base of sorts.


advertising is hard. free advertising is tricky. but not hard. find followers on twitter and the like, and put stuff in your stream with hash tags. if they like your work they will look at more and maybe buy something. if the work isn't that good, or not interesting you won't get sales. if you leave the title - untitled, or give a weak description, bio etc, then you may not get the sale. there are no promises. yes the search is a bit of a pain. and the DP site sucked away the biggest buyers. but there are plenty of new people that are selling things only having been in there for a few months. they sell because they have nice work.

@wordplanet - hard to say. because advertising returns aren't instant. its a build up. a few a day, add up. and they spread out. so what you pushed last week may have returns this week. once you sell enough and your at the top of the search, its a siphon. there are dead people selling just fine on there.

the main thing there is - diversify the portfolio and get many niches. and don't be afraid of people pinning and such. there are some people out there that will chase down and practically murder people for taking and giving credit to the images they took. if they give credit - keep it there. every one with  a link back is an advertisement point.

Curated work are things hand picked by the staff, it's formed by magic i think and its hard to get into. mostly it's a topic. the rest is a search. and when it goes to the search it all depends how well you sell over all if you'll be seen. the collections have always been there - but hidden. now you trip over it, every time. fills the page.

its not the issue that you won't sell because it's there. it's bad because the customer might stop there because if they do a search inside of that, they won't find anything at all. and then they might just leave.