I am looking for an online space to sell my artwork. How should I handle e-commerce?
I know there are a lot of third party websites out there that I can sell my art through, but is it worthwhile building an e-commerce function into my website itself? What are the pros & cons?
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Nov 26, 2016
First of all you have to purchase domain and hosting. I'd recomend you to ckeck out https://www.hostforweb.com for this purpose. Host For Web provides very reliable hosting services.
Nov 6, 2016
I highly recommend you to start with http://www.templatemonster.com/ website. You can find so many beautiful templates there to effectively build and handle your e-commerce website. Good luck in selling your artwork!
Oct 31, 2016
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Oct 30, 2016
Hi Zoe, Though here are a lot of hosted platforms to sell your artworks, having a self-hosted ecommerce website would be the best choice for you to have full control on what you upload or update! Take a look at www.ewdc.in to get your own ecommerce website built for startups with pre-loaded functionalities to get a perfect online selling experience. Since it is open source you can upgrade or update by yourself in the future and it does not need monthly commitments to have it.
Let me know if you are interested, I will help you with proper consultation!
Sep 21, 2016
Hi Zoe,
As you know, there are many third–party websites like Amazone, Dribbble, Behance, Deviantart and others to showcase & sell your artwork. But most people use these websites to create an online portfolio.
Having a website of your own to sell your artwork definitely gives you some advantage. First, it acts as a one-stop destination for your followers to check out the entire collection without any distractions. Second, you wouldn’t have to pay any commission if you are not selling your art work on a 3rd party website. And lastly, (though not a concrete benefit) on your website, you will have the freedom to showcase your artwork creatively (as it deserves to be) and the way you like.
I would also recommend YoKart eCommerce solution as same suggested by Daljeet in earlier reply. To get started, you can launch your own online store with YoKart at a price of $250 a year. Visit this link to learn more about this solution http://www.yo-kart.com
Sep 21, 2016
Yes it can help you to make your own branding and even getting more leads. Thanks to turnkey solutions, launching an online business is not a big deal any more like with YoKart you can launch your online store at just $250 yearly. Visit here for more details: http://www.yo-kart.com
Jul 30, 2016
Building your own Ecommerce website is definitely a good choice as in comparison to other ideas. There are many benefits of having your online store, like you can sell your products, you can also earn money from extra commission
Other benefits like:
enhanced audience
spacing out
you are the boss
more exposure
If you have small budget, then you can check this where you can start your online store in $250: http://www.yo-kart.com/multi-store-marketplace-startup.html
Jul 29, 2016
As an Artist myself I would like to say that it's ALWAYS best to have e-commerce functionality on your site. From being encouraged so much through our life to focus on "being seen"...... we can get into the habit of doing just that until we learn better... We'll spend money on a booth TO BE SEEN.... we'll pay for a web page TO BE SEEN...... we'll occasionally do free work for people TO BE SEEN...... we'll fight our way into magazines and news papers TO BE SEEN..... n at the end of the day... everybody "sees us" and LOVES everything they see n pats us on the head n walks away without buying anything because WE DON'T HAVE PRICE TAGS ON ANYTHING!!!.... because we're only focused on "being seen"....... as if we're going to wake up one morning with thousands of people outside of our door telling us we've finally earned the right to "be big" and "rich" and now they'll start paying all this money for everything and until they do that we don't deserve to charge a dime. So YES... put an e-commerce engine on your site so you can sell your own pieces.... you have a website..... you have your work on it.... why not let people buy from there too?... how else do you plan for them to purchase them?.... from some "big shot" who discovers you and gives you crumbs while they get lobsters?..... you deserve better :)
Sep 3, 2015
I think it's not right to compare CMS with open code and Online website builder. It's technologically different products. Different by type and even by purpose. WordPress is the best CMS for blogs and small info sites. And Shopify is one of the best ecommerce platforms but not a CMS. All online ecommerce website builders ( http://www.beautifullife.info/web-design/10-best-ecommerce-builders/ ) aren't used for creating blogs but just for online stores. Even if you will upload the latest ecommerce plugins on WP - such site won't be as good for online sales as a website created on Shopify or similar professional ecommerce platform.
Oct 21, 2014
Zoe -The more control you can maintain over your online store the better. Using a off the shelf solutions such as Sugarboo for e-commerce websites is great but just remember that you do not own your website when you use a third party platform like that. To maintain control over your website, build it using an open-source platform such as Magento or WordPress. Plugging in an e-commerce solution is not that big of a deal for an experienced developer to help you with. Always happy to chat more if you need. Best,