Selling your art on ArtWanted is optional. If this is something you want to do, we currently offer two ways to sell your artwork on ArtWanted.
1) ARTIST FULFILLED - All artists have the option to sell originals, prints, digital files or any other version of your artwork on ArtWanted. You set the price and write the description for what is being sold. The buyer will make payment to your PayPal account or directly to you (not ArtWanted). You are responsible for packaging & shipping the artwork to the buyer. ArtWanted does not charge a commission fee for this type of sale, so you earn 100% of the sales price.
2) ARTWANTED FULFILLED - If you upgrade your account to the paid Premium Membership, you have the additional option to be part of our Print-On-Demand program. This program allows you to sell quality prints and products using the high-resolution files you upload to our site. You simply upload the art, and we take care of creating the product and shipping it to the buyer. To find out more, go to our Print Program FAQ.
NOTE: We do allow all ArtWanted artists to create and sell a print-on-demand wall calendar, without being part of the Premium Print Program. You can learn more on our blog post about the wall calendars.
We have multiple options to list and sell your artwork on ArtWanted. If you plan to do the fulfillment (shipping) of the artwork, you can either accept PayPal payments or have the buyer contact you for alternate payment arrangements.
If you have a PayPal account and you enter your PayPal e-mail address into your ArtWanted settings, you earn 100% of the purchase amount and ArtWanted does not take any commissions from those sales. All purchases go directly through PayPal and bypass the ArtWanted payment system. You will be notified via PayPal for those sales, not ArtWanted.
Why PayPal? PayPal is one of the oldest and largest online payment companies. They have millions of users worldwide and allow those users to pay for any goods/services on the Internet using their PayPal account. PayPal allows buyers to pay using their PayPal account or a regular credit card, which will deposit the funds into the seller’s bank account. ArtWanted has integrated with PayPal to make it easy for customers to buy artwork from the member's portfolio. If you don’t already have a PayPal account to accept payments, you can set up a free account on PayPal.com.
After you have a PayPal account setup, you will want to add your e-mail address (associated with your PayPal account) into your ArtWanted contact information. From the EDIT CONTACT INFO page, type in the e-mail address that is used for your PayPal account in the PayPal E-Mail field, and save your settings. That’s it, you are done and ready to accept PayPal payments for your artwork sales.
When someone finds your art on ArtWanted, they will click the button to buy it, which will take them to the PayPal website to complete the purchase. After the payment is made by the buyer, you will be notified through PayPal of the sale, and you can ship out the item to the buyer. ArtWanted does not take a commission from those sales.
Pricing your artwork depends on many different factors. These pricing factors include...
Because of these many factors (and others), there is no perfect formula to calculate the price/value of your artwork. You must consider each of these factors and come up with a price that feels right to you.
On ArtWanted, the price should also include the cost to package and ship the artwork anywhere inside your own country. If you are asked to ship the artwork outside of your country, it's reasonable to ask the buyer for additional funds to cover these costs.
The bottom line is this: your artwork price should be the price someone is willing to buy it for.
Any image in your portfolio can be listed for sale on ArtWanted. You can sell original artwork, prints, digital files or any other version of your artwork.
Step 1) Start from the IMAGE DETAILS page for the image you want to sell. You are forwarded to this page automatically after uploading new artwork. You can also get to this page by going from your Control Panel, clicking MANAGE PORTFOLIO and then clicking the EDIT IMAGE button next to the image you want to edit.
Step 2) Click on the FOR SALE tab at the top of the page. This page shows all of your sales options for the specific image you are editing.
Step 3) In the ARTIST FULFILLED section, fill out the short form. First, enter the PRICE you want to sell your art for. The price should include the cost to ship the artwork inside of your own country. Enter the price of $0, if you want the buyer to contact you for pricing options. Next, type a detailed description of exactly what you are selling. Your description should include specifics like artwork size, the medium used, matting/framing included, and any other details important to the buyer. The more details, the better.
Step 4) Click the ADD OPTION button to add the purchase information to your artwork. Repeat these steps if you want to sell multiple purchase options of the artwork.
The ArtWanted commission amount depends on who is doing the fulfillment and who collected the funds from the buyer. Here are the two most common scenarios...
1. ARTIST FULFILLED - If you possess the art, you are shipping the art to the buyer, and you also collected the funds (via PayPal, Venmo, or some other method) - you earn 100% of the purchase price. There is no ArtWanted commission fee in this scenario.
2. ARTWANTED FULFILLED - If ArtWanted is printing and shipping the artwork, and we collected the money through our shopping cart, then the commission amount depends on the product. Each product has a base wholesale amount and a retail amount the buyer pays. The difference between these two numbers is your commission amount. For example, if you sell a printed wall calendar for $20 retail and the wholesale amount is $12, then you earn $8 commission for that purchase ($20 - $12 = $8).
For ARTIST FULFILLED products within ArtWanted, the only current payment method is PayPal. PayPal accepts all major credit cards or payments directly from a PayPal account.
When artists on ArtWanted enter $0 for the price of the artwork, instead of accepting online payments, the buyer is told to contact the artist for payment. When the buyer reaches out to the artist for payment, you can accept any payment method that you currently support for artwork payments. This may include PayPal, Venmo, credit card, check, money order.
For ARTWANTED FULFILLED products and subscriptions, we currently accept all major credit cards, check or money order.
When you list your art for sale, a new STORE tab will appear on your ArtWanted portfolio. This art store page lists all of the artwork you have for sale and the price range for each piece. Anyone visiting your ArtWanted portfolio can click on the STORE tab to view the art you have for sale.
You can also share your art store link on social media, text messages or emails. The URL of your store will be something like: artwanted.com/{your_username}/store/
Buyers can also find your artwork by browsing or searching for images on the ArtWanted website. Your artwork can appear in many different pages of ArtWanted, which all lead back to your portfolio.
When potential buyers click the smaller thumbnail image, they are taken to the larger version of your image inside your portfolio. On this main image page, the purchase options are listed on the right side of the page next to the artwork.
The buyer will click a button to purchase the art and go through the checkout steps. After payment is made, you will be notified via ArtWanted or PayPal of the purchase.
Each time you make an artwork sale, the sale will be listed on your ArtWanted Bank Account page. The report will show the purchase date, item purchased and commission amount earned.
These funds will stay in your ArtWanted bank account until you request a payment.
To request a payment, contact ArtWanted via support ticket with your request. In your e-mail, let us know if you want to be paid via PayPal or US check. We make artist commission payments twice a month.
There are dozens of factors that determine if a piece of art can be sold and for how much. Some of these factors include: the popularity of the artist, raw skill/talent of the artist, subject matter, price, artwork edition, artwork medium and the number of potential buyers looking at the art.
There are some artists that have been on ArtWanted for many years and have never made a sale. Other artists make sales within a few days of joining ArtWanted. Each artist is different.
There is no magic formula to predict how many art sales you will have online. However, here are some tips we have found that can increase your chances for selling your art online: