I might have to consult the Magic Eight Ball for this one! “Definitely Maybe” it says.
Not very helpful. Let me ask again.
“Oh great and powerful Magic Eight Ball, how much money can I make selling my art online?”
“Yes”
Ok, that’s not very precise of an answer but it’s as accurate as any answer I could give you.
Selling your art online and the benefits you get from doing so depends on so many factors. The platforms you choose to sell on, the profit margins you pick, the quality and desirability of your work, how well you know your market, your pricing, your marketing efforts etc.
I know some sellers on Fine Art America who sell over 300 products a month. Others sell 0 to 10 a month and some of the real active artists in terms of marketing and uploading are around 20 – 30 pieces a month. The bestsellers don’t exactly talk about their sales numbers.
So you have a range where most people are making a few extra dollars and a few are actually making a decent living selling art through a POD. A lot depends on if you have a couple of images that become bestsellers that sell over and over again and get promoted by the Print On Demand sites themselves. After all, it is in their best interests to promote good selling art.
A few years back I took a look at the annual report of POD site Red Bubble. It’s a publicly traded company so they have to release their numbers unlike a privately held company like Fine Art America.
According to their own data, 25% of the artists offering their work on the platform actually made at least one sale per year. And the average annual income of those who sold something (anything) was only like $150.
So you can see, most sell nothing and even those who do sell, very few make anything close to a living on these sales.
Basically if you want to beat the odds and sell your artwork online, you need to really hustle — get your branding out there and get your work seen by a lot of eyeballs otherwise you are simply hidden in the pack.
