I posted some of my photographic images to fineartameria. For fun I ordered one of my images to see the print results. The print I received was WAY to dark to the point there is no detail. I contacted customer service. Two days later I received an email stating they do not color correct and print from the file they receive. I then had the "same" file printed from a different printer and the image was fine. I explained this to fineartamerica customer service. Their reply, again two days later said the same as their first reply to my concern about the quality of the print. Nothing has been resolved. So, what you see on the fineartamerica site IS NOT what you get. Don't think I will waste anymore time with fineartameria.
Thank you so much, Zen! I was about to pay for a premium subscription based on your previous video. Now I WON't! One of the honest TH-camrs on Print on Demand!
Warning ⚠️ The sound effects in this are super loud, and will hurt your ears. Listen to this at the lowest volume. It was already my understanding this form of selling is meant to work in tandem with your own website, allowing the photographer or artist to not also have to be the framer, printer and shipper of their own work. These sites allow your customers several options, if you have a website - such as canvas size, frame type, etc. They do take part of your profits for that work, which means the artist will want to price their work accordingly to account for that, and to ensure you receive the return you want on your work.
A very informative video and thank you. I'm glad I also did some research on FAA before shelling out $30. I've only got the basic membership at the moment with 22 pieces of artwork up, and even if I do a search on Fine Art America using the tags I've attached to my work, none of my stuff appears in the search. Even a Google search doesn't bring it up, in fact, hardly anything from FAA appears on a Google search. I've also read that visitors to an artist's page are usually other artists on FAA. It seems to be a monumental waste of time and effort. Reading other comments, I'm glad it's not just me.
I have uploaded more high end artwork to their free zone and to be honest, it's a club of friends more than anything. The website needs a lot of work. I have left my items on the free area to see what happened but not rushing to add more. I get emails about art challenges and nothing else. Each to their own.
Good luck! With about 20 oil paintings since 2007, I haven't sold a single one. It's a miracle to make a sale. I think you'll get tired of waiting to see what happens. Nothing will just happen. The only thing this is good for is to use it as a portfolio in any case as long as you don't pay them a penny....
really???? if you are an artist,you WORK,a lot. marketing? no,not an artist's job. if you "market' yourself...why would you need platforms for selling your art? platforms that live very comfortably intermediating...art. and no,if you are a good artist,your art finds clients.
Apart from time what have you to loose. 30 dollars a year isn't exactly going to break the bank and you can always go for the free option. All these platforms are saturated so it is always hard to stand out from the crowd and get people to buy your work! I normally do my own prints but it is actually exhausting and expensive to produce high quality prints, between archival inks, archival paper, a professional printer that will print high quality A3 prints, ( and all printers were designed by the devil to chew up paper and continuously throw tantrums) mounts, board packing, cello bags and postage. It also requires a lot of space to store everything. I think it is a good idea to try a few different platforms and see what is best for you.
I have been a FAA artist for ten years. It does not make me rich but I notice that the more art I upload and the more I get involved on the web site as I would if I were on a social media platform such as FB, the more views I get every day. I have to keep active on it doing certain activities, adding art to groups, etc., liking, favoriting other artists' works... I gradually keep selling more each year, enough to keep my Paypal nicely stocked, and I only recently have starting producing a lot more art that is actually more popular...Rome and art is not built in one day. My sales could pay for dozens of yearly membership costs- 30 bucks... One thing I have to comment on about this video in that my results are totally contradictory: I just Googled "fine art buying" and Fine Art America was second, right after singulart, so it would appear that FAA is now actually helping spread the word. Good video, and congrats on your success!
My wife has a shop on FAA. NOTHING sells because the shipping is ridiculously expensive. We live in Denver Colorado. The shipping costs just as much as the product itself. She made 4 sales as well because it was family trying to support her.
I uploaded quite a few of my paintings to FAA. Before I continued to add more ( I waited until the next day ) I searched EVERY single search result it produced with my EXACT Title. My artwork did not appear. There were 37 full pages and I searched every single one. I sell on E Bay, Chairish and just I started with Etsy and this is not the case. If you search the title your listing will come up, often times first. If you search key words then it could be anywhere in the results but you will find it. This was enough for me to not want to continue with FAA. I just didn't feel it was a good fit for me and I didn't trust that I would actually get a correct accounting of sales. That is only a hunch, I don't know this but with the other sites you have to ship your own items out and so there is no question of a sale.
Wow you uploaded a few images and expected the money to flow into your bank account among zillions of sellers all expecting the same instant results. Maybe 20 years ago it was that easy. 22 cent sale on Red Bubble? At least on FAA you can set your own profit margin. According to RB's own annual report - 25% of users make at least one sale and of those seller the average annual income is $125. Not very impressive. Pick a retail partner and put in the effort to promote your work. It takes time and effort to stand out from the crowd.
I've been using FAA since 2009 as a fully paid member, and it's worked out well for me. I make regular sales and a decent amount of money from them. Redbubble, which I think is the worst of the worst, is a different matter. FAA are quite upfront about the fact that you need to market your own work outside of FAA. That said I also make regular sales that have come into FAA via Google searches. I also have an artists website with them, which was simple enough to setup with my own IURL, so I'm not sure why you had issues.mThe fact is that many people come to FAA and expect to simply upload work and that is will sell. I'm afraid it doesn't work like that and you need to put some effort in yourself to promote your own work outside of FAA. What you're saying here pretty much typifies short-term joiners who get upset that their artwork isn't selling - then you look at it and see that there's no description or hardly any suitable keywords. YOU need to put the effort in, and keep at it, then you will make sales... and considerably better ones than you will with the likes of RB and S6.
@@ammonarchie9876 No POD site promotes individual artists. How would that even work with so many artists selling their work? They do, from time to time, spotlight an artist. You also set your own markup, so how much you make is up to you over what FAA charges for an item. Honestly, how would you expect it to work? They’re a business at the end of the day. The yearly fee is nominal, you set your own prices and you make money from the materials used. Would be great to hear of better alternatives from you though. I’m all ears 😅
You need a lot of good key words that result in huge amounts of people searching for them. All you have to do is put in something about your art in Google and the amount of people search for that phrase or those words will come up If you see that thousands and thousands, even millions of people are searching for those words to describe your product, you stand a chance of having your work sell, but it's also more than that. Lately, I see that they are offering space to people who write blogs about art. As a professional writer, I know that I could make that happen, but then I thought: Well, yeah, it could draw more people to your art, as a writer. But why are you writing for a site that your writing will help monetize, and you are not getting paid for it? Yet another unpaid writing gig. I don't know. And there are so many "motivational" art-sales hawkers. In the end, you're spending money on someone yelling "You can do it!" at you, lol. I'm an obsessed artist and writer, with thousands of works of digital art, twelve novels and an award-winning journalism career. However, I have barely made a living from my work. Anyway, thanks for the tip about Redbubble. I used to be on that site, too. But let's face it: the actual product on both of these sites is not great anyway. I've read that metal and canvas prints come out muddy. Also, let's face it, that heat transfer stuff with your image on it is lumpy and will crack after a few washings.
@@marthawoodworth It's a matter of perspective. An FAA membership costs me $30 a year. I made that back within the first two days of this year. Is the product poor? Frankly I don't really care because I see POD sites catering to the lowest common denominator anyway. I will say that in the 12 years I've been with FAA I haven't had anything returned for quality issues though. If someone wants a good quality, signed print created by the artist they come to me directly. So yes, I could huff and puff and complain about the fact that my efforts are bringing in potential customers to FAA as a business as well as my work, but if I'm making considerably more money than it's costing me to be on there then for me it's a no brainer.
Ive always thought that posting your artwork on these sites is more of a way to get your artwork stolen or copied by merchants who sell large volumes but who have no talent themselves. They seem to be malls for those merchants who are shopping for things to copy and sell...
Awesome video, I appreciate the info! I also had a hard time with Fine Art America a few years ago, and had an awful experience with their customer support. FYI - The sound effects are really loud!
Here's the thing, its very expensive advertising on google, red bubble is now charging a tax on standard members. The site does advertise a bit but you have to put in the work. You have to have good work that looks good on a print because that is mostly what they sell. What looks good on a pillow won't on a print etc. You have to add keywords, descriptions etc, and then advertise it. You don't have to pay to advertise, you do have to put work in. Everyone thinks the site should be doing all of that. Everyone thinks they will be an instant success, it takes a long time before you are noticed before selling any place. I've seen lots of people come and go from that site, all expecting success fast. But you will be up against people doing art for a long time. People that have a customer base or a consistent style. You can integrate your store into a normal webpage.
Thank you Zen 😊 I am very disappointed with Fine Art America. I am looking into a different platform to sell my art prints. It seems very complicated to change the domain name. Now I know what to look for on a platform.
Thank you for this review. I also had a lot of fine art uploaded on the paid membership for almost a year. I haven't sold even one item to cover the membership fee. I just literally canceled my premium membership and then I removed all my art from their website. It is a joke platform taking people's money and not giving even a chance to sell.
There's no proper database for searching either I have art specific stuff you type it in I don't appear for no reason I have to search my profile then go find it from there which is strange
Omigosh I got so burned on my last order. I've ordered thousands of dollars of merch from this place til now. My "Previous Orders" page shows my orders look great but when I received the greeting cards, one photo was off center and the other didn't even show my dog at all (which was the subject of the photo). I sent them the screen shot of my order, showing it perfect, and they said that's not how they received it. So I said it sounds like a glitch in your system because you can go on my order page and see how it was submitted. They wouldn't help me. They said it wouldn't do any good to place the order again because it would still come out the same.
I had a premium FAA account and just yesterday i tried to login qnd it said that my account was closed and yo email them to re open it. I think im done with FAA, they are horrible. Any better suggestions ? Is Society6 pretty good ?
Great video and thanks! I was thinking this morning I should try uploading more to fine art America. So you're helping me not waste my time! As for your video 😅 this is just a suggestion, decrease the sound of your sound effects or increase the sound of your voice.. that first WTF cat scared the crap out of me while I was listening to your video driving to work 😂😂😂
@@zenwatercooler I realized afterwards that this video is 2 years old and you probably have improved ... which you have! ☺️ I like your videos and subscribed! 😁 there's an idea you mentioned in another video I wanna try 😃
Hi zen, so you found the issue with these platforms is that dont advertise our artworks ,no marketing, SEO Issue. I just want convey my idea here is why dont you do the marketing part by yourself I just want to say that just think these POD websites provide plaforms to sell our artworks to be sold printed.I think you have already got tons of designs just invest your time in SEO and drive organic traffic and there many videos on easy ways to driving traffic, marketing for getting free ecommerce sales. What is your take on my point? I really want hear from your side. Btw you are one of the honest youtubers I've ever seen.
As a POD seller who have accounts in multiple platforms too, Fine Art America wasn't worth trying. If we talk about driving our own traffic to the site, might as well just send the traffic to sites that don't rip us off the money and already doing great for us, or even build our own sites & integrate with Printful. For me, I'd rather do research and design than marketing. Maybe site like Fine Art America is not for a POD seller like me. Different people, different opinion and passion.
Maybe based on this critique, they now have a huge ad campaign going here on YT. That's why I am now joining, because of their massive new publicity push. Their customer/tech support is not great, but they have a ton of articles now about how to work the site. A lot of people have jumped in to explain the process. If that was your doing, thank you!
You're so right so I had quit fineartamerica as well. Since I heard that art website are so overwhelmed with competition and a whole lot advertising plus many manufacturers have fired hoops you must jump through. It's pointless 😢 Well you're so right and many others say stick to being independent and sells niche and not go on any others platform that won't help you sell your merchandise. That's cold and quite hurtful because I've been there! And you learn to be careful what is out there and do your research. Thanks again and continue to do what you do.
I opened a redbubble store, spend about 10 hours finding my feet and uploading my poster designs, next morning got email saying i was suspended for spamming...SPAMMING WHO? my posters are my own art....not bothering with them again
Fine Art don’t do a lot of advertising. It’s largely up to you. I’ll say again It’s much worse with Redbubble, also if you want your original work stolen and posted on every POD site including all over Redbubble with bot accounts and bot responses with no chance of having it taken down Redbubble outshines every site I’ve used….
Hello Zen the same happened to me I did paid for a premium for a year and not sells at all ,so you explain very clear the same experience,so do not bother to put your eggs in fine art america
We bought two of Ali Franco’s prints from Fine Art America. They have faded so much that they don’t even look like the same pieces. They have faded to pink. I reached out to the artist and no comment. So disappointing. We framed the prints at a very high price. Ugh!!!
I am not a pro photgrapher but I tried signing up to the free account. After few uploads, my account got closed without any explanations. I cant even sign up for a new account. As an artist it is very weird an unpleasant to get rejected without giving you any reasons for the account to getting blocked.
I am trying since 2021 to regain access to my account on fine art america ... they don t even answer the mails they received from me, my account is still active, my photos to sell are still there but .. I cannot access my account ... so slowly I am beginning to think their a fraud
I was going to buy a print of a photo that a friend took. I saw that a 9x10 print at FAA would cost about $20 bucks and a 10x12 would cost $75. That sort of price just makes me distrust the site.
Thanks for the information! I think Fine Art America is exactly what the name implies...Fine Art from established, formally educated Fine Artists. It is more about the artist and their reputation within the offline system, hence the higher prices.
I can't even sign up to the site. Something wrong with the security code, i've typed a hundred times those codes just as excatly as the picture dislayed but always showed up wrong, it's ridiculous
Hi again, does someone knows how to cancel my premium account with fine art, i just don't see where is it or maybe you need to close your account to do it, which will be a stupid system, i just want to keep a free account there but and again if too much headache i just cancel the lot. Thanks guys !
I was genuinely curious if anyone got sales on FAA when I came across this. I have been on their site for years, though only going for the free in a wait to see what happens 1st approach. Nothing. I literately forgot about it until a friend told me he keeps seeing my face in an ad and when he sent it to me, it was a Pixel ad where they used my FAA profile photo. All I could do was laugh.
I like to tell all of you. Selling prints on products are very very expansive on FAA. I give you just one example. Shower Curtain is sold for £50 or $60 at FAA. That is very very expansive product price. How many people actually prepare to buy product at that price. And when I uploaded this product to my shopify store. Then price suddenly increased to £68 or $83.50. Who the hell is going to buy my product at this price? I asked FFA to reduce price between $20 and $30. But they say. Prices are set by them and can not be changed. I thought I would upload couple of products from there to my shopify website. But when I see the prices are sky rocketing. Then I think twice before add them to my shopify store. That is pricing nightmare.
I just paid the $30 and it wont let me upload, keeps giving me a FORBIDDEN prompt... I had the 25 image limit for years and not yet impressed either. The SEO fail is a major deal breaker. Thank you!
Hmm that is tough to say as everyone has different success on different platforms. For me, Displate has been the best to sell fine art prints. However, I have sold some canvas prints on Redbubble and the margins can be pretty good (like $10 US for a sale).
I joined a few weeks ago.. so far 1 sale... and it was a Christmas tree decoration hey ho 😂 have to say my website they gave me looks cool. But with no traffic I'll never get sales.. and I'm new to the whole mine field of online marketing!
I've been on Fine Art for around 8 years and haven't sold anything. I get 400+ views a year with many from the same city, same images. Makes me wonder if someone is able to steal my work off the site.
I manage to make sales on FFA; but lately every time I generate a canvas print sale they tell me it can not be printed because the image is not centered; which is a joke as all my images uploaded to the platform have been edited and cropped in an image editor. This has cost me several hundred dollars in lost commissions; and when you contact the platform vial email, phone or the online ticket system, they don't bother to respond back and they cancel the sale. The platforms that are far more professional in my opinion are Pictorem, Redbubble and Zazzle as a last choice, though Zazzle years ago was at the top; in my opinion they have really damaged their platform; especially when they decided to block Google from indexing the shops on the platform. I can say this, because last year I was contacted by them via email and they asked me if I wanted to move over to a new platform within Zazzle and they stated that with this platform Google would index my shop. As for sales you need to do a lot of promotion on your own; don't count on the platforms to do it for you. That's why it's so important to have your own website. Redbubble would be the top site that does PPC advertising on both Google and the Bing networks, Pictorem does as well to a smaller degree. So if your pushing your stuff online it will get much more reach from the paid advertising that these companies do; but remember it's going to be up to you. Post to as many social networks that you can, create videos showing how you go about creating your art, create promo videos and yes do some paid advertising as well.
I just want to know about the quality of their product. I always thought artists needed to market their own work. I see when your selling merch or tshirts but photography prints? Does redbubble market for you? Im new to all this.
Yes that is a great question. Many print-on-demand sites do market the work. I would suggest Google whatever shirt or print you are looking for (like a customer would) and see if ads come up. Often Redbubble and Displate advertise (which is nice for the artists).
Lucky you, 4 sales, well i forgot about this website and went back to it a couple weeks ago and was surprise i was there since 2018. My total sale since is about 0 and i did put every single thing i 've done on a social media. I wonder if the sales are not made between friends. Seeing your video i think i going to cancel my premium account for a free one. I've got traffic and 0 sale, that's why i forget about it, nothing happen on this website.
So I guess the difference is whether you need someone to promote your work to the public, or simply to provide an online access point for your clients to shop and buy that work.
I just tried them again cause i want to actually try to buy my own shirts and stickers. They will still not give me links to sell t shirts of stickers.
There is no link to jist t-shirts & stickers. You upload your image & then price the products you want to sell it on. Then after you submit it, the image page will show & you'll see the products which you can click on.
I have been looking at Fine Art America and I have to say I am less than impressed. I have the distinct feeling they are more intent on making money their collections rather then from selling your art.
Great Video 👍 had the same problen 14 years ago . Fineart America is suck .i start selling my work on my own website . and all the money is mine . i don't need a middle man .
Thanks, Zen. Brill vid. I'm building a photography web site, and need a PoD. I tried printing myself, but WAY too maddening. I was about to try FAA, caught this just in time. Respect, fam.
@@zenwatercooler Thanks. How do you test? Do you put different designs on each platform until you find one that is selling then share that with others?
As an amateur photographer, I have been looking for a good place to start perhaps selling enough photos to upgrade my gear, not to make a living out of it. Having seen your video, I am not so optimistic anymore :-). I have seen a photographer using Fine ART America as a platform he could link to from his Squarespace account, but that is an extra cost i guess.
look at the better business bureau. They are terrible. They take all the profit and you can’t cancel. They literally won’t cancel your account. Your card just gets charged until you cancel it.
FAA now has an Instagram SHARE link on each page of your photos. If you like people stealing your photos and not paying, fine. I don't...The link is not removable either. Closing account just like many others.
I started out with fine art america and was trying to do affialiate marketing so i signed uo for that...but it led nowhere really. Idk i abandoned it. it is advertised over here in the 🇺🇸. Not sure what the problem is. They are kinda swanky maybe a bit snobbish.
I had to stop watching this video because of the loud scratching noise. Freaked me out each time and couldn't chance it would happen again. Shame because I am interested in this content.
The only reason I use FAA is it is so easy to add work - however I've just checked my sales and nothing since Dec 2021 and as I'm typing this we are in June 2022. So - decision time - do I remove all bar 25 and cancel my paid for or just cut my losses and run? Time to think.
Previously i saw your video where you sold something for 5$ so i decided to open account on fineartamerica and uploaded 5 images ..i got one sale of sticker😄so it was just luck
I would tend to agree, but I have sold enough on Displate to buy a brand new automobile. With my FAA earnings I was able to get a medium Slurpee. So I am not sure what the difference is (since they are both art prints). I guess I never figured this one out!
How is it a scam if they actually sell the products on their website? They have over half a million artists on their site. At that juncture you have to self promote to get sales.
Most of these comments boil down to expecting FFA to sell your art. They don’t. YOU drive traffic to it. You have to have a solid marketing message that speaks to the needs of your target audience. If you can’t articulate WHY I need your work it won’t sell. That’s ANY platform.
I appreciate your perspective but I disagree - I made enough money on Displate last year to buy a brand new car. And I did zero promotion. So that may be true for FAA but I would not agree that it is true on all similar platforms.
@@zenwatercooler oh for sure. Not saying other platforms are worse. Displate is great actually! But if you WANT to sell on FFA, that requires driving traffic and that means targeted messaging plus SEO. I got a lot of traffic because I tailored EVERYTHING (bio, picture file names, descriptions, COMMENTS) to attract search engines. I was just saying there’s a certain way to work every platform. FFA is good if you optimize and push people to it. I like pushing people to FFA because they are great on upselling with additional products or getting someone who bucks at the wall-mount prices to buy a coffee cup for lesser cost instead.
@@tersan5043 You just have to ask yourself why waste time, money and effort in directing buyers to a platform where they will find, along with your work, another half a million artists offering their work uselessly. That makes no sense. If the platform is going to have any value, it is because it promotes your work and is capable of generating sales. The rest is sheer nonsense, beyond making these people rich by charging memberships to the naive people without any guarantee of sale...
I have had four thound+ looks over 32 images in a few years and no sales. I dropped the price for just a print to the low double digits and nothing. Frankly I think it is to easy to right mouse click grab from FAA and then they print it out locally. Stealing it in other words. That can be cured with some code by FAA doesn't supply anything like that. They could care less I think.
![เปิด อาณาจักร หมื่นล้าน "สาระตั้ม" l [Nickynachat]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/3XE0nPF4YkQ/mqdefault.jpg)
I posted some of my photographic images to fineartameria. For fun I ordered one of my images to see the print results. The print I received was WAY to dark to the point there is no detail. I contacted customer service. Two days later I received an email stating they do not color correct and print from the file they receive. I then had the "same" file printed from a different printer and the image was fine. I explained this to fineartamerica customer service. Their reply, again two days later said the same as their first reply to my concern about the quality of the print. Nothing has been resolved. So, what you see on the fineartamerica site IS NOT what you get. Don't think I will waste anymore time with fineartameria.
That stinks, I am sorry to hear that!!
Thank you so much, Zen! I was about to pay for a premium subscription based on your previous video. Now I WON't! One of the honest TH-camrs on Print on Demand!
Warning ⚠️ The sound effects in this are super loud, and will hurt your ears. Listen to this at the lowest volume. It was already my understanding this form of selling is meant to work in tandem with your own website, allowing the photographer or artist to not also have to be the framer, printer and shipper of their own work. These sites allow your customers several options, if you have a website - such as canvas size, frame type, etc. They do take part of your profits for that work, which means the artist will want to price their work accordingly to account for that, and to ensure you receive the return you want on your work.
ur late. i got shocked already... 🤣
@@janilos 😁
A very informative video and thank you. I'm glad I also did some research on FAA before shelling out $30. I've only got the basic membership at the moment with 22 pieces of artwork up, and even if I do a search on Fine Art America using the tags I've attached to my work, none of my stuff appears in the search. Even a Google search doesn't bring it up, in fact, hardly anything from FAA appears on a Google search. I've also read that visitors to an artist's page are usually other artists on FAA. It seems to be a monumental waste of time and effort. Reading other comments, I'm glad it's not just me.
I have uploaded more high end artwork to their free zone and to be honest, it's a club of friends more than anything. The website needs a lot of work. I have left my items on the free area to see what happened but not rushing to add more. I get emails about art challenges and nothing else. Each to their own.
Good luck! With about 20 oil paintings since 2007, I haven't sold a single one. It's a miracle to make a sale. I think you'll get tired of waiting to see what happens. Nothing will just happen. The only thing this is good for is to use it as a portfolio in any case as long as you don't pay them a penny....
omg PLEASE warn about the jumpscare at 4:41 it is so loud and it scared the crap out of me.
I haven't heard that it was too loud, I appreciate the feedback! I am speaking to the cat in question right now.
Yes I had my headphones on and it hurt lol
Fine art America is actually a great platform if you are a painter. If you are more of a print on demand person it probably won’t fit you
I'm on FAA myself, and it sure seems that way.
they'll go bust then because their entire business model is based on POD not original paintings
If they gave you the buyers info, that would be great.
@@tracyaweiss Not bad for photographers either.
If you don't market yourself, you won't make any sales. Don't expect Fine Art America to advertise for you.
really????
if you are an artist,you WORK,a lot.
marketing? no,not an artist's job.
if you "market' yourself...why would you need platforms for selling your art?
platforms that live very comfortably intermediating...art.
and no,if you are a good artist,your art finds clients.
@@Gabriel-gabriel For example, if you don't do your own promotion on Redbubble, you won't sell anything either. Self-promotion is the foundation
But how do you do that?
Apart from time what have you to loose. 30 dollars a year isn't exactly going to break the bank and you can always go for the free option. All these platforms are saturated so it is always hard to stand out from the crowd and get people to buy your work! I normally do my own prints but it is actually exhausting and expensive to produce high quality prints, between archival inks, archival paper, a professional printer that will print high quality A3 prints, ( and all printers were designed by the devil to chew up paper and continuously throw tantrums) mounts, board packing, cello bags and postage. It also requires a lot of space to store everything. I think it is a good idea to try a few different platforms and see what is best for you.
This is great feedback, I would agree with all of this - thank you for taking the time to write this!
I have been a FAA artist for ten years. It does not make me rich but I notice that the more art I upload and the more I get involved on the web site as I would if I were on a social media platform such as FB, the more views I get every day. I have to keep active on it doing certain activities, adding art to groups, etc., liking, favoriting other artists' works... I gradually keep selling more each year, enough to keep my Paypal nicely stocked, and I only recently have starting producing a lot more art that is actually more popular...Rome and art is not built in one day. My sales could pay for dozens of yearly membership costs- 30 bucks... One thing I have to comment on about this video in that my results are totally contradictory: I just Googled "fine art buying" and Fine Art America was second, right after singulart, so it would appear that FAA is now actually helping spread the word. Good video, and congrats on your success!
Congratulations. I got some first sales recently.
can't be bothered with etsy and certainly not redbubble, hope they go bust
@@spudspuddy You should better explain your 'bust' hopes !
@@HartmutJagerArt bust means broke, bankrupt, geeze you make hommer simpson look intelligent
@@spudspuddy ...and You did not even understand my simple 'bust' sentence - nor can even write Homer Simpson's name correctly ! 😂😂😂
My wife has a shop on FAA. NOTHING sells because the shipping is ridiculously expensive. We live in Denver Colorado. The shipping costs just as much as the product itself.
She made 4 sales as well because it was family trying to support her.
I uploaded quite a few of my paintings to FAA. Before I continued to add more ( I waited until the next day ) I searched EVERY single search result it produced with my EXACT Title. My artwork did not appear. There were 37 full pages and I searched every single one.
I sell on E Bay, Chairish and just I started with Etsy and this is not the case. If you search the title your listing will come up, often times first. If you search key words then it could be anywhere in the results but you will find it.
This was enough for me to not want to continue with FAA. I just didn't feel it was a good fit for me and I didn't trust that I would actually get a correct accounting of sales. That is only a hunch, I don't know this but with the other sites you have to ship your own items out and so there is no question of a sale.
Wow you uploaded a few images and expected the money to flow into your bank account among zillions of sellers all expecting the same instant results. Maybe 20 years ago it was that easy. 22 cent sale on Red Bubble? At least on FAA you can set your own profit margin. According to RB's own annual report - 25% of users make at least one sale and of those seller the average annual income is $125. Not very impressive. Pick a retail partner and put in the effort to promote your work. It takes time and effort to stand out from the crowd.
Exactly! You need to promote/market your work to drive traffic to your shop. What was he expecting
FineArtAmerica is mainly for older folks with specific taste in art not clipart designs
I've been using FAA since 2009 as a fully paid member, and it's worked out well for me. I make regular sales and a decent amount of money from them. Redbubble, which I think is the worst of the worst, is a different matter. FAA are quite upfront about the fact that you need to market your own work outside of FAA. That said I also make regular sales that have come into FAA via Google searches. I also have an artists website with them, which was simple enough to setup with my own IURL, so I'm not sure why you had issues.mThe fact is that many people come to FAA and expect to simply upload work and that is will sell. I'm afraid it doesn't work like that and you need to put some effort in yourself to promote your own work outside of FAA. What you're saying here pretty much typifies short-term joiners who get upset that their artwork isn't selling - then you look at it and see that there's no description or hardly any suitable keywords. YOU need to put the effort in, and keep at it, then you will make sales... and considerably better ones than you will with the likes of RB and S6.
I really appreciate this feedback. I am glad to hear someone is actually making sales on FAA!
Sounds like you're doing the work that FAA should be doing but they're keeping almost half of your sales..
@@ammonarchie9876 No POD site promotes individual artists. How would that even work with so many artists selling their work? They do, from time to time, spotlight an artist. You also set your own markup, so how much you make is up to you over what FAA charges for an item. Honestly, how would you expect it to work? They’re a business at the end of the day. The yearly fee is nominal, you set your own prices and you make money from the materials used. Would be great to hear of better alternatives from you though. I’m all ears 😅
You need a lot of good key words that result in huge amounts of people searching for them. All you have to do is put in something about your art in Google and the amount of people search for that phrase or those words will come up If you see that thousands and thousands, even millions of people are searching for those words to describe your product, you stand a chance of having your work sell, but it's also more than that. Lately, I see that they are offering space to people who write blogs about art. As a professional writer, I know that I could make that happen, but then I thought: Well, yeah, it could draw more people to your art, as a writer. But why are you writing for a site that your writing will help monetize, and you are not getting paid for it? Yet another unpaid writing gig. I don't know. And there are so many "motivational" art-sales hawkers. In the end, you're spending money on someone yelling "You can do it!" at you, lol. I'm an obsessed artist and writer, with thousands of works of digital art, twelve novels and an award-winning journalism career. However, I have barely made a living from my work. Anyway, thanks for the tip about Redbubble. I used to be on that site, too. But let's face it: the actual product on both of these sites is not great anyway. I've read that metal and canvas prints come out muddy. Also, let's face it, that heat transfer stuff with your image on it is lumpy and will crack after a few washings.
@@marthawoodworth It's a matter of perspective. An FAA membership costs me $30 a year. I made that back within the first two days of this year. Is the product poor? Frankly I don't really care because I see POD sites catering to the lowest common denominator anyway. I will say that in the 12 years I've been with FAA I haven't had anything returned for quality issues though. If someone wants a good quality, signed print created by the artist they come to me directly. So yes, I could huff and puff and complain about the fact that my efforts are bringing in potential customers to FAA as a business as well as my work, but if I'm making considerably more money than it's costing me to be on there then for me it's a no brainer.
Ive always thought that posting your artwork on these sites is more of a way to get your artwork stolen or copied by merchants who sell large volumes but who have no talent themselves. They seem to be malls for those merchants who are shopping for things to copy and sell...
Awesome video, I appreciate the info! I also had a hard time with Fine Art America a few years ago, and had an awful experience with their customer support. FYI - The sound effects are really loud!
I wish there was a way I could re-edit this video, I am sorry! I learned going forward so hopefully not an issue for future videos.
@@zenwatercooler Awesome! Learning curve 🙂
I get tons of traffic but zero sales on Fine Art America
Here's the thing, its very expensive advertising on google, red bubble is now charging a tax on standard members. The site does advertise a bit but you have to put in the work. You have to have good work that looks good on a print because that is mostly what they sell. What looks good on a pillow won't on a print etc. You have to add keywords, descriptions etc, and then advertise it. You don't have to pay to advertise, you do have to put work in. Everyone thinks the site should be doing all of that.
Everyone thinks they will be an instant success, it takes a long time before you are noticed before selling any place. I've seen lots of people come and go from that site, all expecting success fast. But you will be up against people doing art for a long time. People that have a customer base or a consistent style. You can integrate your store into a normal webpage.
Thank you Zen 😊 I am very disappointed with Fine Art America. I am looking into a different platform to sell my art prints. It seems very complicated to change the domain name. Now I know what to look for on a platform.
Thank you for this review. I also had a lot of fine art uploaded on the paid membership for almost a year. I haven't sold even one item to cover the membership fee. I just literally canceled my premium membership and then I removed all my art from their website. It is a joke platform taking people's money and not giving even a chance to sell.
I'm the same. Not one sale. My background is fine art.
@@Lilione111 man so i have never work on it
There's no proper database for searching either I have art specific stuff you type it in I don't appear for no reason I have to search my profile then go find it from there which is strange
Omigosh I got so burned on my last order. I've ordered thousands of dollars of merch from this place til now. My "Previous Orders" page shows my orders look great but when I received the greeting cards, one photo was off center and the other didn't even show my dog at all (which was the subject of the photo). I sent them the screen shot of my order, showing it perfect, and they said that's not how they received it. So I said it sounds like a glitch in your system because you can go on my order page and see how it was submitted. They wouldn't help me. They said it wouldn't do any good to place the order again because it would still come out the same.
the sfx is too loud. almost got a heart attck
yeah
I had a premium FAA account and just yesterday i tried to login qnd it said that my account was closed and yo email them to re open it. I think im done with FAA, they are horrible. Any better suggestions ? Is Society6 pretty good ?
Why Was it Closed ? ? ?
Lol. I was literally planning on starting a fine art America account
Me too 😂🤦🏻♀️
I began the process last night based on his mentioned video from a year prior, and stopped to do more research.
Great video and thanks! I was thinking this morning I should try uploading more to fine art America. So you're helping me not waste my time! As for your video 😅 this is just a suggestion, decrease the sound of your sound effects or increase the sound of your voice.. that first WTF cat scared the crap out of me while I was listening to your video driving to work 😂😂😂
Yes I screwed up the sound editing on this video… I am sorry! I am always trying to do better, I appreciate the feedback!
@@zenwatercooler I realized afterwards that this video is 2 years old and you probably have improved ... which you have! ☺️ I like your videos and subscribed! 😁 there's an idea you mentioned in another video I wanna try 😃
Four sales over the year? That’s better than most of us.
It’s just an awful site.
Hi zen, so you found the issue with these platforms is that dont advertise our artworks ,no marketing, SEO Issue. I just want convey my idea here is why dont you do the marketing part by yourself I just want to say that just think these POD websites provide plaforms to sell our artworks to be sold printed.I think you have already got tons of designs just invest your time in SEO and drive organic traffic and there many videos on easy ways to driving traffic, marketing for getting free ecommerce sales. What is your take on my point? I really want hear from your side. Btw you are one of the honest youtubers I've ever seen.
As a POD seller who have accounts in multiple platforms too, Fine Art America wasn't worth trying. If we talk about driving our own traffic to the site, might as well just send the traffic to sites that don't rip us off the money and already doing great for us, or even build our own sites & integrate with Printful. For me, I'd rather do research and design than marketing. Maybe site like Fine Art America is not for a POD seller like me. Different people, different opinion and passion.
Maybe based on this critique, they now have a huge ad campaign going here on YT. That's why I am now joining, because of their massive new publicity push. Their customer/tech support is not great, but they have a ton of articles now about how to work the site. A lot of people have jumped in to explain the process. If that was your doing, thank you!
You're so right so I had quit fineartamerica as well. Since I heard that art website are so overwhelmed with competition and a whole lot advertising plus many manufacturers have fired hoops you must jump
through. It's pointless 😢
Well you're so right and many others say stick to being independent and sells niche and not go on any others platform that won't help you sell your merchandise. That's cold and quite hurtful because I've been there! And you learn to be careful what is out there and do your research. Thanks again and continue to do what you do.
I opened a redbubble store, spend about 10 hours finding my feet and uploading my poster designs, next morning got email saying i was suspended for spamming...SPAMMING WHO? my posters are my own art....not bothering with them again
Fine Art don’t do a lot of advertising. It’s largely up to you. I’ll say again It’s much worse with Redbubble, also if you want your original work stolen and posted on every POD site including all over Redbubble with bot accounts and bot responses with no chance of having it taken down Redbubble outshines every site I’ve used….
Hello Zen the same happened to me I did paid for a premium for a year and not sells at all ,so you explain very clear the same experience,so do not bother to put your eggs in fine art america
We bought two of Ali Franco’s prints from Fine Art America. They have faded so much that they don’t even look like the same pieces. They have faded to pink. I reached out to the artist and no comment. So disappointing. We framed the prints at a very high price. Ugh!!!
Arrgh that is disappointing, especially considering the price of the art prints! I am sorry to hear that!!
You saved me time and money ;), thanks my friend :)
I am not a pro photgrapher but I tried signing up to the free account. After few uploads, my account got closed without any explanations. I cant even sign up for a new account. As an artist it is very weird an unpleasant to get rejected without giving you any reasons for the account to getting blocked.
Try phoning and speaking to a person!
I am trying since 2021 to regain access to my account on fine art america ... they don t even answer the mails they received from me, my account is still active, my photos to sell are still there but .. I cannot access my account ... so slowly I am beginning to think their a fraud
Create a buyer account & post a comment in the forum that you need help accessing your artist account. You should hear from one of the moderators.
I was going to buy a print of a photo that a friend took. I saw that a 9x10 print at FAA would cost about $20 bucks and a 10x12 would cost $75. That sort of price just makes me distrust the site.
You just saved a life!😂❤ Thank you so much for this detailed review
thumbs down just for the stupid jumpscare sound beeing too loud . i mean come on .
Thanks for the information! I think Fine Art America is exactly what the name implies...Fine Art from established, formally educated Fine Artists. It is more about the artist and their reputation within the offline system, hence the higher prices.
Totally and I appreciate that feedback, I agree that it certainly seems to be working for some artists!
If you have a loyal social media followers who loves your art, I don't think you have a problem with any of those sites.
I can't even sign up to the site. Something wrong with the security code, i've typed a hundred times those codes just as excatly as the picture dislayed but always showed up wrong, it's ridiculous
Hi again, does someone knows how to cancel my premium account with fine art, i just don't see where is it or maybe you need to close your account to do it, which will be a stupid system, i just want to keep a free account there but and again if too much headache i just cancel the lot. Thanks guys !
This is the current issue I'm having.
Settings>General>Close Account It has icon of doorway with door. I would make sure that U R not set to autopay.
@@Richimage Thank you
I was genuinely curious if anyone got sales on FAA when I came across this. I have been on their site for years, though only going for the free in a wait to see what happens 1st approach. Nothing. I literately forgot about it until a friend told me he keeps seeing my face in an ad and when he sent it to me, it was a Pixel ad where they used my FAA profile photo. All I could do was laugh.
I signed up to embed the shop to my own website its not working! And no support what so ever
I am sorry to hear that. I appreciate the confirmation that it's not just me! Brutal website in my opinion.
As an artist, it's been a horror for me. Can't even get my images posted after a week.
I like to tell all of you. Selling prints on products are very very expansive on FAA. I give you just one example. Shower Curtain is sold for £50 or $60 at FAA. That is very very expansive product price. How many people actually prepare to buy product at that price. And when I uploaded this product to my shopify store. Then price suddenly increased to £68 or $83.50. Who the hell is going to buy my product at this price? I asked FFA to reduce price between $20 and $30. But they say. Prices are set by them and can not be changed. I thought I would upload couple of products from there to my shopify website. But when I see the prices are sky rocketing. Then I think twice before add them to my shopify store. That is pricing nightmare.
I just paid the $30 and it wont let me upload, keeps giving me a FORBIDDEN prompt... I had the 25 image limit for years and not yet impressed either. The SEO fail is a major deal breaker. Thank you!
Just the fact that they reel sellers in for a $30 fee should be a red flag I think.
I am a watercolor artist. What website do you recommend so that I can sell my art? I could never get past the sign up page on FAA.
Hmm that is tough to say as everyone has different success on different platforms. For me, Displate has been the best to sell fine art prints. However, I have sold some canvas prints on Redbubble and the margins can be pretty good (like $10 US for a sale).
I joined a few weeks ago.. so far 1 sale... and it was a Christmas tree decoration hey ho 😂 have to say my website they gave me looks cool. But with no traffic I'll never get sales.. and I'm new to the whole mine field of online marketing!
I've been on Fine Art for around 8 years and haven't sold anything. I get 400+ views a year with many from the same city, same images. Makes me wonder if someone is able to steal my work off the site.
Of course. I am trying to low key on internet because internet is bad
You are absolutely right !!!! SAME THING HAPPENS TO ME !!!
Thanks so much for this video! I was actually wondering how this was going. Glad to hear your answer and experience.
Yo dude normalize, and mix your audio just a little bit just a lil. That record scratch is bout to kill my speakers.
I manage to make sales on FFA; but lately every time I generate a canvas print sale they tell me it can not be printed because the image is not centered; which is a joke as all my images uploaded to the platform have been edited and cropped in an image editor. This has cost me several hundred dollars in lost commissions; and when you contact the platform vial email, phone or the online ticket system, they don't bother to respond back and they cancel the sale. The platforms that are far more professional in my opinion are Pictorem, Redbubble and Zazzle as a last choice, though Zazzle years ago was at the top; in my opinion they have really damaged their platform; especially when they decided to block Google from indexing the shops on the platform. I can say this, because last year I was contacted by them via email and they asked me if I wanted to move over to a new platform within Zazzle and they stated that with this platform Google would index my shop.
As for sales you need to do a lot of promotion on your own; don't count on the platforms to do it for you. That's why it's so important to have your own website. Redbubble would be the top site that does PPC advertising on both Google and the Bing networks, Pictorem does as well to a smaller degree. So if your pushing your stuff online it will get much more reach from the paid advertising that these companies do; but remember it's going to be up to you. Post to as many social networks that you can, create videos showing how you go about creating your art, create promo videos and yes do some paid advertising as well.
Absolutely fantastic - I love this!! Thank you!
I just want to know about the quality of their product. I always thought artists needed to market their own work. I see when your selling merch or tshirts but photography prints? Does redbubble market for you? Im new to all this.
Yes that is a great question. Many print-on-demand sites do market the work. I would suggest Google whatever shirt or print you are looking for (like a customer would) and see if ads come up. Often Redbubble and Displate advertise (which is nice for the artists).
You probably have to do your own advertising.
Lucky you, 4 sales, well i forgot about this website and went back to it a couple weeks ago and was surprise i was there since 2018. My total sale since is about 0 and i did put every single thing i 've done on a social media. I wonder if the sales are not made between friends. Seeing your video i think i going to cancel my premium account for a free one. I've got traffic and 0 sale, that's why i forget about it, nothing happen on this website.
I appreciate your video and knowledge!
Just... Be sure to balance your sound effects with your voice volume next time lol
*record RIIIIP*
Lesson learned, thank you for the feedback!
So I guess the difference is whether you need someone to promote your work to the public, or simply to provide an online access point for your clients to shop and buy that work.
Yes I agree - if you are somehow established already as an artist, I think this could be an excellent site!
I just tried them again cause i want to actually try to buy my own shirts and stickers. They will still not give me links to sell t shirts of stickers.
There is no link to jist t-shirts & stickers. You upload your image & then price the products you want to sell it on. Then after you submit it, the image page will show & you'll see the products which you can click on.
I have been looking at Fine Art America and I have to say I am less than impressed. I have the distinct feeling they are more intent on making money their collections rather then from selling your art.
Great Video 👍 had the same problen 14 years ago . Fineart America is suck .i start selling my work on my own website . and all the money is mine . i don't need a middle man .
Thanks, Zen. Brill vid. I'm building a photography web site, and need a PoD. I tried printing myself, but WAY too maddening. I was about to try FAA, caught this just in time. Respect, fam.
Try the free version and then see how FAA works for you!
@@HartmutJagerArt Super appreciate, HJA!
I have no experience with this website and god bless you that you make this video for make us not wasting our time there lol
You just need to upload a few hundred high quality prints, that would yourself hang on your walls. I guarantee sells will come 😀👍
Hey Mr Cooler, Bummer!! BUT, remember not everything that looks like a good idea, is actually a good idea. Anyway, a learning experience was had...
Absolutely, that is the right mindset!!
Do you upload the same designs on several platforms or do you place different designs on each?
A little of both - anything that sells consistently I definitely try to get that on multiple platforms!
@@zenwatercooler Thanks. How do you test? Do you put different designs on each platform until you find one that is selling then share that with others?
As an amateur photographer, I have been looking for a good place to start perhaps selling enough photos to upgrade my gear, not to make a living out of it. Having seen your video, I am not so optimistic anymore :-). I have seen a photographer using Fine ART America as a platform he could link to from his Squarespace account, but that is an extra cost i guess.
Also i can not watermark my work so anyone can just download whatever theywant for free.
look at the better business bureau.
They are terrible. They take all the profit and you can’t cancel. They literally won’t cancel your account. Your card just gets charged until you cancel it.
I see what you mean and when I called customer service for help, they said they only help buyers.
I didn’t even know they had a phone number!! I guess some people are selling on this site but it has never been a good fit for me.
Sorry it didn't work out well. But I am left here breathless on the floor lmao. The cat and dog comments . . hilarious. Whew, gotta catch my breath!
What platforms besides my own website should I recommend?
I personally like Redbubble for the ease of use, the actual sales and the multiple products with one design. Lots of tutorials on my channel!
Nice video..
Can i know the font you use on your thumbnail?
"Why i dont sale on"..
Futura family of fonts - they are my favorite.
@@zenwatercooler tqvm man
FAA now has an Instagram SHARE link on each page of your photos. If you like people stealing your photos and not paying, fine. I don't...The link is not removable either. Closing account just like many others.
I paid $30 for premium and found what you found. I was not able to get started Or any instructions.
The forum discussions offer a lot of help & advice. I've been selling there for 9 years.
where is payment method.........?
I started out with fine art america and was trying to do affialiate marketing so i signed uo for that...but it led nowhere really. Idk i abandoned it. it is advertised over here in the 🇺🇸. Not sure what the problem is. They are kinda swanky maybe a bit snobbish.
Well my mistake, it seems i've got 2 sales in 2019 but i didn't know about it. well i still going to cancel my premium account
Yep, I have been wanting to quit FAA for a while.
$30 bucks for a year they don't advertise your page that's silly it's a great price for a place where you do nothing except upload the art
…. Is it because your art isn’t “fine”?
Might be! If there is ever an Average Art Canada, I will crush it.
I read the contract today, and it seems THEY OWN the copyrights to one's art. I want them to sell my art but NOT OWN IT--have I read that correctly.
Really? That's surprising.
I had to stop watching this video because of the loud scratching noise. Freaked me out each time and couldn't chance it would happen again. Shame because I am interested in this content.
Thank you for the feedback - sorry, it was a miss on my part and hopefully my videos have gotten better since this was published a few years ago.
The only reason I use FAA is it is so easy to add work - however I've just checked my sales and nothing since Dec 2021 and as I'm typing this we are in June 2022. So - decision time - do I remove all bar 25 and cancel my paid for or just cut my losses and run? Time to think.
Check your stats and see how many looks you are getting for your images. I was getting thousands (across 32 images) and no sales.
I only heard of FAA on TH-cam...I think from you & have never come across it from searching online.
Previously i saw your video where you sold something for 5$ so i decided to open account on fineartamerica and uploaded 5 images ..i got one sale of sticker😄so it was just luck
You are doing better than me, that is awesome!! I am glad someone is selling on that site (even if it is not me!) - congratulations!
@@zenwatercooler but now i have stopped uploading because it takes a lot of time and sales are very less
I was just going to upload....THANX!!!
The worst quality prints ever. Metal prints come dented. Customer service also sucks.
Been on it since 2012 and have barely made any sales.
thank you for the warning...
Man,the name says everything...Its for FINE ARTS not this " everything goes" we see in Redbubble etc.
I would tend to agree, but I have sold enough on Displate to buy a brand new automobile. With my FAA earnings I was able to get a medium Slurpee. So I am not sure what the difference is (since they are both art prints). I guess I never figured this one out!
Thanks, that's awesome information
I knew with the hard selling they do it was a scam. I kept ignoring the emails yet they kept coming.
How is it a scam if they actually sell the products on their website? They have over half a million artists on their site. At that juncture you have to self promote to get sales.
I like that Cat on his mac book
Well did you do , I guess, advertising your site?
Most of these comments boil down to expecting FFA to sell your art. They don’t. YOU drive traffic to it. You have to have a solid marketing message that speaks to the needs of your target audience. If you can’t articulate WHY I need your work it won’t sell. That’s ANY platform.
I appreciate your perspective but I disagree - I made enough money on Displate last year to buy a brand new car. And I did zero promotion. So that may be true for FAA but I would not agree that it is true on all similar platforms.
@@zenwatercooler oh for sure. Not saying other platforms are worse. Displate is great actually! But if you WANT to sell on FFA, that requires driving traffic and that means targeted messaging plus SEO. I got a lot of traffic because I tailored EVERYTHING (bio, picture file names, descriptions, COMMENTS) to attract search engines. I was just saying there’s a certain way to work every platform. FFA is good if you optimize and push people to it. I like pushing people to FFA because they are great on upselling with additional products or getting someone who bucks at the wall-mount prices to buy a coffee cup for lesser cost instead.
@@tersan5043 You just have to ask yourself why waste time, money and effort in directing buyers to a platform where they will find, along with your work, another half a million artists offering their work uselessly. That makes no sense. If the platform is going to have any value, it is because it promotes your work and is capable of generating sales. The rest is sheer nonsense, beyond making these people rich by charging memberships to the naive people without any guarantee of sale...
I have had four thound+ looks over 32 images in a few years and no sales. I dropped the price for just a print to the low double digits and nothing. Frankly I think it is to easy to right mouse click grab from FAA and then they print it out locally. Stealing it in other words. That can be cured with some code by FAA doesn't supply anything like that. They could care less I think.