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Fine Art America - any good?


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I see that many here sport FAA links on their signature, I was thinking of trying it out and would appreciate hearing of experiences good or bad.

 

Alamy:   I guess I can discuss this as I think it is not a direct competitor, but if not - apologies!

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Personally I have not sold anything through FAA. If no sales by time of renewal I may finish with them.

 

Allan

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I too have sold nothing through them, but it is free hosting, and given that I only made two small sales on Clikpic in four years, at least I am not shelling out for nothing. It does not have the look and flexibility of Clikpic, but then again it is not £55 per year!

 

There is a bit of a Flickr culture of adding to groups, liking and commenting, which I do not go in for.

 

It is no real effort to set it all up, but I cannot see me adding much to it in the future.

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Peter, I'm under the impression that people who do pretty landscapes and pretty animals can do well on FAA. The main target is regular folks who want to put something on a hallway wall. I've made some sales there, but my stuff is not what most people would hang on a wall, even my best stuff.  http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/ed-rooney.html

 

Also, they have a very odd ritual that goes on there where contributors compliment your images and you in turn must compliment theirs. Too strange for me.

 

Good luck if you do submit. Artflakes in Berlin is another similar operation. 

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Peter, I'm under the impression that people who do pretty landscapes and pretty animals can do well on FAA. The main target is regular folks who want to put something on a hallway wall. I've made some sales there, but my stuff is not what most people would hang on a wall, even my best stuff.  http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/ed-rooney.html

 

Also, they have a very odd ritual that goes on there where contributors compliment your images and you in turn must compliment theirs. Too strange for me.

 

Good luck if you do submit. Artflakes in Berlin is another similar operation. 

 

Ed, and CandyAppleRed,

 

Thanks for the comments.  

 

As I do not, as yet, have any web presence (no Website, no Blog, no Flickr, no Facebook, no Twitter)  it seemed like a possible way to get a website/blog and maybe add another revenue stream from my images.    Certainly I understand they would need to be pictures that people would want to hang on a wall.   After 8 years with Alamy my pictures are more likely to be hung in a newspaper or magazine,   but I can probably muster 30 or 40 that might do.   If that worked out, I could always try to shoot something appropriate.  That would be a challenge, I might have to get up early!

 

Researching other reviews of the site, the only people that seem to complain about FAA are those that made sales only to be told by FAA their images were not good enough quality to print.  I can't image that would happen to me.

 

I'll have a look at ArtFlakes and see how it compares.

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I find it worthwhile.  But then I take photographs and add textures, painting effects and such to my work.  I made more on FFA last year than I did on Alamy.  I think for it to work best, one needs to be artistic. I used to paint in watercolor, so the artistic bent is there.  Most of my sales have been of these "artistically rendered" images.  I have made a few sales of straight photographs, but very few.  This, a straight photograph, has sold repeatedly.  

http://fineartamerica.com/featured/spring-is-coming-betty-larue.html

 

It was also featured in Darrell Young's book, "Mastering the D7000". I've sold somewhere around 30 straight photos, most being of birds and one particular image of New England autumn foliage, and a Bar Harbor Restaurant. Like that.  So not to say straight photos can't sell, they just need to be of a subject that is universally popular.  Something that looks pretty on the wall, or can be used in a small grouping of like images.

And yes, much as I dislike it, one needs to play the game a bit.  Join groups, make and get comments.  It helps your images come up higher in the searches.  Time consuming and I wish I didn't need to do it.  I do participate, but not to the extent of many there.

 

Betty

 

http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/betty-larue.html

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I never use the odious anagrams IMO or IMHO, but it might be good to read what I'm writing here as such. As you can see, Betty underlines what I said earlier.

 

The difference between AFF and Artflakes can be seen as the difference between North America and Europe; a lot of Artflakes's "art" is edgier and darker. Unfortunately, they also indulge in the quid pro quo. http://www.artflakes.com/en/c/photography. 

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I've only recently joined to see how it goes. It was mainly to give Americans the chance to buy some Susan Boyle prints as she is popular over there.

 

My old website was due for renewal but it was needing a major facelift so the $30 for FAA was worth a shot. I think I'll need to get my own going again though as I don't think the FAA one works very well.

 

You definitely need to get involved in all the promotion stuff on twitter and facebook as well as on the forums.

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Hi,

 

I personally love FAA site, but lately I am having troubles with sales. After a great January, my sales stopped and now feel very frustrated...

 

It is true, landscapes, animals, nature and sport cars sell. I like more urban landscapes and street photography, so is a bit tough for me....

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I have an occasional sale on a small portfolio.  My interest is wildlife, but I notice landscapes sell better.  They sold one for me last week.   garybeelerphotography.com

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I joined FAA last week and sold a photo within 3 days so I've already covered my annual fee.  No more sales since, but I live in hope.  Its a fun site with lots of groups and contests (makes a break from keywording all day) ;)

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I too have sold nothing through them, but it is free hosting, and given that I only made two small sales on Clikpic in four years, at least I am not shelling out for nothing. It does not have the look and flexibility of Clikpic, but then again it is not £55 per year!

 

There is a bit of a Flickr culture of adding to groups, liking and commenting, which I do not go in for.

 

It is no real effort to set it all up, but I cannot see me adding much to it in the future.

 

Only free for a small number of images. Go over and you pay.

 

Allan

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I find it worthwhile.  But then I take photographs and add textures, painting effects and such to my work.  I made more on FFA last year than I did on Alamy.  I think for it to work best, one needs to be artistic. I used to paint in watercolor, so the artistic bent is there.  Most of my sales have been of these "artistically rendered" images.  I have made a few sales of straight photographs, but very few.  This, a straight photograph, has sold repeatedly.  

http://fineartamerica.com/featured/spring-is-coming-betty-larue.html

 

It was also featured in Darrell Young's book, "Mastering the D7000". I've sold somewhere around 30 straight photos, most being of birds and one particular image of New England autumn foliage, and a Bar Harbor Restaurant. Like that.  So not to say straight photos can't sell, they just need to be of a subject that is universally popular.  Something that looks pretty on the wall, or can be used in a small grouping of like images.

And yes, much as I dislike it, one needs to play the game a bit.  Join groups, make and get comments.  It helps your images come up higher in the searches.  Time consuming and I wish I didn't need to do it.  I do participate, but not to the extent of many there.

 

Betty

 

http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/betty-larue.html

 

Betty you may be able to produce the "water colour" effect with your X-T1 without resorting to overlays/filters etc in processing.

 

Allan

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I joined FAA last week and sold a photo within 3 days so I've already covered my annual fee.  No more sales since, but I live in hope.  Its a fun site with lots of groups and contests (makes a break from keywording all day) ;)

 

That sounds encouraging even if sales tailed off after day 3 (but there was a week end remember).   I have just taken a break from keywording to read the replies here, but I guess I will have to keyword images put on FAA.....

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I find it worthwhile.  But then I take photographs and add textures, painting effects and such to my work.  I made more on FFA last year than I did on Alamy.  I think for it to work best, one needs to be artistic. I used to paint in watercolor, so the artistic bent is there.  Most of my sales have been of these "artistically rendered" images.  I have made a few sales of straight photographs, but very few.  This, a straight photograph, has sold repeatedly.  

http://fineartamerica.com/featured/spring-is-coming-betty-larue.html

 

It was also featured in Darrell Young's book, "Mastering the D7000". I've sold somewhere around 30 straight photos, most being of birds and one particular image of New England autumn foliage, and a Bar Harbor Restaurant. Like that.  So not to say straight photos can't sell, they just need to be of a subject that is universally popular.  Something that looks pretty on the wall, or can be used in a small grouping of like images.

And yes, much as I dislike it, one needs to play the game a bit.  Join groups, make and get comments.  It helps your images come up higher in the searches.  Time consuming and I wish I didn't need to do it.  I do participate, but not to the extent of many there.

 

Betty

 

http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/betty-larue.html

 

Betty you may be able to produce the "water colour" effect with your X-T1 without resorting to overlays/filters etc in processing.

 

Allan

 

 

Allan, is that a low blow remark or what?  :)

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How about RedBubble? I signed up about 2 months ago, almost 200 photos online but no sales...plenty of views, though!

 

I only sell prints and canvases there, maybe that is the problem...

Just bubbles for me so far. I'm going to close my account with them.

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I don't have much work on these fine art sites and I don't spend a lot of time with them but I have made some good sales on FAA including a 24x36 on plexi, which had a nice profit. I’ve been with Red Bubble since 2009 and never had a sale or inquirery. I have sold some small prints and postcards on “Art Flakes” out of Germany but no big profits yet. The best site "I think" for fine art is Saatchi out of the UK. I haven't sold anything thru them yet but they have promoted my work. Another important note about fine art sites online is key wording is much more lenient!  There is no rank or ctr to hold you back and while some have unlimited space some only allow 12 keywords. As always make the best use of keywords with the fine art sites it is the best way to get your work seen and sold.

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I made some sales  on FAA last year, but this year only one so far.

Other than a few single greetings cards, all my sales have been of US subjects; and looking at what sells there shows that it's mostly US subjects and localities or (many fewer) general subjects treated in an American-style way, especially Christian images with a 1950s/60s look. Well over 95% of the sales come from  US or Canadian buyers.

Looking at the prices, it's not surprising, especially when shipping to Europe is included.

They were supposed to be announcing a partnership with a European printer in the New Year, but that seems to have fallen through.

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. Another important note about fine art sites online is key wording is much more lenient!  There is no rank or ctr to hold you back and while some have unlimited space some only allow 12 keywords.

FAA definitely has rank, probably related to sales, on their default search.

In addition, after getting some sales there on a fairly small portfolio, I made a conscientious effort to add many more images to my port there, but they all sank to the bottom not only of my port, but also any search they were in, whereas older images are generally mid-ranked.

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By coincidence, a nice print sale popped UP from FAA this morning - I collect US$185 - and another from Artflakes at the same time but the Artflakes was for 40 euro ($55.00 to me) which I am actually querying as the sale was for $291.02 to the customer and my commission was 40% so to me, it does not compute.  Mind you, I am unfamiliar with Artflakes as I only uploaded six months ago and this is my second sale.  I shall await the email for their explanation.

 

I removed all my work from RedBubble a year or so ago as they refused to place a watermark on their large thumbnails and I was constantly finding my work being infringed where I found RB in the metadata.  I used to do well on RB but their promotions were directed at what I consider juvenile and inane subjects.  I think they lost the plot.  

 

FAA does help promote your work.  You get your own website and you can place a widget on your blogs/websites etc which directly links to your work on FAA.  You can announce your work on FB and Twitter with just a click.  You can also place a link to your FAA images on your website such as this http://www.pbase.com/sheila/image/154917416

 

All this helps direct traffic to your site.  

 

Sheila

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Congrats to all of you making sales with FAA! That's good to know something is happening here :) This year I joined FAA and still waiting for the first sale with about 200 files. Site is very friendly and I love option to set my own price. How does it look in A.flakes? Who decides about commission?

 

Sheila, when I click on this small image under big one it gets me to site with: "The page you have requested can not be found." and link to FAA front page below.

 

Today I got invitating email:

"I’m pleased to extend an invitation to you to join TheArtOfBusinessCards.com

These are exciting times as we have revamped our website and building our artist community.
This is a great opportunity for you to earn between $5 and $25 per sale with very little effort on your part."

 

Anybody can tell about them?

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