You want visitors to your website to be able to buy your work. But will they actually purchase online? What do you need to have on your website to make sure that those big fish don’t get away without a painting or sculpture under their arm?

First, it helps to understand that there are two quite different market segments for art sales on the internet: High-Value original works, and lower-cost art reproductions.

The high-value originals category is one where your collectors will probably want to get to know you and your art before they bring out their wallets. You should think of your website as a tool to help you close the sale and so it’s normally sufficient to have a very clearly marked “Contact” page so that collectors or dealers can call or email you. You can then arrange a showing or finish the sale over the phone.

Lower cost reproductions, on the other hand, lend themselves well to direct sales from your website, so its worth thinking about implementing a shopping cart and merchant account if you plan to display reproductions. There are very simple and inexpensive ways to achieve this, so be sure to do a little research before moving ahead with an ecommerce solution.

We have also found that a buyer who has previously purchased an original work from you in person, will sometimes be perfectly happy to place an order and pay online for subsequent purchases of originals. Get to know your collectors and what works for them. Make it easy for them to buy in the way that they prefer!

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