I have no idea any more.
It was never easy but some point between now and 10 years ago it was possible to sell things you had painted on websites like Etsy on a fairly regular basis.
I remember one Christmas painting several large World Literature maps and taking them down to the post office. Trip to post office was almost a daily routine for a few weeks in December.
This year I’ve sold one item on Etsy.
There are a few things that I can think of that have taken away the excitement of selling art online.
First up, Brexit. Because selling to Great Britain from the Republic of Ireland means customers paying an extra 20% in VAT at customs.
Secondly, Etsy have made search to suit their needs rather than to help artists or people producing original work. They don’t care about things like ‘Is this original art?’ but do care about the bottom line.
They want to show buyers things that sell efficiently and with minimum fuss. So print-on-demand is favoured over acrylic or oil paintings.
Thirdly, AI art is clogging up search real estate and making it harder to be found.
Fourthly, it’s just really competitive. There are lots of things for sale and I’d suggest that there aren’t that many people willing to buy it. The cost living means that there isn’t much money for something that isn’t as important as buying oil for the house.
Fifthly….are people maybe just tired of images? Maybe they just have enough things.
Anyway, those are some things I wonder about in middle of a very disappointing Christmas selling season for this artist.