How to Sell Art Online: Top 21 Platforms

Learning how to sell art online can open doors for artists who want to make their work known, and reach a bigger audience. You can create your own website, post your portfolio, and choose the best business model for you.

It's possible to sell products on demand or commercialize the artwork that you have already made. Enjoy the thousands of opportunities the digital world has to offer and start profiting with your work. You can do what you love, and conquer customers all over the world.

8 Steps on How to Sell Art Online

1. Register Your Art Business

In the process of understanding how to sell art online, one of the first fundamental steps is to guarantee your legal rights over your brand and artwork. Therefore, you need to register your art business, and you have two alternatives, sole proprietorship or limited liability company (LLC).

In the first one, you are the only proprietor of your business and have the rights over all the revenue that comes from selling your art online. With LLC, there is a legal distinction between you and your business when it comes to liability and ownership. 

With a sole proprietorship, you can attach your income to your personal taxes, while with LLC you have the option to be taxed as a partnership or corporation. In the case of an LLC, you can have a staff working with you, but it's necessary to separate your personal bookkeeping from the business.

Also, to register your art business as an LLC, you need to come up with a business name. Choose something that has to do with the type of art you make, and what you wish to associate your brand with, also consider elements like the logo and the whole visual identity. A brand's name must be easy to remember, avoid words that are difficult to spell, and special characters. 

2. Define How You Will Create Your Art Products

How is your creation process? Every artist has their own way to work, and it's necessary to consider that when you are going to set up an online art store. Because it affects how you will put the products' availability, and the delivery time too. 

For instance, will you work on demand? If so, it's interesting to build a portfolio page where your potential clients can see your previous work, and then order what they want. You can give them the option to choose all the details on the art piece or give them a range of models to pick from, and maybe customize just the colors or size. In this case, the production process happens after the purchase, therefore it needs to be included when defining the delivery deadline. 

On the other hand, you can produce the art pieces beforehand, so the customers don't have to order first, which reduces the delivery time. That's interesting for people who prefer receiving a product fast instead of having the opportunity to customize an item. Or, you may work both ways, it's up to you to understand what's better for your company, and what's doable. 

Another factor to take into consideration is if your art piece is a digital one, like an illustration, or a physical one, such as a sculpture or a painting. If you sell digital products, you can save money by not having to deal with the logistics of stocking the items, packing, and shipping them. 

3. Find Suppliers

If you sell only digital products, you don't have to worry about finding suppliers. But, if you will sell physical art pieces, then you need to list all the materials you need to produce the items, research for suppliers, analyze the ones that fit your needs, and keep control of how long each supplier takes to deliver your materials, so your production won't be delayed. 

In the case of selling printed artwork on paper and other objects like t-shirts and mugs, you may need to use a print-on-demand service. Be careful to choose the company that will print your work. You should analyze not only their prices, but the delivery time, and the print quality, it needs to be in high resolution.

4. Price Your Art Products

Pricing products, mainly when we are talking about art, is considered a challenging task by many people. For example, there are customers who don't understand the whole creative work that it takes to get to the final piece, whether it's a digital illustration or a sculpture, for example. Sometimes, you may need to show the customer the value attached to the piece. 

To set the price, it's necessary to consider: 

• The costs of acquiring the raw materials;
• The fees you need to pay, for example, to maintain your website;
• Taxes;
• If you sell physical products, the cost to store the item and pack them;
• Shipping costs;
• Any other additional cost to keep your business running;
• Profit margin.

5. Choose an Ecommerce Platform

Once you have understood more about how to sell art online, it's time to define where you will commercialize your products. It's interesting to have a website of your own because it gives you more flexibility to choose your business model, and set up every page as you wish. 

You can create multiple sections on your website, including an about me page, a portfolio, and the online store, of course. You can count with ecommerce platforms that allow you to easily build a website without having to know how to code, 

But, you can also use other types of ecommerce platforms like marketplaces that focus on the art industry. In this case, you can enjoy the base of clients they already have, but you may need to pay a commission fee for every sale, and even submit yourself to a selection process to have your products displayed on the marketplace. 

6. Promote Your Work

Creating an online store is just one part of having a profitable art business. You need to conquer visibility and drive your target audience's attention to your brand and your artwork. To do that, it's important to create marketing strategies considering who your public is, and what their main demands are. 

Enjoy the internet's potential, and create a page or profile on the main social media networks that your target audience uses. Instagram and TikTok are great for promoting art pieces as they focus on images and videos. Take great pictures of your work, and publish them on your social media, you can also make behind the scene videos showing how you develop the pieces, this helps to make the audience feel closer to you. 

Remember to post high-quality content regularly, and check the direct messages to always answer the replies, straightening the relationship with your audience. Also, use social media to promote sales and discount coupons.  

7. Manage the Orders

To have a successful art business, it's fundamental to keep control of the orders, making sure that all the clients will get their products in due time, without any problem. If some unforeseen event prevents you from delivering an order or delaying the delivery, get in contact as quickly as possible with the customer, apologize, and provide solutions to solve this hustle. 

If you sell your products in more than one place, for example on your ecommerce website, art marketplaces, and social media platforms, it's interesting to count on an inventory tool that integrates all of the orders to avoid mistakes like selling out-of-stock items. 

8. Keep Improving

There are always opportunities to improve your work and enhance customer experience, and sell more as a consequence. To achieve that, keep yourself updated with the latest trends and new technologies in the ecommerce and art industry. 

Besides that, make use of analytics tools to understand better your customer behavior. With Google Analytics, for instance, you can identify the most accessed page on your website, how much time people spend on your website on average, and observe how their journey is to make a purchase. You will get several insights with those types of data. 

21 Best Ecommerce Platforms to Sell Art Online

1. Wix

Wix is one of the best platforms to create your website to sell art online because it offers a user-friendly interface, which simplest the whole process for you. 

No design or coding skills are required, you will start by creating your account and choosing one of the business plans offered: Basic, Unlimited, or Vip. But, no worries about making the wrong choice, in all of them you will have the 14-day trial, so you can test everything you need. 

Wix offers more than 500 free pre-built templates, divided into categories such as product landing pages, portfolios,  accessories stores, beauty shops, supermarkets, and fashion stores. After defining the one you want to use, it’s up to you to customize the entire store, to turn it into your brand’s face. 

Then, you will add the products, choose the payment and shipping methods, create your domain name, and you are ready to launch. To help in this process, tWix has some very useful features, for example, Wix Payments where you can set up payment methods without having to add third parties. 

Wix also has an automated sales tax calculator, making it easier to define the prices. Beyond that, you will have a mobile-friendly ecommerce,  where you can set multi-channels to make your sales, like using social media, and manage everything from one dashboard. 

Highlighted features: 

• More than 500 free templates
• Wix payments
• Automated sales tax
• Free SSL Certificate
• Currency converter
• Express Checkout
• Abandoned cart recovery
• Multichannel inventory management
• Built-in SEO tools
• Wix Owner app

2. Shopify

Shopify is one of the most popular solutions to learn how to sell art online, and quickly create your ecommerce. You can choose between more than 70 customizable, responsive themes, and adjust everything according to your business needs with the drag-and-drop builder. 

To offer the main payment option, such as credit cards, there is no need to add third parties, you can use Shopify Payments. Regarding managing your online store, you will have access to a dashboard that is easy to navigate through. You can see valuable data about the sales and your audience, using it to improve your business plan. 

The management area is accessible by Shopify mobile app too, you can control everything wherever you are. Besides, you will be able to add more than 6 thousand apps to help you grow your business, including marketing and social media tools. 

Highlighted features:

• Drag-and-drop store builder
• Shopify Payments system
• Mobile-friendly design
• Built-in SEO tools
• Easy-to-use dashboard
• Shopify mobile app
• Synced inventory across all your sales channels

3. Bluehost

With Bluehost, the process to learn how to sell art online becomes much simpler. You can have the website of your dreams. Choose your domain name and the hosting plan that best suits your needs, then select a pre-built template. You can customize all the pages, create your online portfolio, add pictures, texts, graphic elements, and much more. 

To guarantee the quality of your website, Bluehost offers automated security updates, backup data protection, and 24/7 customer support. If there is any problem, you can count on specialized assistance. 

To enhance user experience and make it easier to manage your online store, you can install multiple plugins to the website too. To help you increase organic traffic, the platform provides SEO tools, and you can check the performance of the pages with the analytics dashboard. 

Highlighted features:

• Free domain
• Free SSL
• Free CDN
• Pre-built templates
• Insightful analytics
• Automated security updates
• Backup data protection
• 24/7 support
• SEO tools
• Powerful plugins

4. SITE123

Site123 offers many features to build a complete online art store and facilitate the management process. Focused on small businesses, your ecommerce store will be quickly ready, you choose a template, customize it, establish the type of your store, add your products, and define taxes and shipping rates.

After launching, you can easily manage the inventory and orders at the Site123 dashboard, which can be accessed on your computer, tablet, or smartphone.  As payment methods, you will be able to add the main credit cards, PayPal, and other major payment gateways.

In case of any doubt, you can count on 24/7  live chat support, and, to ensure your customers’ security, you will have SSL certificates.  

Highlighted features:

• Many types of payment platforms
• Manage shipping and tax rates inside the system
• Automated store inventory
• Choose the accepted currencies
• SSL Certificates
• Sell from any device
• 24/7 live support

5. Webnode

Webnode allows you to migrate a website that you already have or create a new one. You will find several templates to opt for the one that suits you best and customize it, including choosing the idiom. The system has 24 language versions, offers an unlimited number of pages, and allows you to edit on any device.

You can add new products in a few minutes, just upload the pictures, write the description, set prices, and click to publish. Every time there is an order at your store, you receive a notification, you can manage the status order, notify your clients, and archive the fulfilled orders. 

Regardless of the template you choose, all of them are mobile-friendly, improving customer experience. Also, you can set different payment methods, credit cards, wire transfers, Stripe, and PayPal, among others. 

Highlighted features: 

• Responsive store templates
• Store statistics
• Quick and simple checkout
• Import products in bulk
• Export to price comparison sites
• GDPR friendly
• Cookie consent bar
• Integrates with Google Analytics

6. Shoplazza

Shoplazza offers you an easy-to-use platform to sell art online You can choose a pre-built theme, then use the drag-and-drop online store builder to customize the pages as you wish. 

You will count on an inventory management system to make it simpler when it comes to organizing the stock and the orders. The platform stops sales when the inventory reaches zero, avoiding selling out-of-stock items. You can upload an unlimited number of products and customize up to 300 product variants.

You even have the option to add the buy button on other websites and blogs, which weren’t created by Shoplazza, so you can sell in more places. Improve the checkout process using the platform AI (artificial intelligence) suggestions. 

Highlighted features:

• Pre-built templates
• Drag-and-drop online store button
• Inventory management system
• Marketing tools
• SEO tools
• Staff accounts
• Multiple payment options
• Shipping partners

7. BigCommerce

BigCommerce Essential is focused on entrepreneurs who are starting their businesses and allows you to create a website store with no complications. Before launching your ecommerce you can start a trial and develop your website with customizable templates. 

You can set your domain, install plugins to leading page providers, and sell at other platforms by integrating channels, such as Amazon, eBay, and Google, and manage everything from BigCommerce. 

Another feature is the possibility to easily manage your inventory and integrate it with online and offline channels. To help you improve, you can count on 24/7 support, including advice from BigCommerce experts. They also have webinars, tutorials, and guides. 

Highlighted features:

• Customizable URLs
• Plugin POS integration to leading providers
• Channels integration
• Optimized one-page checkout 
• Shopping cart recovery
• Inventory management tools
• 24/7 support
• Product filtering for searches
• Built-in coupons and discounting

8. WordPress Ecommerce

WordPress Ecommerce allows you to have a completely personalized online store and still offers the best management tools. You can start taking payments in seconds by enabling the PayPal button, and easily setup debit and credit card payments.

You will be able to publish content and sell products using the same platform. WordPress also provides multiple plugins to enhance user experience, increase sales, and guarantee your website is safe. You will have the option to sell not only physical products but digital items as well.

Highlighted features:

• WordPress themes
• Different types of plugins
• Google apps
• Sell physical and digital products
• Enable subscriptions
• Customization tools
• Easy-to-use website editor

9. Ecwid

Are you looking for a free ecommerce website builder? Ecwid allows you to create your store without having to pay anything and upgrade to a paid plan only if you want it. The free plan allows you to sell on different channels, like Facebook, Instagram, or Amazon, and simply manage everything with a centralized inventory.

You can develop and control your marketing strategies on the same dashboard, for example, by creating and following up on Google and Facebook ads performance, sending automated messages to your clients, and integrating with Mailchimp.

Ecwid enables you to include several payment methods, more than 50 options, in a fast and safe way. Besides, you can choose as many shipping options as you want.

Highlighted features:

• Create your online store for free
• Customizable design tools
• Sell on social media
• Centralized inventory
• Manage your marketing actions in one place
• Integrates with Mailchimp
• Real-time shipping rates

10. WooCommerce

Are you looking for an ecommerce builder that works perfectly for WordPress websites? No doubt, WooCommerce is the best solution for that, because it was built on WordPress, which means considering all the necessary features to perfectly sync with it.

If you already have a WordPress website, what you are going to do is to add the WooCommerce plugin and customize your store with pre-built templates. But, if you don’t have it, you can start by creating your account and setting up the site along with your online store. 

One of the greatest advantages of WooCommerce is that you can add several extensions such as TaxJar, Google Ads, Mailchimp, ShipStation, Jetpack, and Facebook. They are going to help you manage your strategies in a more centralized way, and also improve the customer experience. 

Built with a REST API, Woo Commerce was thought to be a scalable tool, which means it is able to adapt according to your business needs, as you grow. To enhance your performance and learn from others, you will count on a  huge global community and be able to participate in several meetups. 

Highlighted features:

• Built on WordPress
• Customizable, open-source ecommerce platform
• 140 specific payment gateways
• Live shipping rates
• Marketing integrations
• Support forum
• Set prices in multiple currencies
• Create multilingual content
• Scalable platform 
• Hundreds of extensions
• Manage the store from your mobile device
• Track your stats
• 30-day money-back guarantee

11. Jumpseller

When you understand how to sell art online, one important part is making your products stand out. Having customizable mobile-friendly templates will make that task much easier, and Jumpseller offers it. You can edit all the pages the way you wish, including the checkout, and have your store set up in different languages, besides you can set up an online portfolio.

Jumpseller is partnered with shipping companies, allowing you to save money by using the discounts offered, and other facilities like print labels. You can expand your business by accepting payments from different currencies and using local payment methods. 

The ecommerce builder has an all-in-one platform where you can manage different sales channels on the same dashboard, and create marketing strategies too.

Highlighted features:

• Customizable theme
• Mobile-friendly
• Translate your store into several languages
• Create your domain
• Discounts with partnered shipping carriers
• Accept various currencies
• Connect to social media
• Sell in several channels

12. Strikingly

Strikingly enables you to easily create your online store. You will find a big amount of customizable templates, which are easy to edit and all of them have a responsive design. The platform offers 4 different plans, Free, Limited, Pro, and VIP, all of which can include an online store. 

You should pay attention, though, to the number of products each plan allows you to add. For example, in the free plan, you can sell only one product. On the ecommerce management dashboard, you can connect to PayPal or Stripe, easily set shipping methods, and add coupons. 

Besides, Strikingly has tools to help you create membership logins, and forms, set up email marketing, and direct your customers to your social media pages. 

Highlighted features: 

• Register a new domain or use one you already have
• Analytics built-in
• HTTPS built-in
• Easily customizable templates
• Add links to your social media pages
• 24/7 support
• Create and manage forms
• Register memberships

13. Weebly

Enabling artists to develop professional websites to sell their work is a simpler task with Weebly. With customizable themes, you can edit the one you choose and easily create a unique store by using the drag-and-drop builder. 

Weebly also offers several marketing tools, for example, you can send a welcome email to new customers or a special discount when you see an abandoned cart. You can also analyze your ecommerce performance through SEO tools and install a huge variety of apps to make the customer experience even better. 

You can launch and manage your store from anywhere, using the mobile app on your smartphone or tablet. The inventory is easily tracked, and, in case of needing to add a big number of products at the same time, you can bulk import.

Highlighted features:

• Customizable themes
• Marketing tools
• SEO tools
• Several apps to install
• Real-time shipping rates
• Bulk import
• Coupon builder
• Product search
• Automatic tax calculator

14. WiziShop

WiziShop enables you to build a website that is technically ready for SEO, which helps to get your pages to rank better in search engines like Google. You will have the flexibility to develop your pages as you wish, starting by selecting a professionally designed pre-built template that suits your needs. Customize it to align with your brand’s identity.

WiziShop has all the tools you need to design the pages, promote your online store, and manage it.  To enhance customer experience, you can include banners, customer reviews, abandoned cart follow-ups, and much more. 

You will also count on Wizishop’s CMS (Content Management System) to create a personalized sales funnel and develop marketing strategies. You can choose the payment system that suits your company best, set the delivery methods, create a domain name, and start selling. 

Highlighted features:

• Pre-built templates
• Responsive design
• SEO tools
• CMS
• Website hosting
• Analytical tools
• Email marketing

15. Pixpa

Artists and graphic designers who wish to sell their work on demand need to build an incredible portfolio website. This way, people can check the previous projects you have participated in and your art pieces to make sure you are the right person to hire. That's exactly what Pixpa will help you with. 

This website builder allows you to showcase, sell and share your work online. You can use templates made for photographers, creators, and small businesses, then customize it as you see better. The platform is easy to use and provides you with several tools, like built-in SEO, pre-built content blocks, and customizable forms. 

Highlighted features:

• Easy-to-use interface
• Pre-built templates
• Responsive design
• 24/7 customer support
• Built-in SEO tools
• Pre-built content blocks

16. BigCartel

The BigCartel platform is recommended for artists who want to sell their products online. You will find the proper tools to make it easier to run a creative business. To begin building your online store, select one of the pre-built themes, and customize it according to your brand’s visual identity.

Then, add the products, and set up important configurations such as the payment and shipping methods. You can count on handy tools to manage your store, fulfill orders, update products, check stats, and run promotions from any device. 

Highlighted features: 

• Developed for artists by artists
• Easy-to-use
• Pre-built themes
• Personalization tools
• Management tools

17. Sellfy

Sellfy is an easy-to-use ecommerce platform that allows you to create your online store with just a few clicks. It was developed focusing on helping creators to sell their digital products and merchandise online, such as t-shirts with unique prints.

To begin, all you need to do is sign up for the platform, add your products, then customize every page to have your brand’s identity. You can also use Sellfy to commercialize your products on social media like Facebook and Instagram and manage everything in one place. Enjoy the built-in marketing features to promote your store and enhance your revenue. 

Highlighted features: 

• Easy-to-use
• Sell products and subscriptions
• Responsive design
• Customization tools
• Built-in marketing features
• Sell from social media
• Multiple payment options

18. ArtPal

ArtPal is a marketplace focused on selling art online. More than 246.000 artists use this platform. You don't need to pay any membership or commission to create your page on the website, it's possible to display your art for free. 

It allows you to sell any type of art, like paints, photographs, sculptures, and illustrations. You can get paid by credit card or even use payment gateways like PayPal.  To start, all you need to do is create an account and put your work available on the platform.

Highlighted features: 

• Free platform
• You can sell any type of art
• Easy to use
• Know platform
• Accept different types of payment

19. Etsy

Etsy is one of the most known platforms when the subject is selling handcraft products and art online. Creating your store on this marketplace is advantageous because it already has a significant base of customers that are used to buying at Etsy, and they can get to know your work by visiting the website. 

Etsy allows you to build your online store with just a few clicks, and you can manage your art business from anywhere, using the Etsy app. You can also enjoy Etsy advertising tools to boost visibility. 

Highlighted features:

• Secure transaction
• Seller protection
• Advertisement tools
• Etsy seller app
• Customize your online store

20. Fine Art America

Fine Art America is one of the biggest online art and photography communities in the world. It sells the work of thousands of artists and has built brand credibility throughout its existence. Not only artists can sell their work there, but galleries too. 

To start selling art online on Fine Art America, you need to create an account, and just follow the instructions to finalize the process. After that, you will be able to upload the product you wish to sell, set the prices, and enjoy the tools offered by the platform to increase your sales. 

Highlighted features:

• Easy to use
• Sales and marketing tools
• Profile page
• Sell different types of art products
• Fine Art America app

21. Saatchi Art

Saatchi Art is also a marketplace focused on the art industry. It sells art pieces from more than 94.000 artists that come from up to 110 counties. You can create an account for free, and the marketplace is responsible for handling the shipping.

You can count on art advisors to help you sell more and also enjoy the attention Saatchi curators give to the work uploaded on the website. It enables you to create your online portfolio and manage it from anywhere. 

Highlighted features:

• Free to create an account
• Secure online payments
• Attention from expert curators
• Manage your portfolio anywhere
• Display multiple images of your artwork
• Share your art with a global audience

FAQ About How to Sell Art Online

What is the best way to sell art online?

There isn't the best way to sell art online that fits every business model. It depends on each case. Analyze the options, and choose the one that works best for your needs. 

What is the best website to sell art online?

Once more, it depends on each art business. However, it's very important to have your own website, because it's your online address, and helps to give credibility to your company. Besides, you have more flexibility to set all the details of the pages. 

How much does it cost to start an art online business?

As you saw, it's possible to open an online art store for free, but you need to consider the costs of producing the art pieces and maintaining your company. The costs will vary hugely according to the size of your business, the type of art you produce, and other factors. 

Start Selling Art Online

Now that you have learned how to sell art online, enjoy the opportunity to start profiting from your artwork. Choose the best platform for you, develop a business plan, and organize your production. You can build a successful art business online without the need to have a big capital to invest.