Artists worry a lot of about getting paid from online print on demand sites like Fine Art America. And rightly so! After all they are trusting an unknown entity with their art and the whole point of offering one’s work for sale is that you want to get paid.
So how do you get paid on Fine Art America? First, you set up a Paypal account and enter the email information into your “Behind the Scenes” dashboard on Fine Art America. Scroll down to the “Accounting” section and go to “Payment Information” where you will find this explanation.
“Please note – Fine Art America no longer sends out payments via check. The check method proved to be too slow and inefficient (e.g. lost mail, checks accidentally thrown out, etc.). With PayPal, you can set up an account for free… receive money from Fine Art America for free (we pay the PayPal fees for you)… and withdraw the money from PayPal to your bank account for free”
Fine Art America
Now because of Fine Art America’s excellent 30 day money back guarantee policy, you have to wait a while before you see your money. You won’t be paid until after the guarantee period and they only pay once a month. Here is how David King, one of the artists on Fine Art America explains it.
“You’ll receive payment on the 15th of the month. Payment is always on the 15th of the month but there also has to have been at least a full 30 days (in case of a return) between the day of the sale and the payday. “
David King – contributing artist on FAA
Depending on the sale date, you might have to wait 45 days or so before you’ll see any money from that sale. But don’t worry, you will get the money (unless it is returned). I’ve been selling my fine art photography and artwork on Fine Art America since 2011 and they’ve always paid on the 15th. Sometimes by mid-day, sometimes late in the evening, depending on if the 15th falls on a weekend or holiday.
How do I price my artwork on Fine Art America?
This is another question that comes up a lot. Pricing, like art, is subjective. It depends on the quality of your work, your reputation as an artist and market forces. If you don’t put in your profit margin or commission, the site will default to their pricing levels which are rather low. Only a few dollars.
If you are fine with letting your hard work sell for pocket change, by all means go with the default pricing. But for those serious artists looking for a decent return on their efforts, price your work at a level the properly compensates you for the work. Within reason of course. There are open edition reproductions and there is a lot of competitors out there – price within a range buyers would expect to see.
I based my pricing on previous years sales. A little math helped me arrive at a basic valuation of my work provided by actual buyers.
Think about your reaction when you sell one of your prints or products. Will you be happy with earning X dollars? It is hard enough to find a buyer for your work among all of the other options out there, don’t sell yourself short. If you connect with a buyer, be sure that the effort is worth it. One of your images might sell once, twice or ten times, or it might never sell. Be sure that when it does sell, you will be happy with the result.
This doesn’t mean go crazy with the pricing. Over-priced work won’t sell. And even under-priced work might not sell as the buyer thinks “What’s wrong with this? It is so cheap?”
One other pricing tip: Pricing should increase with size. Makes sense right? Someone buying a
This seems obvious but I’ve seen some weird logic from a few artists who think that the digital file is the same no matter what the end product is, so the profit margin should be the same.
Huh? Obviously, these people are rather ignorant when it comes to business. Look at the car industry, car manufacturers make more money on the larger cars than the entry level, economy cars.
What if I don’t want to sell a certain product?
If you don’t want to sell a certain product, leave the profit margin or commission box BLANK. Don’t put in a ZERO. A “0” means that the product will still be offered for sale but you won’t make any money on it. Your profit margin or commission will be ZERO dollars.
