Author Topic: artistrising.com (Read 10003 times)

CarolynMarshallPhotography · « **on:** March 02, 2009, 01:35 »

It's been a very long time since anyone has posted on this topic, and not sure this is the correct place to post. I found another thread on it with the latest post back in May of 2008. I signed up with artistrising.com tonight. Then, I started reading their forum. Found quite a few posts by people who reported sales not showing up in reports, not getting paid. When I tried to post there, I kept getting the runtime error message or something like that. I haven't uploaded anything there yet because I decided to dig a little deeper first.

Does anyone here have any current experience with artistrising.com? Don't want to waste time uploading there if I will have trouble selling or, worse yet, collecting if I do have sales.

I also read comments about people selling on art.com. I know these two are connected, as is allposters. Can you upload and sell your work directly on art.com, or do you have to go through artistrising.com and THEY select which ones go there? Not sure how that works.

I do have work on ImageKind, but just downgraded my paid account to a free one because of not much activity as far as sales. Anyone have any suggestions on other places like that which have good traffic and exposure for sales?

Thanks for any input!

patballard · « **Reply #1 on:** March 02, 2009, 01:44 »

Check out Redbubble. It's an Australian site. My sales there have disappeared lately, but that may be because of the economy. I do know that they're honest, and that it's a supportive artistic community. You might also take a look at Zazzle. It's more commercial than Redbubble in that they off all sorts of small objects that you can put your designs on. Also, Redbubble has a sleeker, less cluttered, more contemporary look to the design of the site. It's not all junked up with ads and flashing banners. Hope this helps.

CarolynMarshallPhotography · « **Reply #2 on:** March 02, 2009, 01:49 »

Thanks, Pat, I will check out Redbubble. Seems like I saw something somewhere on here tonight regarding "watch out for redbubble", too. I've been searching so many posts now I can't remember where it was. I will check it out, though. I do have an account on Zazzle and have done a little with them. I think I'll hold off on the artistrising thing until I can get some more positive feedback from someone. Thanks, again.

madelaide · « **Reply #3 on:** March 02, 2009, 06:28 »

There was some discussion about Artist Rising a while ago:
http://www.microstockgroup.com/general-stock-discussion/art-com-artist-rising/15/

My portfolio there is very very small, so it doesn't make a good statistics, but the only sales I had were images that are in Art.com. I saw other comments in their forum that people report very few or no sales originating in ArtistRising.com.

I haven't read about this problem of unrecorded sales, it's a shame if it's true. The same was said about Redbubble.

Before ArtistRising, you woud upload to Art.com, but noy you have to upload to AR and only images that sell will be made available in Art.com as well. At least, this was the rule they publicized somewhere.

Personally I would not recommend uploading to them unless you intend to market your work yourself. But in either case a site like Imagekind.com seems a better choice, as you can set your markup prices. I know people reporting sales there (not me!). A colleage from another forum also reported sales in Fineartamerica.com.

Regards,
Adelaide

patballard · « **Reply #4 on:** March 02, 2009, 10:28 »

It has been said that Redbubble has payout problems, but they did the same as Snapvillage and rolled over the money from my sales that hadn't made a payout at the end of the year. They did it without me requesting it, too. On the down side, my sales there have been nonexistent since the economy took the downturn last summer. Friends of mine on the site are reporting sales of cards and T-shirts. I got into Redbubble without much thought. Now, I'd warn anyone thinking of putting art up on any site to check it out very carefully first.

CarolynMarshallPhotography · « **Reply #5 on:** March 02, 2009, 10:31 »

Thanks, Adelaide. I did see the previous posts here back in May. Also looked at your port on Artist Rising. Appreciate your reply, and I'll look more into fineartamerica.com. I'm not having much luck with ImageKind, either, so I'm just letting that sit for now.

Thanks for the update, Pat. Good advice, and that's what I'm trying to do now. It's really getting tough out there, but we all are feeling it. Helps to get feedback from those who have "been there" and "tried that". :-)

Carolyn

WarrenPrice · « **Reply #6 on:** March 02, 2009, 15:33 »

Carolyn,
Thought I would mention this strange coincidence. I was just now doing some research that involved Amazon. A search returned an Art.com (motocross poster) selling for $200.

They do seem to be marketing their work.

madelaide · « **Reply #7 on:** March 02, 2009, 17:58 »

Warren,

Art.com seems to work fine, the problem is getting into Art.com, as AR is a barrier now: only if you sell there you can have that specific image in Art.com too (and this is not even automatic). And as sales are basically unexistent in AR, you never get the chance of moving to Art.com.

Regards,
Adelaide

CarolynMarshallPhotography · « **Reply #8 on:** March 02, 2009, 23:21 »

Thanks for the info, Warren. I did get a response back from AR support today. They said "Please be informed that some class of our both open studio and premium studio members are experiencing this problem. Our IT team is working hard to fix this bug and I hope that it could be fixed soon." They ask for patience while they work on the problem. The maximum amount you can have on an open account is 50 pieces. I already have that number ready, so it wouldn't hurt, I guess, to upload and see what happens. Can't be any worse than having them sit on some of the other sites that aren't doing anything right now. At this point, I'm just about ready to try anything. Actually, I have been filling that proverbial pipe full waiting to see what comes out the other end. LOL! Will keep you posted if anything happens, and thanks for all your help.

Carolyn

tripood · « **Reply #9 on:** April 01, 2009, 23:16 »

Fellow Artists beware!!!!!!

This company is not doing really well and has a record of not paying royalties. My issue with them actually goes beyond royalties. Three months ago I logged in to pull a sale report...account not found! Since then I emailed pretty much everybody including the legal department but to no avail. I am simply not on their database anymore. They cannot even find me with the vendor record of my last paycheck. In the meantime art.com and amazon is very likely selling my posters and I get no royalties. There is nobody to talk to, even if you call they can only address sales and return issues. No management or supervisors, just newbielink:mailto:[email protected] [nonactive], which does not take you very far.
I am now in the process of collecting material for legal action. If anyone has had a similar experience please post here.