FAA - The Largest Art Site in the World?

[stockastic]

How about upsizing?  Some of my images aren't large by today's standards, and some POD sites (I tried RedBubble) won't offer prints large enough to make it worthwhile.  I could upsize the photos myself - within reason of course - before uploading, and I'm confident the prints would be fine.  And while I don't think there's even a way the site could detect that, I don't necessarily want to violate their rules or policies.  Has anyone done this with FAA?

EDIT - I just checked FAA (I have one image sitting there) and it looks like they'll print quite large from the image I gave them, so maybe this isn't an issue.

[steheap]

I think you can upsize a little (although I haven't done that yet). As far as I can tell, the sales come because of interest in your images - I had one sale as a free member, but none so far as a paid member.

I think I will have to revisit my pricing though - perhaps too high!

Steve

[stockastic]

So how about the 'artist' sites?  Are they really extensively customizable?  I looked at the samples on the FAA promo page, and 3 out of 4 were totally blah.   Who has an example of an artist site with some unique style?

[sdeva]

Just set up a new account at FAA - their system looks great to me.. easy to upload, keyword etc - although haven't figured everything out yet.    

Loaded the first few pics just to try it and got one of their standard website:

http://sanjay-deva.artistwebsites.com/

Any comments/ critique much appreciated as is any guidance.. hope my pricing is in some kind of sensible range ?

[stockastic]

It will take a while to get a lot of images online here.  Is there maybe a way to make yourself invisible to buyers until you have everything ready?

I'd rather not have a buyer find one of my images, then go to my page and find only a couple of others.  I'd like to get everything up there first.

[DC]

You can really only customize the header.  For the body of the page you basically have 2 templates to choose from.

http://jess-kraft.artistwebsites.com/

I went with the dark one just so it doesn't look exactly the same as the FAA page.

[stockastic]

You can really only customize the header.  For the body of the page you basically have 2 templates to choose from.

http://jess-kraft.artistwebsites.com/

I went with the dark one just so it doesn't look exactly the same as the FAA page.

Can you turn off all that Events/Blog stuff?   I'd have no use for it.

[DC]

I don't think so.

[stockastic]

Well, I'm all pumped up now.  Ready to spend hours and hours on something that's likely to make me $5 over the next year. Just like I did with Zazzle.   

And RedBubble.   

[Jonathan Ross]

 Hi All,

 We make sales monthly there and they have grown every month since we signed. We have a lot of images there but still if it is the right image, Like the bridge I showed there is Fine Art America.

Best,
Jonathan

[CD123]

Is there a minimum payout amount which has to be reached?

[Poncke]

no

[sdeva]

Should one choose option to place watermark or not on the FAA site?  Any recommendations...  They say it can limit sales of file but I saw some works there with the fineart logo on a corner, so dont know which is better to do.

[MarcvsTvllivs]

Is there a minimum payout amount which has to be reached?

This is what really says "fair" to me about FAA.

[ShadySue]

OK, stupid question.
I found an image of one of my favourite photographers there, and it says she has 3885 photos on FAA; but clicking on her name or on View All (both near the top right of the page) doesn't take me to her collection.
http://fineartamerica.com/featured/gray-whale-eschrichtius-robustus-tui-de-roy.html
How can I find only her images?

[sharpshot]

There's a link under the photo.  Great portfolio.
http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/animalsandearth.html

[ShadySue]

There's a link under the photo.  Great portfolio.
http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/animalsandearth.html

But they're not just her photos. Oh, but that must be a collective, as clicking on one of these photos also shows '1 of 3885' pictures.
Is there a way to show just Tui's photos, even though the others there are also worth a browse.

[sharpshot]

Try this
http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/animalsandearth.html?tab=artworkgalleries&artworkgalleryid=182516

[ShadySue]

Try this
http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/animalsandearth.html?tab=artworkgalleries&artworkgalleryid=182516

Thanks. That's great?
Was there an easy way of getting to that page via the first image I found of hers?
http://fineartamerica.com/featured/gray-whale-eschrichtius-robustus-tui-de-roy.html

[sharpshot]

Should one choose option to place watermark or not on the FAA site?  Any recommendations...  They say it can limit sales of file but I saw some works there with the fineart logo on a corner, so dont know which is better to do.

I always use watermarks and don't think it puts buyers off, unless the main subject of the photo happens to be under the watermark and that doesn't happen very often.

[sharpshot]

Try this
http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/animalsandearth.html?tab=artworkgalleries&artworkgalleryid=182516

Thanks. That's great?
Was there an easy way of getting to that page via the first image I found of hers?
http://fineartamerica.com/featured/gray-whale-eschrichtius-robustus-tui-de-roy.html

I just clicked on her name under the photo and her gallery was easy to see on that page.

[stockastic]

Should one choose option to place watermark or not on the FAA site?  Any recommendations...  They say it can limit sales of file but I saw some works there with the fineart logo on a corner, so dont know which is better to do.

I always use watermarks and don't think it puts buyers off, unless the main subject of the photo happens to be under the watermark and that doesn't happen very often.

I think watermarks do discourage buyers, but that's just my feeling.  They detract from the image and sort of break the spell, I think.

FAA seems to have something of a customer base.  Right now, as I'm getting started, I think the limited customization of the 'pay' sites is a weak point.   Selling images as art requires a site with style and personality.  In particular, I think a clean look sells better than the traditional cluttered mass of tabs and links.   

Years ago, I tried SmugMug and set out to heavily customize my site, but it was way too hard - it's a huge mess of nested .CSS, and the guidance was pretty weak.   

[Poncke]

When you pay you get the artist website option if I am correct and although it looks simple and you cant customize much, it doesnt look cluttered or bad. Looks better than the FAA site.

Send me a PM if you want the link

[donding]

I'm fairly new there, and haven't sold anything yet, but do all of you promote your images through facebook or twitter? I don't have a bunch of people, mainly just family, on my facebook page and I don't do twitter, so how do you get the traffic? I'm afraid my friends and family wouldn't like it if I used my facebook page.

[Poncke]

Set up a business page on Facebook. I twitter, facebook everything. I blog an I am on Linkedin. Its all connected with each other. FAA also has a lot of marketing tools and they look quite professional.