How to sell original art on amazon
Why I don't sell artwork on Amazon Handmade w/ Lachri
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today I am going to be talking a little
bit about why I do not sell artwork on
Amazon handmade hi I'm Lisa the artist
behind block refine our recently on one
of my really old videos comparing my
experience with Etsy and eBay someone
who said that they wanted to hear my
opinions on the Amazon handmade option
so I looked into this briefly when it
first came out and I read a lot of not
so appealing articles so keep in mind
I'm coming out this from an angle of
things I read not my own experience but
the things I read are enough to
definitely make me not interested and I
can't cite my sources because it was a
while ago I haven't read anything lately
but I haven't heard anything positive at
all the first thing that you want to
realize when you're selling online is
ideally you want people to buy from you
you want to build your brand you want to
sell yourself you want your name to get
out there and Amazon is definitely not a
very friendly platform when it comes to
that they're not really good for
promoting your own brand it would be
great if people would just come and buy
from your website now I know firsthand
that is easier said than done
we have to learn business and marketing
and how to get people to our website and
that can take some work even Etsy I
think especially eBay are really good
platforms for doing that for getting the
initial attention from some buyers I
have had buyers who purchased first for
me from eBay and then contacted me later
when they wanted to buy more work but
they knew how to contact me because I
included my business card to end the box
they always know how to get a hold of me
yeah can't do that with Amazon now while
you may not be able to just promote your
own website through eBay or Etsy there
are certain conditions but do a lot you
link back to your site you just need to
read through the Terms of Service and
make sure you understand what is allowed
and is not allowed but you can still
brand yourself on there you can have
your logo on your image you can do a lot
of branding like when I sell on eBay it
always says lock recom for my watermark
so even though there's no actual link
they were able to find my website and
find more information about me because
when people are buying art they want to
know about the artist too and yeah you
can write a lot of that on your
description but that's easier to do
through your website where they can see
more of your work and get a better idea
of who they're buying from you
definitely can
not do that with Amazon well this may
not be the best situation because again
you do want them to buy from your
website it's still a step and getting
them to your website and you cannot do
any of that on Amazon with Amazon you
cannot communicate with your customers
outside of their platform if you do you
can have your account terminated that's
a big deal if you get caught asking for
that customers email address or trying
to communicate them with them in any way
Amazon catches on to that and is not
going to be pleased you actually with
Amazon from what I understand cannot
even include a business card in the box
when you ship your item to the person
Amazon is very clear that the customers
that buy through Amazon are amazon's
customers you're not building your own
fan base or your own customer base when
you use that platform at least with eBay
and Etsy you have your own stores and
they they're really set up in a way that
you can promote your brand and grow your
brand and Amazon is just not presenting
that way another really big issue and
I've read several articles and I'm sorry
I cannot cite the articles I read
because it was a while ago and I don't
remember but you can google all of these
I'm sure they'll come up but several
people have said that Amazon came back
and told them they needed to lower their
prices people who were consistently
making sales at say five hundred dollars
per item Amazon came in and said nope we
need you to drop that price to $300 it's
not like no one was buying and they were
wasting space their items were selling
at that amount but Amazon wants things
to be the lowest possible they decided
that item should not be above a certain
price because other people were selling
it for this amount even though they're
handmade there it's art it's not going
to be the same as somebody else's so
here Amazon is dictating how much you're
going to sell your paintings for if you
use their platform meaning on all the
time they may not do this to everybody
it may depend on the prices you're
setting but that's kind of a big deal
Amazon is known for having the lowest
price in the fastest shipping I mean
that's their whole thing fast and cheap
which comes out to my next point that is
not the reputation you want for your
artwork to be fast and cheap that isn't
and how do we want to be viewed even
with shipping our artwork I know for me
it may take me a few days to get
something boxed properly cuz i have to
go buy a box I don't keep boxes stored
for every size painting that I have
available for sale I have to go buy the
box and the packing materials it's
to take me an hour to box anything then
I have to take it on another day to the
actual post office it's not fast it is
not a fast process for me and it isn't
going to be for most artists most of us
were like as long as you get shipped
within a week we're good but with Amazon
people are going to expect it pretty
much right away that's just Amazon I
mean I know with me if I buy something
on Amazon I expect it quickly that's why
I order from Amazon but we're talking
about art art is not fast and cheap
essentially what you're doing when you
sell with Amazon is you are a drop
shipment person you're not building the
following you're not building an
audience you're not building your brand
you're selling things for Amazon but
it's Amazon's name that goes through
everything Amazon is a lot more
expensive to sell on they take a lot
more in fees listing fees and seller
fees when you sell through them so
there's another strike against selling
with them now I'm not opposed to paying
fees especially if it's something that I
wasn't going to be able to sell on my
own or was having trouble selling I'm
actually ok with that I mean if I sold
in a gallery they're gonna take up to
50% Commission so if someone is taking
20% 15% whatever is not that big of a
deal but the problem is if you're having
to pay these listing fees and the item
doesn't sell then you're out that money
regardless Raz if you look at like eBay
you can list a certain amount of things
per month for free so if it doesn't sell
you're not out anything so those are the
main reasons that I personally would not
sell or use Amazon handmade as a
platform to sell my artwork I just don't
think it's a great idea for what we do I
think eBay and Etsy are much much better
platforms for the work and the brand
that we're creating thanks for watching
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