Total Art Soul - for artists

I'm coming to the end of my first year of going pro on Artfire and last month I had my first sale. When I looked into it it turned out the sale had come through my free account - I used to have one for jewellery one for prints but combined into one pro account.

That finally made my mind up that the pro account wasn't worth it for me!

I think any of these sites work but each has a different set of clients that find it. Most of my sales come the same way they always did through word of mouth and custom orders. I like having a presence on the web and decided that the fees for listing at Etsy and the Pro fee at Artfire were worth it as having a place to put up pictures for my clients who don't live nearby is good for me as I don't have time to maintain my own website efficiently. It is an extra service that I offer and all my clients appreciate it. Artfire though definitely has better seller tools and the layout on the site has definitely improved in the last while. Personally I enjoy Twitter too and I am one of those people who ask questions and respond and retweet whatever I find interesting whether it is another artists work or some silly saying or photo, I feel if people make the effort to follow you the least you can do is not spam them all the time so I attempt to make life interesting. Facebook is definitely a good marketing tool but not so great for conversations on the business one and I like keeping business and personal seperate. I have met a lot of interesting people on Twitter after all that is how I found my way here. I am glad to be here I love being surrounded by talented people and from what I have seen in the gallery you certainly are talented people.

I love Artfire and have been there since they started. Yes, it takes time to grow and make sales.

My sales have increase somewhat is year and the Artfire staff is wonderful to work with. They keep us up to date on all that they doing to improve the site and bring us buyers! (unlike Etsy, which I had to quit selling on because I was spending more in fees then receiving in sales.)

I have found you have to promote continuously because there is so much competition out there. This is why I love site like this because we can help promote each others arts and craft.

I have a blog, called Artists and Crafters Supply Community, that I started when I was selling on Etsy. I have three days that I make it available for other artists and crafters to leave links to their products, tutorials, reviews, giveaways etc.

And I promote other sites. See my post today about this site.

It does take time and lots of energy to promote but I work from the home and enjoy it.

I also believe if you like what you do, work hard, and be honest and give great customer service, then you can be a success at it!

Sales have come slowly for me on ArtFire, but I think it's unfair to compare it to Etsy. Etsy has been around much longer and in the beginning, was a total unknown to anyone. ArtFire is growing and gaining in popularity every day. I try to promote ArtFire as much as I can because I really believe that it will become a premier marketplace for handmade/art/design.

If anyone is interested......I have a blog which promotes ArtFire Sellers....ArtFire Artisans

I also have started a Facebook Page to showcase ArtFire Sellers.
ArtFire Artisans

I have to agree that you cannot really compare the sites Artfire is growing and their Admin are happy to help with whatever they can. Although I am not selling a huge amount on either Etsy or Artfire I am enjoying my time at Artfire and learning an enormous amount as I go. I am hopeing to increase sales on both sites but I think it will happen quicker on Artfire as I cannot afford to keep relisting on Etsy just to stay ahead for an hour or so. Still as I said before most of my sales are referrals from people who already have a piece of my work. One day hopefully I will get noticed but until then you just have to keep on working.

More and more people are signing up with Artfire lately because of the numerous unpopular changes that are taking place on Etsy.