terry sullivan on thu 11 dec 03
Well I certainly have to second all that Tony Furguson wrote. He ,
through his aquarius gallery web site, presents the work in a way that
gives a complete and honest view of his, and others, work.
What you see is what you get.
It is through his web site that I have bought about $ 1000 of Tonys work
along with some wonderfull pieces by Tom and Elaine Colman. Really
great stuff. Tony makes buying from a web site easy because he presents
each piece from many views. You really get to see the whole piece,
inside, outside, all angles.
Additionaly; you can call him to talk ceramics and the various pieces.
He is very generous with his time and we have had several long
conversations. He has this web marketing thing down and is a very
accomplished ceramist. Wish to hell I could get him to come be an artist
in residence here at Nottingham, but he's determined to go for that
MFA. Wherever he decides to go, they will be lucky to have him.
Terry Sullivan
Director, and Chief Gofer
Nottingham Center for the Arts
San Marcos, CA
www.nottinghamarts.org
primalmommy on thu 11 dec 03
I don't think most people buy pottery on line. There is something about
the volume of a piece, the need to touch it, pick it up, see all the
sides.. also it's nice to see/meet the potter, hang out in mel's studio
(i WISH), see david's kiln, stroll the art fair, whatever.
Having said that, I do OK with my website (think very small potatoes.) I
have a very low rate of production (time stolen from
homeschooling/gardening/etc.) but of the niche-market, specialty pots I
sell, I really do sell them as fast as I can make them. For me, that
means every month I get 50 bucks in my e-mail, and stop at the post
office on the way to piano lessons to ship.
ADVANTAGES:
I am not a full time potter and my hubby has a job. So if I take a month
off to ... enjoy christmas with kids, or do some unmarketable sculptural
stuff, or travel, or my kids have the flu (current status, one down, two
looking "peak-ed") -- I don't have an empty storefront to pay for, a
gallery calling for more work, an empty booth to fill by a show date. I
just have a website with pots marked "sold". Sorry. Bookmark it and stop
back.
No sales taxes.
If you can sell enough pots to afford a digital, it takes about 5
minutes for a pot to go from kiln to photo to web site. Every pot can be
different, with its own little "buy me" button.
If you don't mind pop up ads, there are free sites so easy a chimp could
do it.. fill in the blanks, you have a web page.(like "geocities".. and
with a little practice you can move up to the "trained chimp could do
it" sites
I can do business at 4am... people can buy while I am sleeping... If you
sell something odd with a narrow market you have a better chance
reaching out to a wider circle than driving distance to your studio.
Nobody on my blue collar, white-bread street would buy the "granola"
stuff I sell. I have shipped my odd specialty pots to a military base in
Hawaii, a farm town in Iowa, and just about every state you can think
of, and Canada besides.
People can use credit cards, paypal, e-checks, etc. if they are
impulsive.. checks, cash or money orders otherwise.
Did I mention no sales tax? No booth fees, no percentage to the gallery,
no hours spent setting up, etc. Any time I sell in other venues my
pricing is easy, because I know what i can get for my pots on the web.
You just raise and lower prices until you find that "g spot'. You don't
have to figure in weather, the booth selling yard butts next door, or
whether the local factory is laying off.
I can make pots in winter in a linen closet. My photo setup (i know, it
shows).. is a sheet of formica I keep under the bed. On a cloudy day I
jam the top edge up under a lap in the vinyl siding, wedge the bottom to
the deck by pounding in 2 short nails, and shoot. I am not submitting to
shows or galleries, I am not even selling to potters, so it is enough,
for me, for now, for this particular market.
Anyway like I said unless you have a niche market -- and know it well,
maybe "belong" to a loyal group of some sort -- it might not be worth
the time invested. But it can be done for free if you borrow a digital,
so what is there to lose?
Just my 2 cents. I am off to bed early, since I may have just heard the
starting gun of a week long barf-a-thon...
Yours,
Kelly in Ohio
http://www.primalpotter.com
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Tony Ferguson on thu 11 dec 03
Kelly
You would be suprised at online art sales. It is, however, still a foreign
concept that many scoff at. It is why I go to such trouble to take so many
shots and details of the work--so the viewer can really get a sense of the
work. Selling work on the web is also still in its infancy when compared
with other items. But it is very much going to be a part of how we make our
livings as artists whether people like the idea or not.
Let me tell you a little story. I had a hard time selling my work at shows
when I started out. Actually, I still don't sell anything to the degree my
friends sell. All my pots had shino on them (and I do mean all) 10 years
ago. In fact, I was usually the only potter who had shino on the pots. I
did lots of trades and was quite happy to go home with other people's pots
instead of my own. I was just starting out, single, no kids or wife. I
could afford to not make money and I was in school and working 2 to 3 jobs
at a time.
One day while surfing, I saw some potters selling their work on ebay. They
were teabowls and they were going for $75 to $350. And, wouldn't you know
it, they were shino tea bowls, wood fired. I went out to my shard pile
where I had (not some time earlier) placed (didn't have the heart to break)
many anagama wood fired teabowls and other works. I then borrowed (as I was
in graduate school in 96) a digital camera and started learning how to shoot
my work. I put my work up on ebay. Just a few pieces at a time. Didn't
sell much at first. Then I had my first sale. It was exciting. I put up
some more. More sold. I put up 20 works. Sold more than half of them. I
recall $1500 that time. And so on. Some works I gave specials, others
exactly what I wanted. I learned the bidding game, underpricing so the work
would attract bidders, etc. I found that getting work into people's hands
allowed them to see the quality and aesthetic--even if it meant almost
giving it away. I do a great deal of repeat business because of this.
Those folks from around the world who would never ever have seen my work
saw, liked and bought. I've received compliments from a variety of
collectors and even a few tea masters. Pretty amazing to receive such
understanding and appreciation of my work and aesthetic.
That alone was worth selling online--to find people who understood the work.
I frequently thank them and tell them that if it wasn't for their support, I
could not make the work I want to make. We are privledge if we can make our
work. These buyers of my work now reside on my mailing list as do many
others from ebay which has served as a very good spring board to have people
who appreciate my aesthetic, the one of a kind-ness of the work. Over 1400
now. Of course, not all buy, but a percentage do.
I also remember the first or second year I did the Cambridge Pottery
Festival. I had a number of teabowls among other things--I think I sold one
for $75. The next week online I sold 11 for $3300. I don't think people
believe this is possible. Only the web could have done that unless I was
privledged in some way, had connections, etc.
Many promoters are not about promoting the artist anymore, the cultural
event and exchange that takes place at these festivals--it is about putting
money in their pockets. I have seen this trend rise. The artist is merely
now vehicle or token for their economic expression. Mel and many others are
quite right.
As Kelly said, you've got nothing to lose. There are many other benefits
than just purely the economic ones of having your own website: sharing your
work with your friends, making the work accessable to the entire world for
viewing and artistic exchange. Start out with the freebies. I moved from
the schools site, to yahoo, to geo cities, and then finally my own when I
felt the level of professionalism needed to be raised as I could do more
with my own site (no pop up adds, speed issues, or traffic restrictions).
There is nothing shameless about promotion. Who else is going to do it for
you? Exhaust every option to get your work out there. Nobody is commanding
the power of suggestion over anyone else. Do a freebie website and if your
needs grow, then make the appropriate changes. Go for it!
Thank you.
Tony Ferguson
On Lake Superior, where the sky meets the Lake
Custom & Manufactured Kiln Design
Stoneware, Porcelain, Raku and more
by Coleman, Ferguson, Winchester...
http://www.aquariusartgallery.com
218-727-6339
315 N. Lake Ave
Apt 312
Duluth, MN 55806
----- Original Message -----
From: "primalmommy"
To:
Sent: Thursday, December 11, 2003 7:08 PM
Subject: selling from a website
> I don't think most people buy pottery on line. There is something about
> the volume of a piece, the need to touch it, pick it up, see all the
> sides.. also it's nice to see/meet the potter, hang out in mel's studio
> (i WISH), see david's kiln, stroll the art fair, whatever.
>
> Having said that, I do OK with my website (think very small potatoes.) I
> have a very low rate of production (time stolen from
> homeschooling/gardening/etc.) but of the niche-market, specialty pots I
> sell, I really do sell them as fast as I can make them. For me, that
> means every month I get 50 bucks in my e-mail, and stop at the post
> office on the way to piano lessons to ship.
>
> ADVANTAGES:
>
> I am not a full time potter and my hubby has a job. So if I take a month
> off to ... enjoy christmas with kids, or do some unmarketable sculptural
> stuff, or travel, or my kids have the flu (current status, one down, two
> looking "peak-ed") -- I don't have an empty storefront to pay for, a
> gallery calling for more work, an empty booth to fill by a show date. I
> just have a website with pots marked "sold". Sorry. Bookmark it and stop
> back.
>
> No sales taxes.
>
> If you can sell enough pots to afford a digital, it takes about 5
> minutes for a pot to go from kiln to photo to web site. Every pot can be
> different, with its own little "buy me" button.
>
> If you don't mind pop up ads, there are free sites so easy a chimp could
> do it.. fill in the blanks, you have a web page.(like "geocities".. and
> with a little practice you can move up to the "trained chimp could do
> it" sites
>
> I can do business at 4am... people can buy while I am sleeping... If you
> sell something odd with a narrow market you have a better chance
> reaching out to a wider circle than driving distance to your studio.
> Nobody on my blue collar, white-bread street would buy the "granola"
> stuff I sell. I have shipped my odd specialty pots to a military base in
> Hawaii, a farm town in Iowa, and just about every state you can think
> of, and Canada besides.
>
> People can use credit cards, paypal, e-checks, etc. if they are
> impulsive.. checks, cash or money orders otherwise.
>
> Did I mention no sales tax? No booth fees, no percentage to the gallery,
> no hours spent setting up, etc. Any time I sell in other venues my
> pricing is easy, because I know what i can get for my pots on the web.
> You just raise and lower prices until you find that "g spot'. You don't
> have to figure in weather, the booth selling yard butts next door, or
> whether the local factory is laying off.
>
> I can make pots in winter in a linen closet. My photo setup (i know, it
> shows).. is a sheet of formica I keep under the bed. On a cloudy day I
> jam the top edge up under a lap in the vinyl siding, wedge the bottom to
> the deck by pounding in 2 short nails, and shoot. I am not submitting to
> shows or galleries, I am not even selling to potters, so it is enough,
> for me, for now, for this particular market.
>
> Anyway like I said unless you have a niche market -- and know it well,
> maybe "belong" to a loyal group of some sort -- it might not be worth
> the time invested. But it can be done for free if you borrow a digital,
> so what is there to lose?
>
> Just my 2 cents. I am off to bed early, since I may have just heard the
> starting gun of a week long barf-a-thon...
>
> Yours,
> Kelly in Ohio
> http://www.primalpotter.com
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________________________
> Get the FREE email that has everyone talking at
> http://www.mail2world.com
>
>
____________________________________________________________________________
__
> Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
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>
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melpots@pclink.com.
>
Diane Davis on fri 12 dec 03
Hello,
I sell/show my work through a web site, and have found it to be a great
experience. I use my site to feature only one type of my clay work, small
hand carved beads and pendants. They are durable, light weight and easy to
ship so they are perfect for web sales. I know I have a pretty small target
market for the beads, so the internet is the way to go to reach my
customers.
If you don't have a web presence yet, I would encourage every artist to
consider it. It is the most versitile marketing tool out there.
Diane
http://www.davisclaystudio.com/
Gary Elfring on fri 12 dec 03
Hello primalmommy,
Thursday, December 11, 2003, 7:08:44 PM, you wrote:
p> I don't think most people buy pottery on line. There is something about
p> the volume of a piece, the need to touch it, pick it up, see all the
p> sides.. also it's nice to see/meet the potter, hang out in mel's studio
p> (i WISH), see david's kiln, stroll the art fair, whatever.
I have been selling things on the internet since 1997. I sell a *lot*
of stuff on-line, and I am still amazed at what people will buy. Did
you know that people buy *used* cars on-line? (on ebay!)
I'm pretty sure you can sell pottery on-line, just as easily as
anything else (with the exception of software, which is really easy to
sell since people can instantly download it).
But your web site has to be designed to *sell* pottery, not just show
it off, or tell people about your self. Your web site needs to be easy
to navigate. People have to be able to find what they want to see. You
need information about yourself, but *not* in the pages selling your
pots. You need a name, address, and phone number on every page, to
build confidence in your target customers. You need several pictures
of each piece you want to sell, complete descriptions, sizes, easy
secure ways to buy (you *must* have buy now buttons that link to a
secure form, plus you must also take orders over the phone), and
shipping costs need to be stated up front. These items are all the
basics needed by any internet catalog site.
Here are some of my web sites you can use as examples:
http://www.kinglister.com
http://www.elfring.com
http://www.barcodingfonts.com/bar39.htm
http://www.micrfonts.com/micr.htm
I have just started putting together a true pottery web site- only the
first page works at the moment and it still needs work, but you can
see it at:
http://www.elfringpottery.com
--
Best regards,
Gary
SusanRaku@AOL.COM on sat 13 dec 03
Hi Diane. What search engines to you find bring the most hits. How have you
gone about making sure your site is easily accessible?
Susan
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