April 17, 2020

Artfinder Full Review: What Is It – How To Use It – What I Think Of It

Artfinder Review

If you haven’t started selling your art online yet, start now! You can reach people from all across the world with the click of a button.

This is the second article in a series looking at in-depth reviews of websites where you can sell your art. I talk about each of them briefly in my article “Where to Sell Your Art Online”.

In this article, we will be looking at Artfinder. I give some opinions throughout the different points and then give my overall opinion at the end.

What is Artfinder?

Artfinder is an online gallery where artists from across the world can sell their art.

What can I sell on Artfinder?

On Artfinder you can sell paintings, fine art photography, art prints, sculptures, drawings, collages, and illustrations.

How do I sell on Artfinder?

Unlike some other online galleries, you must apply to be able to sell on Artfinder. I think this is a good factor for both the customer and the artist. As the customer, you know that the artists have gone through a screening process and that they are legitimate. As the artist, you know that there aren’t scammer artists on the website taking away your possibility of being seen.

The Application Process:

The application process is pretty straight forward. Here is what is consists of:

Tell us your story – briefly share how and why you starting creating art
Include links to any existing online presence – this could be your own website, social media pages, etc.
Provide high-quality images – make sure you have images of your artwork that are in good light, cropped so there is no background, and are correctly orientated.
Make sure your art is original – Artfinder does not allow you to sell just copies of your artwork. They want you to sell the originals. However, read the next point for more clarification.
Limited editions – Artfinder now allows you to sell limited edition prints of your art. If you are wanting to just sell these, take a look at this article to see if you qualify.

Once you submit your application, they will be able to review it and either accept or deny you.

How much does it cost to sell on ArtFinder and what are the commission fees?

Artfinder has three different levels of accounts that allow you to sell on their website. These accounts range from being free to costing $12 a month. Here is a chart showing you what is included with each level:

Here are my thoughts on the different levels:

Starter:

I just use the starter account and have been happy enough with it. The commission is quite high at 40% but I honestly just adjust my prices slightly to help cover that high fee. The basic features that come with the starter account are all that I need.

Standard & Professional:

The standard and professional levels both have a monthly fee and a commission fee of 33%. In my opinion, 33% is still very high, especially when you are now paying a monthly fee on top of that. The few extra features you get with the starter account, in my opinion, are not worth $5 a month. And the extra features you get with the professional account are mainly just more in-depth stats for you and don’t necessarily help market your art any better.

If you are selling one piece of art or more a month on Artfinder, it could then be worth it as you would be saving more on commission fees than you would be paying for the $5 or $12 a month subscription. If you are like me, however, and sell on average about one or two pieces of art a year on Artfinder, then you would be losing a lot of that profit to these monthly fees. Unless you are selling artwork that is worth thousands of dollars, then that would be a different story.

Overall, I would say to just try with the starter level first, and then adjust as you see necessary.

How do I get paid on Artfinder?

Payments are made twice a month on the first and third Friday one of four ways.

PayPal
Bank transfer to a UK bank account
Bank transfer to an EU bank account (IBAN)
TransferWise by email

I just use the PayPal form of payment and have had no issues with it.

How do I upload my art on Artfinder?

You can watch in the video starting at 12:39 and I’ll show step by step how to do it.

Overall, it is a pretty straight forward process. It first asks for info about the piece itself. Then you fill out your shipping information. And lastly, you deal with adding photos. They give suggestions of what types of photos to upload which is quite nice. However, they do have size parameters for the photos you upload that can be finicky.

I do appreciate that they have an automatic calculator where you put in the price that shows you how much you would profit after their commission is taken off.

What is the referral program on Artfinder?

There is a unique link each Artfinder user can share and receive a little reward. When you share your link with someone looking to buy art, that person will receive 15% off their first artwork and you will receive $30 in store credit once the order has passed the 14-day return period.

Also, for each friend who verifies their email address on Artfinder, you will receive $1.50 store credit.

These credits expire after 12 months.

The two things I don’t like about this is that you have to spend it on Artfinder and that they expire. Other websites have referral programs that will just give you cash that can be deposited into your PayPal account. And it can take a while to build up credits to purchase an artwork so since they expire after one year, you may not be able to save that much up.

Messaging System On Artfinder

There is a messaging feature where customers can message you directly and ask questions and receive communications.

This was very useful when I have sold paintings as it makes it easy to communicate with the customer about shipping and more.

Forum on Artfinder

There is a very useful forum page on Artfinder. It is divided into five sections:

1. Announcements

Here you will find announcements from the Artfinder staff that will help you navigate selling your art. They will post guidelines, promotions such as free shipping weekends, surveys, etc.

2. Questions

In the questions section artists who are using the website can ask questions about how to use the website or about terms and policies.

3. Discussions

This is a place for the artists of Artfinder to collect and create a discussion about art! A very community focused feature!

4. Meetups

Artists can post about shows, fairs, markets, etc. where they are going to be so other artists from Artfinder can either have the opportunity to also join those gatherings or just have the possibility of supporting fellow artists.

5. Features and Bugs

In this section, artists can get more information about new and existing features on Artfinder. They can also report any bugs they find with these features so the Artfinder team can fix them as soon as possible.

I think the Forum on Artfinder is a valuable resource to artists and users of the websites. Not all websites have this feature and even if they do, it isn’t to this extent.

Helpful Links On Artfinder

Artfinder is great for having FAQ and help pages to make sure you understand how to use their website and get the most from it. I think this goes above and beyond what most websites like this have and I am very impressed with this database. They have articles for becoming a seller, setting up and managing your shop, managing orders, tips and tricks to market your art, and more!

Here is the link to the first page where you can then navigate to all the helpful articles: https://sellers.artfinder.com/article/779-why-sell-on-artfinder

What do I think of Artfinder?

I think Artfinder is a well made online gallery. The fact that you have to apply to sell I think is a big plus. Their ability to reach customers is great. I think their forum is a very useful resource and their FAQ & Help pages are super useful. I have sold on this website and the processes have been smooth and pleasurable.

The real only gripe I have with Artfinder is their high commission fees and monthly subscription cost if you choose to pay. 33-40% is quite high and 33% commission even when you are paying a monthly fee is very high.

If you are looking to get your art out in front of as many people as possible, then I would say definitely try out Artfinder. Start with the starter level and go from there.

If you already have a good following and aren’t having a hard time selling your artwork yourself or on other platforms, then maybe Artfinder isn’t really for you because you would lose money on the commission fees.

This is my little opinion and other people’s experiences may vary.

If you missed my last article about ArtPal, read it here!

Or if you would like my general list of websites, read/watch my article “Where to Sell Your Art Online”.

And if you want some general tips about selling out online, read/watch my article “7 Tips to Sell Art Online”.

Stay tuned for another full review of another website soon!

If you would like to read and watch the reviews of many other websites, here are the links to those:

-Artfinder

–Artmajeur

–ArtPal

–Etsy

–Fine Art America

–Redbubble