Learning to Sell Your Art on eBay

SMOOTH FOX TERRIER
Pen & Ink with Watercolor
Copyright 2009. Anne M. Hier.
All Rights Reserved.

           DON'T UNDERESTIMATE
       THE VALUE OF SMALL SALES!

This one eBay sale (under $10), at left, of a small ACEO that is only 2.5 x 3.5 inches, resulted in an additional eight commissions from the client (including a commission for a portrait of her racing pigeon!) Later, I received another commission from a referral by this client to a friend.

A BIG PROBLEM for artists just starting out is putting a value on their time and talent. What is your artwork worth? One way to find out is to sell some of your art on eBay. There are several advantages. You will learn what images sell, what the public is willing to pay, how to provide timely service to your customers, how to price your work for profit and optimum sales, and most importantly, how to start building a customer database.

Most of the time, your eBay online auctions will not bring as high a price for your work as you could get in your studio, a gallery, or through your website. However, I have been selling on eBay since 1998 and fully 40% of my sales are REPEAT CUSTOMERS. Repeat customers are the gold standard in any business. Additionally, many of these clients have gone on to commission portraits from me. Further, I have made art sales throughout the United States and Canada and almost two dozen countries in Asia, Europe, and Australia. I never would have made these sales without the worldwide reach of eBay. Thus, eBay not only is a great selling tool but also quite an effective advertising medium for your work.

Keep in mind that eBay customers like to think they are getting a bargain. Plus, while we all want to get high prices for our major works, you should seriously consider selling to a variety of price point customers. The highest price I have ever received for an eBay sale was $400 for a small painting. However, I now concentrate on pieces that are 5x7 inches or smaller. In particular, I create a great number of ACEOS in both pen and ink and colored pencil. Many eBay customers are not willing to pay $100 for one piece of art. But, I have had plenty who are willing to pay between $3.99 - $10.99 for smaller works. Small sales? Small sales margin? Yes. Nevertheless, I consider these sales an investment in my future business. Over time, many of these same customers have spent hundreds of dollars with me in repeat purchases. Indeed, I have one client who will never bid over $10.99 for any single piece on eBay, yet has purchased over 60 ACEOS total. I can count on her to purchase something practically every time I list a batch of drawings on eBay. Further, she has commissioned a total of 17 portraits from me for herself and as gifts for friends.  And she paid significantly more than $10.99 for the commissioned works. Even better, I am currently working on a portrait commission from one of her friends. Word of mouth referrals are still the best form of advertising. 

 

A loyal clientele is built on trust. If eBay buyers discover they like your work and can trust you for a small sale, many of them will buy more in the future.

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Surely, You Want to Donate Your Artwork to Charity! Don't You?

"Brothers." Block Print. Copyright 2010. Anne M. Hier.

Every year I get dozens of requests asking me to donate artwork to various charitable groups or organization fundraisers. There are plenty of worthy causes out there and a lot of them relate to animals. But, if you have decided to paint for a living, you must limit how much of your time and art you give away for free.

If you have properly set yourself up in business, it is presumed that you take appropriate legal deductions to offset and reduce the amount of tax paid each year. But, here's the problem. If I create an artwork and sell if for $400, my client can hold that painting for 18 months and then donate it to a charity and receive a full Fair Market Value (FMV) deduction of $400. ( Let's face it, for most of us, our niche work isn't going to radically appreciate in value over a year and a half. Therefore, in most cases, the FMV will be the purchase price. Additionally, this sale is well below the $5,000 threshold that would require an independent appraisal for FMV).

But, what happens if I donate my artwork directly to the same charity? I donate the artwork to the charity. That's it. Oh sure, I can take a tax deduction for the cost basis of the artwork, but NOT for my hourly rate for labor, my overhead, or for the full FMV. Thus, for a 5” x 7” colored pencil drawing that I would sell for $75, my cost basis is the rock bottom cost of the materials and the sales tax. But wait, I have to pro rate that. If I buy a pad of paper for $9.99 and it contains fifty 12” x 12” sheets, that means I can get two hundred 5” x 7” pieces of paper to work on. In other words, the cost basis of the $75 finished artwork is only .049 cents, plus a few extra cents thrown in for the pencils I use. This is not worth my time and trouble to list as a deduction on my tax forms.

Is this fair? Well, while plenty of artist's groups don't think so, not allowing the self-selected deduction by artists makes sense. Believe me, if I could donate my artwork for FMV I would be painting my fingers off to deduct my way to a zero tax bracket.

So, what do you do when charities come with hat in hand asking for a donation of artwork? Here is what I do:

1. I tell them I limit my art donations to those breed organizations with which I am actively involved (Bulldogs and French Bulldogs).
2. I offer to list several drawings or paintings of the requested breed online for sale at a discount to the organization's members. These members can then purchase the art at a discount, donate it to their cause, and know that it will probably bring more at auction than the price they paid for it. (After all, it is their charity – not mine).
   
   

There are other ways to handle such requests. Many artists donate a portion of the proceeds of all their sales to named charities and this method forestalls endless requests for donated art to other groups. However you choose to donate to charitable groups, make sure it is on your terms and that you know how you will handle any requests for your time and talent in advance.

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