I sell framed prints locally in a gallery, and online. I absolutely get that people don’t want to invest in a print they haven’t seen in person - which is why most of my online sales come from people who’ve been to the gallery.
Would you be more inclined to purchase art online if it came with an “it doesn’t match my sofa” return policy? No one has complained or asked for a refund or replacement yet, and of course I would take art back if someone didn’t like the image once they received it.
But if I specifically advertise doing that, will people buy my images, use them for open houses, and then return them like a soiled party dress? I have little faith in the masses.
I’d probably do it but stipulate the number of times a customer could return it. It doesn’t happen often but when one bad egg starts doing it they often become repeat offenders.
Business rule #xxx: Know when to cut off your loyal customers who are costing you money.
That’s a nice site, Chefguy. They appear to be mostly originals and the prints are limited to photographs or photographic process (which isn’t what I do), but I’ll give it a shot. Thanks!
I’ve tried other sites like that, and find it’s easy to get lost in the thousands and thousands of images and artists. That doesn’t keep me from joining - the more exposure the better, of course.
I’ve been selling art online for about 10 years. We’ve always had a 30-day any-reason return policy. Our returns are less than one percent. However, our items are at the lower end of the scale (under $70, generally); people may be more inclined to return a more expensive item.
At the moment, I also don’t have a shopping cart. Because I can create the images to specification, I’ve just been having people contact me from the website.
I wonder if I could capture more sales by making standard size images available via shopping cart.