Online Art Sales Struggle

The Savannah Morning News recently ran a short but interesting article about online art auctions. The site initially refers to online art auctions, but I believe the article actual is referring to all online art sales, not only those that auction. The report states actual sales have been in decline since the economy started having difficulties and has paralleled the issue brick and mortar auction houses have had. The article also mentions that most sales are in the lower value ranges and the online art services are starting to cater more to that group. This makes sense as buying from an image can be deceiving even if unintentional. I know selling furniture online can be hard, and when the image is taken with lighting it can look completely different.

The article states, Online sites selling art are facing a similar situation to auction houses: Sales are down. These sites vary in the quality of art they sell. Some of them are standalone and some are operated by galleries as an additional way to reach buyers. Some owners say they are losing money, while others said their businesses haven't grown as much as they had hoped since the economic downturn. They are all looking at alternative ways to keep their businesses going in this declining market.

Palo Alto, Calif.-based McCormack-Skiba said people are buying the cheaper art on the site. No one is buying the more expensive works on the site that run from $5,000 to $10,000.

So, to readjust their strategy they are offering more art at lower prices. They are increasing the number of prints of each artist they represent on their Web site.

To read the full article, click HERE.