Jimmie Robinson wants to make some extra money:
“Recently I’ve been hammered by requests to sell original art. Either through PMs, email, or on forums. How do YOU folks handle making FAIR transactions? …I just noticed several sites that work as middleman (part of the industry I’m just becoming aware of). Even the creators themselves are setting up shop on their various websites. But my concern is fairness. I love online commerce, but that often involves a purchase of an item that’s just one of many. Original art, by definition, is singular. Is there a way to be fair to all involved? Auction perhaps? Something as simple as ebay? Anyway… just wondering the UPS and DOWNS of selling art online. Usually, I just do a huge sell off at conventions. As a writer/artist I’m loaded with original art going all the way back to my teens. I’m tired of holding on to it, but I’d like to do it right.”
Colleen Doran has an unexpected answer:
“Ebay. I find it is much less expensive and time consuming than attending conventions, people from all over the world have a chance to buy it, and in years of dealing, I have rarely had any difficulty. I’ve sold maybe $50,000 worth of stuff on ebay since 1999. Now, I’ve drawn just about everything there is to draw by now, there’s a heck of a lot of it taking up space, some pages from assignments like Sonic the Hedgehog do not warm my heart, and at one point, I even considered tossing a lot of my old works onto a bonfire. I was going to invite friends for a picnic and roast marshmallows over my burning pages. However, stuff that does not appeal to me is someone else’s favorite. I sold a bunch of it on ebay and used the money to pay for art school.”
January 4th, 2007 at 3:25 pm
Personally I prefer auctions for the simple fact that I can’t always get to the con where the artist is appearing (unless it’s Dragon*Con or Megacon). Artists are human to, and have expenses to meet.