Marketing: A Review of Fine Art America
January 30th, 2009 | Published in Featured, Marketing | 57 Comments
Fine Art America offers an amazing list of free services for artists, including an e-commerce solution for your website.
In recent years, Print On Demand (POD) technology has made it much easier to get reproductions of artwork into the hands of collectors. POD means just that: a print is made on demand, when the purchase is made. POD means that artists no longer have to invest heavily in print runs, warehouse their prints, and hope to sell enough prints to make back the cost of the printing. The risk and expense are mostly gone, but marketing is just as important as ever. In pre-POD days, the rule of thumb was: “whatever your printing costs, plan to spend that same amount on marketing, or those prints will take up permanent residence under your bed…or in your garage.” Which shows how important marketing was, and still is.
POD works like this: you create an account on a website such as ImageKind or Redbubble, upload your images, set your prices, and sit back, waiting for the checks to roll in. The website will do all the promotion for you, right? Wrong. Just because a site has thousands of visitors a day doesn’t mean they’ll be seeing your work. All successful artists participate in their success. They schmooze. They network. They get out and meet people. They write press releases. They write articles and blogs. They do whatever it takes to get their work noticed. So a website that helps you with marketing and promotion is bound to be more valuable than one that simply prints and ships your work out. I’ve found such a site, and it is called Fine Art America.
Fine Art America has much the same offerings as the other sites we’ve profiled in the past, but it offers some services none of them have. For instance, you may have heard of the email mailing service Constant Contact, which allows you to create customized HTML emails and send them out to thousands of email subscribers. This is quite a specialized service, and it is all that Constant Contact does. I used them for several years to send out a monthly newsletter, at a cost of $50 a month (I had a small list). Fine Art America offers this service FREE to all members. In fact, every thing about FAA is free, except for the optional $30 per year fee to use their POD service. As we’ve seen before, some sites are charging that much per month.
Another service from FAA none of its competitors offer is a shopping cart that you can use on your website. I really can’t emphasize how important that is. With all the other sites, you have to drive your customers to their site to buy your artwork. FAA gives you a shopping cart (for free, no less) that you can imbed right into your OWN website, allowing you to sell your work directly to your visitors. How neat is that? Imagine how impressed potential buyers will be.
FAA has a unique feature in that it shows online browsers the work of local artists. If you live in San Diego, it shows you work by FAA members in San Diego. This is really helpful for traditional artists building a clientele for original works. It’s also a way to find artists in your neighborhood. FAA uses this same technology to send out tailored weekly newsletters to subscribers. For example, you can post an art opening on FAA’s online calendar of upcoming events. The next time a newsletter goes out, all of the readers in your location will read about your opening.
The community aspects of FAA go way beyond what any similar site offers. In addition to the usual forum, there is a blogging section, there are groups moderated by other artists (or you can start one yourself), and an online chat area. You can discover what’s going on with other artists by checking the unique Graphs area, which shows hourly activity for comments, recommendations, visitors, and favorites. There’s also a Jobs posting area. Recent print sales are displayed here, so you can see what’s been selling.
Of course, FAA also provides you with gallery space and custom page-building tools, as well as image hosting. They have a unique zoom function that allows shoppers to see exactly what a portion of your image looks like at full resolution. Zazzle has this functionality, but it’s not as nice as this. The zoom function will help to assure potential buyers that the final image is of high quality. If you choose to use the POD capability, you’ll find that the framing and matting seems very reasonably priced (which means they’re not price-gauging there to make profits). There is a solid search facility, as well as grouping by tags, media, color, and subject.
At this point, you might be asking yourself, “Gosh, if they’re so great, how come no one’s ever heard of them?” That’s what I’m wondering. And it does make me leery, to see so much being offered for next to nothing. Maybe I’m getting cynical in my old age, but I’ve always believed the saying “If it looks too good to be true, it probably is.” On the other hand, their traffic numbers show they are about to overtake both Imagekind and Redbubble. They have 12,000 members. Maybe they are just what they seem to be. So I’d like to ask our readers for input. Have you had any experience with Fine Art America? If so, please leave a comment and let us know. Thanks!
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Stumble it!
March 4th, 2009 at 8:56 pm (#)
Im curious, have you recieved any responses to this article? I just joined FAA and had the same question myself because the service they offer are amazing. I found them advertised on Facebook. Let me know,
ys
Mira
May 5th, 2009 at 6:59 pm (#)
This is the first time I have ever heart of this type website. I may join.
May 24th, 2009 at 11:11 pm (#)
So you want a horror story about Fine Art America? I’ll give you one. In my experience, FAA was AWFUL!!! You should be leery—extremely so. And yes, it is too good to be true.
Clue number one: Where are they anyhow? When you look for contacts, all you’re going to find are two or three email addresses. No phone or fax numbers, no info on who works for the company, who’s in charge, where they’re based, etc. That was the first thing that seemed to indicate a potential scam.
Another clue, and this is maybe slightly subjective, depending on the kind of work you produce, look very carefully at the “recent sales” page. If I had done that first, I never would’ve signed up for FAA’s POD program. I’m a photographer, and it’s mostly painters whose works are selling, and those looked to be stuff along the Jimi Hendrix on black velvet sort of axis. Trash, in other words. Perhaps FAA markets primarily to buyers with no taste, or perhaps that kind of amateurism predominates among their members. Maybe both, I’m inclined to believe. Almost none of FAA shoppers are buying photographic prints, and what few I saw on the recent sales page were noteworthy for being pallid and undistinguished. One was a color shot of the green turf and sand traps at the Masters’ Golf Tournament and the other was a piece of faux-Americana depicting two little boys with their backs facing the camera, fishing rods in their hands as they sat on a log before some backwoods lagoon. Did I mention it was done in sepia?? Yuck! In other words, if you have higher aspirations than sentimental or rock ’n’ roll trash, look elsewhere. There might be one or two serious artists to be found at FAA; rest assured, they are vastly outnumbered.
I did some marketing. Voila! A print of mine sold right away. Within a day or two, someone else ordered a print of the same image. This is going to be all right, I thought. I’ve just made $600 from a few uploads. FAA, however, refused to fulfill the orders, and here’s where we meet the dreaded “Brian,” who has no surname, no job title, no contact info beyond a generic email address, but who is apparently the lone wizard behind the curtain. The bottom of the print was grainy, he wrote. Could I have it re-scanned? The photo in question was an analog print that I had scanned myself and cropped; true, there was a slight darkening in the transfer of the pristine original, BUT it’s a image of a gray building in the Pacific Northwest, an area famous for its gray light. I agreed to re-scan, feeling that a professional photo place might have better equipment than that which I had used. The first studio I took the paper original to did a wretched job. I made it very clear what I needed. The lab handed me a CD of extremely low-resolution, washed-out jpgs. These were so useless I didn’t upload them. I decide to try another retailer; meanwhile, I’m emailing Brian for advice on the re-scan. FAA’s website can’t upload anything larger than 20MB, so I kept trying to get Brian to be as specific as possible on what to tell my local lab people. Brian never had anything to say re DPI, MB, or anything else. He gave me nada to go on, but, when he responded at all, he robotically chirped, “Re-scan! Re-scan!” The second lab did a vastly better job than the first. I was pleased with their digital transfer. I uploaded the image. Brian still wasn’t satisfied. It was still too “grainy” for him, never mind that this was part of the character of the piece. I said that I didn’t have the means to keep going all over town spending money on re-scans, especially not when he is so unforthcoming about what would make the analog-to-digital transfer meet his standards. In frustration with his feeble communication skills, I put it to him like this: Give me specifics on pixel sizes, and if you really and truly can’t (why is he in this job, anyway????) then give me my investment back and we can just end my participation in the POD. Being a jerk and a poor communicator, that is what he did. My pages on FAA were yanked immediately, but he took his own sweet time at refunding my money—that took about two weeks.
Summing up: Beware of Fine Art America. Do not join. Do not give con man Brian your money. The whole pointless exercise was a complete waste of time and effort. If what I’d wanted was to be treated with contempt, I could have just gone with Red Bubble.
May 30th, 2009 at 9:22 pm (#)
wow…was getting ready to take the plunge. having second thoughts after that review though. anyone else had any experience with them?
June 2nd, 2009 at 7:21 am (#)
Fine Art America is a great site. I’m a photographer as well and I sold a print and got paid properly. No problems at all. Don’t listen to Withheld, but I guess everybody noticed the intelligence he has: “the artworks on FAA are trash, buyers have no taste, etc.” Recommended website!
July 7th, 2009 at 3:40 pm (#)
Hello,
Today I received an email from “Brian” stating that I sold a print. Then received a 2nd email from him stating that he couldn’t print from my web image. This is the second time this has happened to me. In December I was too ill to resend Brian a good quality image(I tried 3 times)each one wasn’t good enough for him.
I am having a friend of mine retake my pictures. He is a professional photographer. If he can’t satisfy Brian’s print standards I’m giving up.
As for the quality of the art and artists on the site, they are all different. Let’s face it not everyone has the same idea of what art is or should be. I was taught that anything that evokes a reaction is “good” art. We can”t all be “relevant” artists,where’s the fun in that(?). Wasn’t it Monet’ who said “sometimes you just want to paint a pretty picture”. I don’t judge, I just paint.
Patricia Ritter
July 14th, 2009 at 1:39 pm (#)
Back again to report that “I give up!”. Even my pro couldn’t satisfy “Brian”. So I lost the 2nd sale. Believe me I tried everything humanly possible to get a good quality image to Brian. The funny thing is I had prints made of the images that Brian wouldn’t accept and they are fine. I’m sure they will sell in my show this November.
The artists on the site continues to grow and if half of them pay for the POD Brian is getting rich. Especially if he never full fills any orders. My advice, enter at your own risk.
I pulled all of my work off of FAA and requested that my site be canceled. If I do anything it will be my own site. Good luck to all of you creative people out there.
Patricia
July 18th, 2009 at 11:59 am (#)
After receiving an email on 7-17-09 from Brian saying I was hurting the artists and the FAA site by my review, I took another look at the site. I was surprised to find my unprintable image in the recently “sold” prints today 7-18-09, especially since I was already canceled according to Brian’s email.
Hopefully, they will remove my image soon. I wouldn’t want to cause them anymore problems with orders.
Brian did say I would be refunded for the POD service. I appreciate that. I think that this whole experience has taught me it can be very difficult to communicate via email.
I believe that everyone should think for themselves and I in noway want to harm FAA’s business or any of the artists that are on the site. I simply stated the event’s as they occured, as I saw them.
Patricia
July 24th, 2009 at 9:48 am (#)
I would have to agree with the earlier statement about the ‘art’ being subpar. It looks like there’s no filter on what is accepted. An art gallery won’t just show anything and everything. The website is a great idea, but I’m afraid of posting art on there and getting lost in an endless sea of garbage.
August 13th, 2009 at 3:03 pm (#)
I have been an artist on FAA for 2 years now and I am very very pleased with everything Brian has to offer.Not only does he answer my emails promptly,he does it with kindness and politely.He is a real gentleman. He does have a last name if anyone wishes to email him. He hads bent over backwards to meet our many requests on FAA.Many artists are friends on the site and over the years we have sold to each other,swapped paintings,and sold pod prints. It has a wonderful discussion area as well as blogs.The artwork pages are great and there are unlimited space for as much artwork as you wish to upload. I am sure that all printshops will have problems from time to time but most of my artists friends will tell you they are extremely satisfied.For anyone who wishes to investigate FAA,just go open a site and join a discussion.You will find out first hand how good of a person Brian is.Nothing is perfect in this world but I can tell you that FAA is a wonderful and beneficial art site for any artist whether a master or just an amateur.I hope this clears the air for anyone out there.sincerely,Ted Hebbler
August 13th, 2009 at 3:39 pm (#)
I have been with FAA pod programme for a while now and have no complaints at all. With reference to the earlier comment about images not being good enough for printing, this is a big problem on many printing sites as people do not upload a decent size or quality for a good print. Rather than denounce a printer for that we should praise him that the quality of art sent out to customers has to be of a high standard.
The site is constantly being upgraded to give the members what they ask for. The owner always listens and if an idea is a good one for all, then it is implemented.
The amount of space free members get is very good and for the POD programme the prints themselves are beautiful.
$30 is amazingly cheap for a full years gallery and POD and I had no hesitation in praising them highly on my own site after checking them out for myself.
To those that are worried about the post that was printed above (name witheld) then I suggest you get a free account yourself, join in with the members in the forum, and see what is going on there. You will find that 99% of the members are happy ones. The others would probably not be happy anywhere, and like the name witheld poster above, may have an axe to grind or even be from another site.
August 13th, 2009 at 3:46 pm (#)
I’ve been a member of FAA since 2007 and am very, very happy with everything it has to offer. I’ve not only sold several prints since I joined, but have met some wonderful people through the large active community of artists. I have always received prompt replies to my emails to Brian. I love the fact that we can upload an unlimited amount of artwork as well. FAA is everything it claims to be and much more. Cher Odum
August 13th, 2009 at 3:46 pm (#)
Brian McDunn is a gentleman through and through. When I have sold a print, he pays me within the time he says he will. And, he has done all the heavy lifting. This includes shipping to the customer.
My gallery is Songs of Thunder on Fine Art America. Brian has been a generous host who provides a wealth of goodies for artists, photographers, galleries, collectors and the general public who just wish to browse.
Anne Norskog, Songs of Thunder Fine Art Gallery
August 13th, 2009 at 3:52 pm (#)
Gotta say,
I’ve been happy with FAA. Have been on the site 2 years (?)
Selling 1 print can easily pay your dues for another year.
Getting lost in the crowd will happen on any art site unless YOU do something about it.
My only complaint, I’ve been too lazy to take advantage of everything the site has to offer. Hmmm, better do something about that, eh?
August 13th, 2009 at 4:10 pm (#)
$30/year, no hassle, no-brainer! Smugmug charges something like $150 and if you want to see a glut of images where yours will sure be lost in a blackhole, well, smugmug would be your choice. For everyone else, FAA. Alot of artists may not know digital resolution from new years resolutions! So they upload 1024×768 image that looks great on their monitors but wait, Brian saids it prints grainy, darn that Brian! What’s wrong with this picture figuratively and literally. Brian is doing you a favor by identifying the quality issues of such a low resolution image! He’s not trying to make your life difficult.
August 13th, 2009 at 4:37 pm (#)
FAA has always been very open for new ideas, new conversation and a very easy site to communicate with peers all around the world. It has “hope” that many other sites do not share or really offer. Also you have much more freedom to put out your work/ideas that other sites don’t have the time, speed, or storage that FAA offers. I’ve been in fine arts for many decades and I am a very proud member of FAA. I am a member ArtWanted.com, a very good site, although it doesn’t offer the personal benifits taht FAA has to offer.
The folks who have had a bad experiance with FAA also participated with certain “discussions” in the form sections. I would not be surprised that some had been asked to leave since they started some kind of trouble with fellow peers. Would’nt be surpised at all!
August 13th, 2009 at 4:55 pm (#)
FAA like many such “vanity sites” exist only to make a profit for their owners. Should one compare the money Brian is raking in from the POD subscription fees of the many “artists” who are members of the site against the monthly sales volume you will understand that FAA exists neither to bring artwork to the attention of public nor to provide a showcase for an author’s work but merely to line it’s owner’s pockets.
August 13th, 2009 at 5:15 pm (#)
FAA like many such “vanity sites” exist only to make a profit for their owners. Should one compare the money Brian is raking in from the POD subscription fees of the many “artists” who are members of the site against the monthly sales volume you will understand that FAA exists neither to bring artwork to the attention of public nor to provide a showcase for an author’s work but merely to line it’s owner’s pockets.
The Ugly Face of Art: Perhaps the greatest benefit of FAA is that it allows the general public to put a face on a piece of artwork, or specifically, to gain an insight and greater understanding of the soul of the artist who created a specific work of art. When you read some of the open forum posts on FAA, and then view the work of the artist, you will learn that some of the best, and most sublime art available on FAA is generally produced by ill mannered, insecure, immature children. The only advice that I can offer is that if you see a work of art that you like on FAA, by al means, purchase it, however, if you want to enjoy that work of art, as an object in and of itself, stay well away from the open artists’ discussion forums. Or not. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.
August 13th, 2009 at 5:33 pm (#)
I have been a part of FAA for about 4 mos now and sold prints on there. I have never had a question I never got an answer to, my payments are on time and in a timely matter, I truly like the exposure I have gotten there.
To go d to be true. sometimes it feels like it for sure. But it is for real. The number of visitors to that site verses the number of artists makes it one of the best sites around.
Brian has done well with the site.
Congrats Brian.
August 13th, 2009 at 6:41 pm (#)
I have been on FAA for one year this month and thoroughly enjoyed the site – the people – art etc. Now as of yet I have not had the pleasure of someone purchasing anything and this will be my last month there on the POD program as I just don’t have the $30 to go another year. That being said this is a grand place to meet artists and ideas flow around from one to another like water. Outstanding art site which I will be sad to leave.
August 13th, 2009 at 7:24 pm (#)
I’ve been using FAA for over a year. I love the service and have sold prints on the site using POD. It is not too good to be true, it’s just plain old true!
-Amanda
August 13th, 2009 at 7:45 pm (#)
Im a Fine Artist from NY and I have been on FAA for about 18 months…To me FAA is the BEST art site on the net. I never sold a print or painting on the site but thats not important to me, prints to me is just that, a print. Others on the site have sold alot of prints on FAA and they seem happy.
I love FAA because of the EXPOSURE that I get. Anyone can find me now on Google by putting my name and its on the top of Google List. I have also made some business because of this, sold my work, made contacts to show my work in Art Galleries and I have met some great people too. I have also recommended this site to others artist from different countries…
Not all on Faa are Real Fine Artists, but again there are so many types of artists. Real Fine artists to me are Creators. Some on Faa are art lovers but they call themselfs artist and thats ok, some are commercial artist, they just want to sell prints and thats how they make a living and thats great.
Faa is full of beginners, people with a dream, Just Dreamers… but thats how it all starts…I was a dreamer and I still am but I feel that I am at another stage now. I wish Faa was around back in 1983, it would had helped me alot.
Another part of Faa is the Chat and Discussion area. I feel great when someone ask me for help, advice or they just want to chat… Some times its gets abit UGLY, but its normal.
I dont know how Brian does it, I think he is doing a great job with Faa…Not everyone is going to be happy, but im sure there are less then 25 people out of 12,000 that have complaints and where not happy with Faa, thats a very good percentage. I have only communicated with Brian once about 12 months ago and it wasnt a complaint. Faa is Great!
Im on about 10 other free sites and they are no way near the Quality of Faa.. Soon I will most likely go with my own site and leave Faa, but for now im here and im happy.
To me, Faa is the best way to get EXPOSURE on the net.
Sacha
August 13th, 2009 at 8:26 pm (#)
FAA is full of people with a dream; and it has always been easy for some to make a buck off someone else’s dream…
August 13th, 2009 at 9:53 pm (#)
I have been a POD member of FAA almost since it’s beginning. There have been some growing pains, which are expected of any new website, but “con man Brian” (as the first comment put it) is anything but a con man. I have sold prints and greeting cards from this site and the quality is very good. All of my customers have been very pleased with the results. The prints are excellent, the framing and matting is well done and the greeting cards are wonderfully produced and packaged.
As with any venture online, if you expect sales you must market your product. Anyone that expects to upload a few images and then make sales is fooling themselves. For those who have their own website, FAA allows you to create a customized store that can be integrated into your website. This allows anyone with established customers to sell directly from their own website.
If you compare FAA with other similar sites you will find that the cost is very cheap compared to some sites that want $100 or more per year. For $30 you get a lot of value. It is true there are numerous “beginners” on the FAA site, but again an established artist knows they need to market the product to get results and will incorporate the POD program into their own website.
I’d like to finish with some comments about Brian. He is running FAA on a shoe string budget with very little help so any emails sent to support over the weekend or holidays will have to wait for a response. Brain has always personally responded to my questions and concerns. He has always fixed problems and FAA has always been prompt with payments.
Pete
http://HellmannPhoto.com
http://blog.HellmannPhoto.com
August 13th, 2009 at 10:09 pm (#)
i am not a member of the POD program, and do not receive any less from brian in the way of prompt responses and earnest efforts to keep his site the best on the internet.
i find it amusing that the one kicking up the biggest fuss, chooses to remain anonymous. i proudly sign my name to my testimonial.
marlene burns
August 13th, 2009 at 11:49 pm (#)
I will also be standing up for FAA as one of the greatest POD systems on the web. Far superior to anything redbubble, thats for sure.
I was sitting at home one day when I received a phone call – a young woman in Edmonton had seen my FAA page and wanted to talk with me about my art.. WHOA !
My website is showing 10% of my 8000 hits a month to come from FAA. Hows that for exposure ? AND ITS FREE!
I am a bit wary about putting my high resolution photographs on any website, regardless of its credibility, so I did not print directly with FAA but I will say the variety they have is incredible.
Much much more than Red Bubble and the community is full of serious professional full time working artists – something many websites out there completely lack.
A true fine artists networking facility.
August 14th, 2009 at 6:20 am (#)
I just joined FAA and I have been extremely pleased with the site and I find the caliber of artists and photographers there to be well above average.
Having printed many photos myself, I understand the relationship between resolution and the size of the print. People who don’t get that will have problems with larger print sizes.
As a newbie on the site, I had a couple questions which were always answered promptly.
The community there is wonderful and supportive.
August 14th, 2009 at 7:53 am (#)
I love FAA and the support. Brian is great. He gets back to me whenever i have a question very promptly and resolves issues in a snap unlike Reanother site i belong to. The site is user friendly and extremely affordable. So much opportunity for people to get exposure where they had little or none before and feedback. I have met some wonderful people on FAA and have developed special friendships with a few other members. I have not sold anything as far a s print goes but i never thought i would sell alot in these venues anyway, Image kind or Red bubble either. I have ordered from the site and have received my orders promptly and of great quality. no complaints here.
michelle spiziri
August 14th, 2009 at 7:57 am (#)
I am also a FAA supporter. The site is extreamely usefull and very well thought. It makes uploads easy, marketing a breeze and you always have a large community of all around artist to support and guide you.
“Bob” above said: “It looks like there’s no filter on what is accepted. An art gallery won’t just show anything and everything. ” That is the beauty of FAA, art has no filters, neither does FAA. Here, anyone can find artwork that matches their taste, be it photographs, paintings, digital work in all kinds of styles.
As an artist, I love sharing my pictures and getting reviews and comments on them.
As a seller, I love the fact that the website (AKA Brian) makes things so easy for the artist.
As a potential buyer, I love the variety of art styles being offered and the facilities of POD.
Too good to be true? Give it a go, make up your own mind.
Or, maybe just think that for 12.000 members, only a couple went on to write horrible scorned reviews.
August 14th, 2009 at 10:56 am (#)
I have been a member of Fine Art America for several months now and I can honestly say that I have enjoyed every minute of it. No catches, no gotchas, just a good site ran by a good guy that is very responsive to member requests.
August 14th, 2009 at 11:23 am (#)
I have been with FAA for a year or two and in my opinion FAA is the best of that type of website. Printing is fast and of high quality, and is 100 % guaranteed. The community is great. There is a lot of artwork there, but then again who dare say what is art and what isn’t?
You need to do some of your own promotion, if you use FAA or any other website.
Joni
August 14th, 2009 at 12:23 pm (#)
I was a member of FAA and agree with all of the positive (and negative) comments people have been posting. There are elements of truth in each. What disturbs me is that these comments have many of the characteristics of paid testimonials. Yesterday there was a message posted to the FAA discussion forum – since deleted – asking all members to come to this website and leave positive comments for Brian and FAA.
August 14th, 2009 at 1:23 pm (#)
I just want to add that joining FAA is free, it is POD that costs $30. You can still participate in the FAA art community and post your art without paying a cent.
August 14th, 2009 at 1:50 pm (#)
I’ve been a member of FAA since January of this year. I’m one of “Those Painters” that “Withheld” complained about. My partner is also a member, he is a professional photographer. We have both sold prints. In fact we have a friendly competition going on between us, of who has sold the most prints. He was one up on me for a month. At the moment we are even. Neither one of us has had any problems with receiving payment. Our customers have been very pleased with both the quality of the prints and the quick delivery of them. All of our images are uploaded to FAA’s high standards. This gives us the professional edge we want to reflect in our work.
As a professional artist it’s my goal to give my customers the best they can get. I paint with the highest quality paints and supports available. I use the highest standers for framing of my art. The services I use to print my work has to be the best as well. I chose FAA because of these standards.
August 14th, 2009 at 2:16 pm (#)
I am putting together what I think is a ground breaking website. I have poetry pages that display art and have audio features. For a month, I tried getting the attention of artists at bigger sites, but the sites were very unuser-friendly. I’d post a message about wanting to collaborate with artists that would immediately be banished. The artists and the way Brian allows my interaction is wonderful. They are the friendlist people I’ve ever met on the web. My father had a (one man show) business when I grew up and I hate to see a few disatisfied patrons be so victictive to a guy trying to run something that’s probably not making a living anyway. I’m sure some company with money will buy him off and make the site more expensive and less friend..unforturnately, the web is economically maturing.
August 14th, 2009 at 2:26 pm (#)
Alec, it wasnt deleted and is still there in full view for members.. It was a post pointing this post out to members and asking if they would like to tell everyone how we all feel about FAA….which we are doing. Exactly the same as if it had been posted on Facebook, Digg, Twitter etc.
August 14th, 2009 at 3:39 pm (#)
I’m a photographer/digital artist and I’ve been very pleased with my membership on FAA! For a mere $30 annually (for voluntary enrollment in the Print on Demand service)I’ve made prints of my artwork available for sale where they wouldn’t have been otherwise. I’ve made back my original investment many times over with the sales I’ve made. People have seen my photographs and liked them well enough to purchase large fine art prints. That is very gratifying and wouldn’t have been possible without Fine Art America. And I’ve only scratched the surface of the options Brian has made available to members. I have full confidence that sales will increase as I more fully utilize this great site.
Brian is constantly striving to improve the site and seeking feedback from the members. It’s obvious to me that he’s anything but out to “line his own pockets”. You get so much more than you put in and no one is going to get rich at a $30 annual fee (and that’s not required, just an option), even with 12,000 members. And the money appears to pretty much just go back into the site to all our benefit. He and the site are genuine and I’m lucky to have found it.
One of the prints purchased from me was very large and Brian did indeed let me know I needed to re-scan the image, especially because of the size (about 3′ x 4′). I was able to get a usable scan (though not perfect) and Brian fulfilled the order and the customer was pleased. I consider this but an example of his desire to provide a good and valuable service to all (customers and artists/photographers). If you’re serious about your art and want exposure for it and the opportunity to make sales I highly recommend this site.
Steve Ohlsen
August 14th, 2009 at 4:54 pm (#)
I just joined FAA about a mounth ago. It is the best place on the web I’ve seen for an aritists. My only regret is not being introduced to this site much earlier. The host, as I observed is awesome. He is on top of issues and resolves them quickly.
Two weeks for “withheld” to get a refund??? Well most merchants will take four to six, possibly more than eight weeks to submit a credit. Analogue photos can be digitzed with high quality resolution, given equipment, digital cam. or scanner along with the appropriate software. I applaud Brian for looking out for the integrity of his members and the quality of the art / print sent out to the collectors.
Bravo, Brian!
August 15th, 2009 at 2:16 pm (#)
I’ve been with Fine Art America for almost 2 years now. It’s a well-run site that offers a lot of options, especially considering most of them are free! If there are any questions about the quality of the site, the services offered or the artwork available, just have a look. It’s easy to see that here is someone who’s worked very hard creating an online community for artists of all mediums. The forums alone are a great way to meet people and get a variety of opinions, tips and good conversation. I’ve met gallery owners and artists on Fine Art America whom I’ve since exhibited with and developed real-world friendships. That is invaluable.
August 15th, 2009 at 2:34 pm (#)
We are a small gallery in South Dakota struggling to stay alive in the economic market. I first placed our artists on a competing site. Much to my chagrin, I found myself bombarded with Nigerian scammers from this site wanting to “purchase” our art. I found Fine Art America and I and my artists are VERY happy with it. I must take exception to what “name withheld” said about a photograph that sold on the FAA site. The photo in question, Pebble Beach Golf, is by one of our artists here. I don’t believe that he or the person (unknown to us) who purchased the photo would consider in being “pallid and undistinguished”. Who is this person anyway? Is he an art critic or an unhappy artist whose works don’t sell? Fine Art America has been a great site for the gallery. We are using just about everything the site offers. We may not sell a lot of POD pieces on the site, but we sure get a lot of business because of the site. Kudos to Brian for all the hard work he does and for putting up with all the criticism he does. I know, from experience, that selling art is not an easy task. We do it not because we love the occasional ungrateful artists but because we love the art.
August 15th, 2009 at 3:21 pm (#)
I’ve been a member for years now with Fine Art America I’ve sold, and I’ve ordered other members work from Prints to Postcards and they always looked better than what I expected. I recently ordered postcards from their site(FAA) from Photographer Wendy Mogul her “Babaloo Blue” print excellent quality! And last but not least the framing and matting of each piece was excellent. Thanks for letting me reply. F
August 16th, 2009 at 9:28 am (#)
There is nothing bad to say about FAA in my opinion. I tried other sites and canceled all my accounts and now only sell my photographs through my website and FAA. The FAA community at FAA is very supportive and active in helping each other. My questions to FAA were always answered in a timely manner. Most important the quality of prints is of high standard. I just ordered a canvas and a framed photograph for a project and an exhibition. Both were outstanding and I received them within 10 days. I am waiting for one of my photography greeting cards but hear they have outstanding quality too. After all you have to decide for yourself and see what works for you. The only way to do this is to join FAA and take positive advantage from the features it offers!
My best, Juergen
http://www.juergenrothphotography.com
http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/juergen-roth.html
http://whereintheworldisjuergen.blogspot.com/
August 31st, 2009 at 12:29 pm (#)
Hey everyone,
I am a Canadian cartoonist looking to get my work exposed and printed. Thank you very much for all the comments and insight. I will take the leap with FAA!
Jeff
October 30th, 2009 at 7:04 am (#)
Fine Art America = Wallmart – Greeters + McDonalds
October 30th, 2009 at 10:54 am (#)
I am wanting to sign my wife up with FAA but get no response from the support e-mail address.I need info on what size images can be uploaded.To meet the stipulation of 300ppi image resolution for good printing,the image is going to be very large for a 16″x20″ painting,for example.
Can anyone help?
Thanks,
Tony
November 3rd, 2009 at 4:13 am (#)
Tony Hannaford: For size to upload pictures, think pixels and at least 300dpi resolution. The more pixels the better quality printing for bigger formats. Moreover, as you upload your pictures FAA will automatically tells you up to what size printing you can get. Try dimension with/length 1800 to 2000 pixels, you should be able to print a 16″x20″ piece. Adjust as necessary.
Give it a try FAA is a great site! You’ll find me there…
November 5th, 2009 at 1:52 pm (#)
I am a member of Fina Art America and I love it. I have sold prints and got my money no problem. I have made great friends from all over the world.. artists just like myself. I join contests and win some. I get comments on my artwork and I am impressed. I thank them for all they do. Please do not listen to all the negative. There is great positives!!
November 24th, 2009 at 11:53 am (#)
I have been a member of FAA for years now, I’ve sold prints there and I have had no problems. If you want to make certain the prints you sell are going to be quality – then order a set of your pieces BEFORE you put them on sale for regular customers! This is a simple way to iron out any issues with scans, color, etc and thereby assuring your pieces will not have quality issues – it is a simple matter of good business practice and good customer service.
And one thing artists never seem to understand – businesses ARE in the business to make money…not to kiss your oversized ego, not to baby and cajole you into believing something you are not…get over it, that’s the way it works and if someone were paying you tens of thousands for your pieces you would have an entirely different opinion about making money with art. This is the free-market system and that’s the reality.
And to the person who cited FAA as being Walmart-greeters+MacDonalds, I find it amusing that you have to use two of the most successful companies in the US to make your point. If Brian manages to have THAT business model with THAT type of success – then more power to him. Hopefully, he will create a number of big successful artists on his way to the top — much like Bill Gates created a number of millionaires on his way up the ladder….
December 2nd, 2009 at 7:38 am (#)
I love FAA. I have sold and bought from the sight and am pleased with them. Can’t beet the prices and they ship well protected art. (shows they care)
December 6th, 2009 at 9:45 pm (#)
I have been on Fine Art America for over a year. Prints of my paintings, photographs and digital art have been sold from this site. I’ve been paid promptly and treated fairly. The quality of the print jobs were excellent. Yes, I had to reshoot one of my paintings three times before Brian was happy but I appreciate his insistence on excellence. If the customer is not happy then the customer will want a refund. He removes, as much as it is possible, any cause for buyer discontent. I spent decades in charge of designing computer systems that generated hundreds of millions of dollars. The FAA website is really well thought out and well designed. I know how difficult it is to design something like this. It is incredibly cohesive. I have also been impressed by who is looking at my art in FAA. One of my image buyers was the Canadian government who wanted the image for the cover of their Parliamentary Review magazine. Often I look at the daily flow of work going into FAA. I am constantly amazed at the large volume of interesting beautiful images. While some of the images do not appeal to me, I have learned that art appreciation is and should be very personal. I like to see art that has not been filtered by art gallery owners who are only interested in displaying what they “think” will”sell”. How do you know what will appeal to people unless you present them with as wide a choice as possible? This is what FAA does with its hundreds of thousands of images. As I see it for $30 a year I am getting access to a million dollar computer system. My art is being seen world wide by thousands more people than go to my personal website.
December 21st, 2009 at 3:51 pm (#)
I’ve had a look at FAA’s site and it definitely seems worthwhile. My question is..how do I know my credit card information is safe through FAA? I’d feel much more comfortable paying for their POD program through PayPal
December 28th, 2009 at 11:19 am (#)
I joined FAA about 1.5 months ago, and I am very pleased. The key to FAA is not what I sell on the site, It’s the people who see the art (exposure). I would like people to buy my art, no doubt, but for people to see my art and to possibly recognize my art down the road is what is important to me. I have sold a print through the site, to a friend of mine, and with no additional money spent by me, my friend was able to get a pic of mine. I am very happy.
January 27th, 2010 at 12:25 pm (#)
There is much to absorb in all of the above comments. Before I get involved with POD, I would like to see some actual CUSTOMER FEEDBACK on whatever purchases they made and received. I.E., were they satisfied with the quality? Was the item delivered in a timely manner? Is there anywhere to find an answer to this?
One other note, I did send an e-mail to support@fineartamerica.com 3 days ago re:upload requirements, and still have had no response. While waiting through that period of time, I have called them several times (at various times through their ‘work’ day hours) to ask how long it takes for them to respond to an e-mail. I have yet to have anyone answer a phone either.
Any response to this querie is most appreciated~. Loran
January 27th, 2010 at 1:56 pm (#)
Several months ago I purchased a giclee print from Fine Art America of one of my own paintings – to give to a friend.
1) The print on canvas was better than the original.
2) They made me re-shoot the original three times before they were happy with the image they used to make the print.
3) The print was shipped from North Carolina to Toronto and arrived in a week.
4) The packaging was excellent. Extremely well protected.
5) I had wrap framing done and they did an excellent job.
6) The price was much better than what I would have paid locally to have this work done.
7) They made sure it went through customs without a problem.
The friend who got the giclee print found it hard to believe it was a print. It is displayed with paintings worth thousands of dollars and shows well.
What more can I say. I spent many years developing computer services. I am always surprised at the innovations that they keep making with the FAA site. It gets better and better. It is a really well designed site. I have not come across an art site that is as good.
Ian Duncan MacDonald
February 9th, 2010 at 1:37 pm (#)
I have had my work up on FAA for several months. I went in and searched with the key tag words associated with my paintings. My images were not displayed until results page 6. Additionally, most of the images displayed on pages 1-5 were not representative of the key search/ tag words I entered in my search. Does anyone know if there is a way to optimize your search engine results? I emailed customer support but have not had any response to date. I think the website is great but I am concerned that if someone enters my tag words in a search they will not get my images in their results. I know some sites (like Etsy) will allow you to pay increase your results listing. Any suggestions??
February 13th, 2010 at 6:25 pm (#)
@Shelly. Thanks for asking that question. I’m also new to FAA, and was wondering the same thing. I am consistently at the top of “popular art” on imagekind, but cannot even get my work to show up by specific tags on Fine Art America.
Here is my link for my work in “popular art” on imagekind. http://tinyurl.com/yegnflv
My name is Vel Verrept, and you can see that my work is on the first page, even without tags. I think FAA is a great site for the price, but I’m just curious about what I am doing wrong to prevent my work showing up. Your help is appreciated.
March 2nd, 2010 at 2:39 am (#)
I thought that it would be hard to join at FAA but found that it was a pleasant experience.
As someone new to the side of showing my creations I am thankful that there is a great starting place on the internet that I can get feedback from and to help me to develop my skills.
The sight is easy to manage. I haven’t sold anything yet… I’m just two days into it, but I expect that they will be forthright with me about any problems with regards to reproducing my images.
I too used to be very judgemental about others art. I’ve had my own galleries and been blessed with being able to represent some of the more popular Artists in the states. But art is very subjective and emotional. If an artist is trying to sell a piece of original art at $10,000 they can put it on the sight… whether good or bad, depending on the beholder. That artist will get feedback!
Their POD program is awesome. Order a print, order a frame, choose the matting, and put it all together right in front of your internet eyes. It’s fun for the purchaser to make their own decisions. And Cards can be custom made.
The $30,00 investment is a small price to pay for such a service, and lots of kudos and prayers should go up that this medium will continue to survive and improve. Why? Because the costs of doing business have skyrocketed and representing yourself is not as easy. This way you have a global audience and jumping into your auto is not as needed.
Thanks FAA.
P.S. Nobody encouraged me to write. I found this discussion on my own.