Selling Art on Ebay Part 3: What Sells on Ebay?

In part 3 of this blog series, Selling Art on Ebay, I'll talk about what sells on Ebay and how you might use that information to sell your own art. If you haven't read my two previous posts then here are the links: Part 1, Selling Art on Ebay - Should You? Part 2, Selling Art on Ebay - Who Buys on Ebay? Pricing Considerations.

If you've read other posts in this series then you're probably wondering when we're going to get to the part of actually selling your art on Ebay? Well unfortunately this post isn't going to be about selling your own art on Ebay either because knowing what sells on Ebay could determine whether your art is a good match for the site and is likely to sell at a good price.

So what actually sells on Ebay? From my own experience, flowers as a theme, tend to sell well as do beach scenes and images of the sea side. If you're already painting these themes then there is a good chance there will be demand for your work on Ebay.

However tastes change and vary over time so one of the best ways to see what is popular on Ebay at any given time is you use Ebay's dedicated popularity tool Ebay Pulse and specifically the category of Art. There you will get an overview of popular searches, the largest Ebay shops and the most watched current items.

You can also use Ebay's Popular keywords tool and narrow this down to Art as well to get some indication of what searches are currently popular on Ebay.

Once you have this information you may like to see how it compares to your own art. For example do some of the popular searches relate to the kind of work you make? If so then maybe there is demand for your work on Ebay.

If not there is something you might consider trying. That is to look at what subjects people buy or what style of art they buy and then try to paint subjects and styles that match either or both of those things.

It's a perfectly valid technique as, if you're painting to what is popular on Ebay, it could attract buyers to your auctions and encourage a bidding war as your art will be something that is in high demand. Thus increasing the chance of your auction finishing with a high final bid.

That said my personal experience is, if you're just trying to paint to a market rather than painting something you actually enjoy then that will be reflected in your artwork and you'll end up painting artworks that are perhaps not the best examples of the kind of art you're actually capable of.

Note: people often think well, it's only Ebay. I don't want to sell my best work there since it's not going to get a good price anyway but, if you want a good price for your art then producing inferior work is not the way to get a higher price. You should be listing your best work so that people see the quality and, as your reputation grows, collectors will be prepared to pay more for your quality work.

If you're not someone who is already painting to popular themes and styles already then think hard before attempting to paint to popular themes and styles. Remember you will be competing with people who do enjoy those themes and are likely creating far better quality pieces than you.

Don't despair if your work doesn't relate at all to popular searches and keywords. It just means that your work is better suited to a niche market (which could potentially still be thousands of possible buyers) that isn't large enough to influence Ebay's statistics.

In general when it comes to answering the question of what kind of artworks sell on ebay I would say all kinds of art have the potential to sell on Ebay.

What will get your work sold and what will determine the kind of price you get is the amount of promoting and marketing you do for your auctions and, on top of that, it will also be the quality of the work you make.

Hopefully I've given you some more things to think about before making that final decision to sell on Ebay.



Footnote: This article is based on part three of a series of Ebay videos that I created back in 2007 on my Youtube channel. The videos were ad-libbed and received much criticism for my slow delivery and monotone voice however, those that stuck with them, always commented that the information its-self was good. The above article updates the content of the video and hopefully better expresses what I was trying to say. (I've always said, at the time I had no enthusiasm for making the videos and wouldn't have made them at all if I'd actually done what I should have and scripted them properly). If you want you can watch the video here - don't say I didn't warn you and please refrain from leaving a comment... I already know!