I make various art and sculpture stuff for fun. I have sold a few bits at exhibitions and given some as presents. I still make more than I sell as I just do it to please myself. I need to get rid of some bits and would like to make some money to pay for materials rather than giving them away to friends as I have done so far.

I was sent a picture of one of my pieces in a friends house saying she was getting lots of comments and requests for similar pieces. I said she could pass on my email address but she suggested I get a Facebook page.

I can google how to do it but am interested in hearing from anyone who has done this.

I work full time, will I need to monitor the Facebook?
Do I need to set up some kind of bank account..
My art is always one-off so can I simply ask for suggestions and then contact people directly?

Sorry if these are dumb questions but I am not social or media minded.

All advice and experiences welcome.

Thank

You could try Etsy, which is designed for this sort of creative cottage-industry selling. You can still publicise your goods on Facebook, but send them to your Etsy site to buy. It’s a complete selling platform; payment options etc are taken care of.

But otherwise no, you don’t need a special bank account to sell a few bits online. A Paypal account will do it, or bank transfer if it’s just between friends. I’m no expert but I expect you’d be required to declare any earnings on a tax return.

WordPress site?

Also, TTIUWP.

I work full time, will I need to monitor the Facebook?

Yes but you can set-up a response time, e.g. 24 hours, 2 days.

It’s a big growth area, known as Social Commerce – people will probably be able to purchase directly over Facebook in the future.

You can start small by setting up a FB page, featuring some of your work, and add a Contact button incase anyone is interested in commissioning from you.

Instagram are trialling social commerce whereby people can purchase an item featured in a photo, e.g. I could look at your friend’s photo of her room featuring your work, and hover over it and buy there and then. Potentially big area of retail in the future.

TTIUWP – I had too Google that. Most stuff has been posted up here in various threads I think but here is a selection of stuff done previously

Gone – [url=https://flic.kr/p/MbibWu]20161012_175727[/url] by WCA!, on Flickr

Gone – [url=https://flic.kr/p/PbyzrS]Untitled[/url] by WCA!, on Flickr

Gone – [url=https://flic.kr/p/NFwJn5]20161103_165553[/url] by WCA!, on Flickr

Available – [url=https://flic.kr/p/NFwskL]20161103_165331[/url] by WCA!, on Flickr

Available – [url=https://flic.kr/p/NNA5Hm]20161103_164713[/url] by WCA!, on Flickr

Gone – [url=https://flic.kr/p/MKfv22]Engraved Portrait[/url] by WCA!, on Flickr

Available – [url=https://flic.kr/p/P6uhi2]20161218_141651[/url] by WCA!, on Flickr

Gone – [url=https://flic.kr/p/PbhEg1]20161130_120138[/url] by WCA!, on Flickr

Gone – [url=https://flic.kr/p/PoKZFu]20161126_121805[/url] by WCA!, on Flickr

+1 vote for Etsy. They have pretty decent amount of traffic for that kind of staff.

You can set up notifications, so you get an email whenever someone sends you a message through Facebook.

Your wood art is really coming on, that picture of Rick Parfitt is excellent.

that picture of Rick Parfitt is excellent.

I will tell Kelly, I am sure she will be delighted to hear your thoughts

🙂

Definitely set up an Etsy shop. Both my Mum and girlfriend have one and they get they do well from it. Not On The High Street is fairly good too but I think you have to pay quite a lot to join that and their commission is huge.

Also, Facebook is very difficult to sell on now. They’ve made it difficult for businesses to have their posts seen unless they pay for advertising. They ‘curate’ your news feed a lot more than they used to do and tend to hide any selling posts.

I shall Google stay and see what is required.

I am not looking to make a career from this, just shift the stuff I make.

All further advice is welcome, especially about setting up on etsy