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call for del/mar/va artesians: new online retail gallery

updated fri 3 sep 99

 

Tracey on thu 2 sep 99

*******************Ray said ***********************************************
> I think if I were you, I might prefer to set up an online group atelier
> rather than an online gallery. Rent space to artists who want to display
> their wares and charge them for assisting in setting up their spaces.
Then
> work like a bear on publicising a central list of your tenants, and take a
> small commission as payment for the use of your shopping cart system and
> card acceptance services.
>
> In fact, I intend to suggest this to the group working on a professional
> organization for potters, since this is something we could do for our
members.
************************************SNIP************************************
***************
I have to agree with a great number of the things Ray pointed out...I charge
*rent* for the services and space for my Internet gallery..not commissions.
The artists deal directly with any sales, inquiries, fan mail, whatever. I
do massive marketing, employ a professional graphic designer that
specializes in web pages.. run promotions, etc.
I'd certainly consider opening a "wing" of the gallery for Clayarters as an
professional organization...member galleries, you name it.
Would like to hear more on that idea or others.. I'm all ears.
Tracey
www.artifactgallery.com

Anji vual on thu 2 sep 99


Yea, what Ray says!! I fancy/unfancy myself as a starving artist. This
could also translate to desperate one, but If I am going to pay money
it will be to someone with a name and a place. I have to say that the
effort is good just in the wrong place. Maybe after you have a "name"
you can mention payment, but oooh, as an opening. I would probably be
safe to say that the ones that are not of my "Starving Artist" species,
would feel the same rubbing as Ray. Maybe implement a new plan....

--- Ray Aldridge wrote:
> ----------------------------Original
> message----------------------------
> At 01:12 PM 8/31/99 EDT, you wrote:
> >----------------------------Original
> message----------------------------
> >Hi! I have been watching with great interest the
> emails pertaining to
> >people's personal web pages and business web pages,
> and am now at the point
> >where I can announce mine, and hopefully get to
> work with some of my fellow
> >list members.
> >
> >I am opening an online retail gallery featuring
> works in clay, glass and
> >perhaps handmade paper.
>
> (Snip)
>
> >
> >In the future, there will likely have to be some
> sort of minimal viewing
> >fee,
>
> Why? I wish you the best of luck with your
> business, but the thought of
> paying you anything for the privilege of consigning
> work to you really rubs
> me the wrong way. Evaluating the wares of potential
> suppliers is a cost of
> business that you'll just have to put up with, like
> everyone else who
> retails merchandise. (Or so I hope. Surely few
> potters would be so
> desperate for space in an unproven online gallery
> that they would pay what
> amounts to a jury fee, particularly when they can
> set up their own online
> gallery for next to nothing.)
>
> I urge you to reconsider and swiftly reject this
> idea. I would never place
> work with a gallery that took this approach.
> (Matters are somewhat
> different when a prominent gallery has a juried
> thematic show, though I'm
> not much happier about the idea of subsidizing the
> business that hopes to
> profit from my efforts, even in this special case.)
>
> Again, I wish you the best of luck, but please dump
> the idea of charging
> artists a "viewing fee." You'll get these fees only
> from the terminally
> desperate, and these are not the artists who will be
> best for your business.
>
> The conceptual problem with the "online gallery" is
> that ecommerce operates
> under a somewhat different set of rules than
> brick-and-mortar commerce.
> When you consign a piece to a realworld gallery, you
> pay a substantial
> commission for certain selling conditions that you
> cannot provide for
> yourself-- a physical location in a desirable area,
> sales personnel,
> reputation. I notice that you are proposing lower
> commissions for your
> online gallery, but in my opinion they are still too
> high for what you are
> able to offer. An online gallery has very low
> overhead, the major
> operating cost of realworld galleries. For example,
> you pay very low rent
> for your facility, nor do you need to hire someone
> to be present whenever
> the gallery is open. You need not keep inventory on
> hand, because if a
> customer makes a purchase, you need only instruct
> the maker to send it to
> the customer. Your advertising costs are minimal,
> for the most part. In
> my view, online galleries should regard themselves
> as agents rather than as
> galleries, and appropriate agent fees are in the
> 10%- 20% range, at most.
>
> The theory with online galleries is that they will
> provide a centralized
> place where potential customers can look over the
> work of many artists.
> Unfortunately the reality of the Web is that any
> place on the Web is just a
> click away from any other place, so that a link list
> of potter's home
> pages, if properly publicized, will be as effective
> in delivering business
> to those potters as an "online gallery."
>
> This reality has already made those who initially
> invested in the concept
> of "internet malls" look pretty foolish, for much
> the same reasons.
>
> The truth that is emerging about ecommerce is that
> it is not a very
> friendly environment for the middleman. I don't
> mean to be so
> discouraging, but an online gallery, if it is to
> succeed, will have to come
> up with some service it can perform for its artists
> that the artists cannot
> perform for themselves. For artists who lack access
> to the Web, the
> service is obvious; charge them a fee to put their
> wares online and
> publicize them. But for those who already have
> access to the Web, it's
> harder to see what you can do for them that they
> can't as easily do for
> themselves.
>
> I think if I were you, I might prefer to set up an
> online group atelier
> rather than an online gallery. Rent space to
> artists who want to display
> their wares and charge them for assisting in setting
> up their spaces. Then
> work like a bear on publicising a central list of
> your tenants, and take a
> small commission as payment for the use of your
> shopping cart system and
> card acceptance services.
>
> In fact, I intend to suggest this to the group
> working on a professional
> organization for potters, since this is something we
> could do for our members.
>
> Ray
>


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