With the success of places like Etsy, it seems like more and more online marketplaces are starting for those who are interested in art and handcrafted items. One of the places I have recently come across is a site called ArtFire. It’s still currently on beta, but there are already items for sale.

One of the biggest perks for sellers is that they have a FREE Basic account available. This means that you don’t have to pay them for opening a store, listing your items, and not even if someone buys your goods. Yes, no commissions! This is great if you simply want to test the waters of selling your products, or you have a low-volume sales expectation.

For those who wish to expand their online store for handcrafted goods, you can upgrade to the Premium Account for $15.95/month (limited time, as they plan on increasing this to $20/month, according to the site at the time of this writing). With a premium account, you get more selling features such as the ability to offer coupons, participate in seller councils, etc.

Art Fire also offers avenues for community on their site. They also have some very useful resources for buyers and sellers. One interesting resource that you might want to check out is the Business Tips section from Handmade News.

If you’re an Art Fire seller, or if you’ve ever bought anything from ArtFire, do give us some feedback. We’d love to hear about your experiences.

This post is originally from Just Make Money Online. Please respect copyright.

Art Fire: Artisan Marketplace

Today, I learned about Photrade, a new photography marketplace that’s still in beta. The basic idea is that you upload your photos in the service, then you can sell products based on your photos. These products include: photo prints, apparel, and gift items, as well as digital downloads (stock photo). You can set your own price and they’ll take care of delivering the products to the customer. It also seems like they plan to offer an affiliate programme in the future.

In any case, payments may be: 1) collected in the system and used to buy stuff from the site; 2) donated to your chosen charity; and/or b) sent to you via Paypal (with US$15 minimum payment threshold).

Since it’s still in beta, there are a couple of issues: a) You can only try out the service if you get an invitation; and b) There’s still a few kinks in the system. Plus, I’m not sure yet of its track record when it comes to quality of products, payment systems to photographers, etc.

In any case, I still think it’s a service worth watching. And right now, I have 3 invites available to give away. If you’re interested, leave a comment here answering the question: What kind of camera do you own?

If there are more than 3 folks interested, I’ll raffle off the invites.

NOTE: Thanks to Janette Toral for sending me an invite and telling me about Photrade.

This post is originally from Just Make Money Online. Please respect copyright.

Photrade: Make Money Online with Your Photos

I love Flickr. It’s not perfect. In fact, I have a long wish list when it comes to this service – including better protection for photographers and artists. But, in spite of its shortcomings, I’ve been a loyal customer since 2004 – long before it was acquired by Yahoo (and paying for a Pro account every year since ’06).

And, while there are no direct ways to make money online with Flickr, there are ways you can use the site to help you in your business/career. Here are some ideas:

1) Take a photo of a product and put a link to your affiliate link via notes function. To see a sample of this idea in action, click on the photo of books on the right hand side. You will then be taken to the image’s Flickr page. Once you’re there, put your cursor over the books and you’ll see notes with affiliate links to Amazon.

2) Make your picture available as stock photo and put a link to your sales or downloads page. If you use a service like Tradebit, for example, you can mention in your photo description that a higher resolution/non-watermarked version of your photo is available for download.

3) If you sell on eBay, Etsy, or your own shop, you can take a photo of your product and put a link to your store front. Many Flickr crafters tend to use this approach. Flickr then helps to introduce your products to people. One example is artist and designer Elsie Flannagan: when she has a new piece available for sale, she uploads an image like this and mentions that it’s available as a print or original in her Etsy shop. Another example is Mahar Dry Goods, run by Robert Mahar who tend to upload new product photos on Flickr, and his profile reflects the fact that he is the owner of craft gift shop for kids (with a link to shop front).

4) Build your portfolio and market your service/business. Even if you don’t have products to sell, but you have a service to offer, you can use Flickr as one of your online portfolios. This especially useful for artists, photographers, illustrators and designers. Many folks have claimed to have gained new clients based on their Flickr account. One such person is author/illustrator Debbie Ohi. You can see that her profile reflects the nature of her work and that she accepts commissions.

5) When you use a photo on your blog that you uploaded on Flickr, add a link to your blog post or portfolio site. If your blog runs ads, product sales and/or affiliates, then you might get new customers too.

6) Sell them as prints. You can either use a third party service for creating high quality prints, or you can do the printing yourself if you have the equipment and knowledge to do so. Mention that your photos are available as prints in the description and/or your profile.

7) Create products off your photography. Flickr, for example, has a partnership with Qoop, where various products like mugs, keychains and photobooks may be created based on your Flickr photos. You can create them there and resell those products. Another option is making your own image-based products available on Cafepress. Again, you can mention the availability of these products in the description and/or your profile.

Some Bonus Tips:

1. Make sure you upload a good quality image. Otherwise, it will not encourage people to buy your products or use your services.

2. Adding good titles and descriptions are always helpful.

3. Don’t forget to add tags! Tagging helps to get your images to show in relevant searches.

4. Never ever oversell. Flickr users will know if you’re just using the service to peddle your products/services. Don’t plaster “for sale” signs.

5. Join groups and participate in them. Send some of your good images to these groups (within the group rules). Communities help!

6. Add friends and leave comments. Being an active participant is a good thing.

7. Promote your Flickr photos on your blog, your email signature, and anywhere else you can think of.

8. There are 2 versions of Flickr – a Free and Pro version. With the Free one, you have limited number of uploads in a month, plus a few other restrictions. But, it’s still worth using. The Pro version has unlimited uploads and a few other perks – like getting your photos organised in several sets and collections.

So, do you use Flickr at all? And, do you have any other money-generating ideas with the use of Flickr?

Image credit: Shai Coggins

This post is originally from Just Make Money Online. Please respect copyright.

7 Ways to Make Money on Flickr (+ Bonus Tips)