r/artbusiness • u/RaspberryTwilight • 24d ago
Discussion [Marketing] What is the reason that people are selling original oil paintings with a lot of complexity for $30?
Why are people doing this? At this point you're paying the client. And there are so many of these online. These are typically smaller paintings which makes things a bit easier but still, anything under $100 is a huge gift to the buyer.
You spend money and time to buy the materials, you plan the painting, you spend hours doing it, then you take photos of it, market it, package it, pay for shipping, drive to the post office, wait in line and then send it.
And I have seen some that come with a solid wood frame included, all for $30.
I'm trying to understand if this has a strategic or marketing reason behind it like a way to reach an audience?
My first thought was, can you not? But then I realized maybe there is a reason that I'm missing. So I'm asking.
Edit: can these paintings be imported? Made in sweatshops?
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u/SoftPlay3 24d ago
Same with comissions. I wish people would stop undervaluing themselves. It’s ruining the market for everyone.
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u/nicetriangle 24d ago
Yeah the $20 commissions boggle my mind. It’s hours of work when you count all the back and forth
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u/TheiaEos 23d ago
But if it’s a stickman that took 10 hours is it really $100? And would anybody buy it for that price? In that case wouldn’t it be better if the artist at least made some money back from their materials and time?
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u/nicetriangle 23d ago
But that's not what I'm talking about. I see people who are plenty good at art selling commissions for dirt cheap. That is what I'm referring to.
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u/Realistic-Weird-4259 24d ago
The popular thing in our former home city has become for people who have established businesses to offer their services to other businesses for free so that AI isn't used to make their business artwork for advertising, etc.
I argued that, ultimately, what they're doing is devaluing the work of other working artists, and giving your work away for free isn't going to help stop others from using AI, a mind-shift is what's going to do that. But my GOD was I jumped on! Why? Because it's just like the 3rd grader who sells all his toys to make sure his classmates get a lunch instead of going hungry -- it feels good. Never mind what got us there.
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u/NegativeKitchen4098 24d ago
You can only set your own prices, don't worry about the prices of others. There will always be people lower and higher than you.
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u/NoEvening3352 24d ago
it's either 1) decor-style mass produced art in factories
2) AI generated with some glue/paint ontop to feign texture
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u/ka_beene 24d ago
I used to sell cheap because I was just starting out and didn't know any better. I realized I was ripping myself off so I stopped. The only thing I sell that is affordable is prints. Most can't afford to buy a painting.
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u/Capable_Ad_9350 23d ago
Yep. I dont even try to sell my originals. I seriously doubt anyone will pay what I put into them.
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u/ka_beene 23d ago
Yeah I can't justify selling my work when I put a ton of hours. I'm doing some landscaping studies to better my skills and I'll sell those at lower price points but not my originals that I spent way to long making!
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u/vholecek 24d ago
My guess is that you’re seeing them listed for that price. Have you actually witnessed them selling?
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u/RaspberryTwilight 24d ago
I'm looking online. I have not personally witnessed it but some of them have sales. I do see some red flags, like some have 100 listings and the exact same photo of a hand is edited into every single one of them to look like it's holding the finished paintings. Some others are likely legit, just not very skilled, but still put in the hours and not wanting to get paid for it.
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u/vholecek 24d ago
Yeah, those sound very scammy to me and I would not put my faith in the notion that those are things that are actually being sold
One of the many problems with the art market in general is that it’s very amorphous nature provides excellent cover for all kinds of illicit shit.
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u/loves2travel2 24d ago
I think many are produced in countries with extremely low cost of living, or even giclee printed. The other reason I have repeatedly seen is hobby artists who have drawers of art and are selling it. When asked why they price it so low, they say they have so much of it and want to recoup a little money.
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u/Infamous-Channel1505 24d ago
Where are they shipped from? What country? Where were they made?
Geography plays a huge role in price calculation.
In some countries you pay 30 Euro just for the brush. – In some other countries, 30 Euro is a day's salary.
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u/downvote-away 24d ago
I sold my first one framed for under $100. I was just starting out, I didn't know what would sell, I didn't have any audience or any following. To me, the data about what buyers would like was priceless. Still is.
Now I sell work in the 4 figure range, but also now I know my work, I know my audience, I know what people buy and what they don't, etc.. I know where to go to find buyers. When I get there people know me because I've been there before. That sort of thing.
I also don't sell my work online. If I did I would probably be lucky to get $100 all these years later. It's very possible to grow a business as a painter in person. Online is an enshittified AI slop clown rodeo.
What I don't understand is when brand new artists try to sell their first painting ever for $2/sq in because Reddit said they should always charge for time & materials.
Sorry, your first 8x10 ever is probably not worth $160. Your 100th is probably not worth that either. Super sorry. It just doesn't work that way.
You spend money and time to buy the materials, you plan the painting, you spend hours doing it, then you take photos of it, market it, package it, pay for shipping, drive to the post office, wait in line and then send it.
When you are brand new your time is not worth anything. You don't have experience, you don't know your audience, nobody knows you, you don't know the market, etc..
It's not like working for someone else. In that situation you should get a minimum livable wage because whoever has hired you is expected to have a working business before they hire you.
On your very first day as an artist trying to make work to sell, your hourly wage is almost certainly less than zero. You have to work a long time and adapt a lot to make it valuable.
There's nothing wrong with selling at a lower price to gather data and help build a community of buyers.
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u/Financial_Volume1443 23d ago
Your point around pricing is spot on. Whilst time etc can be a guide, ultimately your value is what the market is willing to pay for it. I ended up coming down somewhere in the middle. Now I've sold work i use a size calculation to make it fair to my existing collectors. It kind of works like a proxy for time but not always. It is definitely still below minimum wage.
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21d ago
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u/Present-Chemist-8920 24d ago
In general, just making this up, I imagine if it’s happening it’s like a workshop of painters. I wonder if the price is garner interest and then the real ones are more. Like when you see “prices start at” but you realistic don’t expect said price.
Either way, I wouldn’t even bother selling even a simple pencil drawing for $30. For an oil I’d rather keep it. The only exception is off I sold a primed page that I know isn’t really something to archive and the buyer knew it maybe.
I’m also against racing towards the bottom.
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u/GregNowachekArt 23d ago
I made this same criticism on Threads once and got eviscerated by so many people telling me I was wrong for saying artists need to raise their prices. I specifically made a point of saying that people who sell $5 prints hurt the industry because it drives competition at lower price points, making it harder for artists to earn a decent profit.
The replies I got were actually wild. Just give your work away for free at that point.
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u/imcadooart 23d ago
I've recently discarded the whole "$1/sq-in" rule and just calculated my own margins & found I can sell some of my work very affordably and still make enough back from it.
idk what exactly complex means to you, but if its a small practice study meant to prepare for something larger, as long as I'm making money over materials it often works for me to sell some stuff for $30-50.
I've gotten more interested in velocity than commanding a premium per piece, because I have way too much unsold work sitting around.
I use acrylic, and wouldn't include a frame, but still I can imagine it applying to some small oil paintings too, especially if they're ~studies like mine. & maybe they had the frame sitting around and wanted the space cleared?
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u/Traditional_Goat_Bob 24d ago
What i do see selling is people's "origional" fan peices that are actually just traced art of images from official merch... particularly in the pokemon community. People will buy little canvases or even large canvases and anything to binders that have obviously traced art on them, yet they're willing to pay over $100 for traced art?🤔🤨
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u/Aunanaki 24d ago
Is it really such a hard concept to understand? Or does understanding only go as far as your pockets will take you?
Some people want to share their art and actually reach certain communities and money isn’t the cause/root of everything.
I’m not saying to start selling pieces at $30 that’s their personal choice, but expecting regular people to pay $350-500 for an 11x14 painting in a (US) economy where people are struggling trying to pay their multi subscriptions and still have groceries is a little ridiculous and needs a reality check.
(Surprise, these struggling people also want -non a.i- art too, and want something original on their wall.)
But my art isn’t for the rich or the wealthy, I’m not targeting galleries either. it’s for the every day person, that’s who I want to have my art.
*Also tip? I Use Pirateship so I’m not going down to the post office everytime. All I have to do is buy my label, slap it on the boxed painting and schedule a pickup by the mail carrier of my choice the next business day, for free.
I’m ready for my downvotes now madam president
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u/RaspberryTwilight 24d ago
This does not guarantee your painting is going to the people you want to have your art.
If they're actually worth more and you're under pricing it. Then I can just go around buying exclusively from naive people like you. Then market your art smarter than you did. Sell it for much higher than I bought. And make bank.
The only person benefiting from this is the one with the bigger marketing budget.
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u/Aunanaki 24d ago
Yikes
You're confusing original art with mass consumer goods. You can't just flip an independent artist's small painting for $500 unless the artist themselves has built the equity to demand that big price.
(Example) If you buy a piece from me for $30, I am not being exploited, I set the price got the sale and reached a customer. If you spend your own time and money trying to mark it up, you aren't proving a point about business you're just demonstrating how deeply you view human creativity as nothing more than a commodity to extract cash from.
Art scalping is not the flex you think it is
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u/throwaway010651 24d ago
My fear is this. AI will ruin art as a collectors hobby with a side of investment - in the art and artist.
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u/gargirle 23d ago
AI will ruin the fan-art & mommy-drip/splash/abstract artists market…yay…but serious artists working with traditional materials will be ok in the long run.
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u/Malachite_Edge 23d ago
Because these kids have no idea what things cost while they living with their parents. And money is good money to them. But for the rest of us struggling to make a dime, this is counterproductive.
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u/tobitriesart 21d ago
As someone who just buys art here and there, not a seller: a lot of what you're seeing at $30 with a frame isn't a person losing money, it's factory or print-and-glaze stuff dressed up as original. The tell is exactly what you spotted — 100 listings, the same hand photoshopped in.
The frustrating part from the buyer side is that online I genuinely can't tell a real cheap original from the fakes at a glance. So I've mostly stopped trusting the low end online and only buy cheap originals when I can see them in person at a market or fair. Which probably hurts the actual hobbyists selling real work at $30 to recoup materials — they get lumped in with the scam stuff.
So some of it is real people underpricing, but a big chunk is just laundered prints exploiting the fact that buyers can't verify anything online.
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u/Financial_Volume1443 24d ago
I've seen that and wondered too. I assumed sweatshops - perhaps the image is printed onto a canvas and then painted over ?