Well, duh, I should post a link here in the thread where it was supposed to go.
My art (mosaics and beaded tapestry for now) on Handmade at Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/sp?_encoding=...rderID=&seller=ALN9TXGUM1RDI&tab=&vasStoreID=
First thoughts: when you first sign up and if you don't upload right away, they badger you almost daily with emails. It took them a month to give up in despair, but I was going slow and getting art back from galleries. They really want to you send them your art so you will be eligible for Amazon Prime sales and customers...but they don't tell you that they probably won't carry enough insurance to safely hold really expensive pieces in their warehouses, or that the Prime warehousing costs can be ridiculous for one-of-a-kind pieces.
As far as the artwork being 'handmade', I
blogged recently about 'artisans' selling commercial components with very little actual skill or handwork involved.
Amazon's registering process is harder than uploading later. There are opaque tax structure issues I'm still sorting out. After August 2016, it looks like the per month fee will be around $40. I'll see if I sell enough for the fees to be worth it.
I actually like SaatchiArt's uploading process more, because it is incredibly thorough about shipping instructions, weight, dimensions, etc. I've been hearing horror stories about Amazon's tendency to underestimate shipping costs and making the artist eat the difference, so I've built in healthy overages to my cost.
But while SaatchiArt is free and on-paper eclectic about what can be displayed, in effect the only people actually selling on Saatchi are doing very specific types of contemporary art. I can fall into those styles comfortably, but right now I just don't have the room or storage space to do it.
So Amazon gets my smaller, easier-to-store-and-ship art for now.
I'll upload about 50 or 60 pieces in the next few weeks: mosaics, paintings, beaded tapestries, beaded jewelry, etc. to see what 'sticks', if anything. I'm waiting for another new sales platform to come online soon, so I'll blog about that when I'm ready.
For those of you using ArtFire, you may seriously reconsider. I've heard from several (former) ArtFire artists who say sales schedules got mixed up, resulting in double sales and angry customers. ArtFire also seems to be having some brain drain, but I can't confirm those rumors.
Let the Amazon EvilEmpireExperiment begin!