Selling Prints online... (not your usual question!)

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AndyG123

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Andy
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Hi all...
As the title suggests, I'm wanting the best way to sell prints online...

Im wondering if there are any places which meet the following...

A) don't charge unless you sell?
B) offer with a place to host your artwork
C) manage your printing and delivery on you're behalf.
D) give you the option to show your work on your own website
E) give me the option to just print and get delivered to myself.



Basocally I have a website www.littlegraydesign.co.uk we sell personalised gifts.
I also get to play with lego and a few friends have mentioned we should sell prints. So I'm wanting to have an option to have somewhere customers can buy on our website, but also buy prints..

Ideally if they order on our website I would send the print out with their order.
If they order just the print they would then get the print delivered direct.

I've included the types of images I'm hoping to print.
 

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I'm guessing you're coming from a different place, as I'm not sure I understand the logic behind the questions...

So...

a) This is quite common for most people. Some I guess would have a bunch of prints made up and then sell them ad hoc, but most have none, and just print to order. Overall it's probably more expensive, but makes more sense unless you have good solid sales forecasts for your prints.
b) Presumably you would just build a section of your website to hose the images as well as mock ups showing framed & mounted images - much like your other stock.
c) A lot of places offer this service. From "you order and we send to a different address" where you take the order on your site, then make the print order and get it delivered to a client, to some websites that offer a bespoke "we do it all for you".
d) I'm assuming you have issues displaying other people's work on your website normally because I'm not sure I understand this. As the photographs are created by you, you would be entirely allowed to display them on your site.
e) There are millions of print on demand companies out there. Again, I'm not sure what you're asking, because printing your pictures out for yourself is a very common activity.

I would search for "Print Fulfilment" to get an idea of the different companies out there and the amounts they charge. If I were doing this, I'd be ordering some sample prints too to get an idea of quality vs price.

That's my tuppence, hope it helps!
 
Firstly, best of luck with your continuing sales efforts.

It might be worth asking the mods to move this thread into the Business sub-fora ;)

The one thing that strikes me about Lego mini figures and their use on greetings cards is......what is the copyright situation? As in I surmise they are protected by copyright so using them as a derivative artwork for commercial gain may be an infringement of used without a license???
 
Harlequin565 said:
I'm guessing you're coming from a different place, as I'm not sure I understand the logic behind the questions...

So...

a) This is quite common for most people. Some I guess would have a bunch of prints made up and then sell them ad hoc, but most have none, and just print to order. Overall it's probably more expensive, but makes more sense unless you have good solid sales forecasts for your prints.
b) Presumably you would just build a section of your website to hose the images as well as mock ups showing framed & mounted images - much like your other stock.
c) A lot of places offer this service. From "you order and we send to a different address" where you take the order on your site, then make the print order and get it delivered to a client, to some websites that offer a bespoke "we do it all for you".
d) I'm assuming you have issues displaying other people's work on your website normally because I'm not sure I understand this. As the photographs are created by you, you would be entirely allowed to display them on your site.
e) There are millions of print on demand companies out there. Again, I'm not sure what you're asking, because printing your pictures out for yourself is a very common activity.

I would search for "Print Fulfilment" to get an idea of the different companies out there and the amounts they charge. If I were doing this, I'd be ordering some sample prints too to get an idea of quality vs price.

That's my tuppence, hope it helps!
Click to expand...

Hopefully, to clarify on this...
What i'm looking for is a hybrid of the above...

Somewhere where customers can order direct, but if I want prints delivered to me, this can also happen... (obviously if i get my own work printed, i wouldn't be paying myself my commission, or however it works)
I don't have a sales forecast for my prints, so I'm wanting them hosted online where i can literally just sell them through my website, but would also be nice to have them viewed by people on the platform they are hosted on to buy if they wanted. So a no monthly fee thing would be good, only pay when I sell, similar to etsy etc.

Or am I simply better off finding 2 companies to handle this... Loxley for prints from my website, and the marketplace style place to sell direct to customers for anyone who chooses to buy (if any)
 
Box Brownie said:
Firstly, best of luck with your continuing sales efforts.

The one thing that strikes me about Lego mini figures and their use on greetings cards is......what is the copyright situation? As in I surmise they are protected by copyright so using them as a derivative artwork for commercial gain may be an infringement of used without a license???
Click to expand...

Thank you.

I'm not entirely sure on copywrite laws for print, however, the product I sell on my website (the physical product) is advertised as a LEGO Compatible, and a non licensed version of this... and I do actually think that the copyright side of things lies with the manufacturer. (I've looked into this quite a bit, as long as I don't advertise these as genuine LEGO products in my frame, then it's all legal and above board.)


As for the copyright side of selling the image I think I'm also covered on this side of things.
for example, I'm looking at a Jack Daniels fridge magnet now on the side of my computer, if I was to take a picture of my computer and used this prop, I believe I'd be able to sell it as a printable image... However, I don't think i'd be able to take an image of just the fridge magnet and sell this as artwork.

but this is my interpretation, please do correct me if I'm wrong as I wouldn't want to be breaking any laws in doing so.
 
Andy @DemiLion is the man who has the most understanding re: copyright....so I have flagged him above. Hopefully he can give appropriate insight for you?
 
There are places which offer much of what you want but not all of it.

Places like Zenfolio, Smugmug et al, will do much of what you want including fulfilment and postage but at a cost - a monthly or annual subscription for the hosting of your images, and also a percentage of the sales. Etsy isn't subscription based, but all its fees relate to sales.

The alternative is that you host the images on webspace you control and have a shopping cart script. There may be a one off cost or minor software licensing costs, but as you are doing more of the work, you keep more of the profits.
 
My current website is an ecommerce site using woo commerce, and I also sell our gifts on etsy.
The only issue I have with hosting and having the products on my website, the second someone orders a print and a gift together, I then have to get this printed and delivered to myself, then shipped to the customer. (or ship them both seperatly in which case I'd end up losing out on postage. So its a bit of a catch 22 situation.

andrewc said:
There are places which offer much of what you want but not all of it.

Places like Zenfolio, Smugmug et al, will do much of what you want including fulfilment and postage but at a cost - a monthly or annual subscription for the hosting of your images, and also a percentage of the sales. Etsy isn't subscription based, but all its fees relate to sales.

The alternative is that you host the images on webspace you control and have a shopping cart script. There may be a one off cost or minor software licensing costs, but as you are doing more of the work, you keep more of the profits.
Click to expand...
 
AndyG123 said:
As for the copyright side of selling the image I think I'm also covered on this side of things.
for example, I'm looking at a Jack Daniels fridge magnet now on the side of my computer, if I was to take a picture of my computer and used this prop, I believe I'd be able to sell it as a printable image... However, I don't think i'd be able to take an image of just the fridge magnet and sell this as artwork.

but this is my interpretation, please do correct me if I'm wrong as I wouldn't want to be breaking any laws in doing so.
Click to expand...


Yes, you are wrong.

Firstly LEGO is a trademarked term and any use of it on your website without a licence would be infringement.

As for taking a photograph of a LEGO figure, that is also infringement without a licence, if you take a LEGO figure to be an 'artistic work' - which would be relatively easy to argue.

Sect 17 (3) of the CDPA 1988 applies:

(3)In relation to an artistic work copying includes the making of a copy in three dimensions of a two-dimensional work and the making of a copy in two dimensions of a three-dimensional work
Click to expand...
.
 
AndyG123 said:
My current website is an ecommerce site using woo commerce, and I also sell our gifts on etsy.
The only issue I have with hosting and having the products on my website, the second someone orders a print and a gift together, I then have to get this printed and delivered to myself, then shipped to the customer. (or ship them both seperatly in which case I'd end up losing out on postage. So its a bit of a catch 22 situation.
Click to expand...

How often does that happen? Is taking the hit on postage 1 in xxx times worth the potential costs on the other side of the coin?
 
DemiLion said:
Yes, you are wrong.

Firstly LEGO is a trademarked term and any use of it on your website without a licence would be infringement.

As for taking a photograph of a LEGO figure, that is also infringement without a licence, if you take a LEGO figure to be an 'artistic work' - which would be relatively easy to argue.

Sect 17 (3) of the CDPA 1988 applies:

.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the clarification.
Do you know how I would stand if the products I'm selling are non lego products? Purchased as a non lego product and advertised as a minifigure and is not a genuine LEGO product?

Then how would this translate to taking images of this minifigure product?
Obviously this will change my whole marketing strategy and website wording.
Apologies for the delay in the reply, I do appreciate you're response.

Many thanks
 
To be honest, you have the name LEGO plastered all over your site, including the product descriptions.

They are unlicensed product and the caveat to that effect is only in small print.

If you read LEGO's Fair Play notice, I suspect that they would, with a lot of justification, deem your offers as pirate products:

Fair Play - Notices & Policies - Legal - LEGO.com GB

factfulle seo description.
www.lego.com www.lego.com

The advice about photography stands.
 
If you have your own e-commerce website, you could try a Print On Demand (POD) company like Prinful, or Printify. You can create products and then sync with services such as woo commerce or a Shopify, or Etsy store.

If your POD products are synched with your woo-commerce, the POD company will print and ship you item directly to your customer, but it is also possible to redirect the shipping to your address if you wanted to add branded packaging etc.
 
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