Red Bubble

Last week I joined an art selling site called Red Bubble. Red Bubble is a great place to display and sell your photography and fine art paintings. Red Bubble is based out of Australia. You can sell greeting cards, prints, canvasses, posters and calendars through your account. There is also no limit to how much you can put on the site. Unlike Etsy, Red Bubble produces and ships the work for you, so if you are traveling or unable to fulfill your own orders, this is handy. If you live in an area of the country where there are no photo labs or high-end print facilities, Red Bubble is ideal. You can also order your own prints and cards. I'm going to place an order to check the quality of the prints, but I've heard from a couple of outside sources that it is excellent.

One of the great things about Red Bubble is the community! A few hours after uploading some images I was getting noticed by other members and many people commented on my work. Another community building aspect are the groups you can join. Groups are thematic. The groups I've joined so far are Fruit and Veg, All about Flowers, and a Photo Critiquing group. The groups hold challenges to keep people shooting interesting work. For example the Fruit and Veg group had a sliced challenge. The criteria was that your painting or photo was of a sliced fruit or veg. The prizes vary from getting a front page position of your winning work, to t-shirts and avatars.

Red Bubble keeps you updated when people comment on your work and also updates you about your group's activities. I must admit it is quite exciting to have some feedback. I also sell images and files on PhotoShelter and there isn't nearly as much interaction between photographers there. I guess because it is more commercial. Also, the big difference between Red Bubble and PhotoShelter is that Red Bubble is free.

Anyhow, check it out today. If you are a fine art photographer or painter, consider using Red Bubble to market and sell your work.