How to Collect Art
There is really no better place to buy art than right here on eBay. The prices, quality and variety simply cannot be beat. As an artist, of course, I would say something like this. BUT I have been to hundreds, if not thousands, of art shows and galleries and the artwork here is considerably lower for the same quality work that you would find elsewhere.
If your home and office are already full of artwork and you simply love it and must continue to purchase it…there is the wonderful world of ACEOs to consider. Art Card Editions and Originals is a concept that was developed right here on eBay in 2004. These miniature artworks are the same size as baseball trading cards: 2 1/2″ x 3 1/2″. Which means they can be placed in miniature frames or even in a photo album. I already have 50 in my personal collection and they are my pride and joy.
Not only do they not take up large amounts of space, but they are affordable. They don’t have to match the color scheme in my home. There are so many advantages to these pieces that I am surprised more people aren’t collecting them yet. The art groups of ACEO artists have grown to well over 3,100 members and still growing.
It’s a bit trickier to buy artwork that you haven’t seen live and in person so there are some things to watch out for. One of these is the knock-off. If you see that artwork is selling cheaper than the shipping…it’s quite possible that it is being done in a sweat factory in China and the image has been stolen from another artist somewhere in the world. Yes, this is a copyright violation and should be stopped, but we are dealing with dollars and business here…so try stopping it…nothing hs been successful so far.
When you are looking at a particular painting or work of art, look to see where it is shipping from. This will tell you a lot right there. China and some of the other oriental countries are not being charged fees for their eBay stores, as eBay is trying to encourage more growth and commerce with these countries. The other store owners are paying the tab.
Check the image of the artwork closely. More often than not, you will see a copyright notice embedded onto the picture. This is merely a protective mechanism that artists employ to prevent knock-artists from printing out the picture and calling it their own. The Chinese will steal the copyrighted image and put the identical artwork in their listings, even when another artist’s name is plastered thru that copyright. So take a close look for that.
Another thing that can happen is that an artist or someone else can print out the painting or image onto paper or canvas and PAINT OVER it to make it look like an original, when in fact it is not. This used to be called paint by number, but today it is becoming known as bad business. It’s not always easy to spot these knock-offs. And some folks are so good that they fool others all the time, but so be it. I just wanted to let you know that it can be done, and in some cases even if you see it in person….you can’t tell the difference.
Heck, some masterpiece paintings have been copied by others and bought for millions of dollars…and they were not the true originals. So even buying artwork thru ‘professionals’ or art brokers or whatever, is not going to guarantee anything. It might give some folks more piece of mind.
Buying artwork can be a very pleasurable experience and I hope that it is so for you.