Whether you’re a professional designer, web-developer, photographer or just doing some design work as a hobby you may be able to earn some money by selling your work online. In this article tripwire magazine present with 50 online services that you should check out if you have created unique designs, taken amazing pictures etc. that you want to allow others to use in return for some money.
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Introduction
Be aware that not all of the websites listed below have huge traffic numbers and may not expose your art very well. If you’re really serious about making a business by selling your design and art online you should do some investigations up front. A few tips.
Check the monthly page impressesion on compete.com below is an example of two website listed below where the long term popularity difference is very clear. The same is true for the expected increase in visitors going forward.
I personllay like to use compete.com but there are many other options like fx. alexa.com. Be careful with relying to much in metrics for non .com domains as they typically are significantly lower than the actual number.
Index
The article has been organized into the following sections.
Section 1: Image and Vector Buy / Sell Marketplaces
Section 2: Templates Buy / Sell Marketplaces
Section 3: Fonts Buy / Sell Marketplaces
Section 4: Project and Competition Marketplaces
Section 5: Sell on T-shirts, cups, you name it…
Section 5: Organisations that you may be able to join
Image and Vector Buy / Sell Marketplaces
Shutterstock
Earn $.25 per download for photography and vector images. It’s a very popular service wiyh currently more than 6 millon royalty-free stock photos availbale.
BigStockPhoto
BigStockPhoto sells images individually, and you can earn $0.50 to $3 per download (or more on special license downloads). In order to be accepted into the program you’ll have to pass a test. You can get more information and sign up from their website.
iStockphoto
Sell photos, illustrations, flash, video, and more through this quality-controlled site. istockphoto use a credit based system.
Photospin
Photospin sells images by subscription. Their website allows you to inquire about becoming a seller, but there is no information about commissions or details.
Stockxpert
Stockxpert is similar to iStockphoto in terms of the photos and images that are available, although the selection is a bit less than iStockphoto. At Stockxpert you can earn 50% commission and you can view your stats and earnings in real time. Get more information about selling with Stockxpert.
Fotolia
Fotolia sells photos and images individually as well as through subscriptions. As a seller, you can earn up to 80% commission, with an average of 52%. You can sell your work with exclusive licenses and name your price. Get more information at their website.
Crestock
Crestock is another popular option for buying and selling stock photography and images. Their site does not offer details on payment structure or commissions (at least not that I could find), although there is an option to apply to become a seller.
VectorStock
VectorStock™ is a Royalty-free vector stock art collection. Many of the vector files are unique to VectorStock™. All files are available for download as a zipped Vector EPS Version 8 file, many files include a native Adobe Illustrator™ CS file as well.
Cerizmo
Sell any kind of digital product in your own customizable store and get paid instantly.
Graphic Leftovers
Sell logos, icons, illustrations, templates and more through this site. Graphic Leftovers use a credit based system.
SuperStock.com
A stock image seller for over 20 years, seems pretty selective in the work they except, and no mention of procentage.
Alamy.com
With over 15 million images, you may get a little lost in the shuffle here, but if you can sell your work, you’ll get 65%.
123RF.com
Offers two payment systems: 50% of individual high res photo sale, and $.36 per subscription download.
Dreamstime
Dreamstime sells images individually. The base commission is 50% per download, but it can go as high as 80%. You’ll earn a high commission for exclusivity plus there are different levels according to how many of your files have been purchased. The more you sell, the more you make.
VideoHive
Sell your stock video footage and motion graphics. You will earn at least 40% of the sales price.
GraphicRiver
Sell vector images, layered Photoshop files and more. You will earn at least 40% of the sales price.
Artbreak
Artbreak is a community marketplace for artists and art lovers. It’s a place for artists to share and sell their stuff, tell the world about themselves, get feedback, and make connections with other artists and people who like their work. It’s a place for art lovers to find incredible work from emerging artists from all over the world.
CoSwap
Swap your designs or codes for something else you need, or sell your work outright. The following categories are available.
Artist Rising
An artwork marketplace that includes photography and digital art.
Boundless Gallery
Sell your art online.
Template Buy / Sell Marketplaces
ThemeForest
ThemeForest is an Envato Marketplace. At ThemeForest you can buy and sell site templates and themes to skin popular CMS products like WordPress, Drupal and Joomla. Files are priced from just five dollars, based on the complexity, quality and use of the file. Anyone is free to sign up for an account and begin trading or purchasing files. You will earn at least 40% of the sales price.
FlashDen
At FlashDen you can buy and sell files to use in your Adobe Flash projects. You’ll find everything from preloaders to site templates, all selling for as little as $1. You will earn at least 40% of the sales price.
WP Theme Market
Design and sell WordPress Themes.Theme authors earn 70% of every sale by default. If your theme was created with the WP Themer Kit you will Earn 80% for every single sale you make!
cutcaster.com
Sell your digital images and vector graphics, along with stock video. Sellers can set their prices or those new to the world of licensing can use the Cutcaster Algorithm to find the fair market price.
Covantage Templates
Sell website, flash, logo and other templates.
Templamatic
Upload and sell your own website templates.
Sell templates, extensions and more for Joomla and WordPress.
Css Templates Web
Sell low-cost, css-based website templates.
SitePoint’s Template Marketplace
List your templates for various systems here and connect directly with your buyers.
Fonts Buy / Sell Marketplaces
Sell your fonts as part of the largest font collection online.
ITCFonts.com
Sell complete font character sets through this site.
Project and Competition Marketplaces
crowdSPRING
Work on spec on a variety of design projects, competing against other designers.
99 designs
Compete against other designers on real projects to win cash prizes.
Minted
Submit designs to this regular contest and receive cash prizes.
Project4Hire.com
Bid on projects in a variety of categories including graphic design and web design.
DesignFirms
List your design firm and have clients come to you for project bidding.
Zooppa
Create ads and compete against other designers to win cash prizes.
I Vote For Art
Put your artwork up for sale and have it voted on.
Sell on T-shirts, cups, you name it…
Zazzle
Put your designs on unique products to sell.
Cafepress
Well this is really different but quite fun. Why not put your designs on a dog-T-shirt and sell like that? Choose from
80+ customizable products, including apparel, home & office accessories to books, music and data CDs. Also, check out our new Direct Printing to give your apparel images greater durability, coming soon to select apparel. Select from our full line of products below, or use the links to the right.
imagekind
Sell artwork in a variety of formats—framed, canvas, posters, greeting cards and more.
redbubble
Another artwork marketplace where you can sell wall art, t-shirts, calendars and greeting cards.
Threadless
Design a t-shirt, submit it for voting, and if it’s one of the best, see it made and sold.
Spreadshirt – Create custom t-shirts to sell.
pikistore – Set up your own online t-shirt store.
Organisations that you may be able to join
Theme Galaxy
Premium WordPress theme designers who are always looking for new talent to join their team.
WordPress Designers
Premium themes site that is on the lookout for new designers to work with.
Linotype.com
This site actively seeks new font designers to add to their collection.
{ 27 comments… read them below or add one }
I really gonne try some of the sites you listed here! Thanks
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First off, extremely nice and useful post you’ve written here. I’m sure I’ll reference it in the future more than once. However, the ‘great’ Wordpress / other template marketplaces you listed, well, a few of those, are absolute shit, and I’ve dealt with them all. I’m just wondering if you KNOW these marketplaces to be ‘great’ or if it just happened to work out ‘great’ having all of the excess content for your post.
Either way, I enjoyed it.
Christopher, many thanks for the feedback. I like to read “Mega List” blog posts as a reference to quickly get an overview of a specific area or problem domain. I also enjoy writing them. I’m aware that bloggers creating “Mega List” (including myself) can’t test and verify every advice or reference in the lists but that is where comments like yours comes in handy.
If you have input (good and not so good) on specific marketplaces based on your experience working with them fell free to share it in a fair tone as a comment. Also if I missed some good online services let me know and I’ll consider adding them.
Bookmarking this page right now!
Very helpful writeup and you mentioned some sites I wasn’t familiar with. One quick point. I would include us in this category, “Image and Vector Buy / Sell Marketplaces” instead of templates though. Thanks again.
Thanks for the list of websites, gotta check em out
)
interesting works~
Wonderful.. I have added your blog to my bookmarks and share it with all my colleagues and friends..
Hello mate, I want to thank you for this nice blog.
Would you mind telling me some secrets for a succesful blog ?
Which could attract some visitors than it normally does.
Fantastic collection! Thanks for sharing.
Some great sites here, a very useful source. I have some of my work on http://www.artybuzz.com which is a pretty cool site that may be of interest.
- Richard
hello all, great list of sites for selling your stuff online. I have a site for your selling and buying needs online… And its totally free… http://www.theusednetwork.com
Enjoy!
Creative people have great choice now, where to go and to sell their art/designs. It’s awesome. But your design have to be remarkable.
Check out PimpArtworks for if your work falls in the Urban & Street niche – http://www.pimpartworks.com
I just discovered this web site as I was searching in Bing. I’ve been reading about RSS feeds today for my dissertation so I will be subscribing to yours if I can find out where it is as it seems like a valuable resource, even for inexperienced people like me.
Here’s another possible solution. MadBeeTech at http://www.madbeetech.com includes a site builder that makes it fast and easy to set up your own website that includes support for fully automated digital download selling. You can sell any type of file, including of course graphic image files. Buyers end up at your PayPal page, so their money goes right into your PayPal account. Very inexpensive. I have two sites with them (one selling ebooks, the other selling graphics) and it works great for me!
There is a New One – http://www.themesrain.com
Giving Flat 70% commission for Designers!
Hi Guys
Great list you have got there.
There is also this other website http://www.artboutique.com.au/
where you can sell any type of art, they have got free memebrships on offer
its neat and tidy
Cheerio
I have a friend who sells his photos on http://www.fotoviva.co.uk and seems to be happy with what he makes. They choose the images they want on their site from your photographs but I think this is because they know what images will sell best for people’s walls.
thanks for the tip!
Nice article..here you can list one more website where you can buy/sell wordpress premium themes.. http://www.fmys.com
Come take a look at ours http//www.imagegate.com – Small but beautiful
Very nice list of websites there. There seem to be more of these sites coming out every day though I guess the competition is a good thing when you compare the rates that designers will get after those sites take their commission.
Patrick, after the biggest sites shaved again the royalties to contributors, its definitely a good thing that there are smaller sites out there that are willing to give more to contributors. Feel free to check our and register with out site.
Very useful list. Thanks !
Of the “Print on Demand” websites listed (and there are many more), zazzle is by far the best and fairest. I’m only just about to venture into selling stock images and templates so can’t comment on any of those type of sites yet.
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