What's wrong with uploading my work to online marketplace platforms as my main sales strategy?

Online marketplace platforms are essentially digital versions of traditional galleries—they’re third-party sales channels where you don’t own the customer relationship. While it’s okay to have presence on these platforms as supplementary channels, relying on them as your primary strategy is building your house on sand, not rock. These platforms are impossibly crowded because they’re the easiest option—artists from all over the world upload there daily. Even if you get some traction and sales, the platform can change its algorithm at any time, removing you from featured sections and killing your sales overnight. You have no control. The path forward is building your own direct channel where you own your website, own your customer email addresses, and own the relationships. This is building on rock—a foundation that can’t be pulled out from under you and that you can grow predictably over time.

---

Asked by general teaching point · Answered by Nick Friend · art-marketing-podcast · 2020-06-03