What's the difference between selling direct versus selling through third parties like galleries or online marketplaces?

Selling direct means building your own business where you own your customer list, control your marketing, and run your own online gallery. Selling through third parties—whether physical galleries or online marketplaces—means you’re building their business with your art, not your own. The critical problem with third parties is the rug can get pulled out at any time: galleries drop artists, online platforms change algorithms, or market conditions shift. Only about one in a thousand artists makes meaningful sales on mass marketplace sites, and even then it’s just a few sales per year. While it’s fine to sell through third parties as supplementary income, 90% of your focus should be on building your direct business—something you own and control that no one can take away. This is how businesses are built in every industry.

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Asked by artists relying on galleries and marketplace sites · Answered by Nick Friend · art-marketing-podcast · 2020-06-02