Art.com is an online art shop that sells prints and framed prints to customers all across America. As you can probably tell by the fact that they own the domain Art.com, they are one of the biggest companies selling art online in America.
History Of Art.com
Art.com was started in 1998 in order to make beautiful art available to buyers across the world. The company is owned by a parent company called Corporate Art.
Art.com previously sold art to over 25 countries, however, in the last two years they have restricted their service to the mainland United States only. If you are looking to have art shipped anywhere else in the world, they will not do it.
Art.com boasts a catalog of over 2 million images. They work with artists, galleries, and museums to get the rights to sell these images.
What Is Art.Com And How To Use It
Art.com is an online shop that caters to customers in the USA – mainland only. They have a collection of over 2 million images that are available as prints.
These prints can be ordered in multiple sizes and you can also order three different types of frames for your print. Unlike other online art stores, you can only buy prints and printed canvases on Art.com. You cannot buy original paintings or artworks.
Art.com offers prints of famous paintings and photographs, as well as a few lesser known pieces of art. The majority of prints they sell are based on artwork that currently lives in museums or art galleries. However, they do offer prints of popular images that are available online – like the sketches of Victoria Borges.
You will not be allowed to use Art.com if you are trying to log on from outside the USA.
If you are logging on from the USA, then you will be greeted with a curated selection of the website’s best sellers. You can use the menu bar to navigate through the art by trend, subject, artist, and design theme.
Clicking on an image will take you to its personal page. Here you will be able to select the size of print you want to buy and if you would also like a frame.
How To Set Up An Account On Art.com
If you want to be able to buy something from Art.com then you will need to set up an account.
They also offer the chance to join their email list. This is separate from creating an account with the website, but you can do both at the same time. If you join the email list, Art.com will offer you a $25 discount off your next $150 purchase.
When you try to view your cart you will be prompted to create an account, you can also do this by clicking on the Sign Up/Log In button in the upper right corner of the page.
To create an account, you will be asked to enter your first and last name. Then your email address and then you will be asked to enter a password and repeat it. Then you must agree to the terms and conditions of the website.
You are then done and ready to purchase.
Art.com promises not to sell any of the personal information about you that they collect. You can also request to have all your personal information deleted from their servers.
What Can You Buy on Art.com?
Here is a guide to what you can purchase on Art.com.
Prints and Canvases
Every image on Art.com is available as a print. This is a range of over 2 million images – these images include The Dog by Picasso and all of Monet’s Water Lilies series. They also offer a range of modern paintings and photographs as prints too.
Art.com offers a selection of over 10,000 of its images printed onto canvas – like this copy of Christ in the Storm on the Lake of Galilee.
Ordering an image on canvas will take about 5 days longer, adding a frame will add another 2-3 days.
Frames
Art.com offers three types of frames – Signature Frame, Premium Frame, and Classic Frame. Adding a frame will add around $50-$70 to your order price.
Each category of the frame comes in a range of colors. The color options you will be offered will depend on the size of print or canvas you are ordering. The larger you go, the fewer options you will have.
Ordering a bigger size print does not affect the cost of the frame.
Shipping
Art.com offers free shipping on orders for most of the year.
Art.com offers 3 types of shipping for prints that they have in stock – Express delivery (1 business day), Expedited delivery (2-3 business days), and Standard delivery (3-5 business days).
For prints that they do not have in stock, they offer Standard delivery. Framed and mounted items are expected to take an extra 3-5 business days more and special order prints and posters are expected to take an additional 5-7 business days.
Are Art.com’s Frames Worth The Extra Money?
Not all of the frames from Art.com are made equally. However, we think that on the whole, they are all worth the cost.
If you are in the habit of buying frames separately for your artwork, you will be aware of how expensive this can be and there is never a guarantee that your print will fit the frame.
Getting the print with a frame from Art.com will prevent you from having to go through all that hassle.
We think that the Classic Frame (the most basic option), is the worst value for money, however, we do recommend spending the extra $20 or so to upgrade to the Signature frame. They are classy and well-built.
Pros And Cons of Buying Art on Art.com
Art.com is not a perfect website. There are many great reasons to buy from the online store, but it also has a few flaws – let’s take a closer look at the pros and cons of buying from Art.com.
Pros
There are many great things about Art.com.
- One of its major strengths is the simplicity of the products it offers. You can buy a print, choose the size, and then add a frame if you want to. That’s it. This makes it very hard to order something you don’t want.
- We like how the website gives lots of examples of how big each different print is. However, all these examples are created using photoshop. But they have so many products, none of us can realistically expect them to have photographs of every single product they offer.
- On that note, Art.com has an absolutely jaw dropping range of images to choose from. They offer old classics, right through to modern paintings, sketches, and photography. Whatever style of print you are looking for, we bet you will be able to find it on Art.com.
- Our favorite thing about Art.com is its pricing. For many of these images, it would cost $100s to get a large print made of them anywhere else. You can get a large framed print from Art.com for less than $150.
- Art.com makes the most amazing art pieces in the world – prints from Monet, the old masters, and even modern artists like Banksy and Andy Warhol – available to everyone, no matter your budget.
- Art.com does offer free shipping for most of the year which is another big reason to shop with them. You can get your print shipped to you in 5 business days for free or pay a little more.
Cons
- The major downside of Art.com is that it has stopped selling to most of the world. So, you can only use their services if you are based in the US.
- Art.com does not offer any original artwork, only printed canvases, and prints. If you are only looking for famous pieces this won’t be a con, but if you are looking for something unique then avoid this website.
- The printed canvases from Art.com really vary in quality. The photographs, particularly the black and white ones look great. However, paintings completely lose their character on these canvases. You would be better off buying a large print.
- There is a huge price difference between the prints and the printed canvases, with the printed canvases being much more expensive. However, as mentioned above they are of a lot lower quality. They have also been known to get damaged during shipping. Art.com does have great customer service, however, we have seen customers complaining about replacements also arriving broken.
- Our final issue is that the search function on this website is really poor. For example, you cannot search by the title of the painting. Searching up the Mona Lisa for example will only offer you the option to look at artists with Mon in their name.
- When a website offers over 2 million different products they need to have a much better search function. You can’t even search by product type (print or canvas). This makes using the site unnecessary difficult and time consuming.
Selling Art On Art.com
Who Can Sell On Art.com?
If you are an artist and looking for somewhere to sell your art then sadly, Art.com is not the place for you.
Art.com works with galleries, museums, and large companies to gather the images they use. They do not accept applications from artists outside of this group.
You will notice that despite having over 2 million images on their website, Art.com is very selective and every artist they sell from is quite a big and famous artist.
If you are looking to sell your art online, then we recommend you look at other websites.
What should I Do If Another Company Is Selling My Art On Art.com?
If you are on Art.com and you notice art that belongs to you but is being sold under someone else’s name (and you are not getting paid for your art to be sold on Art.com) then you should contact their licensing department.
They say on their website that they only sell images that they own the license for or images for which they have an agreement with the owner of the painting. So, if you contact them they should be able to sort out any problem you are having.
Reviews suggest that their customer service and licensing department are very easy to deal with.
Final Thoughts
Art.com is a great site for anyone who is looking for simple prints of their favorite artwork or they are looking for an interesting print to hang in their house as decoration – if you live on the mainland of the United States.
The prints from Art.com are high quality and they are well priced. Their frames are also great value for money and are easy to customize. Their shipping is free and fairly quick, but if you do need to print quicker then you have the option to pay extra for faster shipping.
If you are looking for printed canvases then we suggest that you look elsewhere. They do have a great selection but the canvas quality is not as high as their prints and they do not always make it through the postal system in one piece.
If you are looking to buy or sell original art then Art.com is not the right place for you. It is also not somewhere you can shop if you live outside the USA.
Overall, if you are looking for well-priced prints and frames then Art.com is a great option for you.