How to Ship Artwork Worldwide: 3 Tips from our Shipping Elective

Ever wonder how to ship your art worldwide? You’re not alone. This is a hot topic for our Members, especially after completing the Website course. Now that they have shiny new, functional, customer friendly websites they're well on their way to start shipping their artwork all around the world!

Our latest bonus Elective for Members covers all the ins and outs for shipping artwork; whether you’re shipping large canvases, flat prints, fragile glass, or heavy ceramics we covered the details you need to know.

This Elective is a bonus part of The Membership and all of the information is catered specifically to artists selling online— basically all of the information we’ve spent the last decade learning from trial and error so you don’t have to! The Membership Doors are currently closed so signup here to get the first notification the next time the Doors open! We’d love to help you grow your dream art business!

In the meantime we want to share a few of our favorite tips straight from this brand new Elective!

3 Top Tips from the Shipping Artwork 101 Elective:

1. STANDARDIZE YOUR ARTWORK = STANDARDIZE YOUR SHIPPING PROCESS.

   As artists when we think about creating art we think about freedom. It can be a challenge to start thinking about setting standardizations as an asset for your business, not a creative limitation. Hear us out: Instead of releasing your next collection in a varied size assortment, what if you picked one size or even three sizes and worked only in that format? What benefits could this bring your business? Turns out a LOT. Not only can you batch-work more efficiently but you can also now streamline your entire shipping experience both for your customers (setting shipping prices just become a lot easier) and for yourself on the packing side of things!

   Instead of stockpiling boxes in random sizes you can now intentionally purchase only the sizes you actually need right now. That saves time during packing and money by not buying supplies you don’t need!

    

2. ALWAYS BUY THE INSURANCE.

   If insurance is offered, buy it. If insurance isn’t offered, ask your shipping provider is there is an add-on option for this service. Having insurance for an irreplaceable piece of art will provide you and your customer with tremendous peace of mind.

   Bonus— you can even announce this within your Shipping FAQs to boldly and directly let your future customers know before they even buy that you have a plan for them, and they don’t have to give this worrisome topic another thought.

    

3. CREATE A BUSINESS ACCOUNT.

   This is something all the pros know. There are hidden discounts on all of the major shipping carrier’s rates if you set up a business account with them. That’s a savings you can pass on to your client to reduce their shipping fees and they’ll love that! It only takes a few minutes of your time to create an account and savings from FedEx for example are currently listed on their site as up to 16% for Express services and 8% for Ground services. That adds up!

   Plus, with an account you can schedule pick-ups. A HUGE time-saver, especially if shipping multiple pieces at once.