I chose Shopify. It allows more payment options.

If anyone wants an easy to follow guide for setting up a wordpress site check out http://www.easyhtmlcode.com/wordpress

Anyway an advantage of selling your art through an external site like etsy is that they are already getting lots of traffic so your art has a better chance of getting found on the internet than it would through your own website

So far, 100% of my sales are through galleries, but my website has contributed to sales at those galleries. It also makes for an easy online portfolio for when I want to show my work to a new gallery somewhere that is not within my normal traveling area.

I did set up a payment portal on my website but I have not had a single sale on the site since I built it several years ago. There are quite a few visitors to the site, but no sales. I do have some art on there that is not in any gallery presently. If the piece is in a gallery I tell the customers on the item page that they can buy it on my website if they wish, with the understanding that if it has sold at the gallery before I am able to tell them it was sold on my website, I will have to let the gallery have the sale and cancel the website sale. That might put people off somewhat.

If you sell it through your site, do you subtract the gallery’s cut? I am not in any gallery, but I have felt pretty weird about that issue.

I heard this issue of selling at the price you would sell at a gallery, even though you are not in a gallery many years ago, and also feel weird about it. It seems to me to be a kind of “monopoly” where another business (the gallery) is dictating how much you can sell your work for, which to me is a way that many beginning artists are shot down because they over-price their work based on a future possibility. How many people consider themselves “artists” and how many are actually in galleries? I have been endeavoring to bring my costs down as low as possible, even changing the materials I use, so that my art is available to all art lovers, not just the “rich.” However, if I lower my costs in such a way, I really do not want to have to add more costs, to split the profit with a phantom gallery.

So in the end, you are raising your price on the off chance that you may get into a gallery, and so you tack on 50% more, which in turn makes your work harder to sell because it is more expensive. Sometimes people who want your work must buy it on layaway, or “time.” You want to encourage people to follow you and buy more work eventually– become a regular customer. How will this happen if you tack on 50% or even 75% in some cases?

Absolutely not! But, I will never sell direct any pieces which are currently in the inventory of any gallery which represents me. Nor will I go and take a piece from a gallery because someone has contacted me directly. I will ALWAYS refer them to my gallery and let the gallery make the sale even though I will lose 35-40% of the potential profit from doing so. I have actually had customers suggest I do that so I could share some of that with them in the form of a discount! Integrity in the gallery relationship is extremely important for both parties to maintain.

However, OP said he/she was not in any gallery. If selling online, and you are not represented by a gallery, do not just “add” the 50% or whatever cut the gallery takes, in the off chance that later you will be represented by a gallery.

I know that being in a gallery is a goal of many artists, but in a very real sense, they cause a lot of interference and friction in your art life– for instance possible up to forcing you to paint what you really do not want to paint and keeping you from artistically growing. I personally only contact galleries for one-offs. It becomes too much like a job otherwise. You should study the pros and cons yourself and then make a well-reasoned decision.

As for your first question: it looks like (square) square space has some kind of a sales website maker.

You do what your contract states unless you are a certain New York real estate mogul with orange skin. In that case, you do whatever makes you happy.

I use squares space for my website and loving it so far.
It’s easy to set up (with some time) and selling through square space is rather simple.
I even do my commission transaction there (by creating a “product” for commission client)