For artists, selling artwork online has never been more accessible.
You no longer need to wait for a gallery exhibition, find a local collector, or depend entirely on art fairs to sell your work. With the right online presence, an artist anywhere in the world can showcase their work and reach potential buyers globally.
But there's one important question every artist should ask:
Are you actually keeping what you earn from your artwork?
As online art sales continue to grow, artists need to think beyond simply getting their work seen. You also need a professional way to sell it and a platform that doesn't take a percentage of every sale.
Why Selling Your Artwork Online Matters in 2026
Social media has completely changed how people discover artists.
A collector can discover your painting on Instagram today and become a buyer tomorrow. Your audience isn't limited to people who live near you or visit the galleries in your city.
Selling online gives artists the opportunity to:
Reach collectors around the world
Sell artwork without geographical limitations
Showcase their entire collection in one place
Build a professional artistic identity
Accept inquiries and payments online
Create a business around their artwork
But simply posting your artwork on Instagram isn't the same as having a professional sales system.
And this is where many artists struggle.
Why Selling Artwork Through Instagram DMs Isn't Professional Enough
There's nothing inherently wrong with selling through Instagram DMs. For an artist who receives an occasional enquiry, it may seem perfectly manageable.
But as your audience and sales grow, the limitations become obvious.
A DM isn't an art catalogue. It isn't a storefront. It isn't designed to answer every question a collector might have before purchasing a $500, $1,000 or $5,000 artwork.
A professional online portfolio, on the other hand, allows you to control how your work is presented.
A collector can see your artwork, understand your practice, explore your collection and find purchasing information without having to ask you for every detail.This also changes the perception of your work.
Think about the difference between:
“DM me for price and purchase.”
and
“View the collection and purchase directly through my portfolio.”
The artwork hasn't changed. The buying experience has.
And when you're selling original art, the buying experience matters.
You Don't Need an Expensive Website to Sell Artwork Online
When artists hear "sell online," they often assume they need to build an entire website.
That can mean buying a domain, paying for hosting, designing multiple pages, setting up an online store and figuring out how payments work.For many independent artists, that's unnecessary complexity.
What you actually need is a professional online portfolio that can also function as a place to sell your artwork.
Your portfolio can become the link you share everywhere:
Instagram → Portfolio → Artwork → Purchase
Instead of asking potential buyers to DM you for every detail, you can simply send them one professional link.
Why 0% Platform Commission Matters
Here's something artists should pay attention to: commission.
Imagine you sell a painting for $1,000.
If a platform takes 10% commission, $100 is gone from your sales. Now imagine you sell a $5,000 artwork.That same 10% becomes $500.
As the value of your artwork increases, the amount you lose to commissions increases too.Your artwork represents your creativity, time, skill and years of development. So when you make a sale, shouldn't you be able to keep as much of that value as possible?
That's why choosing a platform with 0% platform commission can make a meaningful difference.
You can sell a $100 artwork or a $5,000 artwork and the platform commission still remains remains $0.
The Best Way to Sell Art Online? Build an Owned Sales Channel
There is a broader reason to think beyond Instagram or third-party marketplaces.
Artists shouldn't have their entire online presence dependent on a single platform.Your Instagram account is valuable, but algorithms change. Reach changes. Features change. Platforms change.
Your online portfolio gives your art business a dedicated home. It becomes the place where your artwork lives regardless of where your audience discovers you.
Someone finds you on Instagram? Send them to your portfolio.
Someone discovers you through LinkedIn? Send them to your portfolio.
Someone hears about you at an exhibition? Send them to your portfolio.
One link can replace dozens of individual conversations.And for an artist trying to build a serious career, that small change can make the entire selling process feel more professional.
How Brushly Helps Artists Sell Artwork Online
This is where Brushly comes in.
Brushly's online portfolio is designed for artists who want more than a place to display their work. It allows you to create a professional portfolio and sell artwork directly through it, without Brushly taking a platform commission from your sale.
Instead of sending a potential collector into an Instagram DM conversation, you can send them directly to your portfolio.They can explore your work and purchase from the same place.
For payments, artists can connect their Stripe account, allowing payments to be processed directly through their connected payment setup.
And for artists in India, there's an additional option: UPI payments are available, making it easier to sell artwork online even if you don't have a Stripe account.
START NOW
Ready to sell your artwork online?
Create your Brushly online portfolio, showcase your work professionally and start selling directly to collectors with 0% Brushly platform commission.
Your artwork. Your audience. Your sale.