RedBubble

RedBubble Post Card - Sales and Comments

RedBubble is about much more than selling your creative work – but I know this is an important issue for many people. And it’s been very interesting to see what work sells on RedBubble – the diversity of content is enormous. It should come as no surprise to anyone – but we all have very different taste!

Between 1 September and 5:30 pm on 26 September RedBubble has sent out 1250 sales notification e-mails. This excludes all self purchases – and many of these notifications represented a multiple item sale.

What’s also been interesting is to observe the relationship between the sales and a person’s level of activity on RedBubble. I’ve included a graph (below) that shows the top 15 sellers on RedBubble by number of items sold (x-axis) versus their comments on the site (y-axis). Some of the best sellers on the site are very active (9000 comments) but some are not active (2 comments). My interpretation of this data is that you don’t have to win any popularity contents to sell work on RedBubble.

Comments are a wonderful way to provide encouragement and support on RedBubble (please use the critique forum for constructive criticism) – and please continue to use them for this purpose. In fact the encouragement we can provide each other on our ‘creative journey’ is one of the most special and important things about RedBubble.

- Peter

Jo O'Brien, about 1 year ago

I like the message that graph sends- comments do not equal sales.
Jordan Duff, about 1 year ago

Interesting data, thanks for sharing.
Murray Newham, about 1 year ago

holy crap… 9000 comments!
Durotriges, about 1 year ago

I find that immensely comforting and encouraging! Thanks! :-D
Dennis Klau, about 1 year ago

thanks for info
Maltese Cultur..., about 1 year ago

That’s some fantastic info! Thanks for sharing!
I love graphs too!! LOL! :D
Martin Pot, about 1 year ago

Your graph shows someone’s sales versus comments they have made.

What about a graph showing sales versus other people’s comments on their work?
Damian, about 1 year ago

Thanks for sharing this info, very cool to see some numbers.

I’d interpret the data as saying that increased activity will lift sales to a point (if you look at the first part of the graph).
Halcyon007, about 1 year ago

Thanks

I think and work in numbers and this is great to see
Paul Tait, about 1 year ago

Thank you – I have wondered what helps sales. Do you have any data of number of sales of an item vs number of favourites on that item.
Danny, about 1 year ago

I would like to thank everyone of those people who made thos 9000 comments
Thank you
Stephen Colquitt, about 1 year ago

Thanks for those interesting stats guys. Things have slowed down a lot for me in recent weeks (not many new views, comments, etc). Struggling to get the message out there now this place is so big. Bring on the groups!
Mel Brackstone, about 1 year ago

I’m guessing that the promotional work being done outside the bubble is helping to bring buyers in to the fold, as well as the commenting done inside.

This graph doesn’t show where the buyers are coming from, only that the top sellers aren’t necessarily hogging the top of the popularity lists, as some continually harp on about.

Thanks for enlightening us, Peter, hopefully this will slow down a little bit of the negativity.
Gnangarra, about 1 year ago

Very interesting so activity doesnt mean sales, but it doesnt hurt to be known
Durotriges, about 1 year ago

True Gnangarra, however, I don’t participate in the community to be known, I participate in the community because it’s kinda fun! :-D
JayVee, about 1 year ago

Thanks for the figures. Sorry Mel I don’t want to be negative but this raises more questions than it answers.
Like: Are photo’s more wanted than t-shirt art
Have the most sold items all been on the home page and if so for how long.
I like the site a lot and it’s great to see the international interest. Sorry to be a bit negative.
peter, about 1 year ago

I’ll post some more information on the sales over the next few weeks – in terms of the dollar value of sales it’s a pretty even split between framed prints, greeting cards and t-shirts. Sales have been growing at 50% per month since RB launched in Feb.
botanicfanatic, about 1 year ago

Thanks for responding to the concerns being raised, Peter. The more info the better! :)
Faizan Qureshi, about 1 year ago

Interesting information.

Wow, this only launched in Feb????
Cathie Tranent, about 1 year ago

Thanks for all the info Peter …
MSixty, about 1 year ago

Good info, more stats would be very useful for the analysts out there (like me!)
berndt2, about 1 year ago

How about that… statistics being used for good and not evil 8) Very interesting stuff!
littlearty, about 1 year ago

ooooOOoo…. I wonder who is the Top seller on RedBubble? :P
rsmac, about 1 year ago

“In fact the encouragement we can provide each other on our ‘creative journey’ is one of the most special and important things about RedBubble.”

Well said!!
Michelle Duerden, about 1 year ago

It would be interesting to see how many sales were purchased by mr joe public versus red bubblers.. can we have a graph??!!
David Librach ..., about 1 year ago

Well, we all new that level of activity does not equal quality of work. :)
David Librach ..., about 1 year ago

OK, been looking at the stats more (I’m a bit of numbers junky….and a nerd). This can still be very misleading. Even at only 1000 comments, that is still almost 40 comments/day (9000= ~350/day!). That is still a heck of a lot. I agree that comments do not equal sales, but it does draw more attention to your work, gets your name seen more on the “what’s happening page” and exposes you to more potential buyers. Not saying that this a bad thing (we all have to promote ourselves somehow) but we just have to be careful in how we interpret stats.
Gary L. Suddath, about 1 year ago

Interesting.Thanks for the info.The number of sales is a welcome too.A lot of sites I’m on don’t hardly do that.That makes ya wonder how many they actually do sale.
marieancolie, about 1 year ago

This is a fantastic information Peter.
When one looks at a beautiful photograph or drawing or any piece of art.. one just wants to have it for good in front of the eyes..
More and more sales will come for sure.. and with 15.000 members will be more.

And also, and so important, the* high quality of the prints and invoices* is a plus.
I’m really proud and happy to be a RedBubbler !
Joyce Dickens,..., about 1 year ago

That was very informative and not surprising to me; the sales are based on the viewer’s tastes. I would also be interested in the numbers relaiting to public purchases and not necessarily RB….......just curious. Thanks for the info RB!
RonniLeigh, about 1 year ago

When I buy art I buy it because I like it. I don’t care if I’ve seen the artist’s work before or not. I’ve sold more t shirts then I have cards or prints so if someone likes something they will buy it no matter if it’s popular or not.
Charlene Aycock, about 1 year ago

Thanks for info
Matt Dawdy, about 1 year ago

I am responding to the comments more than the original post, though the original post has some good info. Thank you.

I am brand new here, as of last night, and so far I have already had several visitors, comments and a few people add me to their watchlists. That is pretty cool, considering other things I have done with my own website and bloglists and things have not generated much action up to this point.

If this keeps up I will get to know a lot of photographers and see some inspiring work and probably make some excellent contacts at the very least and that is worthwhile.

I was also looking for a way to sell prints and I found Smugmug and Ritzpix and a few other places but this site knocks them out and it is free! I can direct traffic that wants to buy my photos here and they will find my stuff and other people’s photos and that will be good for everyone and saves me a bunch of trouble (setting up my own store) and money (paying smugmug $150 a year).

I am a new fan but I am a fan so far.
Holly Werner, about 1 year ago

Thanks for the info RB. To be honest it never occurred to me that comments might equal sales. I am glad that is not the case. I comment on what I like and for no other reason.
Faizan Qureshi, about 1 year ago

I was so bored when you took a 15 mins break :(
peter, about 1 year ago

David – I should clarify the comments represent ‘all time’ comments – not just comments in September.
SnowDog, about 1 year ago

Interesting info thanks for all of that!
tazzae, about 1 year ago

thats some pretty neat stats. :D I’d love to know who those people are to check out their work, if its selling so much.
MtnMan, about 1 year ago

Some outstanding artists here need not market themselves at all, their work is either that good or that desirable, they “know” this simply by demand. They spend there time working I suppose . The rest of us will get more recognition if we actively participate and the people we interact with enjoy whatever we have to say. That takes time, and that is what makes the social aspect of this site seem like work at times. It is at least enjoyable work.
Freelancer, 3 months ago

I am new here – and really excited about all the idea: RedBubble is a great internet source..
A lot of talented artists are here…So inspirational and friendly:)
Really getting addicted to it!
Jane Keats, 3 months ago

Good to know! This way we can now be confident that kind comments are not there just to get our business, they are hopefully just honest opinions and encouragements!