There are many different ways to monetize your art online. To help you decide which platform is the best option for you, we put together a comprehensive guide looking at Fine Art America and CustomCat. But don’t worry, at the end of this article you’ll know which one to choose. Let’s break it down one piece at a time, shall we?

What is Fine Art America?

Whether you are an artist, photographer, or designer, you’ve probably heard of services like Fine Art America. FAA is a print on demand service that fulfills, packages, and ships the order to the customer.
FAA may seem like a go-to option for a beginner, but you may soon find that selling products on Fine Art America requires much more than just uploading your art.
Most of the time, your art won’t show up in searches in the sea of approximately 500,000 artists. These artists are either established or just recently started selling on FAA.
Fine Art America resembles any other online marketplace, and of course, it comes with a cost. FAA is easy to use, but without proper marketing, you are less likely to be seen, thus making it harder to enter the big leagues (high profits).

Memberships/ Plans

With Fine Art America, you have two options – standard or premium plan. The standard one comes at no cost, and the premium is $30/year.

Standard Plan

Standard (FREE) plan offers you a unique URL page that is customizable with a headshot, biography, contact information, product images, blog, and more. The downside is you can only upload 25 pictures. With FAA standard plan, you can sell all prints and products such as tech accessories, home decor, lifestyle products, and apparel.

Premium Plan

In addition to all standard plan features, you can embed the FAA shopping cart widget into your website and sell all of your products directly from your site. Plus, you have the option to send customized HTML emails to your customers. You also have unlimited uploads.

Comparing Product Pricing: CC vs. FAA

Both pricing models are identical. The retail price = base price + your markup.

Why may CustomCat be the better option for you?

CustomCat is a print on demand drop shipping service that integrates with Shopify and WooCommerce. This allows established and emerging artists (graphic designers, photographers, etc.) to set up shop and sell products (prints, t-shirts, etc.) online.

1. Are you a wannabe seller that is looking to maximize profit with different types of merchandise?

Aside from canvas and posters, CustomCat offers additional products in different categories – baby clothing & accessories, stickers, blankets, mugs, Christmas ornaments, pet accessories, towels, and more. Check out the full product catalog here.

2. Do you wish to have more control over the apparel design placement and decoration method?

When it comes to the apparel design placement and decoration method, CustomCat clearly offers a broader range of products with three distinctive decoration methods: sublimation, direct to garment (DTG), embroidery, and different placement (positioning) options.

3. Do you want to partner up with a print on demand service that has been in the industry the longest?

CustomCat has been in the custom apparel decoration business since 1999. Since then, we have fine-tuned the most efficient in-house production system for on-demand decoration and fulfillment.

4. Do you have a desire to offer personalized products?

Many of our partners are seeing the benefits of personalization with dye sublimation and DTG products. In this age, you need to set yourself apart from the competition, and customization is a great way to do it.

5. Do you like low base pricing?

We offer the best possible pricing in the industry. Nobody comes close.

What’s it going to be?

Fine Art America and CustomCat are both excellent print on demand fulfillment and drop shipping companies, but the difference is what you want to sell. We hope this article helped to bridge the gap in understanding what print on demand servicer is better suited for your business. Let us know in the comments!