What is clip art?

Clip art is any type of ready-to-use graphic that you can use in advertisements, on websites, in pamphlets, or anywhere you would put a graphic.  They can be borders, different types of bullets, funny hand drawn pictures, and even photographs.  Go into your local office supply store and take a look at the computer programs they sell.  You will probably find them selling clip art.

You can even go online and find clip art.  Many sites offer clip art for free while others offer them for a small commission or simply for a mention in your project.  If these websites can sell clip art downloads and make some extra money, so can you.

How do I get started selling clip art?

In order to be able to sell clip art you need to start out by creating your own e-commerce website.  Make sure your website specifically tells your visitors that you are selling clip art so that they can clearly identify your site and find it when they do a Google search on the phrase ‘clip art’.

Once you have your website up and running, you need to have something to generate clip art sales.  If you should happen to be an artist and want to share your drawings with others, you could actually offer up your own artwork as clip art on your website.  If you know someone who draws, ask them if they would be willing to sell their art on your website for a small commission.  The size of the original clip art is not an issue as you can reduce the size on a photocopier or scanner so that it can be included on your site.

Artist rendered clip art should be free of small details.  These get lost when you scan the piece into the computer.  Additionally, you do not have to limit yourself on the type of art you use on your website.  Remember, people may come to a site selling clip art to find graphics they want to use at a yard sale or in mail order packages.  The cute sign of a dog selling his bones at a yard sale may appeal to one of your customers.

If you cannot produce your own art to encourage clip art sales at your website, you could contact a clip art dealer.  There are many out there that sell copyright free clip art that you can resell for a small commission or for one hundred percent of the profit.  Keep in mind that you could have competitors who sell clip art downloads that match your own.  If you want to sell clip art from one of these pre-packaged collections, make sure you supplement with original art work or photographs.  Additionally, advertise your website in places that are not being inundated with ads for clip art sites and packages.

Still trying to find clip art to sell?  Consider using a computer graphic package to make your own if you cannot draw or are not otherwise artistically inclined.  Free programs like Gimp are great to create your own clip art on.  You can then print the graphic on a laser printer and scan it back into your computer so that you can resize it properly.

What about copyrights?

If you sell clip art, make sure that all of the graphics on your website or in the package you are offering is copyright free.  If it is not and you want to use it in your package you need to get permission from the owner or publisher in order to resell it.  There are some instances where you will not be able to use a graphic for clip art sales.  They include but are not limited to:

• Prepackaged clip art collections that do not allow reselling or sharing.  You can use these graphics for your own website, but you cannot sell clip art downloads that are protected under these terms.
• Using clip art to create obscene graphics.  You cannot control what other people do with the clip art you sell, but you cannot use it to make pornographic, defamatory or scandalous clip arts to sell or use on your website.
• Using the image or a picture of a famous person.  You can sell clip art downloads of famous people only if you have specific permission for the person’s estate or from the person yourself.

I have my site and I am ready to sell clip art.  How do customers pay for it?

You want to give your customers every chance possible to purchase clipart from your website.  In order to help them you can use a payment platform and gateway such as PayLoadz.  It will allow them to pay for the clip art and download them to their computer as well as providing you with an e-store for selling clip art.