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Flipping art.

Anything considered a "hustle" and not necessarily a CENTS-based Fastlane

Healthfulness

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Hey! So I have ongoing project/business which obviously needs some capital. As a full time student not really that easy to aquire It, even though I work in two jobs, so I started thinking what I can flip in order to get extra money. Luckily in such first world country as Denmark, thrift shops have great, underpriced stuff, but that's not really high cash flow as 95% stuff is still crap and I don't really wan't to sell old coffee machines for 10$ profit.
Today I believe I found a goldmine, I can get a lot of original, pretty old (20-70 years) paintings, painted by danish artists, they are not the most popular ones, but I get them way cheaper than average price of same artists on facebook marketplace or anywhere else so I can already make a profit, but I wan't to squeeze all the potential profit to maximum. What do you all think about getting as much painting as I can and then trying to put them on auctions? Artists are definitely know by someone really deeply passionate, but I believe they we're not really legendary artists as in that case I could not get them that easily. I see that those work prices go from 100 - 500$ which is many times mores than I get them for.
Anyone has done this? Maybe someone owns art gallery? I'm planning to spend couple hundred and get like 20 of them as by marketplace prices I would multiple my investment atleast 5 times, sure marketplace price doesn't mean people actually buy for that price, but If I get It for 30, but same artists painting in same size, same age and similar frame is on sale for 250 I believe I can get 100-150 with no worries.
 
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Tiago

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Try it out, see if it works. I know someone who earned half a million dollars flipping a work of art. Just experiment and see if you enjoy/are good at it.
 

Healthfulness

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Try it out, see if it works. I know someone who earned half a million dollars flipping a work of art. Just experiment and see if you enjoy/are good at it.
Thanks!
I will buy rest of paintings - around 20 for less than 300$ which averages around 15$ for each and they are for sale at average 100$ so I guess I can't really lose, in worst case I will have a lot of cool paintings :D I will try to bring the best one to the auction If that doesn't work then I will try ebay and my last option would be facebook marketplace.
Actually this is really enjoyable, I love art and hustling, perfect combination, but the problem is that I am doing this in country where I've been for less than a year so I don't know anything about these paintings, artists and I haven't learned language yet, well, costs are low, profit is guaranteed so I will update on how It goes.
If this will result in great profit I know where I could get a lot more of them, but first I need to see that It's actually worth It.
 

StompingAcorns

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Today I believe I found a goldmine, I can get a lot of original, pretty old (20-70 years) paintings, painted by danish artists, they are not the most popular ones, but I get them way cheaper than average price of same artists on facebook marketplace or anywhere else so I can already make a profit, but I wan't to squeeze all the potential profit to maximum. What do you all think about getting as much painting as I can and then trying to put them on auctions?

Have you thought about building an Instagram following and selling them there instead of auctions? IG works very well for art due to its visual nature; and if you'll start following good artists there, you'll see how they are creating good followings. Or maybe start with the auctions while you build your IG following. IG would have a much broader reach/Scale (unless you're using an internet auction platform?). I've bought paintings from an artist in another country, who was new to me - simply from finding him and seeing his work on IG.
 
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Healthfulness

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Have you thought about building an Instagram following and selling them there instead of auctions? IG works very well for art due to its visual nature; and if you'll start following good artists there, you'll see how they are creating good followings. Or maybe start with the auctions while you build your IG following. IG would have a much broader reach/Scale (unless you're using an internet auction platform?). I've bought paintings from an artist in another country, who was new to me - simply from finding him and seeing his work on IG.
You gave interesting idea, sell paintings and document It. Kind of make "art flippers" story and sure also put them on instagram for sale.
When you bought from another country, you bought It without researching It's value, information about artist etc? Because I believe It all depends on that. I have artworks in price range 100-300$, but they are not really collected by art dealers as they are too cheap and unknown. I am now gathering information about artists so I can present paintings better as story behind It should increase value.
Oh, and could you please tell me name of account you bought painting from? Just for some insights on how to do It. Thank you! :)
 
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StompingAcorns

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Oh, and could you please tell me name of account you bought painting from? Just for some insights on how to do It. Thank you! :)
I'll IM you some info - but I would suggest doing the following instead:
  1. Put yourself in the shoes of your primary target customer.
  2. Use the search terms he/she would use to find the kind of art you're interested in flipping. (Don't know? Go ask them.)
  3. Start following the artists that come up. Observe what your target customer is going to see when searching for your kind of art.
  4. Observe how those artists market themselves on IG. Observe what hashtags they use, videos, posts, etc.
  5. Try those hashtags.
  6. Find other artists through the comments on those artists - they often follow similar genres.
This should give you a ton of ideas for how to position your product and market it on IG. You will learn a lot more by doing this than from looking at artists I send you.
 

StompingAcorns

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When you bought from another country, you bought It without researching It's value, information about artist etc? Because I believe It all depends on that. I have artworks in price range 100-300$, but they are not really collected by art dealers as they are too cheap and unknown. I am now gathering information about artists so I can present paintings better as story behind It should increase value.
:)
I meant to address this question as well. In the price range you're discussing, most art value is fickle and determined by the buyer's perception and marketing ability of the artist rather than a CV or investment value. Your story idea is good, but you can also look for other reasons to buy. The vast majority of people buy art based on its color and ability to compliment the decor. Many will buy art if it represents a place they like, e.g., buying beach art when on vacation at the beach. Forming a connection with the artist also influences buying decision, such as having a conversation with them about the piece. At that price point, I would look at those kinds of connections.

So to answer your question, I did look into the artist; but I didn't buy it as an investment or care about the artist's CV. I bought it because I liked the painting and the type of art.
 
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Trevor Kuntz

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I had a "business" like this. It was called DecouvArt (from the French word, decouvert, which means discovered). I bought paintings, watercolors, and drawings at auctions and thrift stores, listed them on Facebook, and sold them through Facebook and Craigslist.

My goal from the beginning was just to raise money to pay for my French tutoring ($100 per month). I had already started a real ecommerce retail business before the art flipping business and ended up focusing 100% on the eCommerce business, so I just let DecouvArt die once I sold or donated all the paintings.

End result:
I paid for 3 months of French tutoring
I found 6 paintings that I still own to this day
I donated about 20 paintings to non-profits
I saved a few dozen paintings from ending up in dumpster bins.

Instagram was barely a thing back when I started DecouvArt, so it would probably be easier to sell today than it was back then. I would also focus on any local selling apps. Here in the US, we have OfferUp and NextDoor, but I am not sure what you have in Denmark.

If it doesn't work out, you can probably sell your pieces back into the market at cost and recoup your money/investment. No matter what, you will probably have some fun and learn some lessons about local selling/flipping. I used the skills I learned from Decouvart to flip electronics two years later, which was a more profitable business.

These were some of the pieces I owned at my peak:

decouvart.jpg


decouvart-edited.jpg

Red: Pieces I still own
Yellow: Pieces I sold
Blue: This piece was made of painted silk. Probably the second coolest art piece I have ever seen, let alone owned. I was very intent on keeping it forever, but someone saw it on my Facebook page and literally begged me for it, even crying about it. I sold it to her two years later for $150, but I still miss the piece. I originally bought it for $15 at a thrift store.

I ended up donating all other pieces in this photo.
 
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Lex DeVille

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Art Flippers sounds like a Netflix docuseries. I'd watch.
 

ffp504

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Hey! So I have ongoing project/business which obviously needs some capital. As a full time student not really that easy to aquire It, even though I work in two jobs, so I started thinking what I can flip in order to get extra money. Luckily in such first world country as Denmark, thrift shops have great, underpriced stuff, but that's not really high cash flow as 95% stuff is still crap and I don't really wan't to sell old coffee machines for 10$ profit.
Today I believe I found a goldmine, I can get a lot of original, pretty old (20-70 years) paintings, painted by danish artists, they are not the most popular ones, but I get them way cheaper than average price of same artists on facebook marketplace or anywhere else so I can already make a profit, but I wan't to squeeze all the potential profit to maximum. What do you all think about getting as much painting as I can and then trying to put them on auctions? Artists are definitely know by someone really deeply passionate, but I believe they we're not really legendary artists as in that case I could not get them that easily. I see that those work prices go from 100 - 500$ which is many times mores than I get them for.
Anyone has done this? Maybe someone owns art gallery? I'm planning to spend couple hundred and get like 20 of them as by marketplace prices I would multiple my investment atleast 5 times, sure marketplace price doesn't mean people actually buy for that price, but If I get It for 30, but same artists painting in same size, same age and similar frame is on sale for 250 I believe I can get 100-150 with no worries.

How did your project turn out? I actually flip art but in a different way. A lot of research goes into my method.
 
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Healthfulness

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Oct 7, 2018
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109
Denmark
How did your project turn out? I actually flip art but in a different way. A lot of research goes into my method.
Oh. Not so well.. All paintings are still in my room. Auction places told that they are legit (meaning they are from 70s, 80s painted by danish artists), sadly they are too cheap for them. Tried posting in local marketplace and facebook marketplace, almost zero interest. I guess I'm going to keep them.
 

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