Guides & Advice · For Sellers
Should you sell greeting cards of your art?
Prints get the glory, but cards are how a lot of people first buy your work. Here’s why they’re the smartest place to start selling — and how to do it well — from a studio that’s printed cards for artists for over 45 years.
In short
Yes — greeting cards are the lowest-barrier way to start selling your art. They cost little to make, sell for a few pounds so buyers say yes without thinking, and put your work (and your name) in front of new people. Start with a small run to test a design, use the quantity discounts as you scale, and treat cards as the gateway that leads buyers up to your prints.
Prints are where the bigger money is — but they ask a lot of a new buyer: a wall, a frame, forty pounds or more. A card asks almost nothing. That’s exactly what makes it such a good place to begin. As ever, the advice here is free.
Why cards are the easiest place to start
A greeting card is an impulse buy at a market stall, a gift someone’s happy to post, a few pounds that no one has to think twice about. And every card you sell does quiet marketing for you: your image on someone’s mantelpiece, your name on the back, in front of a person who’s never heard of you. Cards aren’t a lesser product — they’re your front door.
Start with one, then scale
You don’t have to gamble on a big run to find out whether a design sells. Our minimum order is a single greeting card, so you can print one, hold it, and only commit to more once you’re happy with how it looks in the flesh. When a design earns its place, scale it up — the cost per card drops as the quantity rises.
The economics stack up
Quantity discounts are worked out per card stock, not per design. So the full quantity printed on one stock bands together for the best price, however many different images you spread across it — you can print a whole range on the same stock and still hit the discount. At typical retail prices cards carry a healthy margin, which is why they so often pay for your table at a fair before you’ve sold a single print.
Getting the cards right
Choose a stock that suits your work — a smooth board for crisp, graphic images, a textured or watercolour-style board for painterly ones. Cards are printed, trimmed and creased by hand in our Bristol studio, supplied with envelopes, and blank inside as standard so they work for any occasion. If you’d like to feel the stocks before choosing, the Studio Kit has them all in the hand. Allow roughly 5–7 working days for production, plus delivery.
Where to sell them
- Markets and art fairs — the classic. Cards catch the browsers who aren’t ready to buy a print yet.
- Independent shops and galleries — on a wholesale or sale-or-return basis. Price so the margin still works after their cut.
- Your own website — you keep the margin and, more importantly, the customer.
- Alongside your prints — always. The card is the taster; the print is the meal.
Cards are a ladder to prints
The person who buys a £3 card today is often the one who buys the £45 print next year. Display them side by side, put your website on every card, and let the small purchase do the introducing. If you’re ready to think about the rungs above, our guides on pricing your prints and selling your prints online pick up where this one leaves off.
Common Questions
Cards, answered.
Can I turn my paintings into greeting cards?
Yes. Send us a good photograph or scan of your artwork and we can print it as greeting cards. If you’re not confident photographing your work, our studio can scan the original for you and check the file before printing.
What’s the minimum order for greeting cards?
One. Our minimum order is a single card, so you can print a new design, see it in the flesh, and only commit to a larger run once you’re happy with it.
How much do art greeting cards sell for?
Most independent artists sell art greeting cards for somewhere between £2.50 and £4.50 each at retail, and less per unit in multipacks or wholesale. Price up from your per-card cost once you know it.
Do you offer quantity discounts on greeting cards?
Yes. Discounts are calculated per card stock, so the full quantity printed on one stock bands together for the best price regardless of how many designs you spread across it. The more you print on a stock, the lower the cost per card.
How long do greeting cards take to print?
Allow roughly five to seven working days for production, plus delivery time. Larger runs or busy periods may take a little longer, and we’ll always let you know if so.
Thinking of starting a card range?
Talk it through — the advice is free.
Not sure which stock suits your work, or how to get a good file from a painting? There are real people here who’d rather help you get it right first time. Email us and we’ll reply the same working day.