
Is Amazon Art a Doomed Venture? - mathattack
http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2013/08/is-amazon-art-a-doomed-venture-lets-hope-so.html
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pessimizer
I think a better question is "What is the marginal cost for Amazon adding art
as a new product category?" which is approximately $0. They can afford to keep
it around until buying art on the internet becomes either normalized (if
there's cultural friction) or perfected (if it's _how_ they're selling it
that's holding them back).

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meanguy
I've never had a bad experience with Amazon or any of their third parties
across hundreds (!) of transactions. Long time collector, I purchased two
pieces of art yesterday via the beta. Known gallery, brick-and-mortar. It's
already a total debacle.

Late 90s press quoted Bezos as saying he wanted Amazon to sell everything
except livestock and gasoline. Compared to art galleries, there's less
bullshit and more ethics among the beef and oil companies.

But I pushed the button yesterday specifically knowing Amazon had my back.
That says a lot.

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dblock
Could you elaborate on the debacle part?

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meanguy
Nothing that's Amazon's fault. Amazon purchase history shows order complete,
paid via Amazon credit card. Gallery currently refuses to ship either piece.

Verdict: yes, Amazon has successfully brought the magical experience of
dealing with art dealers online. Not sure earning their cut is going to be
much fun for them, but like Prime I'll happily use it as long as they offer
the implausible service.

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dblock
I presume the gallery refuses to ship the piece because they didn't get the
money yet, right?

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meanguy
Thank you for having "developer at artsy.net" in your bio as I would have
found this continued questioning odd otherwise.

The gallery cancelled the order claiming both pieces are out of stock. A
direct email to the gallery said the pieces were in stock. Typically gallery
scam nonsense.

And literally while I was typing this, Amazon called me, totally unprompted.

So there's your verdict. Art galleries still suck, Amazon is still awesome,
and it's still virtually impossible to make a significant purchase on the
internet in 2013.

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dblock
Thanks. Just trying to learn.

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keiferski
Amazon seems to targeting the wrong category of the art market. I can see
people buying works for $50-$2,000. But the idea of someone paying 1.5 mil for
a Monet _on Amazon_ is both ridiculous and unlikely.

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mrtron
The very expensive items are just establishing the legitimacy of this 'fine
art' section. Amazon doesn't need those items to sell. Having them listed
alone makes the art section feel like it is fine, and makes people more
comfortable purchasing a thousand dollar item.

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mathattack
So it's anchoring? "This must be a classy joint if they sell $50 whiskey, I'll
just have the $15 Jack and Coke..."

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mrtron
Yes. Anchoring price and legitimacy.

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jsight
I think the reviews on this one are a pretty good indication of where this is
going: [http://www.amazon.com/LEnfant-tasse-portrait-Jean-
Monet/dp/B...](http://www.amazon.com/LEnfant-tasse-portrait-Jean-
Monet/dp/B00E2PAN0Q/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top)

If it is going to work, then they have a lot of work left to do.

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650REDHAIR
Ugh.

Those reviews would have been cute 10 years ago, but I really wish Amazon
would screen reviews or only allow people who have purchased that particular
item.

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ijk
Which is a problem for a marketplace of mostly-unique or one-off items. Ebay
makes the seller ratings paramount, which mostly works. Amazon has seller
ratings, but the sitewide culture doesn't place as much emphasis on them.

I've rated every Ebay seller I've ever worked with, but I don't always
remember to do the same with Amazon, and I assume that's pretty typical.

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tonetheman
The article is odd. Almost seems like the author is pissed about people being
able to buy art... I like the concept of being able to purchase prints or art
online, and amazon has online shipping down... I hope it makes it.

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mturmon
Yes. And he's focusing his words on things that don't make sense, rather than
speculating on what might work out.

When well-off people build homes, they want art for the walls. So they buy a
bunch of art en masse ("will these colors work in the study?"). This site
could work for these people, or for the consultants that they hire to
recommend work. Another related use case would be boutique hotels and other
public spaces.

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grimtrigger
Here's my guess as to why art would be overpriced on Amazon (I know nothing
about art prices, so I won't assume that it actually is, just why it would
make sense).

Some recently IPO'd CEO walks into a Brooklyn gallery and sees a piece of art.
He likes art but he's not much of a collector. He knows that art can be a very
lucrative investment, but has no idea what sells in this wierdo art market.
When he finds a piece at the gallery and has a good feeling about, he whips
out his phone and does a google search of the artist/piece and finds and would
you look at that! Prices are on Amazon.com with reviews and everything.

The artist/gallery knows this is happening, so they jack their price on
Amazon. "Hey! This is worth $50k and I'm getting it for $10k". Plus when you
show off your house, you can say "Oh, you like that? I got it at this cute
little gallery in Greenpoint last summer".

Art combines the speculative nature of investment with all the trend
psychology of fashion. Its an irrational market, and a really odd fit for
Amazon.com.

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njharman
The author is focusing on >$10000 and < $500 (posters and crap) It's the mid-
range that is interesting here.

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maxbaroi
Would someone involved in the art world please comment.

I always thought seeing a painting in person would be crucial to buying art
(if you're in the really high end). There's more than just how the painting
looks and its provenance. It's a physical object that has layers, textures and
patterns to it.

But then again, if it's only a stays symbol then who cares?

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Dru89
The thing that I never see mentioned here is that it's not actually Amazon
listing these items, but third party merchants through Amazon Marketplace.
Doesn't that mean that the merchants are the ones setting these "high prices"?
If the merchant thinks their Monet is worth $1.5M, then they can sell it (or
lower the price). Amazon pays very little for each listing and then takes
their commission (and I don't know what that is, but even 5% of $1.5M is a
shiny penny). So if it doesn't work, all that's lost is the dev hours spent on
the experiment. If it does work, then Amazon has really increased their
profit, and the customer/merchant experience is that much better

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antidaily
When the title is a question, the answer is usually 'No'.

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kvb
The full title actually ends with "Let's hope so."

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mathattack
I deleted the "Let's hope so" because I thought it was editorializing. :-)

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diminish
Let's hope so ;-)

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smackfu
I agree with others that is odd to focus on "name" high-end art for this
article. I'm sure most of the sales will come out of the lower-end decorator
market. Where people want to buy a good-sized under-$500 photo that will make
a room, and it's very easy to use this service to browse a lot of pieces and
find that kind of thing.

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joshaidan
>> Should you buy this mediocre Mary Cassatt lithograph for “Price:
$185,000.00 + $4.49 shipping”? (Jeff, is WaPo charging you $250 million plus
$4.49 shipping? I don’t think so. )

If you have an Amazon Prime subscription, I bet you don't have to pay the
$4.49 shipping.

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BenSS
I don't think eBay is Amazon's end goal with this. In the long run, it is more
about Southeby's and Christies's. It will be a long slog to establish a
reputation as a reliable source, but we all know Amazon is willing to go long.

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mathattack
It is strange to hear "Don't you need to see art in person?" because I felt
the same way about books, shoes and eyeglasses.

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chrismonsanto
I still do feel that way about books--I often take trips to B&N just to look
around, even though I rarely purchase books from them.

I purchased my last pair of shoes from Zappos, and I don't think they would be
nearly as attractive if they didn't have such a good return policy (the
internet-equivalent of see it in person).

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Filecloud
It is launched just now.

