ZIIBRA’s online store promotes a personal link between artists and customers

Sometimes it takes all your energy to create a product worth sharing. More often, it’s even harder to get the word out when you’re done.

ZIIBRA, an online marketplace based in Seattle, just launched ZIIBRA Shops, a new service designed to link up artists and craftsmen with interested buyers and let people discover new creative works.

Creations for sale are broken out into six categories: visual, music, food, craft, writing, performance and photo. Clicking the tab for each reveals the work that participating artists are exhibiting on the site.

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The site recommends new artists and and new products to visitors and each artist has their own tabbed home page where an explanatory video, single products, deals and subscriptions are displayed.

For example, for $75, painter Tom DesLongchamp offers a 5 x 7-inch print every six months; for $75 a quarter, he’ll make you a print series every three months, and for $350 a year you get a portrait and an hour-long, in-person coffee chat with the artist.

Or, just like any online store, individual items are available for order for a specified price and delivered to you. Customers can choose a variation, change a size, and offer anything sold on the site as a gift. Supporters have an option to donate without purchasing anything.

The site promotes a degree of social networking in that potential customers or admirers can follow certain artists, and the number of followers an artist collects can affect their transaction fees. While selling on ZIIBRA is free for artists and the site houses a portfolio of items for sale, there is a 5 percent transaction fee to sellers. However, 100 new followers drops that transaction fee to zero for the next month.

Participating artists are from all over the US, but based predominantly on the west coast. The service is limited to artists in the US for now, though items can be shipped to international locations.

If you’re interested in marketing your art, ZIIBRA is currently accepting applications on its site.

➤ ZIIBRA