Selling art online

Two weeks into this blog, and still very keen to start an art business of some sort, I am leaning towards the idea of opening up an online gallery. At least initially.

Why? For a few reasons:

• Cost - This is the big one. Although it won't be cheap to set-up a website, you avoid the cost of hiring a gallery space.
• Competition - As Mark pointed out, there are already 200 'bricks and mortar' galleries in Melbourne. Is there really a need for any more?
  
• Flexibility - An online gallery would give me a little more freedom to work on it when I could. Which might give me the chance to do some part-time work somewhere else, to keep some money coming in while I'm setting up.
  
• Experience - I have an online marketing background, and think I could use these skills to set up an online gallery. On the other hand, I haven't worked in a normal gallery before.
• Reach - there is the opportunity to attract artists and art lovers all over the world ... which is less likely than with a shop-front gallery here in Melbourne.
  

But of course, I do have some reservations about this. For starters, let's look at the competition - There's already some brilliant online galleries and communities set up - I'd sure need to launch something remarkable for it to work.

And the million dollar question :: Who buys art online?

Is there a big enough market of people buying art online for this to be a viable idea? I suspect that more and more people will start to.

So to help me answer this question, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

• What experiences have you had with buying and selling art online?
• Am I wasting my time thinking about opening an online art site?