How to Sell Art Prints and Commissions on Instagram
Artists lose sales in the same place every time: the "price?" comment that goes unanswered while they are painting. The fix is to let the comment itself fetch the price. With the Viralyze app, a PRINT comment sends your print shop and a COMMISSION comment sends your booking page, and both take UPI or card with 0% platform fee.
This guide covers prints, commissions and the keywords that keep the two separate.
What should an artist actually list?
Three product types, each with its own checkout page.
- Physical prints: A4 and A3 sizes as separate products, with shipping stated in the description.
- Digital downloads: phone wallpapers or printable files, delivered instantly.
- Commissions: a booking with a deposit, taken through your service menu rather than the shop.
A watercolour artist in Kochi, for instance, might list "Backwaters at Dusk, A4 giclée print, ₹650 plus ₹80 shipping", a ₹99 wallpaper pack, and a "Custom pet portrait, A3, from ₹4,500" booking.
How do I sell prints from a reel?
Set a keyword on the reel showing the piece. Keywords are not case-sensitive and cope with typos, so PRINT, "print pls" and "prints?" all match. The DM carries the checkout link for that exact print.
Different keywords can send different replies, so one reel showing three pieces can use the keywords BLUE, GOLD and DUSK to send three different product pages. Each buyer becomes a contact tagged with the reel they came from, which tells you which artwork sells rather than which gets likes.
How do commissions work as a booking?
Treat a commission like a service with a menu. Main services: pet portrait, couple portrait, house illustration. Add-ons: extra subject, rush delivery, framed. Duration and price combine automatically when the client picks options, like a salon menu.
Payment is taken upfront, which solves the deposit problem artists hate raising. Connect Google Calendar and each commission blocks a slot on your production calendar, so you never promise two portraits for the same week. The client gets a confirmation page and WhatsApp reminders when the consultation call is due.
Should I put prices in the caption or the DM?
In the DM, with the full detail, and a range in the caption. A caption saying "prints from ₹650, comment PRINT" filters out the merely curious while the DM gives the buyer the exact size, price and shipping.
Viralyze adds AI variations so each DM reads a little differently, and the public reply ("Sent you a DM 💌") rotates too, which keeps a reel with 200 comments from looking like a wall of identical bot replies.
How do I handle originals and sold-out pieces?
Pause the automation when the piece sells. Set auto-pause after one DM for a single original, or after the number of prints in a limited edition. When the status flips to Paused, later commenters get nothing instead of a link to a sold-out page.
For the next drop, schedule the automation to start with your next post so the link goes live the moment the reel does.
Frequently asked questions
**Can I sell physical prints and still deliver a digital file to the same buyer?** Yes. List them as separate products, or send the digital file as a thank-you from the Inbox after the print order.
**Do I need to handle shipping inside the app?** No. The shop takes the payment and collects the buyer's details; you ship through your usual courier and reply in the Inbox with the tracking number.
**Can international collectors buy a print?** Yes, by card. Payouts arrive weekly in your Indian bank account, and the international plan is $4 a month.
Start the 7-day free trial of Viralyze, no card needed, and let your next "price?" comment answer itself.