Who we are

LFTA is a UK registered CIC (Community Interest Company) working for the benefit of visual arts and artists. We started with a free artists' trading website in the UK and are planning a major expansion into several other territories through 2019.


LFTA aims to connect visual artists and photographers to modern online resources so they can sell their work in accessible product forms like greetings cards, prints, calendars etc. We say “accessible” because this is precisely what we’re aiming to achieve – to get the beauty of your art out there in formats that more people can access and appreciate.


The initiative provides the very latest ecommerce technology free of any charge to the artist and without restrictions on choice of work to present.


We aim to allow an artist to sell their work in printed formats, whether or not they already do so. It does not aim to earn from the artists' sales (it’s a not-for-profit venture), but aims to pass the benefit of a sale to the originator and owner of the work - you!

Working for the benefit of...

Visual artists, illustrators & photographers

Frequently Asked Questions

How does it work then?

If you qualify and want to join, we will give you a presence under the umbrella of one of our trading websites (e.g. for an artist in Britain or the UK, see our uk ecommerce site). you will publish your chosen artworks as greetings cards and other items to your named webpage, categorising, sizing and pricing your own products.

Your pages on LFTA are directly accessible by URL so you can promote your presence and link your own web and social media activity straight into your products and your own LFTA shop area. Likewise, if you have shops you work with, we can set them up with log-in access that recognises them as a wholesale purchaser so they can buy your work at wholesale prices for onward retail. Lastly, you can buy your own products at very low 'stock' prices and sell them through local events or through your own outlet etc.

Your products will be sold through payment processing facilities organised by us, will be manufactured, packaged and delivered by us and you will only be charged for print production, postage and transaction fees. The majority of the proceeds of any sale is for your benefit, paid to you on a quarterly basis.

Copyright always remains with you; we don’t own or licence any design of yours; we don’t make a profit from your sale.

Is it for real?

Our uk ecommerce site has been trading since Spring 2016 and has many contributing artists. You are more than welcome to make contact with any of our current members and find out for yourself if all is as we describe. We are very happy to be judged on our actual operation through the people who use our services.

Keep in mind though, that we don't sell things ourselves. In our system it is up to the contributing artist to do their own marketing and promotion. Some do this very well indeed and earn a lot of money month-by-month, others are much less active - it's up to the individual.

So, yes, it's very much for real, but how much you'll get out of LFTA will relate to how much effort you put into promoting yourself and your work to the buying public. Push yourself through social media, through your web presence and through activities in your local area and community. Point people (and shops) to your directly linked LFTA pages so they can buy work straight from you to help you develop your artistic business.

Can you work through organisations and galleries rather than with single artists or photographers directly?

Yes, indeed, we are very keen to work with galleries, studios and other groups curating great art into one place. We have several programmes that are designed to bring benefit to organisations like yours so please get in touch with us here and we will contact you to discuss what we offer and how we might work with you.

I'm a card retailer - does this programme work for me?

We are very keen to work with retailers and want to support you as much as we support our artists and contributors. You will be able to buy from us at the wholesale rates you would expect and with no penalty if you want to buy little-and-often rather than in big stock purchases.

You can also have your own branding on the backs of the cards you are buying for your shop-stock to encourage customer loyalty and promote your business.

We hope to give you the best choice of designs you will find anywhere, enabling you to support your local or regional artists, or buy from the wider range we offer.

Most of all though, we want you to know that you are buying directly from our artists and supporting British/American arts, and the British/American economy, in doing so.

Please register with us here as a shop if you are interested to work with us.

What happens if an artist never sells anything?

At the end of the day we must regard this venture commercially even though we aren’t working for profit.

As a general rule we will limit the free access to LFTA’s resources to 12 months and will then review this in individual cases if there is little or no activity.