vriad_lee

yes, you retain the ownership, but, first of all, they are prints, i.e. there are unlimited copies, nobody would compete for that. toys are a different story, they should be sold on ebay, preferably. deviantart specialize in professional printing, i will never be able to do anything like that: lab results are unpredictable, and then - the hassle of printing individual photos! so i think a service like deviantart or smugmug is the best thing, for selling prints. it's all a question of exposure, of promotion, because naturally everyone has a camera these days and the competition should be severe. the appealing aspect is that there's almost zero investment - you build and promote your site, over years -- something you'd do anyway...