ArtSites Updates
More Art Scam Information
This week, we received another email from ArtSites artist, Jodie Blaney, about a recent art scam she almost fell victim to.
Here's how the scam works...
- An artist will be sent an inquiry about specific art pieces through their art website. The email will look like it's been sent from a local buyer.
- Next, the supposed buyer will say that they are refurnishing their home and would it be alright if their interior designer (or a local mover) comes by the artist's home when they're in the area to pick up the pieces on their behalf.
- Next, the artist is assured that a cheque will be sent in advance before the designer arrives to pick up. (Sounds good so far, right?)
- Next, the buyer couriers a cheque for too much money, typically an over payment of about $1,000. The artist is encouraged to cash (pressured by email) the cheque because the designer needs to pick up the art in the next 2 days.
- However, the CHEQUE IS FAKE! But before the artist can realize this, the buyer says the over payment is because the extra cost is to pay the designer on their behalf....
So, if the artist hasn't caught on yet, they end up losing their artwork AND paying a personal cheque to the pick-up person.
Finally, Jodie was advised by the Canadian Anti-Fraud Agency to return the cheque to the sender and inform the buyer that the pieces are NOT available.
It's important to send by ExpressPost (or registered mail) so that a trace of delivery and proof of return can be made in case of future problems.
Many, many thanks, Jodie, for bringing this to our attention and for outlining what you encountered!
Your "Red Flag" should be when you see a "good as cash" cheque, that is over-payment for the artwork. The extra amount usually needs to be paid back in some untraceable form to someone untraceable.
In all cases we've seen, there were multiple pieces of artwork involved and the scam is helped by the fact that you're usually WOWed by having the chance to sell several items all at once.
Here are a few more links and resources from our previous posts about Art Scams:
- How to Check if An Inquiry is Legitimate
- Other Art Scam "Sender Names" to Avoid
- Red Flags When Doing Business Online
- Stop Art Scams Blog & Facebook Page
(list of common Art Scams)
MORALS OF THE STORY ;-)
- Don't accept cheques from people you've never met.
(It may not even be a good idea to accept one from a local person that you HAVE met.) - Do your transactions via PayPal. If the buyer is not willing to do that, then they are likely a scammer.
- There are some risks in using PayPal, as well, but PayPal does have some of the best fraud protection in the world and they pick up on bad credit cards pretty quickly.
- Delay delivery of your artwork until you can make sure that a payment cannot be reversed or a cheque has not bounced.
- Use an Escrow service like Escrow.com, which will make sure the transaction happens. Again, if the buyer is not willing to do this, they are likely a scammer.
- Do your research whenever someone you DON'T know inquires about buying a piece. It could save you lots of time, money, and artwork!
PayPal Button Tips
This week, we've had several inquiries about PayPal buttons and we wanted to share our tips and answers with the rest of you!
Create Separate PayPal Buttons for Different Purchasing Options
You can create a separate button for every "matting", package, print size or other option.
Instead of making potential buyers contact you, offer them the option to just click the appropriate button to select their choice.
Create Separate PayPal Buttons to Pay Different Artists
We have several artist collectives, galleries, etc. using our tools and on many of these sites they sell artwork from multiple artists.
If you are managing such a site, you can create PayPal buttons that use each artist's PayPal email address so that the payments go directly to the artists.
(Please note that each artist will first have to create their own PayPal account and then let you know what email address they used for their PayPal account.)
PayPal Buttons Must Be On Their Own Line
Because of the way PayPal buttons work, they need to be on a line of their own. In other words, you can't have them at the end of a description or sentence.
They need to be on their own line to work properly.
Add PayPal Buttons to Your Images
If you're interested in adding PayPal buttons to your website, here's our Add PayPal Buttons Tutorial.
Have fun and do let us know if you have any more PayPal button questions!
Issues with Images Rotated Improperly
Recently, it has come to our attention that images taken with Apple iOS devices (e.g. iPads, iPhones, iPods, etc.) and potentially other cameras may not be rotated/oriented properly when viewed on some browsers.
Here's what's happening (and I'll try to describe this with as little "tech jargon" as possible ;-)
Apple has embedded a "flag" in its image files that indicates which way is "up". Some browsers (and unfortunately, NOT all) recognize this flag and will automatically rotate the image so that it displays correctly.
However, some browsers do NOT recognize this flag and as a result, your images may not display properly.
Also note that many image-rotation software programs ignore this flag. So, even if you do rotate your image files with software, there's a good chance your software won't UPDATE the flag - which means your images STILL may display incorrectly!
Now, we do have a solution and are in the process of implementing it. That said, if you do see images that are rotated or displaying improperly, please let us know!
(As a quick aside, if you do have access to other cameras - even inexpensive point-and-shoot ones - you'll probably get better pictures with them and we do recommend using those. ;-)
How Many Images Should I Upload?
Which Ones Should I Upload?
How Many Sold Pieces Should I Include?
Several artists have asked us,"How Many Images Should I Upload and Display" and usually the follow-up question, "How Many Sold Works Should I Display".
Here's what we generally recommend...
You shouldn't upload images of every piece of artwork you've ever created. Remember, your visitors are trying to get a sense of your style and capabilities.Too much art and too much variety can be confusing.
Instead, upload pieces that represent the kind of artwork you are either currently creating or wish to continue to create.
If you want to include experimental pieces, think about adding these to your Blog and then explain how what you're doing is an "extension" or "evolution" of your previous works ;-)
In terms of the number of "SOLD" pieces, too many can also turn off potential buyers. You are probably thinking that showing how well you're collected may spark someone to buy more quickly.
However, it can also have the oppositie effect and buyers may think, "is all the "good stuff" gone?" ;-)
When displaying "SOLD" pieces, be sure to show your BEST pieces. These might include:
- Award-winning pieces
- Exhibited pieces from juried shows
- Privately or institutionally collected pieces
- Reviewed or published pieces
Using sold pieces like this promotes your credibility as an artist and really shows the value of your artwork!
Speed Painting Artist
Here's a great video with an AMAZING Speed Painting Artist...can you guess what he's painting before the very last second of the video?!
Enjoy!
Disabling & "Simplifying" Your Menu
One of the main reasons behind our recent software update is that we're standardizing our system so that we can easily add new features and layouts in the coming months.
As part of our update, our long-time artists may have noticed that "News" changed to "Blog" in your Admin Panel. This change was made to make sure our Admin Panel names are consistent for everyone.
(You can always change the Menu name back to "News" if you want by typing in a new name in the "Menu Name" area and hitting the "Rename" button - see image above.)
However, if you "disabled" your "News" page, the new "Blog" page may not be disabled because of this name change. Please check your website to make sure your "Blog/News" page is properly "disabled or enabled".
How to Disable Any ArtSites Webpage
Speaking of which, we strongly recommend that you "disable" any web pages that you aren't using.
To do this, just go to your Admin Panel and click on the tab with the name of the page you'd like to disable and click on the "Disable This Page" button (see below).
Some of the pages you may want to disable are Blog, Links, or Events (if you're not using them). This reduces the number of links in your navigation menu and means your visitors only spend time on pages with interesting content.
Please note that you can re-enable these pages at ANY time! Disabling a page just "hides" it until you're ready to use it.
Disabling your pages simplifies your menu and makes sure your visitors don't waste time clicking on pages with nothing to see! ;-)
How-to Customize Your PayPal Account
If you are using PayPal to process online and credit card payments, you may find setting everything up can be quite complicated (which it is! :-)
For an introduction to how PayPal works and how you can integrate PayPal buttons into your ArtSites website, feel free to watch and listen to our PayPal Overview Workshop.
However, if you really need to customize your PayPal Account, here's a great (and long) article/tutorial that walks you through customizing your PayPal account.
In this PayPal article/tutorial, you'll learn how to:
- Customize Your PayPal Payment Pages with a Logo and Colors
- Setup Tax Rates
- Setup Shipping Rates
- Setup Shipping Methods
- Specify Payment Types You'll Accept
- Handle Multiple Currencies
- Specify the Name Displayed on a Buyer's Credit Card Statement
- Define Where Buyers Go After Paying
- Setup a Contact Phone Number
- And, much more...
It's a VERY long page, but it does have lots of images and will hopefully help you create a better "buying experience" for your buyers! :-)
If you know of other PayPal resources that might be helpful to our artists, please let us know!
Types of Brushes
Here's a great brushes poster!
Have you tried a new brush lately? Which type(s) work best for you?! And, which brand(s) are best?
How to Write AWESOME Facebook Updates
If you're looking for information online, one place you may or may not have heard of is SlideShare.net.
SlideShare offers a wealth of presentations covering a VERY wide range of topics. I often just browse the website to see what "experts" are talking about :-)
This week, I came across a presentation that you might enjoy called How to Write AWESOME Facebook Status Updates.
Many of you have launched your own Facebook Pages (and if you haven't here's a great video on how to do that ;-).
This presentation provides you with some nice tips on what to write and how to keep your content engaging and interesting!
Even I found the presentation helpful and it gave me a few new ideas!
Please check out How to Write AWESOME Facebook Status Updates and do let us know when you launch your Facebook Page so that we can follow you, too! :-)
Finalizing a New ArtSites Layout
Guess what?! We're in the process of creating a new layout that better uses the entire screen to view your images! (Yeah! :-)
We know this is long overdue, and Geoff's been REALLY busy upgrading our system to give us more flexibility so that we can create even more layouts more easily.
However, before making this latest layout public, we'd love some volunteers to help us test it and give us feedback.
If you'd be interested in playing around with a new layout AND letting us know what's not working or what would make it better, please send us an email and we'll add you to our "pilot project" ;-)
Thanks again for helping us make ArtSites even better and we'll be sure to let you know when we launch the new layout!
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