Setup ArtFire Store

Setting up ArtFire Store

On ArtFire, "studio" and "store" are used interchangeably to mean the same thing.

Okay, you have registered as a seller on ArtFire. Now what is the next thing to do (if you don't want to spend the next few hours trying to locate the relevant information on ArtFire)?

The Help information on ArtFire currently is not easily accessible in that they are not easy to find. One has to click from one place to another to another trying to get some help. It can take hours, as I have found out. So this is one feature that ArtFire could do with some massive improvements.

After you have registered with ArtFire, they will send you an email. On clicking the link given in the email, your account should be activated. Log into your ArtFire account.

MyArtFire Page

Go to your MyArtFire page (link at top right of page)

Edit Bio/Intro

edit ArtFire Storefront page Go to "Edit Bio/Intro" .. which will bring you to the "Edit My ArtFire Studio Storefront".

This is where we can set up all the standard data that will apply to all your later listings. This is for your Studio (or storefront) which you automatically get after you have registered and activated your seller account.

Studio Announcement
My Bio
Shop Policies (e.g. Shipping, Refunds/Returns and/or Custom work policies)
Vacation Mode
Sales Mode

The boxes do not accept HTML text (except for <br /> when you want to create a new line). In fact, you have to use <br /> otherwise your text will be all on the same line.
You will see a "Save" link beneath each box. Click the save for each box as you are done. Do not fill out all the boxes and then click "Save" as the text you have entered in the other boxes will disappear when you save one box but have not yet saved the others.
ArtFire does not offer a preview :(
To be able to view what you have entered, go to "My Studio" (link is in the left-hand column of the current page).

On the next page, you will see various tabs. Click on the relevant tab to view what you have entered and check how it will appear to your visitors.

Edit My Studio

Click the "MyArtFire" link at the top right of any/most pages to get back to "MyArtFire" page.

MyArtFire > Edit My Studio

Here you have a number of options you can customize. I don't think it matters which order you do it in but the following is how I did mine.

Studio Avatar

From here you can upload an image from your computer as your Avatar. You of course need to create one first if you do not have one.

ArtFire does not tell you beforehand but it does not accept a .gif format. I made my in .jpg and it worked fine.
ArtFire does say that the avatar must be a minimum of 140x140px. So you can make it bigger and ArtFire will resize it automatically for you when you upload.

Make you avatar a square so that it will look proper.

Colors & Themes

You might want to do this after you have uploaded your avatar and studio banner. It will be easier to select a color theme once you have the other 2 in place.

For a free Basic store, you can only select the "Predefined" theme ~ i.e. you cannot fully customize. And within this basic selection, only the top 3 colors are available.

The color you choose will be the color that you see at the top of your studio page, around your avatar and banner.

Only "Verified" members have the full customizable color selection. A "verified" member is one who has a Pro Store (at USD12 per month). See our article under "ArtFire Selling Fees" for a bit more details of a Pro Store.

Layout Options

I am guessing that this means how the thumbnails of your listings is going to look in your store/studio. I have left it as the default (medium spacing between photos), knowing that I can change this later if I need to.

Featured Gallery

This is one of the big pluses at ArtFire. This feature allows you to choose up to 4 items that will be featured (displayed) at the stop of every one of your studio items pages.

This feature is only available to "Verified" members.

Studio Categories

An optional feature whereby you can set up some categories for your store/studio if you like. Again, you can leave this for later. if you like.

Once you have some categories, you can also rearrange their order.

Studio Banner

On this page you can upload a store banner. ArtFire says that you can choose to upload one of 3 different banner sizes. So create your banner (preferably to match or complement your avatar) and upload it.

For a Basic store, you can only use the 760x100px banner size. If you try to upload any of the other 2 sizes, ArtFire will only then tell you that they are only available for "Verified" members.

+ Add Widgets

Again, ArtFire does not tell you till you attempt this, these widgets are only available to "Verified" members. Since I am not a "verified" member at the moment, I can't give you any further details right now.

Custom Gallery

Yet again, this option is only available to "verified" members.

It would be very helpful if ArtFire would make a note of availability on the page or just disable these options if one's status makes the unavailable.

From looking at this page, I gather that you can showcase your sold items using this option.

Sticky Cart

This looks like it might be a useful idea but I cannot gauge how useful. When enabled, whenever a potential buyer puts one of your items in their shopping cart, that item will no longer be available to anyone else for at least 30 minutes or until the buyer has bought it. This feature is Disabled by default.

Help Guide

Finally, some help from ArtFire. Clicking on this link will open an explanation page on all the features we have covered above. It is pretty useful but not fully comprehensive. And in my opinion, this Help Guide is too obscurely tucked away.

Okay, that's about it. Your store should be set up and ready to go. Now all we need to do is list some items!