MDArtGalleries.com Update

     I know everyone has been urgently anticipating the launch of our new art marketplace. I am probably more anxious than anyone!  I just wanted to give everyone an update on the status.  After many heartbreaking setbacks, it finally feels like the site will be a reality somewhere around the end of the year. 
Most of the capabilities I wanted to implement will be fully functional, ie: searching the database by many categories, choice of basic framing with 10 different colors, and prints offered in sizes proportional to the original. There will also be some very nice capabilities available for our artists whether you want to sell on the public gallery or not. You will be able to see your portfolio of scanned images, download customized files for web and shows, see orders placed on the public gallery and order prints with our new online ordering system.  (Please note that if you have not ordered anything in the past couple years, your images may not be on the site, but if you are interested in using the new website, you can request to have images added when we get to that point. Please don't ask to be added until we have sent out the invite to use the website and you do not see anything in your gallery when you sign up.)

     Just to keep your options open until the new site has all the bugs worked out, we will continue offering our upload page with order form on our website and you can still order by phone or email if you like.  I am hoping the new system will make things much easier and more visual so there are fewer mistakes and/or questions due to vague info on the orders. 

     Once the new site is up and running, we will work out any bugs and then start implementing any additional capabilities we want to add. 

     It is not set in stone yet but it looks like there will be an initial $300 setup fee for each gallery on the public gallery site and a 10% fee for each sale. The initial fee will go up to $500 a few months after the initial launch.  All artists will set their own markup percentage for their art so you can figure out what kind of markup you need to make the profit you want. As an example, if the cost for Archival Arts to print the job is $50, and you choose a 100% markup, the buyer will be charged $100, Archival Arts gets $55 ($50 for the print + $5 for the sale) and you are credited $40 for the sale. Tax and Shipping will be added after the markup is calculated.  The markup percentage you choose will be applied to all sales of your art on MDArtGalleries.com.  I really hope this seems fair to everyone. All of my decisions have been based on consensus from the survey everyone filled out and 

     The website is about 80% functional now, we just need to work on payment, shipping and work out a system to credit the artists for sales. We are almost there!!


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