Seller Minimum Requirements

This section lists the minimum requirements that a seller must have/follow to operate on the website.

1. You must have regular access to the Internet and to your own email mailbox
2. You must have access to a digital camera to photograph the artwork (only a reasonable quality is required as high resolution images are not needed)
3. You must have a good printer and quality stationary to print delivery notes
4. You must be currently able to sell artwork offline and must have the authorization of the owner of the artwork to do so
5. The artwork must be originals, limited edition prints or unique object d'art
6. If your artwork is framed then this must be framed professionally to a high standard
7. You must have a bank account in order to receive payment that was taken via the website
8. You must agree to dispatch your artwork to customers using a professional courier service, and be able to accept delivery outside the United Kingdom (the additional cost will be arranged with the customer)

Operating as a Seller

This section explains the processes involved in being a seller on the website.

Once your registration has been accepted you will receive an email message containing a link to your own personal Seller Centre page to the website. This is a secure page that you access using you User Name (your Email Address when you register), and your Password (also given when you register). Please keep your Password secret as it allows full control over your account.

From the Seller Centre you can:

• Add/edit/remove your artists
• Add/Edit/Remove your artworks and object d'art to exhibit
• Add/Edit/Remove your events and exhibitions
• List artworks and object d'art that you are exhibiting
• List artworks and object d'art that have been sold and are awaiting payment from the customer
• List artworks and object d'art that are ready for you to dispatch
• Review your affiliate visitors and commission
• Review your orders and account balance

Artists
Before adding any artwork you must firstly add the artist to the website. This is done using the Your Artists link. Only a Name (Last name, First name(s)) and Description are required, but you may also optionally add a photograph (either of the actual artist or a typical artwork of the artist) to add more interest. You may alter your artists' details using the Alter Artists link.

Artworks and Object d'Art
You can then add artworks by using the Add a new Artwork link, and object d'art by using the Add a new Object d'Art link, Most fields are mandatory (apart from the filtering fields: Medium, Colour, Tone and Categories - it is advisable to fill these in to allow customers to search for artworks with particular attributes).
Once you have added your artwork and object d'art they are validated by our staff (within 2 working days). This is basically to check that you have entered everything correctly; that the size and price are reasonable, that it will not cause offence, etc. On validation the artwork and object d'art will be added to the website for exhibition.

There is no limit to the time that the artwork and object d'art will be exhibited on the website. If the seller sells a piece via any other means then it is very important to remove it from the website as soon as possible (using the Remove link next to the piece in the ... currently Exhibited list. In the event that a customer purchases such a piece from the website, that has not been removed, then it is the responsibility of the seller to fully refund the customer (note that our commission charge is not refundable). As the reputation of the website is damaged by such instances repeated events of this nature will cause the viability of that seller to be investigated.

Whilst uploading information about a piece a sellers may indicate that it is not ready for approval by selecting the pieces Hide checkbox. When the piece is ready then un-checking the box will indicate that it is then ready for approval. The Hide checkbox can also be used to temporarily suppress the display of pieces that are currently exhibited on the website, useful if there is a possibility of an off-line sale of the piece, but where sale is not confirmed.

Stages in the sale process:

1. An email message is sent to the seller as soon as a customer places an order for a piece. This allows the seller to remove the piece from display and prepare it for dispatch.
2. A further email message is sent when we receive payment for the order. The seller will then follows an online dispatch process to generate our invoice to the seller, a delivery note to the customer and to finally confirm dispatch of the piece to the customer.
3. On this confirmation of dispatch the order value, minus our commission charge, will be transferred into the seller's nominated bank account.
4. As a final step, the customer is encouraged to log in and click a button when the piece arrives. They are also encouraged to give any comments about the service. This will help in our constant monitoring and improvement of our service.

Commission

Commission is only charged on completed orders through the ArtTraderUK  website.

Commission is charged at 10% of the total order price - no minimum charge is applied for small orders.

Note that an additional commission charge is also applied if the customer selects an online payment scheme. This is typically from 2-4%, please refer to individual payment schemes for their current rate. If applicable the charge will be indicated on our invoice to you. Online payment schemes broaden the payment opportunity for customers, and so increase the likelihood of a sale. We have selected online payment schemes that offer the lowest fees available, and we make no additional charge ourselves for whichever payment scheme is selected.

Photography Tips

This section is intended to give advice on how to take the best photographs of your artwork and object d'art to display on the website.

Image Size Photographs on the website are displayed at the minimum of either 800 pixels wide or 600 pixels high. When submitting your photographs they will be scaled to the lesser of these two dimensions. Taking images at much higher resolutions is not necessary, We recommend either a 1024 or a 1280 resolution with fine quality. This will provide sufficient image quality and reduce the time it will take to upload them.

Lighting The best results can be attained by photographing your pieces in diffused natural daylight, i.e. with natural indirect white light. If only artificial light is available then diffuse white light is preferable, e.g. florescent lights. Spot lighting should be avoided, and your digital camera flash should be turned off, as these cause a glare on the surface of the artwork (especially on glass). This may be reduced by taking the photograph from a slight angle to one side.

Reflections from Cover Glass Reflections in the glass from objects in the room can be a major problem in well lit rooms. Try to position yourself so that the refection is coming from a darker part of the room. The ideal situation is a well diffusely lit artwork in a darkened room - perhaps using black sheets (and wearing dark clothing).

Aspect and Perspective of Artwork The website requires the photograph to be cropped to only display the artwork, and the frame if included. If the photograph was not taken "square-on" then the image will not be completely rectangular, due to the effect of perspective. If this deviation is small then the artwork may be cropped slightly, to make it rectangle. However, if the effect is more pronounced then it will be necessary to use a software graphics package to alter the perspective. Once the image is rectangular it may be cropped as usual.

Dimensions of Object d'Art It is important to convey an idea of the scale of a piece displayed on the website, This may be achieved by placing the piece in situ near objects of a known scale, e.g. a sofa or table. Placing it in an intended position can also act as a suggestion for the customer. If the piece has several facets then an images may be uploaded than consists of several viewing angles, perhaps as smaller insets from different viewpoints.

Software Packages Many software packages are available that can be used to prepare images for upload.

We can highly recommend PerspecX, an extremely useful for correcting the effect of perspective. To use this software simply load your image, place the four corner indicators directly on the corners of the artwork, and select Transform/Perspective Transform from the menu. A second image will be created that is just the artwork, which can then be saved to disk. An evaluation version of this can be downloaded here:
  PerspecX Lite 

We can also recommend Paint Shop Pro (by Jasc Software), a graphics package for manipulating many aspects of your images. A trial version of this can be downloaded from:

Header Syntax for Descriptions and Notes

You may separate your descriptions into sections using our header syntax.

You may use the following syntax in your Artist's, in your Artwork's and in your Object d'Art's Description and/or Notes fields:

:HEADER <Some Header Text>:

When this is viewed by customers on the website the syntax is replaced by the header text in a larger font and different colour, for example the description:

:HEADER Artist's Biography:

will be displayed as:

Artist's Biography

ISBN Link Syntax for Descriptions and Notes

There is greater customer interest in artists and artwork that has been published in a book. It builds confidence in the quality of the artwork and also adds novelty value of owning an artwork that is in a publication.

Sellers may add a link to a specific book by using the book's ISBN reference. By selecting the link customers will be able to review the book atAmazon.co.uk where they can find out more information.

You may use the following syntax in your Artist's, in your Artwork's and in your Object d'Art's Description and/or Notes fields:

:ISBN<reference number>:

When this is viewed by customers on the website the syntax is replaced by a link through to the Amazon.co.uk page for that book, for example the description:

A fictitious book, The Wonderful World Of Art :ISBN123456789: (by A.N Other)

will be displayed as:

A fictitious book, The Wonderful World Of Art (by A.N Other)

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