ArtPal
Download
Please download ArtPal from the ArtPal WordPress Page.
ArtPal is a free (GPL) WordPress plugin, originally written for Artists, to seemlessly integrate PayPal with their WordPress blogs so that they can sell their work online.
Artists’ online stores tend to be simple, but also unconventional. The items for sale are one of a kind, and thus the overhead that deals with keeping “stock” is unnecessary. I created ArtPal so that artists would have a simple, easy-to-use solution for their unique needs.
ArtPal’s most important features are:
- Easy PayPal integration–all you need to supply is your PayPal email address!
- Real-time sales updates–as soon as your item sells, ArtPal will disable it from being sold. You’ll never worry about your item selling twice!
- Professionally supported–businesses mean business. Digital Sublimity provides commercial support, so you can be rest assured that your critical application will stay up and running when you need it.
If you have any questions about how to use ArtPal, please post them as comments on this page. I will address them directly or update the FAQ.
Configuring Artpal
Navigate to the Artpal configuration page by logging into your Dashboard, clicking on “Settings”, and then clicking on the “ArtPal” link. I recommend configuring the options on this page as follows:
- Scroll down to the “E-Commerce” section. The first option to configure is the email address that is linked to your PayPal account. This is the account to which payments will be deposited, so check twice for typos!
- The last E-Commerce option you need to configure is which PayPal button you would like to use. Select the option button next to the button of your choice.
- Scroll up to the “General Options” section. Select the category that will hold the artwork that you want to sell. Any posts that you make in this category will be available for sale!
- For now, leave the next option blank.
- In the third option, select the category that will hold the artwork that has already been sold. Posts in this category will remain on your site for archival purposes, but will not be sold through ArtPal!
- The next box holds the HTML that will be displayed when a visitor looks at a piece of art that has sold. You may use the default HTML or customize it to your liking.
- The next box holds the text that will be displayed to users alongside the PayPal button. The words “PRICE” and “SHIPPING” (case-sensitive) will be replaced with the item price and item shipping charges, respectively. You may use the default text or customize it to your liking.
- Leave the next option as is, for now.
- The next text box holds the message to display to a user if you are trying to sell a piece of artwork but have omitted its pricing information. By default it asks the user to contact you; again, you may change this to your liking.
- The last two text boxes are optional. The “URL of Thank You Page” allows you to enter the URL of a page that you would like to direct your users to after they have purchased your work. This can be a page on your blog or an external link to another web site.
- The “URL of Cancel Purchase Page” allows you to enter the URL of a page that you would like to direct your users to if they begin purchasing a work but do not complete the purchase or send payment. This can be a page on your blog or an external link to another web site.
- If you’d like to test your site using the PayPal sandbox, check that final box. Remember to switch it back before you go live!
- Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click “Update Options”
Using ArtPal
To use ArtPal in one of your posts, follow these instructions:
- Create a new post as you normally would.
- Move the cursor to the position in the post at which you want your ArtPal content to appear. Type the following:
[artpal=insert]
When your page is viewed, that text will be replaced by a PayPal button and the text that you have specified in the plugin settings.
- Scroll down to the bottom of the post editor page. You will see a blue bar labeled “Custom Fields.” Click the “+” icon on the right side of that bar.
- Set the price of your artwork by creating a custom field named “artpal_price”. For example, if you are selling a painting for $100, you will enter “artpal_price” in the key field and “100″ in the value field. Click “Add Custom Field” to save the data. This example is illustrated below.
- Set the shipping price of your artwork the same way as you set the selling price, using the key “artpal_shipping”. In the example below, the shipping cost is $10.
Your blog post is now ArtPal-ready, and it gets even easier after you’ve made your first post! WordPress remembers the names of your custom fields, so the next time you add ArtPal content to a post, you can select your tags from a drop-down box instead of having to type them in. This is illustrated in the example below.
FAQ
ArtPal doesn’t have as many features as other WordPress e-commerce solutions. Why should I use it?
Features come with a price: overhead, complexity and server resources. ArtPal is fast, easy to set up and use, and won’t bog down your server. Why set up a whole workshop when all you need is a hammer?
Can I use ArtPal to sell things besides artwork?
Of course! The name comes from who it was written for, but anybody can use it!
I have an idea to make ArtPal better. Will you consider it?
Absolutely! But keep in mind that one of ArtPal’s core aims is to be lightweight and easy to use!
Do you have an issue tracking system set up where I can report bugs?
Not at the moment, but I’m working on it. In the meantime, please report all issues as comments to this page so that I have them all in one place when I’m working on the next release.
ArtPal is so helpful! Do you accept donations for your hard work?
A typical donation is not going to change my lifestyle, but it might really help somebody else’s. Please decide how much you’d like to give me, and then give that amount to the American Red Cross.
Unfortunately, I am stuck . . .I have uploaded the plugin in my plugins in the admin/dashboard in wordpress connected to my site. Then proceeded to configure Artpal, according to your steps. Although, in the post I have individually put up an image of an item I would like to sell, with the the content specfic to [artpal=insert] but when I visit the site I do not see the paypal button that appears near the post. Can you help ? Maybe I was unclear as to where exactly to type [artpal=insert], I thought I could put it in each individual post that would delineate the item for sale.
Hey Sharling,
Can you link me to the post in question?
–Robby
Robby:
I hope so. http://www.rustymesa.com/blog-2/
Shar
Hey Shar,
I see that post is in “Uncategorized.” Did you set up “Uncategorized” to be
your category of items for sale? If not you need to configure that in the
artpal settings, or change the category to whatever your “For sale category”
is.
–Robby
Hmm that is what I thought I did in the General options. I created two categories relative to the posts. . .
Oh I see there are two places one where you create it and the other where you select it. Opths
What is with the crossed out 1500 before the actual price. Did I duplicate something ?
Thanks
Shar
You probably have sale mode enabled. Be sure to disable that.
–Robby
Dear Robbie;
Where would I find sale mode to disable ?
I really really looked
Thanks
Shar
Sorry, I meant ecommerce.
You want to be sure this box is not checked:
http://grab.by/grabs/a42bca1d51a4a16cf8eb60e3a6...
Dear Robbie:
Sorry to be such a pest. I did diable the e-commerce and the price is still scratched out. Do you have any other ideas ?
Dear Robbie:
Sorry to be such a pest. I did diable the e-commerce and the price is still scratched out. Do you have any other ideas ?
I'll contact you off-list and see if we can get this worked out.
Hi Robby,
Intuitively I feel I'm at the right place and as such, I need to know if you think I can use ArtPal with my relatively new WP video blog. I am going to be selling Coaching/Training both on-line and on-site. No books, sneakers or bicycles. Simply Service Products. How many? At the moment 3, but could grow.
I setup a paypal merchant account, optimistically, about 6 months past. Never used it to accept money, only to pay out. My concerns are: can I use it for this kind of Service biz? Like many, I want to believe the payment process is simple & secure. And BTW,
I am not a Geek/Coder/technowhiz. Any hope here? I do like what you've put together on this site, it feels good. Thanx.
Hi Robby,
I am using ArtPal with WordPress 2.9.2
I have sale mode disabled (0% in the Store-wide Sale field in ArtPal Options).
I still get the stricken regular price and then the regular price, shipping and button.
Everything work fine except for that stricken price.
Please see our post at
http://frenchbohemians.com/for-sale/for-sale-vi...
Double/tripeled checked everything.
No game.
No clue as to what to do next to correct that.
Please advise.
Georges
frenchbohemians@cyme.org
Is there any way to allow customers to use the paypal “add to cart” option instead of “buy now”? It seems like you can only pay for one item at a time, which discourages shoppers from buying multiple items.
Hi there. I want to sell my stuff in mexican pesos (mxn), one of paypal's supported currency, yet I had to manually add that option to the plugin. Could you add it, maybe for the next update?
Hi Robby,
I am trying to figure out how to make a single password-protected post work with artpal. I have a category I am using for Artpal, called “Studio Sale.” I have a piece of artwork (sale in progress) which was not part of the studio sale. The customer wants to pay for it online using Paypal. I don't want this post to show up to the public. However, when I add the Studio Sale category and make the individual post password protected, it shows up anyway. Is there a workaround?
Thanks,
Sheila
Hi Robby,
It seems that every time I put in any amount above 1000, it shows up as if it would be sale (first instance stricken. Is there some way to change that?
Please see it at: http://www.luzpreciado.com/paintings
ArtPal looks great, but I need it to do chained payments through paypal (i.e., commision) Will you help me develop the Paypal API?
Yes, I also would like this functionality, as well as a thumbnail widget to show up as a “latest work” in sidebar, and the ability to add multiple buttons to a post ie: “Buy Original” & “Buy Prints” with a variable custom field for diff size prints. I know this is more than the simple idea artpal stood for… but I would love it.