My Online Store is Open for Business!
Last week I officially opened my online storefront. I use Squarespace to host my web site and have been using their least expensive plan to do so for about two years now. After getting inquiries as to whether or not I sold prints of my watercolor paintings of local Lynchburg (Virginia) landmarks, I decided to begin doing just that. In addition, I’m now doing monthly “Sketching & Painting Sampler” sessions and plan to start offering 2-day workshops and 4-week (12-hour) classes of my “On-Location Sketching & Watercolor Painting” course, so having an online storefront where people can register makes sense. And, finally, I want to advertise that I’m available to do custom house portraits.
Setting up the storefront required me to upgrade to the Squarespace Business Plan. Squarespace makes the setup process pretty straightforward, though, so the experience was a pleasant one. They provide all the cataloging and online cart tools but you have to use a third party for payment processing. One of the ones they support is PayPal. Since I already have a PayPal account and have sold things on eBay using it, that was a natural choice for me. The end user, someone who purchases prints or registers for my classes and workshops, doesn’t have to have an account, however. PayPal is simply the vendor which receives their credit card payment and deposits it in my account. For that service I pay a credit card processing fee of 2.9% and a per transaction fee of 30¢.
So, please come and browse my store! I will be adding prints of new watercolor paintings as I create them with a special emphasis on sketches of locations in the Lynchburg, VA area.
