Before you begin working on your Art Upload Store, it may be beneficial for you to start by reading a little bit of documentation regarding what file types you can expect to accept when using an Art Upload Store.

When you sign up for an ASF account as a Print Studio your site, by default, should be created with an Art Upload store. However, if it is not or you deleted it for some reason, you will need to create an Art Upload Store on your site.

One of the most important parts of your Store is going to be the Media Types. Without these you won’t be able to sell prints. ASF gives you the option to create specific media types.

We also offer the availability to create Custom Mediums, however this is not a feature that comes included with any plan type and it must be purchased a la carte.

Please Note: When creating custom mediums, you may end up using coding to make them appear like you want. ASF cannot assist with any custom coding at all. If it breaks, we will ask you to remove it or hire a third-party developer to fix it.

After creating Media types, it is best to learn about pricing on your website. Prices can be applied to media types, frames and style finishes and we offer you 2 different options.

The first option if Fixed Pricing. We generally don’t recommend this for Print Studios. However, if you are interested in using this, it allows you to set a fixed dollar amount for specific sizes.

The second option is Smart Pricing. This allows you to price based on the square unit of the print. For example, this will let you charge per the square foot for your prints.

Finally, if you’re a Parent Website (an old and deprecated plan) you may find you need to allow your child site to set their own mark-ups.

Next up, you’ll want to create frames in your Store. Frames are something that can set you apart from other businesses and draw more customers in.

First, you can create a Standard Frame. This frame will not include a Mat and it will not be considered a Floater Frame.

Second you can create a Frame with a Mat. These frames will have a mat applied to them so your customers can visualize what it is they are buying. As an aside, you can offer frames with mats of different colours, but it will require custom coding and it is considered and advanced process.

Third you can offer a Floater Frame. These frames are generally used for things like canvas and follow almost the same process as a frame with a Mat.

After all of that you’ll want to upload your frames to your website and possibly even creating a quoting tool for the frames.

Once your Frames have been completed you can move on to creating your Style Finishes and Print Options!

Style Finishes are required! If you don’t have style finishes your customer may not be able to check out. Because of this you can either use the default finishes offered by ASF or you can create your own to have complete and total control!

Some of the features we offer here are the ability to create Custom Borders and utilize a cool feature for Gallery Wraps.

After you’ve got your Style Finishes complete, you can also create Print Options. These are generally used for things like Red Eye Removal or rushing a print for an extra fee.

Next, if your plan rates for the Cropping Tool, you’ll want to start making sure that it’s set up appropriately.

This tool will allow your customers to crop their images during the order process.

With the Cropping Tool set up, and depending on your plan, you may be able to set up Instagram to Print.

Instagram to Print is a powerful tool that allows you to integrate with Instagram so customers can choose photos directly from their Instagram account and print them.

At this point, you’re getting quite close to having a fully function Art Upload store, but you’re going to want to make sure you set your PPI to an acceptable level and choose whether to allow people to upload multiple images at once.

PPI is important because if it’s set too high you may drive customers away from your site. You must remember that there may be people who have taken photos on their cell phones that they want to print. While cellphones have come a long way, they still aren’t professional cameras and won’t take pictures with sure high PPI.

Then you’ll want to think about whether you want to offer the convenience of allowing people to upload more than one image at a time. This is really a personal preference thing, but it may make the process more stream-lined for your customers.

From this point on, your Art Upload Store should be set up in accordance with its basic needs. Now, people should be able to come on over to your site and start uploading images. Once they do, you can preview those images from your Upload Store!

Last, but certainly not least, we wanted to provide you with a few resources regarding the order flow that your customers are going to go through when they use your website.