Selling Original Art Online: A Gallery Website Blueprint

Short answer: A gallery site that sells original work needs four page types done well: an artwork page that shows true colour and scale and changes to "reserved" or "sold" the moment that happens, an artist page, an exhibition page that becomes a permanent archive, and an enquiry and viewing flow for buyers who want to talk or see the piece first. Set every original to a stock of one so it can't sell twice, decide per work whether the price is shown or "on request", and quote shipping for large or fragile pieces rather than forcing a checkout rate.

Why a gallery isn't a normal online shop

A shop sells the same mug a hundred times. A gallery sells each painting once, often after a conversation, sometimes after a visit, and occasionally to someone who saw it in the window ten minutes earlier. The website has to cope with three realities: stock of exactly one, buyers who want to ask before they buy, and a sale that might happen in the room rather than online. Here is the blueprint, page by page.

Page 1: The artwork page

This is where the sale is made or lost, so give it the most care.

Status that is always true. Treat every original as a product with a stock of one. On Shopify, with inventory tracking turned on and Continue selling when out of stock left off, an item at zero can't be bought online, according to Shopify's help centre (as of November 2026). Watch one exception: Shopify notes that this setting doesn't apply to its POS, where staff can still sell at zero after a warning. If you sell in the gallery on the same system, train staff to check before ringing up a piece that's already gone online. On WooCommerce, enable stock management and set the quantity to 1; the Hold stock setting keeps an unpaid order's item held for the minutes you choose and then releases it, which stops two buyers paying for the same canvas.

Three visible states, not two. "Available", "Reserved" and "Sold" each say something different. Reserved covers the buyer who has asked you to hold a piece while they arrange payment or a viewing. Most platforms don't have a reserved state, so the practical route is to set stock to zero and show a "Reserved" label from a tag or custom field. Keep sold works visible with a clear "Sold" badge rather than deleting them: they show collectors what the artist's work sells at and keep links from press and social posts alive.

Price shown or price on request. There is no single right answer. Shown prices let people buy smaller works without a conversation and filter out enquiries that will never fit a budget. "Price on request" suits major pieces where the gallery wants to talk, but it adds friction for buyers who'd rather not ask. Many galleries mix the two: prices on works on paper and smaller pieces, enquiry-led for large canvases. Whatever you choose, apply it consistently within a show.

Images that do the work. Buyers can't stand in front of the piece, so:

photograph in even, colour-balanced light and export in sRGB so colours look the same across phones and laptops;
include an "in room" image or a scale figure, because dimensions in centimetres rarely land until people see them against a sofa;
add detail shots of texture, edges and the signature;
offer a large zoom image, but serve smaller files to phones. web.dev's responsive images guide explains how srcset lists several sizes of the same image so the browser downloads one that fits the screen.

Details buyers ask about. Medium, dimensions framed and unframed, year, whether it's framed and how, and a short note from the artist. Add "Ask about this work" and "Book a viewing" buttons beside the price or the enquiry button, pre-filled with the artwork's title so you know exactly what the message is about.

Page 2: The artist page

Collectors buy the artist as much as the object. The artist page should hold:

a short biography written for people, not a grant committee;
current available works pulled automatically from the catalogue, so the page never shows a sold piece as available;
past exhibitions with this gallery, linking to their archive pages;
a portrait or studio photograph;
a "notify me about new work" sign-up, which keeps interested collectors in touch between shows.

Page 3: The exhibition page

Each show gets one page that changes over time.

Before the opening: dates, the opening night time, a short curatorial text, a handful of preview images and an RSVP or "request the catalogue" option. Some buyers want the price list before the doors open; a simple form that sends the PDF to people who ask is a good way to build that list.

During the show: every work in the show as a link to its artwork page, so status changes show up everywhere at once. Add opening hours and how to find you.

After it closes: keep the URL, change the heading to "Past exhibition", and leave the works with their sold or available status. An archive keeps those pages findable when people look up an artist's earlier shows, and it saves every link the press and social posts pointed to.

Page 4: Enquiry and viewing

The enquiry form. Name, email, phone (optional), the artwork pre-filled, and a free-text box. Send an instant automatic reply that says when a person will respond, then have a real person respond, ideally the same day. An enquiry about a specific work is the warmest lead a gallery gets.

Viewings. For private viewings or studio visits, a booking tool removes the email back-and-forth. Calendly is one example: its help page shows how to add buffer time before and after each booking, which gives you time to hang or bring out the work between visitors. Offer viewings only in hours when someone who can talk about the work is actually present.

Shipping as a quote. Large or fragile works don't fit flat checkout rates. Show "Delivery quoted on request" for those pieces, collect the buyer's address and any access notes (stairs, lift, narrow hallway) on the enquiry, and confirm crating and delivery in writing before payment. Small works on paper can usually have fixed rates at checkout.

FAQ

Should a small gallery use Shopify, WooCommerce or a custom site?

Shopify and WooCommerce both handle stock-of-one sales; keep one shared stock count if you also sell in the gallery. A custom build makes sense when you need things they do awkwardly, such as a reserved workflow with automatic release, shared stock across several venues, or an archive spanning many years of shows.

Can I take a deposit to reserve a painting?

Yes, with a deposit product or a manual payment link, but decide in advance how long a reservation lasts and say so on the page.

Do I need to show prices to rank in search?

No. People search by artist, medium and exhibition. Good titles, alt text and a well-kept archive matter more than a visible price.

How often should availability be updated?

Instantly. If a sale in the gallery doesn't update the site within minutes, link both to the same stock or make updating the site part of closing every sale.

We help galleries put sold, reserved and on-request works on one reliable catalogue, so send us a note about how you sell today if that's the gap you're feeling.