Art supply shops

Magpie sells your paints, paper and canvas online and in the shop. It takes the college's orders on invoice and fills your life drawing nights.

The shop, its staff and its workshop tutors work in one Magpie team.

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Palette Lane Art Supplies’ products: heavy body acrylics by colour, watercolour pads, stretched canvases, sable brushes and the foundation kit, each with whether it is live, its stock and its price.

This combination of four Magpie areas fits an art supply shop.

Store
Store sells every colour, size and sheet online, and gives schools their trade prices on invoice.
Calendar
Calendar lists life drawing, workshops and demo days, with RSVPs up to the seats you set.
Forms
Forms takes framing requests with a photo of the piece, and a paid workshop's fee.
Newsletter
Newsletter tells subscribers about new stock, the term's workshops and the sale.

Every colour, size and sheet is online, with its own stock.

Store is the shop's online shop. A paint's options, such as Colour and Size, make each combination an item. Each has its own price and stock. Open stock sells by the tube, and paper by the sheet or the pad.

A college's foundation kit sells as a bundle of products you already stock. A sale at the counter is recorded as an order.

Magpie tells you which colours are low, and starts the supplier's order.

Each item has a reorder point. When a colour falls to it, you get an email. The Stock page lists what is low. A purchase order to the supplier fills itself with the low items.

Receiving the delivery adds the stock at its cost and makes the supplier's bill. Stock can be kept in the shop and a stockroom, and moved between them.

Stock of Palette Lane’s heavy body acrylic by colour: on hand in the shop and the stockroom, held for checkout, each colour’s reorder point, the cadmium red on order, and the cost per tube.

Schools and colleges order at their trade price and pay by invoice.

A school's art department is a wholesale customer with its own price list. Its teacher signs in to Magpie and sees the trade prices and minimums. At checkout they choose Pay by invoice, and no card is needed.

The invoice is sent from Invoicing, due on the school's terms, with a Pay online button. You can ship the order before it is paid. The invoice does not count toward your plan's monthly limit.

Palette Lane’s wholesale page: the art college asking for trade prices for its first-year kits, with Approve and Decline, and the schools and studios already approved with their price lists and invoice terms.

Life drawing and demo days go on a public calendar, up to the seats you set.

Calendar gives the shop a public calendar of its evenings. You turn on RSVPs and set a capacity. The event's page says when it is full. People RSVP while signed in to Magpie.

The page can show how many people are going. Sharing an event starts a social media post about it.

Palette Lane’s life drawing evening in the new event drawer: on the shop’s public calendar with RSVPs up to 14 seats and the attendee count shown, beside the month with the demo day, the delivery and the kids’ art club.

A framing order starts with a request, with a photo of the piece.

Forms builds a framing request page. It asks for the piece's size, the moulding and the mount. A File question takes a photo of the work. Each request is emailed to you.

A paid Form takes a workshop's fee by card on Stripe's page. Each response shows Paid, and you close the Form when the seats are gone.

Palette Lane’s framing request form in the builder: the piece, its size, the moulding and the mount, a question for a photo of the work and the date it is needed by.

New stock, the term's workshops and the sale reach your subscribers by email.

Newsletter gives the shop a sign-up page with double opt-in. Checkout can ask buyers to subscribe too. You write each issue, send yourself a test and schedule it.

A sent issue has a web copy, which can start a social media post. The newsletter's page counts the subscribers and the copies delivered.

Five more areas cover framing quotes, posts, the rota, the shelf edge and the books.

Invoicing
Invoicing sends a framing quote as an invoice with a Pay online button. Reminders follow until it is paid.
Social Media
Social Media schedules posts about new stock on Bluesky, Mastodon and LinkedIn. It reminds you for Instagram.
Staff Scheduling
Staff Scheduling plans the counter shifts and the tutors' evenings.
QR Codes
QR Codes makes a shelf-edge code that opens a product's page or a how-to video. It can point somewhere else later.
Accounting
Accounting keeps the books, with sales, invoices and supplier bills in them.

A new range goes from the rep's delivery to the books.

Each step starts from what the last one made.

  1. The delivery

    A purchase order to the supplier is received, and each colour's stock goes up.

  2. The listing

    The new range goes live in the online shop, by colour and size.

  3. The news

    The newsletter tells subscribers, and a post goes out with the photos.

  4. The demo day

    The brand's demo day goes on the calendar, with RSVPs up to the room's seats.

  5. The college

    The art department orders the term's kits at its trade price, on invoice.

  6. The books

    The sales, the invoice and the supplier's bill are in the books.

Setting up takes five steps.

  1. Add your products

    You add each paint with its colours and sizes, and each paper and canvas. Help: Create products, options, and inventory.

  2. Add your suppliers

    You add the brands and wholesalers you order from, with their lead times. Help: Suppliers and purchase orders.

  3. Approve the schools

    You give each school a price list and invoice terms. Help: Wholesale customers, price lists and pay by invoice.

  4. Offer pickup

    You add local pickup with the shop's address and times. Help: Collections and shipping.

  5. Connect Stripe

    You connect your Stripe account, so customers can pay by card. Help: Connect Stripe to receive money.

Plans

A shop with staff fits the Team plan, one price for up to 25 members. It has room for 5,000 calendar events and higher newsletter limits.

Magpie adds no fee to your shop's sales or to invoices. Stripe's processing fee is taken from each card payment. On a paid Form for a workshop, Magpie's fee is 1% of each payment. Prices are on the Pricing page.

Other shops and makers have pages of their own.

Bookshops

A bookshop sells online and at the counter, and fills readings and launches.

Music shops

A music shop sells instruments, books lessons and takes repairs.

Makers with a shop

A maker sells their own work from a shop of their own, online and in person.

Questions art supply shops ask

Can I sell paint by colour and size?

Yes. A paint has options, such as Colour and Size, and each combination is an item. Each item has its own price, stock, SKU and barcode. A series can have its own price, so cadmium costs more than ochre.

Can I sell paper by the sheet and by the pad?

Yes. A paper's options can be Format, with Sheet and Pad of 20 as choices, and Size. Each is an item with its own price and stock. A customer orders as many sheets as they need.

Can customers see what is in stock before they come in?

Yes. A product's page shows each colour's availability. The shop can be filtered to what is in stock. An item with counted stock stops selling at zero. You can let it sell on back order instead.

Can I sell the college's first-year kit?

Yes. A bundle sells several products as one, at its own price. The paints, the brushes, the pad and the board are its parts. Each sale takes stock from every part. When a part runs out, the kit shows as sold out.

Can schools and colleges pay by invoice?

Yes. You approve the school as a wholesale customer, with a price list and invoice terms. Its teacher chooses Pay by invoice at checkout. The invoice is emailed with a Pay online button. You can ship before it is paid.

Can students get a discount?

Yes. A discount code takes a percentage or an amount off. It can be limited by dates, a minimum and a number of uses. The student types it in their cart. An automatic discount needs no code at all.

How do I know when a colour is running low?

Each item has a reorder point and a quantity to order. When a colour falls to its point, the team's admins get an email. The Stock page lists every low item, furthest below its point first.

Can I order from the brands and wholesalers in Magpie?

Yes. Each supplier has its lead time. A purchase order goes by email or as a PDF, and Add low-stock items fills it. Receiving the delivery adds the stock at its cost, and makes the supplier's bill.

Can customers be told when a colour is back?

Yes. When an item with counted stock sells out, its product page asks for an email address. Magpie sends one email when it can be bought again. You see how many people are waiting.

Can I take framing orders online?

Yes. A Form asks for the piece's size, the moulding and the mount. A File question takes a photo of the work. Each request is emailed to you. You send the quote as an invoice, which the customer pays by card.

Can I take sign-ups for a paid workshop?

Yes. You make a Form for the workshop that charges one amount. Each person answers its questions and pays by card on Stripe's page. You close the Form when the seats are gone. Magpie's fee on a paid Form is 1% of each payment.

Can people RSVP to life drawing?

Yes. You put the evening on the shop's public calendar and turn on RSVPs. You can set a capacity, and the event's page says when it is full. People RSVP while signed in to Magpie, and can sign up from the event's page.

Can a brand's demo day go on the calendar?

Yes. A public event has its own page with the date, the place and About. The event can be listed on your public calendar. Share event starts a post about it.

Can customers collect web orders in the shop?

Yes. You add local pickup with the shop's address and pickup times. When you mark an order ready, Magpie emails the customer the address, times and any instructions.

Can I charge more to ship a large canvas or an easel?

Yes. A shipping profile groups the products that ship their own way, such as easels. A cart with a profile's product is offered its rates. Rates can be flat, by weight or by order amount.

How do we record a sale at the counter?

You choose New order, pick the items and record how the customer paid. The order is created paid, and the items leave stock.

Can we sell gift cards?

Yes. A gift card sells fixed amounts and, if you choose, a custom amount. The buyer can have it emailed to someone on a date they pick. The holder spends it in your online shop.

Can I put a code on the shelf edge that opens a how-to?

Yes. A QR code opens any address: the product's page, or a video of the technique. A dynamic code can be pointed somewhere else later, so the printed label stays.

Can I email subscribers about new stock and workshops?

Yes. Newsletter gives the shop a sign-up page with double opt-in. Checkout can ask buyers to subscribe too. You write each issue in Markdown, send yourself a test and schedule it. A sent issue has a web copy to share.

What does Magpie take from our sales?

Magpie adds no fee to your shop's sales or to invoices. Stripe's processing fee is taken from each card payment. The rest goes to the shop's own Stripe account.