The shopping carts are near completion. The final area we are resolving is the question of sales and local taxes in the United States. Artspan members are independent sellers, as are sellers on ebay, Etsy and other online communities. These sites’ sellers are responsible for calculating and paying taxes on items sold. The Artspan shopping carts were first designed to follow this model. However, in an effort to simplify this process, we have sought an alternative solution, one where Artspan would collect the sales and use taxes on your behalf and pay them. It is currently in test and, if it works as we believe it will, each transaction you (as the seller make) will be simplified, making your job easier. Artspan would also be the first online community to offer this service.

What this means, in brief:
1. Artspan will calculate any taxes you owe in the U.S., state and local.
2. Artspan will prepare and file tax returns and remit payments.

This should represent a big time saver for many members who will not need to deal with their state and local tax bureaucracies, calculate taxes and then figure out when to pay. There will be a complete record of tax payments made. Our partner in this is one of three companies to be certified by the Streamlined Sales Tax organization, a consortium of 41 states whjose mission is to streamline sales tax compliance across the board. Designation as a Certified Service Provider (CSP) requires exhaustive system testing for accuracy, security and efficacy, and is the seal of approval granted by tax and technology auditors of state taxing agencies.

For non-U.S. members, we regret to say that you will need, at least at this time, to calculate whatever sales, use or VAT taxes are applicable and to collect and remit those taxes.

The prints-on-demand feature will be added once the shopping carts have been completely set up.

When adding a series of new images (and the corresponding description) to the Artwork section of your member control panel, you can save time and reuse keywords, sizes and artwork descriptions by 'recycling' the Upload Artwork form. For example, you may need to upload several new landscape paintings.

1. Save the first landscape painting and complete the image details (description, keywords, medium, etc)
2. Click on Save. The information and image will be saved to your site. You will know it has been saved because you will see a tiny thumbnail of the image you just uploaded.
3. You will then be asked if you want to save another image. Go ahead and browse another image - all the image details you entered for the previous image will still be on the Artwork details page.
4. Make any changes you need to make but keep the information from the previous image if its applicable. For example, the medium may be the same but the size will need to be changed.
5. Click Save again.

When you do this, you “recycle” your Artwork detail page with all the Artwork details (instead of going back out to your main Artwork page, clicking the Add New Art button and adding all the details again).

Finally, don’t forget to go to My Galleries and check the ‘Save to Gallery’ checkbox for the gallery you want them to show in. (Professional and ProPlus members only).

Your domain name is of critical importance. It’s your business name and it’s also where people go to find you work. But, all too frequently, we see members who have allowed their domain names to expire. When someone goes to your site and the domain has expired your website won’t show on the Internet.

When will my domain name expire?
You can find out what your domain expiration date is by going to http://www.internic.net/whois.html and entering your domain name.

How can I renew my domain name?
1. For those members who registered their domains through Artspan before September 20, 2007, you are able to renew through your Member Control Panel by clicking on the “Manage Domains” button and then “Manage IYD button.” (IYD was the Registrar of record we were affiliated with at the time- since then IYD has been purchased by another company, Tucows. ) You do not have to leave the Artspan Control Panel and go to another website in order to renew your pre September 2007 domain.
2. For those members who registered their domains through Artspan after September 20, 2007, we are automatically renewing your domains and will debit your credit cards for the one year registration fee.
3. For those members who registered their domains through another company, you have to go that company’s website and log in to your account to renew your domain name.

My Domain just expired! What do I do?
If you registered before September 2007 through Artspan, you have 30 days to renew your domain after it has expired. If you don’t renew within that time period, there will be a $100 penalty to renew (for an additional 30 days). For those who registered through Artspan after September 2007, please see #2 above. For other non-Artspan registrations, please consult your registrar.

B Again, it is most important that you not lose your domain: keep track of the expiration date!

In marketing your art and promoting your website, you are looking to target, most importantly, a traditional offline audience for your work, using your website as the central promotional tool.

You may also be looking to promote to an online audience. Here are some venues to use in promoting over the Internet:

• Associations. If you haven't already, join at least one art association in your medium. Associations usually have online forums and will send you emails chalked full of links and info about collectors, artists, galleries, resources, and organizations in your art community, most of which will be accessible electronically and will save you tons of time. The Artspan portals list hundreds of art associations. Check out Painting , Photography , Ceramics , or any of the 30+ art portals.
• Forums. Next, join forums specific to your art at Artspan and WetCanvas and anywhere else with a strong community. Do an online search to find these. Then, join forum conversations populated with thoughtful and interesting threads. Stay away from the vitriolic, rambling, or off-topic. Read posts, visit website links, and check out blogs, leaving comments wherever you can. In turn, talk up your art and post your website link in the forum and website comment sections.
• Social Networking. Join general social networking sites ( Facebook , Myspace , Bebo ) and vertical (niche-specific) social networks ( Ning ). List your website URL on your profile and post your website to 'share a link'. Some Facebook groups, like Black and White Photography have over 40,000 members, all potential readers of your website. All you have to do is leave some comments and post your URL. (Extra tip: if you have a niche so specific that you can't find it online, try starting your own social networking site at ning.com .)
• Social Bookmarking. Social bookmarking sites like del.icio.us and digg allow you to bookmark pages you find relevant and see what other sites are getting buzz. Find the people bookmarking the same pages as you and strike up a conversation by sending a 'thank you' for an interesting lead.

Copyright 2009 Artspan LLC. All rights reserved.

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