• Try “portfolio”, “ink”, “branding” or a code like “PRS 101”.

CBE 310Creative Business and Entrepreneurship

Building an Online Art Shop

Plan, build and launch your own online shop: platform choice, product catalogue, payments, tax settings, policies, privacy, accessibility and launch checks.

Planned

About this course

Running your own shop gives you control over presentation, customer relationships and margins, along with responsibility for everything a marketplace used to handle. This course walks through choosing a hosted commerce platform (comparing costs, fees and features), structuring a product catalogue with variants and editions, setting up payments, shipping rules and sales tax settings, writing required policies, protecting customer data, making the shop accessible, and running a launch checklist with test orders. It assumes you have completed Selling Art Online.

Who it’s for: Artists already selling, or ready to sell, who want their own storefront. Selling Art Online is required. Basic comfort with website builders helpful.

You will be able to

  • Compare hosted shop platforms on total cost, fees, features and data export
  • Structure a product catalogue with variants, editions and inventory
  • Configure payments, shipping zones and sales tax settings, confirming tax requirements with official sources
  • Publish clear shipping, returns and privacy policies
  • Run a pre-launch checklist including test orders and an accessibility check

Prerequisites

Studio project

A working online art shop with five or more products, configured payments, shipping and tax settings, published policies and completed test orders.

To complete this course

  • Complete every required lesson.
  • Have the assignment “Build your shop” accepted by an instructor.
  • Records of completion are issued only for courses whose content has passed instructor review.

Syllabus

Working titles: they may change as the course is written.

  1. Module 1: Choosing a platform

    Pick a platform you can afford and leave.

    1. 1.1Comparing shop platformsExercise · 40 min
    2. 1.2Domains and shop brandingReading · 20 min

  2. Module 2: The product catalogue

    Products, variants and editions.

    1. 2.1Catalogue structureExercise · 35 min
    2. 2.2Editions and inventoryReading · 25 min
    3. 2.3Product pagesStudio · 45 min

  3. Module 3: Payments, shipping and tax settings

    Configure the business side carefully.

    1. 3.1PaymentsReading · 25 min
    2. 3.2Shipping rulesExercise · 30 min
    3. 3.3Sales tax settingsReading · 30 min

  4. Module 4: Policies, privacy and accessibility

    Trust and inclusion are part of the shop.

    1. 4.1Shop policiesExercise · 30 min
    2. 4.2Customer privacyReading · 25 min
    3. 4.3An accessible shopExercise · 30 min

  5. Module 5: Launch

    Test everything before customers do.

    1. 5.1Test ordersExercise · 30 min
    2. 5.2Launch checklistReading · 20 min
    3. 5.3After launchReading · 20 min

Educational information about Canadian and international practice, not legal, tax or financial advice. Tax, consumer and business rules differ by country and province. For decisions about your situation, consult a qualified accountant, lawyer or other professional.

Sources

Author: Ricketts University curriculum team (draft for founder review) · Not yet reviewed

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