• Being an Artopium Member
• Adding, Editing & Removing Creative Works
• Using URLs & Multimedia On Artopium
• Reviews
• Purchases & Shipping
• How to Complete an Artopium Order
• Buyer's And Seller's Rules And Guidlines
• Payment Schedule
• Statistics & Ratings
• Contact Us
• Is your question not answered here? Submit your question to the Artopium Forums and it will be answered!

Artopium provides free audio, video and image file hosting to help display and promote your creative works for which you can then accept credit cards online and sell to a global audience. Sign up is absolutely free! Simply go to the sign up page (by closing this help window and clicking "My Artopium") and fill out the form. Once you have become a Artist Member, here are some of the things you can do:

Add Creative Works

Add "Creative Works" (i.e. artwork, music, fashion etc. that you have created) to your profile to display or sell. Artopium allows artists to accept credit cards online for their work, and gives your art exposure world wide. Artopium will also host your multimedia files so you can reach your audience in a professional manner. See the section Adding, Editing and Removing Products for more information.

Check Stats

The statistics section is represented by a 3D bar graph that depicts the total number of hits your profile has received and the average amount of time spent there in minutes. Rating points are earned initially by how many words are typed into your Creative works and profile descriptions, and then are accumulated by various visitor actions. Rating points determine the placement of Creative Works in the Artopium search results. For more information on how statistics and ratings are compiled see the help topic Statistics & Ratings.

Check Orders

The Orders section provides you with the information you need to ship your tangible works to your customers, provide your customers with tracking information, and see the status of your payments. See the help section on Purchases & Shipping for more information on how Artopium transactions for tangible works are handled.

Main Account Information

The last three sections of the member's page are for changing your main account information, updating reviews submitted by onlookers of your work, and getting member support.

To add an Creative Work you must first become an Artopium member. Becoming a member as well as adding products to the Artopium database is completely free!

Adding A Creative Work

To add a "Creative Work" go to the Creative Works page by logging in, or by clicking on the "My Artopium" link located at the top of all pages if you've already logged in. To add a product, first, select it's medium (music, video, fashion, film and video or books) from the drop down menu then click the button labled "Add". For example, if you are a musician who wants to sell your CD or just wants to let people hear a few mp3s, choose "Music" and click "Add". If you are a painter or gallery interested in selling or showing original artwork or prints, choose "Cyber Gallery" and click "Add". A pop up page will appear for you to enter information about your Creative Work and allow you to upload multimedia files associated with that work. You may enter as many products of as many different types as you like.

On all forms, regardless of product medium, you will be asked for some form of multimedia to put in along with your product entry. Please see the help section Using URLs & Multimedia for further information on this.

Note: Artopium is categorized primarily by quality of entry made by the artist. Creative Works that have a picture uploaded (this is the image you upload when creating the Creative Work, not your profile image) are always higher than those without, and Creative Works that are for sale are always higher than those that are not. In other words, the Artopium search results are ordered from top to bottom as such: For sale, with a picture; Not for sale, with a picture; For sale, without a picture; Not for sale, without a picture. Since there are many Creative Works that are for sale on Artopium, to reach the top spot in the results your Creative Work must have a picture uploaded and must also be for sale.


Using The Pricing Tool

To use the pricing tool, enter a price then click anywhere outside the input box to calculate the difference. For example, you may enter the price you would like Artopium customers to see, the click on the page but outside the box somewhere and your net profit will automatically be calculated. Like-wise, you may enter the net profit you'd like to receive to calculate the price seen.


Editing A Product

To edit a product, log in with your email and password (see Being an Artopium Member) and go to the Creative Works page. Clicking on the "Make Changes" link will bring up a pop-up window filled in with the information you provided (see Adding a Product). Edit any information you wish then click the button labeled "Save Changes" at the bottom of the pop-up window.

Note: Regardless of the changes you make, you are still obligated to fulfill any sales that occur before you made the change, with the original product. For instance, if you have a music album for sale, and several copies have been purchased but the transactions have not yet been completed (see the help section on Purchases & Shipping for more information on Artopium transactions), and you change the title of the album, you are still responsible for providing an album with the original title to the awaiting buyers. To give another example, if you are selling black leather jackets in the fashion section of Artopium and you change the medium of the jacket to vinyl instead of leather, you are still responsible for providing leather jackets to anyone who has purchased this product before you made the change. This is especially true if you change the price! If, for some reseaon, you cannot provide the original product (you ran out of leather jackets before you knew it), please contact us and we will help you resolve this issue by either cancelling the order or seeing if the buyer would mind the change.

Removing A Product

To remove a product from the Artopium database, simply follow the steps provided for editing a product above, then click the button labeled "Delete This Product" at the bottom of the pop-up window.

Note: you are still responsible for any sales that have been made before the product was removed. See Editing A Product for more information on this.

Also Note: removing a product from the Artopium database removes all related information for that product as well, such as statistics and ratings. If you simply do not wish to sell your product anymore, but would like to have it remain on the Artopium database so it can accumulate rating points, etc., follow the steps outlined in Editing A Product for changing the "I'm not selling" checkbox in the product pop-up form. Product entries that are for sale will be listed above those that are not in the Artopium search results.

Adding URLs

If you'd like to avoid long upload times, or have a file to big for Artopium, and have your own website, you may enter in the url of media files you'd like to associate with your Creative Works. To do this, simply go to your Creative Work on the Creative Works page and click on the "Make Changes" link, then enter your url in the "Media Files" input boxes.

To know what the url is for your media file, go to your website and right click (ctrl-click for macs) on the link to your multimedia file. On the pop-up, select properties, and on the next pop-up drag your curser to highlight and select the string of text starting with "http://" and ending in the extension for your media file (e.g. mp3, mpg, etc.). Now you can paste this into the input boxes provided on the Creative Works form. See the types of multimedia files allowed on Artopium.

Uploading A File

Simply click the link labeled "Search My Computer" and a pop-up box will appear with a summary of these instructions for uploading your multimedia files:

1) Uploading may take anywhere from 5 seconds to 30 minutes. This can depend on the size of the file, your connection speed to the internet, and the current amount of traffic our server is receiving. Please be patient, although it may seem like nothing is happening, your file is being uploaded.

2) The size of the file you are uploading is restricted to 5 MB. To find out how big your file is, right click on it (left for MAC) and select "properties". MB stands for Mega-Byte. A byte is one character or number such as "A" or "5". 1,024 bytes is called a Kilo-Byte. 1,024 Kilo-Bytes is a Mega-Byte. To bring down the size of your file you will need a converter. If it is a .wav file it might be a good idea to convert it to .mp3. If it is an .mp3, .avi, or .mpg file, you will probably have to convert it to a lower bit stream. this will be an option in your converter program that allows you to choose between settings such as 190kHz or 128kHz. See what bit stream your file is at and pick a lower one. Then check it's file size again to be sure it is below 5 MB. There are a lot of audio and video converters available at www.downlaod.com.

3) You must still click on "Save Changes" from the previous window before your file will be associated with your account. This is very important to do or the file you just uploaded to artopium will just sit in a temporary folder and never get moved to your account folder.

4 ) No pornography. Although we have an open mind about nudity in art, anything that is graphic or explicit will be removed and the artist will be notified.

5) Artopium only accepts files that end with the extensions .mp3, .ram, .wav (audio), .mov, .avi, .mpg, .mpeg (video), .jpg, .jpeg, .bmp, .gif (image).

Multimedia Files Allowed On Artopium

Any onlooker of Artopium artists can enter a review as long as the artist has the review option turned on. To write up a review of an artist's work simply type it into the review input box on the artist's main page. To edit a review, sign in to Artopium and change any review listed in the review input box then click Make Changes at the bottom of the page.

You may disable the ability for onlookers to submit reviews by checking the "disable reviews" option on the account settings page of the My Artopium area.

A more detailed set of rules and guidlines for transactions of tangible goods on Artopium is set out below, but for a quick description, an average transaction would go like this:

An artist decides that he would like to sell some of his paintings, so he signs up. Then a buyer likes what the artist is selling so she buys it. Artopium then automatically sends a notification email to the seller instructing him to ship the product to the buyer with instructions on how to do so including the buyer's shipping address. The seller then comes back to Artopium after shipping his Creative Work to the buyer and submits the tracking number from one of Artopium's four pre-approved shipping carriers. Another email is sent automatically to the buyer keeping them informed of the same tracking information and we use the tracking number to verify the product arrives to the buyers address. When more than 72 hours has passed since the delivery time provided by the shipping carrier, an email will be sent to the Artist notifying him the sale has completed. Artists get paid either by money order or by PayPal. See below for a more detailed payment schedule.

When an artist first receives an order it is in a "Pending" status. As outlined below in the Buyer's And Seller's Rules And Guidelines, an artist is required to submit a tracking number so that shipment of their item can be confirmed. To do this, you must first choose a shipping carrier. Artopium only allows the use of four shipping carriers as these companies are capable of shipping to international destinations and provide an easy way to track shipments online. The four shipping carriers allowed are (links open in a new window):

www.fedex.com

www.dhl.com

www.ups.com

www.usps.com

Each shipping carrier you can choose from provides many options for shipping your item. IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO BE SURE THAT THE METHOD YOU CHOOSE WILL PROVIDE A TRACKING NUMBER THAT CAN BE USED ONLINE, AND NOT JUST OVER THE PHONE. IT IS ALSO YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO PURCHASE ANY INSURANCE NECESSARY TO COVER ANY POSSIBLE DAMAGE THAT MAY OCCUR TO YOUR ITEM DURING SHIPMENT.

After shipping your item, you will need to come back to Artopium and log into your My Artopium Member Area so that you may submit your tracking number. To do this, simply find the order that you shipped on the Orders screen, then click on the red link that says "Pending". This will bring up a pop-up window that will allow you to enter the tracking information for your order. When you click the submit button, you will be asked to confirm that the information you entered is correct. By clicking yes, you will submit your tracking number to Artopium. YOU CANNOT CHANGE THIS INFORMATION AFTER IT IS SUBMITTED, SO BE SURE IT IS CORRECT! After confirming your information, you will receive a "Thank You" screen confirming that we have received your tracking number. You will also receive a confirmation email with your tracking information, and a duplicate email will be sent to the buyer so that they may also track their shipment online. By closing the "Thank You" window, your Artopium account will refresh and your order status will change to "Tracking".

An Artopium staff member will also track the shipment of your item using the tracking information you provide. After the shipping carrier has confirmed the item is delivered, there is a 72 hour grace period in which the buyer may make any claims about the item. If no claims are made within this period, the status of your order will change to "Completed".

Finally, your order will change to the status of "Paid", after we have sent you either your paypal or money order payment. Please see the payment schedule for more details.

Buyer's Rules

1) The buyer has 72 hours after a product has been confirmed delivered by the providing shipping carrier to report any disputes to Artopium. The buyer understands that any disputes, regardless of legitimacy, thereafter will not result in a refund of money.

2) If the buyer claims the product was damaged or defective upon arrival the buyer understands that it is his/her responsibility to ship the product in it's entirety to Artopium for inspection. If the product is not shipped within 10 business days of the time the dispute was made the buyer's understands that they may not receive a refund. If it is found to be the seller's fault for the damage or defect the buyer understands the seller has a two week grace period to ship a replacement to Artopium for inspection. If the replacement passes inspection the replacement will be sent to the buyer, otherwise the buyer's money will be refunded.

3) If the buyer claims the product never arrived, then Artopium will investigate using the product tracking number provided by the seller and the shipping carriers tracking system. If it is found that the shipping carrier reports a delivery date and signature along with correct addresses corresponding to the FROM and TO locations, a refund will not be granted and the buyer understands that he/she may resolve all further disputes with that shipping carrier. If it is found the shipping carrier does not have a signature, the buyer understands that the seller has a two week grace period to send a relacement to Artopium for inspection. If the replacement passes inspection the replacement will be sent to the buyer, otherwise the buyer's money will be refunded.

4) If the buyer disputes the authenticity of the product, the buyer understands it is his/her responsibility to send the product in question in it's entirety to Artopium within 10 business days of the dispute for inspection. The buyer also understands it is the seller's responsibility to do the same. If the buyer's product in question is not shipped to Artopium within 10 business days of the time the dispute was made a refund will not be granted to the buyer, and like-wise, if the seller's product does not arrive a refund will be granted to the seller. Artopium will compare the two products with the description of the product on the website. If one of the products is found to match the description we will ship that product to the buyer and no refund will be given. If both are found to not fit the description or eachother the seller may be removed from the site and a refund will be given to the buyer.

5) The seller understands that where and when we can, if we suspect fraud we will contact the appropriate authorities for an investigation.

Seller's Rules

1) The seller must ship the product within 5 business days of receiving the email notification of purchase. Received is defined as the moment the email arrives at the seller's email inbox, not at the time the seller has read the email.

2) The seller must ship the product using either Federal Express, United States Postal Service (USPS), UPS, or DHL as these shipping carriers provide a method we can use to track shippments online.

3) Once the seller has shipped the product, the seller must come back to the Artopium website to enter in the tracking number provided by one of the shipping carriers listed above. The tracking number must be entered before the final delivery date of the product and must reflect that the product was shipped within 5 business days (as stated above). Failure to do so, or if an invalid tracking number is provided, the order will be cancelled and the buyer's money will be refunded.

4) If the seller is found to be responsible for a damaged or defective product, they will have a two week grace period to replace it. The replacement must be shipped to Artopium for authentication, then we will ship it to the buyer. If a replacement is not received the buyer's money will be refunded.

5) It is the seller's responsibility for the product to safely reach the buyer. If it is found that the shipping carrier is responsible for a damaged or lost product, we will refund the buyer's money and the seller understands that he/she must take all disputes to the shipping carrier. The seller also understands that it is not only a good idea, but also their responsibility for any insurance that needs to be put on expensive or original products.

6) If the buyer disputes the authenticity of the product the seller understands it is his/her responsibility to send a duplicate to Artopium for verification purposes. If the duplicate is not recieved within 10 business days or is found not to match the description on the website the seller's account may be terminated and the buyer's money will be refunded. The seller also understands it is also the buyer's responsibility to send in the original product as part of the dispute resolution process and if the buyer fails to do so the buyer's money will not be refunded. If the product is an original, the seller understands it is his/her responsibility to use an escrow or other such services, and cannot hold Artopium liable for any such verification or investigation of such authenticity disputes. The seller also understands that although Artopium plans to provide escrow services in the future, we currently do not. Although this type of dispute is extremely rare, if you are selling an expensive original and are concerned about a particular sale, please feel free to contact us. We can make arrangements to have the work's authenticity verified before shippment.

7) The seller understands that where and when we can, if we suspect fraud we will contact the appropriate authorities for an investigation.

NOTE: A payment will only be sent after it's status has become "Completed". An order will remain in a "Tracking" status until 72 hours after the item is confirmed delivered by the shipping carrier. After this 72 hour grace period, the status will become "Completed". It is on the following payment date (2nd or 4th Monday after item becomes "Completed") that the payment will be sent.

Artopium uses a sophisticated statistics and ratings system to help keep track of the progress of the art displayed on it's search results.

Statistics

Statistics are represented in the Member Area as a bar graph representing how many times your portfolio page was hit, and how much time was spent there. Time is calculated from the time the page has been fully loaded to the time the viewer leaves the page. If the viewer leaves before the page has fully loaded, time will not be calculated, but a hit will be logged. Time is then averaged out and displayed as a total for the entire day. To see statistics for each of your Creative Works, go to the "Stats" page and place your cursor, without clicking, over each Creative Work title.

Ratings

Artopium uses a rating system to further guage the quality of your artwork. Ratings are accumulated by several types of actions performed by Artopium customers, as well as actions performed by you, the artist. Essentially, there are three different types of rating points: Base rating, Bonus rating, and rating points accumulated by user interactions.

Base Rating Points

Base rating points are the most important and are the points you have the most control over. They are important because they have the heaviest weight (i.e. are the biggest factor) when calculating the overall rating. Base rating points are created at 5 points for every word entered into both the descriptions for each of your Creative Works and for each word entered into your profile comment. Each Creative Work can have a maximum of 500 base rating points and your profile comment can have maximum of 1000 points for a total of 1,500 for each of your Works.

User Interaction Rating Points

Additional ratingpoints are accumulated for various actions Artopium shoppers take, such as looking at your profile, enlarging your Creative Work image or purchasing your item. These points are accumulated over a scrolling 30 day window, so points you earn today will disappear 30 days from now. All user interaction rating points are then averaged out over 30 days and added to your base and bonus rating to form your overall rating score.

See the table below for a rating point breakdown for each action.

Overall Rating Score

Rating points are used to determine the order of products in the Artopium search results. Those products with higher ratings will be listed higher on the page than those with lower ratings. This helps ensure the quality of Artopium search results. Your overall rating score is displayed as a number of stars (1 through 6) below your Creative Works description in the Artopium search results. The number of stars you have is relative (on a sliding scale) to the rest of the search results. In other words, if an Artopium customer does a search and your Creative Work has the highest rating of all the other Creative Works in the results, then it will have 6 stars. However, with that same rating it may only have 4 or 5 stars when it appears with more Creative Works with possibly higher ratings.

NOTE: Despite what your rating may be, Creative Works that are for sale are always listed above Works that are not. Works with verified cover graphics are always listed above those that do not. Creative Works with verified cover graphics that ARE NOT for sale will appear higher than Creative Works without graphics that ARE for sale.

For technical support issues:
support@artopium.com

For advertising on artopium:
advertise@artopium.com

For purchase and transaction disputes:
disputes@artopium.com

To contact the website administrator:
mike@artopium.com


Snail Mail Address:

P.O. Box 302193
Austin, TX 78751

Artopium © 2006 All rights reserved.