Please read our user guide with care, as it explains the details of being a member of the Art2Bank community. If you still have questions after reading these policies, please check out our FAQ's (Frequently Asked Questions) section or feel free to contact us.

Membership

We expect all members of Art2Bank to treat each other with respect and kindness. Remember that behind every display name is a real person or group of people with feelings. Your display name on Art2Bank is your identity. You are responsible for your conduct and all content submitted under your display name on Art2Bank.

• When joining Art2Bank, all members must agree to abide by the policies outlined here and in the Terms and Conditions .

• All members must be at least 18 years of age to hold an account on Art2Bank.

• Members may not use profane or racist language or images on their user platforms, userpic and/or Art Market Platform.

• Users may not transfer ownership or sell their Art2Bank account to another party.

• Display names and Usernames may not be changed except in the event of documented legal action (such as trademark infringement) at Art2Bank's discretion. Choose them carefully.

• All users of Art Market Platforms must be clearly identified by first and last name, as part of their display name or in the introductory text of their platform. Their platform must reference their name with a valid, functioning email address (for written evidence of transaction communications) at all times. Art2Bank recommends all parties to transactions to keep thorough records of their written communications in the event of a dispute.

• Members must keep their account information updated and accurate. Their account must have a valid physical and email address at all times. These details will be kept confidential. Art2Bank will use the email address on file in their account information to contact them when necessary.

• Art2Bank encourages all members to resolve their own disputes. As a venue, Art2Bank cannot mediate disputes between members or other parties.

Breaking any of Art2Bank's policies can result in suspension of account privileges or account termination. This includes all of a user's accounts by virtue of association. In other words, Art2Bank reserves the right to suspend the use of the site for a person and all username(s) he/she operates under.

Transactions

Art2Bank's role is to connect the buyer and the seller, customer and service provider; we are a venue, not a retailer. This means when you place an order on Art2Bank, you are entering into a direct transaction and professional relationship with an art business (facilitated by Art2Bank).

Communication is the key to a smooth transaction, and we encourage buyers and sellers to use multiple communications in writing to work out any details or problems that may arise.

Additionally, sellers must post or clearly link to important information in a prominent position in their Art Market Platform or listing description to better inform buyers. Sellers will generally have individual policies for shipping, returns/exchanges and refunds posted on their shop policy pages.

Outlined below are the site-wide policies for transactions.

Buying an item

Art2Bank is a marketplace where you can buy art work or art related services. Below are the site policies for the buyer in a transaction:

 • When you purchase an item or service on Art2Bank, you agree to pay the seller for the item. Do not purchase items or services for which you do not intend to pay.

• The buyer must send payment directly to the seller (not to Art2Bank). It is the buyer's responsibility to pay the seller. If you choose to pay via PayPal, please send payment right away. If you are paying by check or money order (or other mailed payment), send an email to the seller to make arrangements for payment

Problems with a transaction

We hope that your shopping experience on Art2Bank is smooth and hassle-free. Any time there is a possible issue with a transaction, Art2Bank, encourages the buyer and seller to communicate with each other about the problem via email and to keep copies of all related communications. Since the transaction is between buyer and seller, it is best for the two parties to work it out together.

There are a few reasons a transaction may be reported to Art2Bank:

• If the buyer does not receive the item in a timely manner and the seller has not responded to the buyer's attempts at communication, then the buyer may file a report ( using Report an Item ) about the transaction (i.e., non-delivery, reported by the buyer).

• Buyers and sellers using PayPal should familiarise themselves and agree to the Terms and Conditions for this service before using it. Defaulting on transactions may result in suspension of account privileges and/or termination. Be sure to stay in contact with us if you have an open transaction report.

Commerce and activities

Art2Bank provides a marketplace or activity space for artists or service providers to sell or promote artwork or art related services. Platforms can be run by individuals, companies or organisations.

Art Market Platform set-up

We encourage all platform users to provide information about their education, training or experience in a clearly titled entry in the RH column of their Art Market Platform. We also encourage sellers to explain their policies in this way.

Please keep the following things in mind as you set up your platform and create listings:

• An individual platform's policies must not contradict Art2Bank's site-wide policies. Art2Bank reserves the right to ask users to modify unreasonable policies at Art2Bank's discretion.

• Do not make illegal use of photographs or written text, as this is in violation of Art2Bank's Terms and Conditions . Contact the owner and ask permission.

• Use of profane and/or racist language or images in the public areas of your Art2Bank shop is not permitted. This includes your username, Art Market Platform, item titles, tags, userpic, banner, announcement and/or anywhere on your platform.

• You must pay your Art2Bank fee on time to avoid penalties which include suspension of listing privileges and/or account termination. All payments must be paid via PayPal as a monthly recurring transaction. All parties are free to opt out of this agreement by giving one months notice. It is up to the user to cancel any PayPal instructions. Should there be any over payment please email us and we will refund you.

• You may not use the public areas of your platform to demonstrate or discuss disputes with others.

Creating Content

Creating and Publishing New Entries

The primary use of Art Market Platforms is to promote and/or sale of art by creating and publishing new entries:

• Sign in to the Art Market Platform in which you wish to create a new entry by using your username and password.

• Click the "Write Entry" button in the main menu, or choose Create > Entry in the main menu. This will display the Create Entry screen.

• Use the display options tool on the right hand side of the screen to select which editor fields you wish to display on the Create Entry screen (if you are going to insert a banner, activate this field here).

• Previewing: To preview your entry, click the "Preview" button. Art Market Platforms have a new feature that allows you to preview your entry in the style of your Art Market Platform. This can be done by clicking your display name in the entry preview window.

• Save: Clicking the "Save" button will save your entry to your database, and optionally publish it based on the publishing status you've set (see below).

Auto-save Feature

Art Market Platforms provides an "auto-save" capability for entries you are editing. This feature helps you recover work should your web browser crash or your Internet access be interrupted. We highly recommend that you do most of your draft work in MSWord or equivalent or hit save periodically, as this feature is helpful but not full proof.

The system will automatically save your entry to the database every 30 seconds, after your cursor has left the Entry Title field. The system saves your entries to a separate table from the main entry table, and makes recovered entries only available to the user who was editing the entry when it was auto-saved. If the system has an entry available for you to recover, it will present a message at the top of the Entry editing screen.

Entry Fields

The following entry fields are available in the Art Market Platforms.

• Entry Title. Use this field to title your entry.

• Body. Use this area of the Create Entry screen to compose the body of your entry. Art Market Platforms supports a variety of different text editing and formatting options.

• Extended. Use this area of the Create Entry screen to compose any extended text of your entry. This field is typically used to display more information in an entry on an individual entry archive while the main page of your Art Market Platform has the "body" of the post.

Metadata section 

• Tags. Use this field to enter tags for your entry. Tags that contain more than one descriptive word are more effective. Separate tags using commas for best compatibility. Do put the category name in the tag as well for search engine optimisation benefits. 

• Category. Use this area of the Create Entry screen to assign categories to your entry. To assign a category to an entry, click the "Add Category" link. If you wish to request a category please use our Suggestions form.

• Keywords. Use this field to assign keywords to your entry. Keywords are used in Art Market Platforms' default templates to add meta keywords to the entry page header for search engine optimisation.

Publishing section 

• Status. Use this option to select the entry's status, either "Published" or "Unpublished."

• Publish Date. Use this field to set the publish date for your entry. If you set the publish date for the future, Art Market Platforms will publish the entry on that date.  

• Basename. Art Market Platforms will automatically populate this field with a file basename for your entry. For example, if your entry title is "This is a new post" the entry basename will be "this-is-a-new-post" and if your default file extension for entries is set to "html" the full file name of the entry will be "this-is-a-new-post.html".

Feedback section

• Accept Comments / TrackBacks. Use this section to set whether comments will be accepted on the entry. We do not accept trackbacks, this has been disabled.

Creating and Publishing Pages

Pages are a new feature of Art Market Platforms that enable you to create stand alone web pages. PayPal and/or Online now Skype Button can be easily inserting by clicking our HTML button.

Page functionality can be used to publish your opening text (welcome message) and for any entries applied to the right hand column or pages that are linked to areas on the Art Market Platform. For example, About our Gallery/Art Business, Our Team, Contact Details, Exhibition Details, Press Releases, Exhibition Catalogues...the flexibility of these is endless.

There is no limit to page length and they can even be used to show as a link only....

To create and publish a new page:

•  Navigate to the your Art Market Platform by using the Art Market Platform selection menu.

•  Find Create > Page in the main menu. This will display the Create Page screen.

•  Use the display options tool on the right hand side of the screen to select which editor fields you wish to display on the Create Page screen.

•  Previewing: To preview your page, click the "Preview" button. Art Market Platforms has a new feature that allows you to preview your page in the style of your Art Market Platform.

•  Save: Clicking the "Save" button will save your page to your database, and optionally publish it based on the publishing status you've set (see below).

Page Fields

The following page fields are available in Art Market Platforms.

• Page Title. Use this field to title your entry.

• Body. Use this area of the Create Page screen to compose the body of your page. Art Market Platforms supports a variety of different text editing and formatting options.

• Extended. Use this area of the Create Page screen to compose any extended text of your page.

Metadata section

• Tags. Use this field to enter tags for your page.

• Excerpt. Ignore this.

• Keywords. Use this field to assign keywords to your page.

Publishing section

• Status. Use this option to select the page's status, either "Published" or "Unpublished."

• Publish Date. Use this field to set the publish date for your page. If you set the publish date for the future, Art Market Platforms will publish the page on that date.

• Folder. Ignore this..

• Filename. Art Market Platforms will automatically populate this field with a file basename for your page. For example, if your entry title is "This is a new page" the page filename will be "this-is-a-new-page" and if your default file extension for entries is set to "html" the full file name of the page will be "this-is-a-new-page.html".

Feedback section

• Accept Comments / TrackBacks. Use this section to set whether comments will be accepted on the page. Trackbacks have been disabled.

Selecting your text format

To select your text format when you are editing an entry or a page, locate the "Format" drop down in the editing menu bar and make your selection.

You will always use Rich Text unless you are inserting html buttons from PayPal or Skype.

Formatting options

The formatting options available in Art Market Platforms by default include:

• None. This format allows you to compose your post in pure HTML; the system will not modify your text in any way when your entry is published..

• Rich Text. Also known as WYSIWYG ("What you see is what you get") this is the default formatting option. The rich text editor lets you see how your text will be formatted as you write it, similar to how a desktop word processor (like Microsoft Word) behaves.

Adding images or files to entries and pages

Art Market Platforms supports uploading images to your Art Market Platform's server. 

Uploading and inserting an image using the image custom field for display in the Portfolio

Use the image custom field for uploading all pictures to feature in the Portfolio section. These images will default to the left hand side of the entry.

Uploading and inserting a new image into your entry or page

• When you are creating or editing an entry, place your cursor where you would like the image to go and click the Insert Image button on the editor toolbar.  

• This will open the Insert Image screen, where you can choose to insert an image you've already uploaded to the system, or choose to upload a new image. To upload a new image, click on the "Upload New Image" link at the top of the screen. 

• This will display the Upload File screen. On this screen you can select the image to upload. By default, Art Market Platforms will store the file you are uploading in the Art Market Platform's root directory, so you can leave this blank.

• When you have selected your file and its destination, click the "Upload" button, and your browser will transfer the file to Art Market Platforms. 

• Once your file is transferred, the system will display the File Options screen. This screen allows you to:

• Name the file you've uploaded in the Art Market Platform's asset management system for easy discovery and reuse.

• Describe the file in the Art Market Platform's asset management system.

• Tag the file in the Art Market Platform

• Choose options for how to display the image in your entry or page. You can choose to:

• Display the image in the entry (this option is checked by default)

• Insert the image as a thumbnail in your entry

• Link the image to a full-size popup window

• Align the image to the left, right or centre

• Remember these settings for the next time you upload a photo 

• Click on the "Finish" button and Art Market Platform will insert your image into your post with the options you have selected.

Uploading a file into your entry or page

• To upload a file and link it from your entry or page, click on the Insert File button on the editor toolbar.

• Uploading a file into your entry or page follows the same general process as outlined above for uploading an image, but will not present the image options in the File Options screen.

• When you finish uploading the file, the system will insert a link to the file you have uploaded.

Adding categories to an entry

Art Market Platforms features an improved user interface for adding and removing categories from an individual entry. The system also makes it easy to assign a category as the primary category for the entry.

Assigning a category or multiple categories to an entry

• To assign a category to an entry, locate and click on the "Add Category" link in the Metadata section of the new or edit entry screen.

• This will bring up a small window that displays the categories for your Art Market Platform. To add a category to the entry, simply click on the checkbox next to the category name. When you are finished adding categories to your entry, click the OK link at the bottom of the small category window.

Setting a category as your primary category

By default, Art Market Platforms will assign the first category you click on as the entry's primary category. However, it's easy to change that assignment.

• To assign a different category as your primary category, locate and click on the category name. The system will automatically make that category the entry's primary category.

Removing a category from an entry

• To remove a category from your entry, locate the category you wish to remove and click on the red "Art Market Platform" icon to the right of the category name. This will remove the category from your entry.

Note: Changes to your categories will not take effect until you save your entry.

Tagging Entries and Pages

Art Market Platforms' entry and page creation and editing screens makes it easy for you to add, modify or remove tags on individual entries and pages.

• When creating or editing an entry or page, click into the Tags field. If the Tags field is not displayed, click on "Display Options" on the right hand side of the page, and check the box marked "Tags."

Add any tags which you desire in a comma-separated manner. Double worded, descriptive tags are best for optimisation e.g. Contemporary Art, Oil Painting, Figurative Art

• As you type, you will be presented with possible auto-completion choices from the pool of previously used tags on the Art Market Platform. To select one, simply use the up/down arrow keys to navigate to the right tag and then either hit the Enter key or the Tab key, to select it.

• Once you've satisfactorily entered or modified the tags for your entry or page, click anywhere outside of the Tags field.

• Click the Save button to save the changes you've just made to your entry or page. Listing an item

All items or services listed for sale on Art2Bank should be described clearly, accurately and with an acceptable level of detail for that business type. Some items may require special attention to comply with Art2Bank's policies, such as certain items of a mature content. Art2Bank is not a porn website and reserves the right to make their own judgments as to what is art and what is porn. No userpic or userpic should contain porn or any reference thereto, whether artful presented or not. All platform users should display artwork with this sensitivity in mind and clearly warn visitors as to the content of their platforms in the opening text before these pictures are visible to them on landing. More information regarding mature content is dealt with below.

Listings that do not comply with Art2Bank's policies may be given unpublished status for review. 

Describe your items accurately

Accurate titles, tags, photos and descriptions are critical to promoting oneself on Art2Bank. Tags are very important, especially those using two worded description as apposed to one, as Art2Bank's search system relies on tags to find your items for visitors. Keep these policies in mind as you describe your items:

• Listing descriptions and photos must clearly describe any item that is for sale so buyers know what is included and what is not to decide on any purchase.

• Separate all tags by using a comma

• Only use accurate and relevant tags.

Mature content

• Mature content is defined as: sexual activity or content, profane language or graphic violence.

• Items containing mature content must be tagged "mature".

• The first thumbnail image should be kept appropriate for general audiences; additional images in the listing may show the item in its entirety.

• Artful representation of the nude human figure is allowed. The context of the nudity determines if it is a mature content item.

• Items are subject to review on a case-by-case basis. If Art2Bank evaluates the content to be mature, you will be asked to edit the listing to comply with these policies or remove the listing entirely. Mature content listings will remain in all public searches by default; users can restrict results by using the exclusionary search term "NOT mature" ("opt-out" search status).

Prohibited items

Some items are inappropriate for Art2Bank's marketplace, even though they could possibly be classified as art.

You may not list the following types of items on Art2Bank:

• Alcohol
  
  
• Tobacco
  
  
• Drugs
  
  
• Pornography
  
  
• Firearms and/or weapons
  
  
• Recalled Items
  
  
• Real estate
  
  
• Motor vehicles (automobiles, motorcycles, boats, etc.)
  
  
• Promotion or advertisement from representatives or affiliates of outside services, websites or other products is not allowed without pre-negotiating terms and conditions with Art2Bank.

Additionally, a seller may not list any item that violates the seller's local laws, including shipping restrictions, per Art2Bank's Terms and Conditions.

Reporting any violations

Report an Item of our policies is like Art2Bank's neighbourhood watch. It's a way for you to alert Art2Bank of potential problems. Please include the exact URL, description of item and reason for violation.

This is a confidential process. The member whose listing is reported will never know who reported it. Additionally, Art2Bank's investigation will be handled privately and at our discretion; you will not receive a personal response to your report.

Abuse of this system by means of raising repeated, unjustified reports may result in the suspension and/or termination of your account.

Public Safety

Please remember that Art2Bank is a public space, so use common sense when sharing personal information.

Our role in the Art2Bank community is to maintain the health, helpfulness and success of community. Art2Bank's role is to facilitate open discussion and support our community through constructive communication.

• Above all, treat one another with respect. There are real people behind each use platform.

• Harassing, insulting or abusing other members is unacceptable.

• Discussing a specific member, platform or item (either by name or with identifiable hints) in a negative way is not allowed.

• Do not publicly post any kind of private information others have rights to, such as: email, Conversations, letters, phone numbers, addresses, full names or business transactions.

• Always arrange to meet anyone you have never physically met in a public place.

• Always write down full contact details of persons you are about to meet and leave this information in a visible place for family and close friends with instructions to access easily.

Commenting

Readers and authors look forward to reading the comments on articles. Please contact Art2Bank if you have concerns about an article or comment that you wish to discuss privately.

• Commenters must not post rude, inappropriate, offensive or abusive comments. Constructive criticism is fine; being mean is not cool. Art2Bank reserves the right to remove comments. Posting inappropriate comments may result in suspension of privileges and/or account termination.

Use of Content

• While Art2Bank has permission to use content that our members post on Art2Bank.com, our members do retain intellectual property rights for their work. Please respect the artist's rights if you are contacted by an individual about use of their copyrighted material.

Art2Bank reserves the right to alter these policies at any time.

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