Selling art on SquareUp

[AnnWFoxPoint]

This might be in the wrong place, if it is please tell me where to put it.

I have not been able to find the answer to my questions anywhere.

I have been using Square POS to sell visual art.  I will continue to sell POS and I would like to start an online store.  I could use Square Online but it will only display my photos in 1:1 ratio.  I am selling paintings, the aspect ratio matters and 1:1 doesn't work for me.  I reset the item preference to 3:4 but the display didn't change.  So, first question is:

1. Is there a way to display photos of items in a different aspect ratio?  Of perhaps link to a file that is outside of Square Online?  Some way to get good photos of my art into the store?

2. If I can't get good photos in Square Online I could use another web builder.  This will be a very small business so I need to keep both costs and routine maintenance time low.  Is there a web builder that will sync inventory between that store and Square POS?  I have exactly ONE of everything.  I absolutely cannot "oversell" something. Inventory MUST be keep in sync.  If the inventory isn't kept immediately in sync I am at risk of selling the same painting twice.  Do I have to take the online store offline when I'm at a show?

[isabelle]

Hey @AnnWFoxPoint! 🖼 

Thanks for posting in the Seller Community - good to see you around ✨

The ratio setting in Store > Setup > General applies to all product photos, so consistency is more important than using a specific aspect ratio. Photos come in two shapes: square (1:1 ratio) and rectangular (2:3/3:4 and 3:2/4:3 - portrait and landscape modes, respectively). We do not currently have any other ratios available. If you use a mix of these, you’ll likely end up with odd cropping and inconsistent results. Take a look here for more information on product images.

I'm going to go ahead and tag some of our Super Sellers for suggestions on alternative web hosts. Many of our Super Sellers use Square Online, but they may have experience with alternative web hosts or have suggestions as business owners: @londontea @HC_Charlie @alexandriak @ryanwanner @VanKalkerFarms @homeprogreen @jjgard @MichaelL @Donnie-M 

I've also seen @RoasterChica mention having another site with a different web host in addition to their Square Online site and may be able to offer some suggestions. 

[AnnWFoxPoint]

Art imitates life.  And life is not all the same aspect ratio, it is odd and inconsistent.

[KSArtStudio]

My suggestion would be to use 1:1 images of the art as displayed on a wall. If you have crisp, clean images of the art you can use a site like Canvy, they have a pretty good range of free options. While it's not ideal, it will keep your costs down and you wont have to stress over item syncing issues.

[Artoujours]

Regarding the display of odd shaped pieces: I use Photoshop to create a square "canvas size" around my image, filling up with white the space between my rectangular image and a perfect square. The white "melts" and disappears within the background of the page, and my paintings are never cropped. I hope this helps.

[AdamB]

Solid solution, @Artoujours - thanks for posting that. If you don't have Photoshop, @AnnWFoxPoint, a free option that has similar features is GIMP (yes, it is a silly name). It's open source and free, and runs on pretty much any computer.

[keicollective]

We also use a free web based image editor called Canva to put all of our artwork on square shaped images. If you save the file as a PNG you can also select to have a transparent background! That way the image is 1:1 in file type for Square Online to line everything up, but you don't actually see anything but the painting/artwork. Hope that makes sense! 

[AdamB]

Great suggestion! I forgot about Canva - I know a few different people who really recommend it.

[DADOBBS]

In the Adobe Lightroom print module, set a page setup paper to 10x10; print job: print to a jpeg file, 72dpi s-RGB.