Ask buyers to enquire instead of buying
Some pieces you would rather talk about before you sell them: an original painting, a commission, something you might hold back for an exhibition. You can keep the price on show and ask buyers to get in touch instead of paying online.
The prompt
“Make [the piece or all my paintings] enquire only, and send enquiries to [email address].”
Signed in, Get my prompt fills in your site for you. Otherwise press Copy and fill in the [bracketed] parts. First time? Connect your AI to bernard once: Use your own AI (opens in a new tab).
What the page shows
The piece’s page keeps its price, for example £750. Instead of Buy now and Add to basket it has one button, Enquire about this painting, styled like your buy button. Pressing it opens the buyer’s email with:
- the piece’s title as the subject, and
- “Please let me know the availability of this painting, Thank you” as the message.
Anything not tagged as a painting says Enquire about this piece instead. A piece marked as sold says Sold and has no enquire button.
The piece still appears in your shop and your collections, with its price. Nobody can put it in a basket, and checkout refuses it.
Turn it on from your Shop page
Your Shop page has an Enquiries section once you have a product:
- Type the address enquiries should go to under Enquiries go to. Leave it empty to use your usual address (the box shows which one).
- Tick Ask buyers to enquire instead of buying beside each piece.
- Press Save enquiries.
Your shop list then marks those pieces Enquiries only. The shop pages are redrawn as a draft; approve it and visitors see the change.
Or ask
Tell Bernard, or the AI you’ve connected:
“Make all my paintings enquire only, and send enquiries to hello@example.com.”
To sell a piece online again, untick it, or ask: “Put Bright Light back on sale.” When a piece does sell, Mark a piece as sold keeps the page honest.
Questions people ask
- What does the buyer see?
- The piece’s page shows its price as usual. Where the Buy and Add to basket buttons were, there is one button: “Enquire about this painting” (or “this piece” for anything not tagged as a painting). It opens an email to you with the title as the subject, ready for them to send.
- Can someone still buy it online by accident?
- No. There is no basket button on its page, and checkout refuses it even if it was put in a basket before you switched enquiries on. It goes back on sale the moment you untick it.
- What happens when it sells?
- Mark it as sold as usual. Its page then says Sold, with no enquire button, so nobody writes in about a piece that has gone.
- Where do the enquiry emails go?
- To the address in the Enquiries section of your Shop page. Leave it empty and they go to the reply address you set for your emails, or failing that the email you sign in with.
- Does the change go live straight away?
- Your shop pages are redrawn as a draft first. Approve the draft and visitors see the Enquire button. Checkout stops selling the piece as soon as you save.