When a collector wants to ask about a piece — its price, availability, condition, or shipping — they send an inquiry from your public artwork pages. Every inquiry lands in one inbox so you can reply, track its status, and turn interest into a sale. This guide covers the full workflow.
Availability: Artwork inquiries are generally available. Inquiries appear once your artworks are published and the inquiry contact option is enabled on your public pages.
Where Inquiries Come From
On a public artwork detail page, collectors see an Inquire option (often labeled "Inquire About This Work"). When they open it, they fill in:
Name (required)
Email (required)
Phone (optional)
Message (required)
When they submit, the inquiry is captured for your gallery and added to your inbox. There's nothing the collector has to do beyond sending the message — you take it from there by email and through the inbox.
Tip: Make sure pieces you want inquiries on are published in a public exhibition. If a piece isn't visible to the public, collectors can't inquire about it.
The Inquiries Inbox
Go to Admin > Inquiries to see every inquiry for your gallery in one list. At the top, a summary strip shows your Total inquiries, how many Converted to Sales, and your overall Conversion Rate.
Each row shows:
The artwork the collector asked about (with a thumbnail)
From — the collector's name and email
A preview of their message
The current status
Recent activity, including how many replies the thread has
You can filter the list by status using the Status selector, and page through results when you have many inquiries.
Bulk Actions
Select one or more inquiries using the checkboxes to act on several at once:
Export — download the selected inquiries
Archive — close out inquiries you're done with
Inquiry Statuses
Each inquiry carries a status so you always know where it stands:
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Open — new and awaiting your attention
Replied — you've responded; an inquiry moves here automatically the first time you reply
Sold — the inquiry converted into a sale
Archived — closed; no further action needed
Tip: Filter to Open first thing each day to find collectors who are still waiting on you.
Viewing an Inquiry
Click any row to open the full conversation thread. The detail view shows:
An artwork context card with the piece, artist, medium, dimensions, and price
The collector's details — name, a clickable email link, and phone if provided
The full conversation, with the collector's original message and every reply in order
Replying to a Collector
You can reply directly from the thread — no need to switch to your email client.
Open the inquiry from the inbox
Scroll to the reply box at the bottom of the thread
Type your message
Click Send Reply
Your reply is delivered to the collector by email and added to the thread, and the inquiry's status moves to Replied automatically. Each new message appears in the conversation labeled by sender, so you always have the full history in one place.
Note: Keep replies inside the thread rather than starting a separate email chain. That keeps the whole conversation — and its history — together in the inbox.
Updating Status
From an open inquiry thread you have two status actions in the header (available until the inquiry is archived):
Mark as Sold — records the inquiry as converted to a sale. You'll confirm before it's applied; this can be undone by reopening the inquiry.
Archive — closes the inquiry when there's nothing more to do.
Replying handles the move to Replied for you, so most status changes are just marking a deal closed or archiving a dead lead.
Following Up on Open Inquiries
Interest fades fast, so work your Open queue regularly:
Filter the inbox to Open
Open the oldest inquiries first
Reply with answers, next steps, or an offer to send a purchase link
Archive anything that's clearly gone cold so your queue stays meaningful
The summary strip's conversion rate is a quick gauge of how well follow-up is working over time.
Converting an Inquiry into a Sale
When a collector decides to buy, you have two paths depending on how they'll pay:
They'll pay online — send them a purchase link for the piece, or point them to its page to add it to their cart. When their payment completes, the piece is marked sold automatically. Then return to the inquiry and use Mark as Sold to close the loop. See Selling Artwork Online.
They paid offline (in person, by check, or by arrangement) — record the sale manually so inventory and revenue stay accurate, then Mark as Sold on the inquiry. See Recording Artwork Sales.
Marking an inquiry Sold is what feeds the "Converted to Sales" count and your conversion rate, so do it whenever a conversation results in a purchase.
Best Practices
Respond fast. Aim to reply within a day. Collectors often inquire about several pieces across galleries, and the first thoughtful response usually wins.
Lead with the answer. Address their actual question (price, availability, shipping) before pitching.
Offer a clear next step. "I can send you a secure link to purchase this piece" turns interest into action.
Keep the thread tidy. Reply inside the inbox so the history stays intact.
Archive cold leads. A clean Open queue keeps your follow-up honest.
Mark sales sold. Accurate conversion data tells you which shows and pieces actually drive purchases.
Troubleshooting
No inquiries are coming in?
Confirm your artworks are published in a public exhibition
Confirm the inquiry contact option is enabled on your public pages
Test the Inquire button on one of your own public artwork pages
A reply didn't reach the collector?
Check the email address on the inquiry detail for typos
Ask the collector to check their spam folder, then reply again from the thread
