Feature
Art gallery POS software, rethought for how galleries actually sell
Art.industries is not a barcode-and-receipt retail POS. It is sales and payment infrastructure for galleries selling unique works, editions, deposits, and private sales: Stripe invoices and payment links tied to the work, the collector, and the consignment behind each sale. If you searched for a gallery POS system, this page explains what to use instead and why.
Why retail POS systems fail art galleries
Square, Shopify POS, and Lightspeed are built for repeatable SKUs: scan, charge, restock. A gallery sells one-of-one objects with negotiated prices, deposits that hold a work for weeks, consignor splits behind each sale, and buyers whose history matters more than their card.
Forcing that through a retail POS means a parallel spreadsheet for everything the register cannot hold: who the buyer was, which consignment the work belongs to, what was agreed at the fair. The charge goes through; the record falls apart.
Invoices and payment links instead of a register
In Art.industries, a sale starts from the work record. Create an invoice that carries artist, title, dimensions, buyer entity, currency, and tax treatment, then send a Stripe payment link the buyer can pay from anywhere.
Funds settle to your own Stripe account. There is no platform cut on your sales; Stripe charges its standard processing fee and the money lands in your bank.
Deposits, instalments, and holds
Gallery sales rarely complete in one swipe. The payment layer is built around the way works actually close.
- Deposits. Take a percentage to hold the work; the status changes everywhere the work appears.
- Instalments. Schedule the balance over agreed payments; edition copies commit when the line is fully covered.
- Holds and reserves. Time-limited reserves with expiry surfaced on the dashboard before they lapse.
- Refunds and credit notes. Reverse cleanly through the same records, including consignor previews.
Editions at the point of sale
Selling copy 4 of 20 is where retail inventory models break. Edition runs track each numbered copy: the storefront cart reserves a copy, payment commits it, and remaining counts update in rooms and on the public site through one path.
Every sale lands on a collector record
A retail POS records a card. A gallery needs the buyer: what they own, what they viewed, what they passed on, and what they should see next. Each sale here lands on the contact in the gallery CRM, next to viewing-room engagement and prior invoices.
That is the difference between a transaction system and a sales system: the next sale starts from the record of this one.
In-person sales at fairs and openings
At the booth or the opening, the workflow is a phone, not a terminal: open the work, create the invoice or deposit, and show a Stripe payment link or QR the buyer pays on their own device. The sale records against the work and the collector immediately, with the booth team and the director seeing the same state.
For editions, publications, and merchandise sold at volume, the online storefront takes Stripe checkout on your own domain.
What this deliberately is not
There is no cash drawer, no barcode scanner, no receipt printer integration. If your gallery shop needs true retail point-of-sale for high-volume merchandise, keep a retail POS for the shop counter and run artwork sales here, where unique works, editions, deposits, and consignment splits are first-class.
FAQ
- Is Art.industries a POS system?
- Not in the retail sense. It is invoicing and payment infrastructure for artwork sales: Stripe invoices, payment links, deposits, and instalments tied to works and collectors. Galleries searching for a POS usually need this, not a register.
- Can I take payments in person at the gallery or a fair?
- Yes. Create the invoice or deposit from the work on a phone and let the buyer pay a Stripe payment link or QR on the spot. The sale lands on the work and the collector record immediately.
- Does Art.industries take a cut of sales?
- No. You connect your own Stripe account and funds settle directly to you. Stripe charges its standard processing fee; there is no platform commission.
- How are consignment splits handled at the point of sale?
- When a consigned work sells, the consignment record calculates consignor, co-broker, and introducer shares from the agreement, and the statement updates from the recorded sale.
- What about card terminals and cash?
- Stripe payment links cover cards, wallets, and bank methods on the buyer's device. Cash sales can be recorded as paid invoices for a complete record, but there is no cash-drawer hardware integration.
- Can I sell merchandise and publications too?
- Yes, through the online storefront with Stripe checkout. For a high-volume physical shop counter, a retail POS remains the right tool alongside it.
Run one real sale on free Core
Import a work, create an invoice, send the Stripe payment link, and watch the record update across inventory and CRM. That loop is the whole pitch.