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title: “Patron reservations”

Patron reservations

Audience: the people at the gallery who can sell a piece: Owners, Admins, front desk volunteers who use the register, and Editors with Artwork Manager. Everything here is in the admin portal under Artwork Catalog.

A patron reservation holds one piece for one named patron until a pickup date. The artist must agree to it. While a piece is reserved:

  • nobody can buy it on your website, at the CartonCrew register or in Square;
  • your website still shows it, with Sale Pending where the price was;
  • it does not count in Total pieces available for sale on the dashboard.

The patron pays when they collect the piece, on the Square Register app, like any other sale in the gallery. If they do not collect it by your closing time on the pickup date, the reservation ends and the piece goes back on sale by itself.

Reserving a piece for a patron

  1. In the sidebar, open Artwork Catalog, then the Artworks tab.
  2. Find the piece. It must be Available.
  3. Click the piece to open Edit artwork.
  4. Scroll to Reserve for a patron and click Reserve for a patron.
  5. Type the patron’s Patron name. Under Email or phone (at least one), type the Patron email, the Patron phone, or both. You need at least one; either can be left blank. If both are blank, the form says so and you cannot continue. The phone number is set out as (555) 123-4567 as you type. Only a patron with an email address is emailed their pickup details. Without one, the panel says the patron is not emailed, so call them yourself.
  6. Choose the Pickup date. It cannot be in the past, and it can be up to 90 days ahead.
  7. Click Ask the artist to approve.

The artist is emailed to approve the reservation in their member portal. The piece stays for sale until they approve. The panel shows Waiting for the artist to approve until then.

  • If the artist approves, the piece is reserved. The panel shows Reserved and the time the reservation ends, and the patron is emailed the pickup details: your gallery’s name, address and opening hours, and the pickup date. A patron with no email address is not emailed: the panel shows Not given for the email and reminds you to let them know by phone.
  • If the artist declines, you are emailed. The piece stays for sale. Let the patron know.
  • If the piece sells before the artist answers, the request is cancelled and you are emailed. Let the patron know.

An artist can also reserve one of their own pieces from their member portal. That reservation starts as reserved straight away, and the patron is emailed (if the artist gave an email address).

When the patron comes to collect

At the front desk:

  1. In the sidebar, click Sales. Reserved for a patron, at the top of the page, lists every piece held for a patron, with the patron’s name and the pickup date.
  2. On the patron’s piece, click Patron is here. The piece shows in Square again so you can ring it up.
  3. Ring the piece up on the Square Register app as a normal sale and take payment.

From the catalog, an Owner, Admin or Editor can do the same: open the piece in Artwork Catalog (Edit artwork, Reserve for a patron) and click Patron is here.

CartonCrew records the sale as an in-gallery sale, the same way as any sale on the Square Register: the artist is emailed that their piece sold, the commission is worked out, and the reservation is marked Collected: sold. Your website shows the piece as SOLD.

If you press Patron is here but no sale goes through, nothing else changes: the reservation still ends at closing time on the pickup date.

When the patron does not come

At your closing time on the pickup date the reservation expires. The closing time comes from your opening hours in Settings. If the gallery is closed on the pickup date, the reservation runs to closing time on the next day you are open. A gallery with no opening hours in Settings keeps the reservation until midnight at the end of the pickup date.

When it expires:

  • the piece is available again on your website, at the register and in Square;
  • the artist is emailed that the patron did not pick up the piece and the reservation has expired;
  • the patron is emailed that the reservation has ended, if they gave an email address.

Expiry is checked every hour, a few minutes past the hour.

Cancelling a reservation

  1. Open the piece in Artwork Catalog (Edit artwork, Reserve for a patron).
  2. Click Withdraw request (not yet approved) or Cancel reservation (reserved). A reserved piece goes back on sale straight away.

While a piece is reserved for a patron you cannot change its status in Edit artwork. Cancel the reservation first.

Reports

  • Reports, Inventory by Artist (on screen and in the PDF): reserved pieces have their own group, Reserved for a patron, with the pickup date. It is separate from Reserved, which is a piece in someone’s checkout or one you set to Reserved by hand.
  • Artwork sheets and the Exhibition checklist show the status Reserved for a patron.
  • The dashboard: under Total pieces available for sale, a line says how many pieces are reserved for a patron. A piece in a 15-minute checkout hold is never counted there.

Who can do what

Owner, AdminFront desk with the registerEditor with Artwork ManagerTreasurer, Viewer, others
Reserve a piece for a patronYesYesYesNo
Patron is hereYesYesYesNo
CancelYesYesYesNo

The front desk can press Patron is here from Sales in the sidebar, even without the register or Artwork Manager: anyone with the Front desk role can do it, including the shared front desk login at the till. That is all the Front desk role can do with a reservation. Starting or cancelling one stays with the people who can sell the piece, and the front desk sees the patron’s name but not their email or phone.

Common questions

Can a piece have two reservations? No. One at a time. Cancel the first to start another.

What happens to a reservation when the patron is erased? When an Owner or Admin erases the patron in Patrons, or the patron uses Remove my details on your website, every reservation at your gallery made with their email address or phone number shows Patron details removed for compliance reasons as the patron, with no email or phone. Nothing else changes: a reservation that is waiting for the artist or holding the piece keeps doing so, Patron is here still works, and the patron can still collect and pay. There is no way left to contact them, so they are not emailed. Another gallery’s reservations are never touched. See Patrons.

Is a reservation a sale? No. Nothing is recorded as sold, and the artist is not paid, until the patron pays on the Square Register.

Does the 15-minute online checkout hold affect a reservation? No. A reserved piece cannot be put in an online basket, and the clean-up of abandoned baskets never releases it.

LayawayPiece history