Answering questions well, and the house rules for conversations.
Questions from buyers arrive in Chat Messages, in the Customers part of your shop menu. Answering them well is most of what separates a shop that sells from one that is only browsed.
Artmire gives you one set of conversations, not two, and three filters across the top of it:
Changing the filter closes whatever thread you had open. Read what you came for first, then switch.
There is no way to write to a buyer out of the blue, and no Ask Seller button on your own items. A conversation exists because a buyer opened it — with one exception: when a buyer has made you an offer, Message buyer at the foot of the offer window opens a thread about that item.
Every conversation is attached to one item. The same buyer asking about two items gives you two separate threads, each with its own history.
The list is ordered by whatever moved last, with a red dot on anything unread. Each row shows the buyer, the item, and the last line written — prefixed You: when it was yours.
Inside a thread the header is about the item, not the person: its picture, title and price, linking to the listing. The buyer's name is in the list, not in the thread — so if you need to know who you are answering, look at the row before you open it.
Enter sends. Use Shift and Enter together for a new line, or your half-written paragraph goes as its own message.
You can attach one image to a message, which is often faster than describing something — a detail, a colour against daylight, the packed parcel. Images only, one per message.
Read appears under your last message once the buyer has opened it. There is no such thing for messages you have not answered: the buyer sees only that you have not replied.
A message that arrives in another language carries a Translate link, and Show original brings the original back. Both work in both directions, so you and a buyer can each write in your own language throughout.
If you would rather not press it every time, Auto-translate messages in your account settings turns incoming messages into your language as they arrive. It is off unless you switch it on.
This is one of the places where Artmire does translate for you. Your shop policies are not translated, so a question about your returns terms may well come from someone who has read them in a language they only half follow — answer plainly rather than quoting them back.
You see the buyer's own name and picture. The buyer sees your shop's name and picture, not yours — so if your shop is called something other than your name, that is who they think they are writing to.
Messages and conversations cannot be deleted or edited, by you or by the buyer, and there is no way to hide or archive a thread. What is written stays.
That is deliberate. A conversation is the record of what was agreed about a purchase — what you promised about a repair, a date, a colour — and it is the first thing anyone at Artmire reads if the two of you disagree later. It protects you at least as often as it protects them.
It also means an item you have ever discussed cannot be deleted afterwards. Unpublishing is the way to retire it.
Every thread opens with the same notice to both of you: Artmire never asks for financial details in chat, and neither should anyone else. Sensitive information is hidden automatically in messages — you may see parts of a message covered on your own screen as well as the buyer's.
Under any message a buyer sent you there is a small flag. It opens Report message, with four reasons:
Add a note if it helps, and send it. Our team reads every report. The buyer is not told you reported them, and the message stays in the thread — reporting is not deleting.
Keep the sale on Artmire. A buyer who suggests paying you directly is asking you to give up every protection you have: no record, no order, no delivery, nothing anyone can look at afterwards. Say no and report it.
With vacation mode on, anyone opening a conversation with you sees your automatic reply. You will not see it in your own view of the thread — it is shown to them, not written into the conversation — and it disappears when you come back.
It is a courtesy, not an answer. Chat is never blocked by vacation mode, so those messages are still waiting for you.
A red number on your shop menu and on your avatar the moment it arrives — and, if you have not read it after a few minutes, an email as well.
The number counts conversations with something unread, not messages. Three questions in one thread show as one — and so does the email: one per conversation, not one per message, so a buyer typing five lines does not send you five emails.
The email shows who wrote, which item it is about, and the start of the message itself, then links straight to the conversation. Email addresses and phone numbers are hidden in it exactly as they are on Artmire — it is the same masked text you would read on the site, never the original.
You can turn it off under Shop Settings → Chat message emails, leaving the red number as your only signal. Worth thinking twice about: a question before a purchase has a short shelf life, and the buyer who does not hear back buys something else.