Adding Your Shop Items

If you make things — pots, prints, preserves, jewellery — you can list them for sale at the Waterwheel yourself, from your own account. No emailing anyone, no waiting for a volunteer to type them in for you.

You add the item, set the price, and a volunteer gives it a quick look before it goes on sale.

It takes about five minutes per item.

Before you add anything to the shop, make sure your maker profile exists. It’s the My public profile card, under Your maker page on your account page.

This isn’t just housekeeping. Your profile is what connects a sale back to you — it’s how the Waterwheel knows who to pay. Without it, the site won’t let you create an item at all.

If you see a message saying your maker profile isn’t ready yet, that’s what it means. Get in touch and we’ll sort it out.

On your account page, find Your shop. + Add an item takes you straight to a new item.

Once you have items, Your shop lists your newest ones and where each stands, and Manage all opens the full list. The first time, the list is empty — just the + Add an item button.

If anything of yours is waiting to be checked, Your shop says how many, so you can see at a glance whether something is still in the queue.

Click + Add an item.

The form is in three short steps: the basics, a photo, then the details.

Only the listing name is required. You can fill in the rest as you go, and change any of it later.

Listing name is what the thing is called — "Salt-Glazed Tumbler".

Tagline is the one line that would sit under it on a shelf card.

Description is the longer story: how it’s made, what makes it yours. This is the part shoppers actually read, so it’s worth a few sentences.

One good photo does more work than anything else on this form.

Daylight, plain background, the piece filling most of the frame. A phone camera is completely fine.

By uploading, you’re confirming the photo is yours to use, and giving the Waterwheel permission to show it on the site while your listing is up.

Enter what you want to be paid — just the number, 48 or 48.00. Don’t add a dollar sign; if you paste one in, it’ll be tidied up. Prices are in Australian dollars. No GST.

You can leave the price blank. The item is still listed, and whoever is on the till types the price in when it sells — the way maker sales have always worked. Filling it in is what lets the item be sold online, and it saves the person at the counter guessing.

Category helps shoppers find it when they’re browsing.

If a buyer has to choose something (a size, a colour, a material), list the choices under Options, just below the price.

Click Add an option for each one, then give it a name and its own price. Remove takes a row away. You can have up to 12.

Options replace the single price. The price box above disappears as soon as you add the first option, which starts at the item’s current price. The shop shows your item from its lowest option. Remove every option and the price box comes back with the old price. If there’s only one price, leave Options empty.

If an option is missing a name or a price, nothing is saved yet: the form keeps everything you typed and tells you which option needs fixing, for example "Option 3: enter a price."

Your items are sold at the Waterwheel counter either way. This setting only changes what happens on the website.

• At the Waterwheel and online — the usual. It appears in the online shop and people can buy it there.
• At the Waterwheel only — it isn’t listed on the website at all.
• Show it on the website, but take orders in person only — people can see it and read about it, but there’s no Buy button.

Pick the last one for something you’d rather not post, or where you want to talk to the buyer first — a commission, something fragile, something you only have one or two of.

You can change this whenever you like, and it takes effect straight away — this one doesn’t wait for anyone. If you need something off the website this afternoon, you can do that yourself.

Click Create listing for review.

Your item now shows Pending review. It isn’t on the site yet — anything that can be bought gets a quick look from a volunteer first.

That’s the only reason for the wait. It isn’t a judgement on your work.

The badge changes to Published and your item is on sale — at the counter at the Waterwheel, and in the online shop if you chose to list it there.

We’ll email you when it happens. Usually a day or two, but it’s volunteers, so it varies.

This is the part most people worry about, so it’s worth being clear:

Editing an item that’s already on sale never takes it down.

Your listing keeps selling exactly as it is while we look at your change. If we approve it, the change goes on. If we don’t, your listing carries on unchanged.

Nothing disappears from the shop because you fixed a typo.

After you save a change to a live item, it carries two badges:

• Published — your item is still on sale right now, unchanged.
• Changes awaiting review — the edit you just made is with a volunteer.

Look at the price in the picture. That’s the old price, and it’s what customers pay until your change is approved. Nothing is offline, and nothing is half-changed.

If you edit again before we’ve looked, your newest version simply replaces the one in the queue. You won’t end up with two changes stacked up.

Options work the same way: adding, removing or re-pricing one is checked first, and buyers see your current options until it’s approved.

You’ll get an email explaining why — a real person writes the reason, so it won’t be a form letter.

• A new item that wasn’t approved stays saved in your list. Fix what was raised and save again; it comes back to us for another look.
• A change that wasn’t approved is set aside, and your listing carries on exactly as it was. Nothing was taken down.

If you think we’ve got it wrong, just reply to the email.

Sales are paid out monthly to your registered bank account, and you get a monthly statement by email.

Your bank details go in the Sales & payments card, in the Sales section of your account page. If the card has an Add bank details button, you can enter them yourself. A volunteer checks them before they’re used, and once saved nobody can see the full numbers again, not even you. If there’s no button, the card gives an address to email, and a volunteer will enter them for you.

You can also choose how often you hear what sold — daily, weekly, or not at all. Your monthly payment statement is always sent, whichever you pick. Turning the summaries off means "stop telling me about individual sales", not "stop telling me about money".

Can I delete an item? Yes — Delete on the item card. It goes to the trash rather than vanishing, so it can be brought back if you change your mind. Deleting also withdraws it from the till, so it stops being sellable at the Waterwheel as well as online.

What if I make one-off pieces rather than batches? Shop items are for things you can make again. One-off original artworks are sold through the gallery, not as shop items.

Something’s wrong and this guide doesn’t cover it. Reply to any email from us, or use the contact form. A volunteer reads them.