Hi! I’m an artist and fairly new to shopify. I’d like for some of my paintings to still show on my shopify website while they are at a gallery or art show temporarily but not have them available for sale online. Is there a way to do this? Would love for the item to say “At Art Show” or “At Exhibit” so that people know they might become available again but can’t be purchased at the moment. Please let me know how I would do this. Thanks!
Topic summary
An artist wants to display paintings on their Shopify store while they’re temporarily at galleries or art shows, but prevent online purchases during that time.
Solution provided:
- Navigate to the product in Shopify admin
- Adjust inventory settings: uncheck “Track quantity” and set “Inventory policy” to “Do not allow”
- Set availability to “0” or uncheck “This product is available for sale”
Options for displaying status messages:
- Product title/description: Add “At Art Show” directly to the title or description
- Product tags: Create tags like “art-show” or “exhibition” and use CSS to display badges (more professional)
- Metafield apps: Install an app to create custom fields for exhibition status
This approach allows visitors to view the artwork while clearly indicating it’s temporarily unavailable but may return to the store later. The issue was resolved with the original poster confirming the solution was helpful.
Hey @natureinspired ,
Yes, you can absolutely display your paintings on your Shopify store while they’re at a gallery or art show without making them available for purchase. Here’s how to do this:
- Go to your Shopify admin dashboard
- Navigate to “Products” and find the painting you want to mark as unavailable
- Click on the product to edit it
- Scroll down to “Inventory” section
- Uncheck “Track quantity” if it’s enabled
- Set “Inventory policy” to “Do not allow” (this prevents customers from purchasing when out of stock)
- Change “Available” to “0” or uncheck the “This product is available for sale” option
- Save your changes
To display the “At Art Show” or “At Exhibit” message, you have a few options:
Option 1: Use the product title or description
- Add “At Art Show” to the end of your product title
- Or add a note at the top of your product description
Option 2: Create a product tag (more professional)
- In the product editing page, add a tag like “art-show” or “exhibition”
- Then, depending on your theme, you can use CSS to display a badge or label on products with this tag
Option 3: Use a product metafield app
- Install a metafield app from the Shopify App Store
- Create a custom field to indicate exhibition status
- Display this field on your product page
This way, visitors can still see and appreciate your artwork while understanding it’s temporarily unavailable for online purchase but may become available later. If you need any help implementing this, email us and we’ll make the changes for you.
Cheers!
Shubham | Untechnickle
1 Like
Thank you so much! This is very helpful!
You’re welcome 
Please accept my response as the solution. Thanks again!