SAM, short for Stories Art and Money, is the management system that most Aboriginal art centres in Australia use to run their day-to-day business. It holds artist records, catalogues artworks and products, tracks consignments and sales, produces certificates of authenticity, and manages artist accounts and payments. If you work at an art centre, SAM is very likely the source of truth for everything you sell.
What SAM actually does
You can learn more directly from SAM, but in short it covers the whole arc of an art centre’s work. It stores artist biographies, resumes and exhibition history. It catalogues each artwork with its medium, dimensions, story and pricing. It creates ATO-compliant invoices and receipts, tracks stock, handles artist payments, and reports on the business. Many centres also connect it to accounting software like Xero or MYOB.
Why it matters for selling online
Because SAM already holds your catalogue, your website should reflect it rather than duplicate it. The problem most centres hit is that their online store and their SAM tenant drift apart. Someone adds a painting to SAM, then has to retype it into the website. A piece sells in the gallery, but the website still shows it as available. Prices and stories fall out of step.
Keeping SAM and your website in step
This is exactly the gap the Defyn SAM plugin was built to close. It keeps your SAM catalogue and your WooCommerce or Shopify store in sync both ways, so artworks, stock and pricing flow onto your website automatically, and orders flow back into SAM as sales records. It handles Australian GST correctly and keeps artist stories and provenance intact, which matters for cultural as well as commercial reasons.
For the full picture, see our guide to connecting SAM to your website.
Skink has built websites for Aboriginal art centres for more than 12 years. If you want your SAM catalogue working properly online, read more about our work with art centres, or get in touch and call 02 9834 4119.
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