Need ideas for an icon-symbol

[tedster]

I'm trying to design a set of icons for a site and I've hit a snag with "purchase."

The audience is global, so no US centric images will work. The icon should be around 24 px wide or less. And the big issue -- it's the purchase of items related to spiritual subject matter, so a heavy commercial look won't work. Credit cards and cash registers are already vetoed. I've tried a shopping cart, and it was only hesitantly received by the client.

Any one have any other ideas for a "purchase" symbol that might work here?

[bill]

In Japan they use the beckoning cat [highlandinc.com] to draw customers in to make a purchase...but that's probably not going to help you much.

[Macguru]

Brain storming style:

- little pile of pennies
- hand shake
- pretty sales person with a head set
- green button
- fancy shopping bag with a '@' or '$' on it

[tedster]

A beckoning cat!

We really are different cultures, aren't we. Could something that subtle ever communicate to a US audience? Subtle is what I need.

[Hunter]

Tedster,

Take a look at other Sites within the same industry. Others have been faced with the same challenge and left their results for you to ponder...

[click watcher]

how about a buddhist style offering/begging bowl

[sarkye]

I like Macguru's idea of a little pile of pennies...

The only thing I could think of was, to stay close to the recognisable elements that on-line shoppers are used to looking for to check-out and still divert from the commercialism a little bit - what about (along the lines of a shopping basket) a little wicker basket?

[bill]

What about a variation of the Monopoly guy [monopoly.com]?

[tedster]

Lots of food for thought. The trade off between the feel and the recognizable symbol is not an easy one. The sites I've seen in the same genre have missed the boat, to my eye.

Thanks to every one for getting my creative juices flowing.

[mivox]

A tastefully wrapped gift box? That way it doesn't so much say "spend money/buy stuff" as it suggests "give a gift" which is maybe a more acceptable sentiment...?

[msgraph]

a little stack of bills with a silhouette of a face on the top?

Most currency notes have faces on them so I don't think that anyone would not know what it means.

[Marcia]

Old-fashioned denari or shekels?

[Key_Master]

Trading scales maybe with some coins in one pan and something "spiritual" in the other. Or did I exceed my 24 pixels?