Janice Alexander on mon 14 jun 99
Dear Clayarters,
I am about to venture into consignment for the first time. I have paid
attention to your comments and will be keeping the contacts to a 50 miles
radius.
That said, can anyone give me an idea of what the average commission is that
I can expect to the galleries to take from the selling price?
Also, I have paid attention when all of you said to have a contract. So, I
want to be prepared with a contract if they don't have one. Or should I avoid
the ones who don't have contracts? What are the specific items that I should
look for if we are using the gallery's contract? What happens is a piece gets
broken?
Thanks in advance for your input.
Janice in NC
Karen Shapiro on tue 15 jun 99
Hi Janice,
All my sales are consignment and I deal with 7 galleries. They get 50%
across the board, so keep that in mind when pricing. I only deal with
galleries who've been around awhile and usually (almost always) I get
referrals, i.e. don't approach anyone I don't know good things about. Ask
about their payment schedules -- mine all pay monthly for the previous
month's sales. AND, if anyone jerks you around, drop them immediately.
Good luck,
Karen in Sonoma
Earl Brunner on tue 15 jun 99
There was a trend awhile back ( I'm not sure on the current status ) for
consignment galleries to go for 50%. That is a normal wholesale %, and the
artist doesn't get paid until sold. I wouldn't consign for more than 40%. I
wouldn't consign in a gallery that wholesales and consigns. If they want to
consign me, they had better be consigning everybody. I would use my own contrac
whereever possible. If not possible, and I don't like their contract and they
won't change the parts I don't like. I wouldn't do it. I think regular contact
is important. Focus on a few galleries to start with, don't spread yourself too
thin.
Janice Alexander wrote:
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> Dear Clayarters,
>
> I am about to venture into consignment for the first time. I have paid
> attention to your comments and will be keeping the contacts to a 50 miles
> radius.
>
> That said, can anyone give me an idea of what the average commission is that
> I can expect to the galleries to take from the selling price?
>
> Also, I have paid attention when all of you said to have a contract. So, I
> want to be prepared with a contract if they don't have one. Or should I avoid
> the ones who don't have contracts? What are the specific items that I should
> look for if we are using the gallery's contract? What happens is a piece gets
> broken?
>
> Thanks in advance for your input.
>
> Janice in NC
--
Earl Brunner
http://coyote.accessnv.com/bruec
mailto:bruec@anv.net
Craig Martell on tue 15 jun 99
-----Original Message-----
From: Janice Alexander >
>That said, can anyone give me an idea of what the average commission >is
that I can expect to the galleries to take from the selling price?
Hi Janice:
I think that the average commission would be around 40%. The highest that I
pay at present is 45% and that is my limit unless someone is giving me a
show and spending a lot of bucks to promote me and my work. Then I'll do
50%. The 50-50 split is what I do wholesale for so I won't consign at 50%
unless it's for a show.
>Also, I have paid attention when all of you said to have a contract. So, I
>want to be prepared with a contract if they don't have one. Or should I
>avoid the ones who don't have contracts? What are the specific items >that
I should look for if we are using the gallery's contract? What happens >is a
piece gets broken?
If a gallery doesn't have a contract or some sort of written agreement I
would probably be a bit concerned. If you want to deal with such a gallery
anyway, you would be in a more secure position if you had your own contract.
The contract should cover the way that you are going to do business and how
and when you want to be paid for the sale of your work and what the gallery
commission will be. A couple of points to get in the contract are: 1. The
proceeds due to you from the sale of your work is to be held in trust by the
gallery and not used by the gallery for operations. 2. Title to the work
passes directly from you to the purchaser when you have been paid in full.
The gallery never holds title to the work and the work will not be subject
to creditors of the gallery, or sold to pay liens against the gallery. So,
if the gallery goes belly up you get the work back or at least have some
legal leverage in a court of law. 3. The gallery pays the amount due to
you, less their commission for broken, lost, stolen, work. You are fronting
merchandise to them and actually giving them an interest free loan. They
should take care of losses to compensate, and most will. The galleries that
I consign to cover everything with no questions and no hassles. They are
fair with me and vice versa.
Do an inventory of your work at least every six months if you can. This
gives the gallery notice that you take care of business and are concerned
about your stuff. You, and the gallery should keep an updated, running
account of the work in inventory and when it is sold. Use a numbered
inventory of all the pots with a description and selling price. When you
get a check, EVERY MONTH, the gallery must give an account of every piece
sold and the inventory number and selling price. I know, it's a lot of
bookwork and BS. This is why you don't want to do a 50-50 split.
later, Craig Martell in Oregon
Christine Sawyer on wed 16 jun 99
The long and short of it in my opinion is stay away from one's that don't
have contracts, to me it means that they don't have experience there is no
protection for anyone that way. Rates seem to be 40-50% (you keep the high
side )split in the northeast.
Good Luck
Chris
----- Original Message -----
From: Janice Alexander
To:
Sent: Monday, June 14, 1999 5:59 PM
Subject: Consignment questions
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> Dear Clayarters,
>
> I am about to venture into consignment for the first time. I have paid
> attention to your comments and will be keeping the contacts to a 50 miles
> radius.
>
> That said, can anyone give me an idea of what the average commission is
that
> I can expect to the galleries to take from the selling price?
>
> Also, I have paid attention when all of you said to have a contract. So, I
> want to be prepared with a contract if they don't have one. Or should I
avoid
> the ones who don't have contracts? What are the specific items that I
should
> look for if we are using the gallery's contract? What happens is a piece
gets
> broken?
>
> Thanks in advance for your input.
>
> Janice in NC
Susan Fox Hirschmann on wed 16 jun 99
hello janice,
I do very little consignment, and only with gallery owners that i "KNOW." I
believe that the fairly common standard is 60/40 which means that since you
take the risk of having your work in their gallery, you get the 60% when it
is sold, and they retain 40%. Normally, i pay shipping there and they pay
any shipping on any returns to me. The important thing is that you have a
written contract, requiring them to pay you within a month of sale, and the
percentage in writing, just to protect you. Any shop or gallery that does
consignment with artisans on a normal basis will not find it unusual for you
to request a consignment agreement. It can ONLY protect you.
Therein, all pieces that you give them should be listed including the price
that you receive on each one.
This is contrary to the normal wholesale practise of "keystoning, "or
selling the work for 1/2 of retail, wholesale price being 50% of retail price
(tho most galleries seem to add another 10% as they pay the shipping.)
good luck with your new business venture!
susan
susan fox hirschmann
in getting hotter annandale, virginia
Paul Lewing on wed 16 jun 99
Janice,
The only point in dealing on consignment is to get more from your work
than you would wholesaling it. Otherwise, why would you take the extra
risk, do the extra bookwork, and park your unsold work on someone else's
shelves? So I would never do consignment at 50%. If they want the work
at wholesale prices, they should buy it wholesale. This is especially
true if some of the work in their shop is wholesale and some is
consigned. They are going to push the stuff they've invested money in
already, and fill in the holes on the shelves with stuff that didn't
cost them anything.
Paul Lewing, Seattle
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