Selling art on consignment: how it works and what to put in the agreement

What is art consignment?

Art consignment is an arrangement in which you give work to a gallery, dealer or shop to sell for you. You are the consignor, the gallery is the consignee, and the work remains yours until someone buys it. When it sells, the gallery keeps a commission and pays you the rest. If it does not sell, it comes back.

This is how most galleries work with living artists. It lets a gallery show more work than it could afford to buy, and it gives the artist a sales room, a mailing list and a salesperson without paying for them up front. The cost is the commission and the risk: your work, and for a time your money, is in someone else’s hands.

How does selling art on consignment work?

1. You agree terms. Commission, length, who pays for what. Put them in a signed agreement before any work moves.
2. You deliver the work with a consignment list. Every piece is listed with its title, medium, size and retail price, and both sides sign and keep a copy.
3. The gallery shows and sells the work. It handles inquiries, sales and delivery to buyers.
4. A work sells. The gallery collects payment, keeps its commission and pays you your share within the agreed number of days, with a statement of what sold.
5. The period ends. Unsold work is returned, or the agreement is renewed and the list updated.
6. You update your records. Each work is marked sold or back in the studio, and each payment is checked against the list.

What percentage do galleries take on consignment?

Commercial galleries commonly take 50 percent of the retail price. Nonprofit spaces, co-operative galleries, cafés, shops and many online platforms take less, often somewhere between 20 and 40 percent. The percentage is set in the agreement and can be negotiated, especially on work that is expensive to produce or frame.

Here is what the split looks like on a painting priced at $4,000 with a 50 percent commission:

Two things follow from the arithmetic. Decide in advance how discounts are handled, because it changes what you are paid. And keep your retail prices the same everywhere: a collector who can buy the same work for less from your studio will, and the gallery will stop showing you.

What should an art consignment agreement include?

An art consignment agreement, also called a consignment contract, is the written record of the terms. It does not need to be long. It needs to settle the points below before there is a disagreement about them.

This is a checklist to negotiate from, not legal advice. For a large body of work or an exclusive arrangement, have a lawyer who knows art law read the agreement before you sign.

What does an art consignment list look like? A template

The consignment list (also called a consignment sheet or inventory list) is the part of the agreement you will use most. It is the proof of what the gallery has. Make a new one each time work is delivered or returned.

CONSIGNMENT LIST

Artist:      [Your name, email, phone]
Consignee:   [Gallery name, address, contact person]
Period:      [Start date] to [end date]
Commission:  [50]% of retail price

Works (inventory no. · title, year · medium · size · retail price):

1. 2026-014 · Untitled (Blue Field), 2026 · Oil on linen · 48 × 60 in · $4,800
2. 2025-021 · Night Garden II, 2025 · Acrylic on panel · 24 × 18 in · $2,200
3. [...]

The works listed remain the property of the artist until sold
and paid for in full.

Received in good condition by the consignee:

Signed (consignee): __________________   Date: ____________
Signed (artist):    __________________   Date: ____________

The details on the list should come straight from your art inventory, so that the gallery’s labels, its price list and your records all say the same thing.

What happens if the gallery closes or does not pay?

This is the main risk of consignment. If a gallery fails while holding your work or your money, you want to be able to show that both were yours.

Many US states, including New York and California, have laws that treat consigned artwork and the money from its sale as property held in trust for the artist, which helps keep them out of reach of the gallery’s creditors (New York Arts and Cultural Affairs Law section 12.01; California Civil Code section 1738 and following). The protection differs from state to state and country to country, and it is far easier to rely on when your paperwork is in order.

What you can do yourself:

• Never leave work without a signed consignment list.
• Label the back of every work with your name and inventory number.
• Ask for a statement whenever anything sells, and follow up when a payment date passes.
• Keep first consignments short, and ask artists the gallery already shows whether they are paid on time.
• Collect unsold work promptly when the period ends.
• For a large consignment, ask a lawyer whether to register your interest in the work, which in the US is done by filing a UCC-1 financing statement.

How do you keep track of artwork on consignment?

The usual way artists lose work on consignment is not theft. It is losing track: a piece goes to a group show, the show ends, and nobody remembers that it never came back. For every consignment, record:

• who has the work, and the contact there;
• which works, with the retail price agreed at the time;
• the start and end dates;
• the commission;
• the status: active, sold or returned;
• the signed list, and every statement and payment.

Then look at everything that is out once a month. For each active consignment, ask whether the end date has passed, whether anything has sold, and whether you have been paid for it.

ArtieDB is art inventory software and a portfolio website for working artists. Consignments are part of it. Each consignment records the consignee, the start and end dates, the commission, its status and your notes, linked to the work it covers. Marking a consignment active changes the work’s status to consigned; marking it sold or returned changes the work to sold or available. One list then shows what is out and where.

Is selling art on consignment worth it?

It depends on what the gallery does for its share. Weigh it honestly:

Before you consign to a gallery for the first time, ask:

• How long has it been open, and who else does it show?
• How and when does it pay artists? Ask one of them.
• How is consigned work insured?
• What did it do to promote the last artist it showed?
• Will it tell you who buys your work?

Each sale through a gallery is also part of the work’s record. Note it in your inventory, and give the buyer a certificate of authenticity through the gallery.