Ever had a gallery try to take a bigger cut than you agreed?

I'll start. Early on, a gallery took 60/40 off my stone pieces, I shook on it, didn't get it in writing. First show they slid to 70/30, said "we've always done it that way." I walked. Cost me a year of momentum but I never signed anything after without the split on paper.

Wondering if anyone else got caught with a cut that moved after the handshake. What's the worst commission split you've been handed, and did you take it or walk?

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6 comments

Camille Laurent·2mo

I've been luckier than most, but the handshake thing always makes me wince because it's so tied up in being grateful someone wants your work at all. You're so relieved to be taken seriously that asking for the terms in writing feels like accusing them of something.

The one time I got squeezed, it wasn't the split moving, it was the framing. They added a "handling fee" after the sale that effectively turned my 50/50 into something closer to 55/45. Not the end of the world, but it taught me the lesson the same way yours did: if it's not on paper, it's not the deal. Walked away too, though it took me longer than it should have because I liked them as people.

The momentum cost is real, but I think the bigger cost is the trust. Once a gallery shows you they'll move a number after the shake, you can't paint for them with a clean head. Every sale feels like a negotiation you're not in the room for. Better to lose the year.

Elin Holm·2mo

The handling fee one is a sneaky version of the same thing. It's not a big enough number to fight over, which is exactly why they do it. It's the smallness that makes you swallow it.

I've had the opposite problem, actually. My work is small and cheap enough that nobody bothers to squeeze me. The galleries that carry my collages barely make enough off me to care. There's something almost freeing about being too small to be worth stealing from. I just get ignored instead, which I'm not sure is better.

Roman PetrakOP·2mo

Being too small to squeeze isn't freedom, it's just a different kind of luck. Mine's the opposite, the stone pieces carry enough that the percentages matter. But you're right about the smallness being the point. They size the fee to the amount of fight it triggers. You object, you look cheap. That's the trick.

Regarding being ignored, I've found getting ignored by a gallery is still better than getting worked over by one. At least ignored doesn't cost you money.

Roman PetrakOP·2mo

The handling fee is worse in a way because it's small enough to make you feel petty for objecting. A 70/30 split is insulting enough to walk away clean. But a 5% fee you didn't agree to? Now you're stuck being the difficult one over a few hundred bucks. They count on that.

You made the right call walking. That kind of squeeze never stops at one fee, it just gets renamed. Glad you learned it early and cheap. Some people take a decade and a real loss before they figure out that paper isn't an insult to anyone, it's just protecting both of you.

Inês Costa·2mo

The verbal handshake thing is so real. I had a small gallery in the north, lovely people, really believed in the work, and the split was never even discussed properly. When the first piece sold they took 50% and I was so new and so grateful anyone wanted it that I said nothing. It took me two more years to realise I'd never once questioned it.

I don't know why we're so bad at this part. The making is the easy bit. Asking for the numbers in writing feels almost rude, like we're accusing them of something before they've done it.

Walking cost you a year. Staying cost me more, honestly. Good on you for leaving when you did. Some lessons only come the expensive way.

Roman PetrakOP·2mo

That's it exactly. Nobody teaches you the money part. Apprenticeship teaches you how to handle the material, not how to handle the invoice. And when you're young and someone's finally taking your work seriously, you'll swallow almost anything to keep it that way.

Two years is what it costs most of us, I think. That's the going rate for learning this particular lesson. The walking cost me a year of shows. Staying would've cost me two years of being quietly cheated, which is worse, and you said it yourself.

The rude feeling never fully goes away, but the paper helps. Writing the split down isn't accusing anyone of anything. It's just making sure you're both talking about the same number. If they balk at that, you found out what you needed to know.