The gallery that said yes, and then you never saw a check from the first sale?
First gallery I ever dealt with took two pieces on consignment. Sold one within a month. Called about it, they said the collector hadn't paid yet. Called again two months later, same thing. Eventually I just went in and stood at the counter until the owner wrote me a check on the spot. Never worked with them again.
Anyone else ever have a gallery that said yes and then made you feel like you were doing them a favor by asking for your own money? How'd you handle that one?
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I haven't sold through a gallery yet, still a bit too nervous to even approach one properly, but I've read enough stories like this that it scares me off a little more every time. The standing at the counter thing though... good for you, honestly. It shouldn't have to come to that.
The part that gets me is the "collector hasn't paid yet" line. Two months. I don't know how these places stay in business treating the people making the actual work like an inconvenience. As if the art appeared on their wall by itself.
I think I'd be too shy to do what you did, honestly. I'd probably just send polite emails and keep getting nowhere. Maybe that's something I need to work on. Did you ever get clarity on whether it was really the collector, or was the gallery just holding onto it?
the shy thing, I get it. I used to be the same. then I realized the only thing worse than standing at a counter feeling like an asshole is just never getting paid for work that's already hanging on someone's wall.
it's not about confidence, it's about practice. you do it once and it gets easier. and honestly it helps to remember they need you more than you need them. no art, no gallery. they forget that sometimes but it's true.
but yeah, the "collector hasn't paid" line. heard it so many times from other people I'm convinced at this point it's just what they say when the money's sitting in their account and they'd rather not move it. two months of that is not a collector problem, that's a them problem.
The practice part is real. First time I did it my hands were shaking and I'd rehearsed the whole thing in my head for a week. By the third or fourth time it was just Tuesday. It's like everything else, you build a callus for it.
And you're right about them needing you more. They forget that. Problem is too many of us let them forget. Standing at the counter was the only thing that worked but I still should've made them chase me a little first instead of giving them the benefit of the doubt for two months. That's on me too.
The "collector hasn't paid yet" line is the oldest one in the book. You hear it enough times you start to realize the collector paid a week after the show and the money's been sitting in their account the whole time. They just figure you'll wait if you're polite about it.
Don't be shy about approaching galleries because of it. Most of them are fine. It's the ones that give you that line on your first sale that tell you everything. One sale tells you more than a hundred conversations about "vision" ever will.
You don't have to stand at the counter like I did either. You just have to ask once, in writing, and then ask again in writing a week later. If they still stall, that's your answer about who you're dealing with. Doesn't have to be a scene.