The gallery that took six months to pay me
I had a gallery hold a solo show, sold three paintings, and then I waited six months to get paid. Every month a new excuse, the collector hadn't paid them, the accounting system changed, the cheque was in the post. I finally got the money after I showed up in person and stood at their front desk.
I hear these stories all the time now. So, what's the longest you've waited to get paid by a gallery? And at what point did you start making noise about it?
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Six months is outrageous, and I'm sorry you had to physically stand at their desk to get what was already yours.
I've been fortunate on the whole, most of the galleries I've worked with have been professional. But I had one experience, about eight years ago now, where a small gallery in the Midlands held payment for just over four months. Similar pattern: the collector had paid in instalments, the gallery was waiting for the final one before releasing my share. I didn't mind that in principle, but the lack of communication was what got to me. No updates unless I asked, and when I asked I got the same vague reassurances you describe.
I started making polite but persistent enquiries at the two-month mark. By three months I was sending a brief, very civil email once a week. The money arrived not long after that, so I can't say whether the persistence worked or it was simply time. But I do think there's a difference between being patient and being a doormat, and galleries sometimes blur that line intentionally.
What strikes me is that this seems to be getting worse, not better. I wonder if it's a cash flow problem in the galleries themselves, or something more deliberate.
Four months with bad communication is its own kind of draining. At least when they're dodging you openly you know where you stand, the silence makes you feel like you're bothering them for what's yours. The Midlands gallery, did you ever work with them again after that?