who pays de postage?

[Kate Saunders]

I've been selling at art/craft fairs for quite a few years but lately have been dropping some of them, for various reasons. I've always had a lot of galleries who
want my work and it's beginning to look more attractive to me. I've always just had my work in local places, but now I'm considering galleries
out of driving range. Simple question: who pays the postage when I mail work?
Thanks! Kate

[Brock]

Typically, the artist pays the postage.
In the event the work doesn't sell, the gallery pays the return postage.

[Kate Saunders]

I had a sneaking suspicion that would be the answer....Thanks!
Kate

[Kevin Midgley]

Brock and Kate, only if you are so foolish as to do consignment. Consigned work means the store where it is has nothing invested in it. It also means there is no incentive to sell the item vs an item that may have been purchased outright from an artist.

Just what you need is to have a store 'order' on consignment a whole bunch of whatever, have them change their mind about it a year later and yes, they'll ship it back to you, usually broken and you are stuck with old, dead to sell stock not representing what you currently make.

Much better to sell, first order prepaid and they pay the cost of shipping to them. Then you figure out 30 day terms on future orders if you feel comfortable with that. You need to join a group like Dunn and Bradstreet if you are doing any amount of wholesaling to find out if the potential customer who wants to do business with you is actually paying their bills.

It has been known to happen that a group that desperately wants your consignment or other item is desperate because other suppliers have refused to continue to sell to them as they owe them money, Your stock when sold will be used to pay off previous bills, not to pay you.

Then there is the issue of pricing for wholesaling. All too many artists are working imho far too hard for too little money. Kate, if the price of some coasters I think I saw for sale by you is correct, well wholesaling is a great way to lose weight and have an empty bank account running on the hamster wheel of production.

[Tom Fuhrman]

Kevin is correct in many cases, but if you are talking about really true glass galleries, there are few that are going to buy items outright that are over $500. A few will but I can assure you that to have a decent representation of your wares at a good gallery requires they have a good display of your work. You could easily have between $5,000-10,000+ worth of goods there and there are few galleries that will buy that kind of inventory from one artist outright. They may buy one piece and ask for the balance on consignment. Each venue is totally different and has to be treated individually from my experience. If you are talking "giftware" and lower priced items then it's a totally different "ball game".
people would be surprised at how much retail goods are on the market floor on consignment. Big retailers always work off someone else's $ when possible. Be cautious and know who you are really dealing with when you are dealing with galleries and shops. get lots of references and check all credit histories very well. 3 trade references and their bank is always required. also list of owners if a private corp. That info will tell you a lot about who you are dealing WITH.
Shipping can be handled in many ways as well. sometimes you can offer a freight allowance with a minimum order or there are all kinds of different combinations that can be negotiated.

[Kate Saunders]

I know the people who run the gallery and trust them, and it's not going to be a huge order, but there was an offer to pay the postage for a drop in my price to them. And yes, I realize that I couldn't make much money on my coasters at their current price; they're not what the gallery's interested in. I have found that most galleries that approach me about selling my work are offering on a consignment basis, which I can't afford to do with my small best sellers that I hawk at shows. Just trying to find a balance since my ol' back is beginning to argue with me about schlepping glass around to shows, and I'm not enjoying shows as much as I used to.
Thanks for the input, it helped!
Kate

[Bert Weiss]

Everything is negotiable. The trick is to find a paradigm that works for both parties.

I agree with Tom that most galleries work in a consignment basis. There is one caveat I would make. If you do consignment, you must have a written contract. I recently heard a story about a consignment gallery that went bankrupt, and the courts kept consignment goods to sell and pay creditors. There was only a verbal contract. Then there was the guy who sold his consignment gallery, and the buyer was under the impression that he owned the work.

[Kate Saunders]

Actually, I began my glass sales in a small gallery, some years ago. I had under $100 worth of work in the place and all went well for 6 months or so. Then one day I went by and
poof, they were gone. So maybe that's part of my lack of excitement about being in galleries.

[Kevin Midgley]

If you've sent the order after having payment in hand cheque cleared etc. you don't care if they mark up the item 1000% or go broke or trap shoot them. Never do consignment unless you don't care if you get paid or the item returned to you. Consignment items are like books once you have loaned them to someone their ownership or safe return is questionable. The effort to establish your claim may often turn out to be more than the item is intrinsically worth considering the time spent being lost to make other items.
So, think back on how much time you spent trying to collect that $100 on consignment. That is the reason why not to do it.

[Morganica]

"Never do consignment" is a nice thought, but unless you're selling wholesale or at relatively low price point, pretty unrealistic.

I seriously doubt a gallery could afford to stock the level of inventory required to maintain a stable of artists AND put on a fresh show of new work every month, particularly when the work gets out of normal-person impulse range. Nor would they be as willing to take a chance on new directions that nobody is sure will sell yet.

Yes, consignment galleries can close and make off with your work. Galleries that buy work outright can also bounce checks, go bankrupt when you were counting on them to buy inventory you made especially for them, firesale your stuff until your market value is hosed, damage your work and sell it as-is to some poor unsuspecting buyer who then thinks you have poor quality control, steal bunches of your time on commissions that never happen, buy a couple of your pieces and pay someone else to wholesale copy them...etc.

That's why, as with consignment, you pay attention to what you're doing, pay attention to what they're doing, check the agreement before you sign, keep an open relationship going... etc. Aside from the comfort factor, I don't see a lot of difference.

[DonMcClennen]

I find the word "Gallery" is used to represent anything from a venue to show and sell Artisans "Art " pieces, to a retail space "Store" that stocks and sells gift items such as mass produced coffee mugs, the coasters mentioned here, and on up to dishes, bowls, etc. It seems difficult to give advise when the level of venue, and $ value of product being shipped and sold is so variable.
Don

[Tom Fuhrman]

Actually, I began my glass sales in a small gallery, some years ago. I had under $100 worth of work in the place and all went well for 6 months or so. Then one day I went by and
poof, they were gone. So maybe that's part of my lack of excitement about being in galleries.

being in the "wholesale" business of any sort is a constant challenge. did you get the names of the owners of this gallery. Did you get their home addresses? Did you get the name of their bank and the contact there? Making glass is only about 20% of what we do to run our businesses. The rest is the normal BS that comes with any business of any size. Taking a risk for a few $100 is not bad, when it gets to be a major portion of your entire business, then it's time to really take a hard look at that business and see if it is worth the risk.
5 years ago would you have turned down orders from General Motors? Shortly after that they went bankrupt and if they didn't need you, you were out. Running a business is a day to day operation and is always a risk. I've been in business for myself for over 40 years and there have been times I lost a lot of sleep and $ over not being paid. In hindsight though, it's been good and I regret very little. Always go into things with your eyes wide open and protect yourself as best you can. Some of my clients have become life long friends and others I won't begin to describe. If you are satisfied with staying small and selling it all yourself then stick with it. Otherwise be prepared to take some risks and probably loose some $ along the way.

Back to postage, I make some large heavy items that are sold in galleries. When I have to spend over $50 on packing materials and shipping combined for a piece that retails for $450, I think a long time before sending it. Of the $225 that I get for wholesale that $50 comes out of that and I find that to be a larger % than I am comfortable with. I've only came away with $175 for that item that retails for $450. That's about 38% of the retail. The costs of shipping and packing have exceeded the increases for most other costs of doing business and it is going to get worse. We only have 2 primary choices for shipping, UPS and Fedex, the USPS depends on these for their shipping so they in turn are tied to their price structures as well. International shipping of less than a container has gotten ridiculous. Sell to the galleries you can deliver to unless you're in the very low end or the very high end markets and can ship cheap.