I must be missing something. I have had several conversations with different people lately who would like to sell their artwork. When the conversation has come around to selling your work in galleries, I have gotten the same response on several occasions.

"I'm not going to sell through a gallery, they want to keep 50% of what they sell my stuff for!". Yeah, if they are a commision gallery, which most of them are, they are going to keep 50% of the selling price. So what? If they bought it out right from you they would mark it up at least 100% before selling it. That is the same thing. If a store can't sell something for at least double what they pay for it, what is the point? In some industries, stores expect to mark it up 3 or 4 times.

What do people think? A gallery is a business. They have rent, utilities, insurance, taxes, payroll, more insurance, more taxes, advertising expenses, etc. They are selling your artwork. Don't they deserve some money to do that?

If you can find enough customers and sell enough of your stuff at a good profit, you obviously do not need a gallery. But as I see it, having places in different locations representing your work gives you more exposure.

I guess that is the same reason I have never understood why people complain about ebay fees. I have problems with ebay as it is today for other reasons, and I have not been active enough on ebay in several years to speak to their rates, but I am quite sure it is a very inexpensive way to sell. All things being equal.

I find this problem in my business frequently. People come to me and ask if I will carry their product in our store. When I ask them how much they want me to pay them, I almost always find that they want to give me 10%-15% off of retail.

Usually they have made this product, and started selling it for whatever price they think they can get. Then when it looks like people like it, they decide it would be good to have stores selling it. The problem is, they cannot afford to reduce the price by more than a very small amount. And they plan to continue selling it online at the original price.

Just as an example: Joe has this really nifty item he is selling for $100.00. He has sold quite a few. He has a website, and he has ads in magazines. People are buying. So Joe desides that he could sell a whole lot more, and make more money if he could get every store in the country to sell his product. He wants me to buy his product for $90.00 each (never mind that it is going to cost me $10.00 to have it shipped to me). And the best part in his mind is that he is going to continue selling them the way he has been, but if he is low on stock when someone contacts him, and they live near me, he is going to send them to me.

So here's my question. What's in it for me? Why would I want to carry his product? It isn't going to help me pay my rent in any significant way. It isn't going to give me any profit for my investment. He is going to continue to be my major competition.

Ah-ha. Maybe I just hit on the answer. Profit. That is a dirty word isn't it? Nobody thinks that anybody else should be making a profit. If I (or the gallery, or anyone else you sell to, or buy from) can't make a profit, why would they be in business? There are better things to do with your time than to work for free.