Sanity check please - was I 'devaluing her art' or is this seller a headcase?

I think the thing that annoys me most about buying art is that the pricing often feels so secretive. I have quite a lot so stuff on my walls, often limited edition prints at prices up to about £1,500, but so often I find an artist I like online but there is no indication of what price various pieces are intended to be sold for, just lots of “Price on Application”

That leaves me immediately feeling wary, as I don’t know if the artist is in my price range, and I feel at a disadvantage as I don’t know if the gallery is going to push me to pay a price that is higher than anything they would ever publicly stand behind.

It makes the whole gallery based art world feel deliberately intended to exclude annd intimidate, and so most of the time I just don’t follow up (and the artist loses a potential sale).

I see a lot of local artists trying to sell art at crazy high prices. I don't doubt it may have taken them a lot of time etc but the actual art isn't good enough.

I renovate old oak furniture to a high standard but I'd be deluded to think I could make full time career out of it. It's a hobby for me and if I sell something it's to offset some of my costs.

@catPA she is using this as an opportunity to inflate her egotistical ‘starving artist’ persona. That’s why she’s making such an issue out of it. Otherwise why not say ‘I though tax was on original value, I’ll give you a receipt, take it up with customs’. She’s enjoying this very, very much.

There are very few poor artists, the poor can't afford to practice it and are increasingly unlikely to be able to study it.

Like practically everything, it's poorly funded, under valued & corrupted by Capitalist social conditions.

She was being unreasonable.

Precisely because the general attitude is that it's not a proper job and shouldn't be compensated as such.

Not surprised she is struggling with her poor unhelpful attitude towards customers. I would leave a review of your experience. I'd be annoyed too.

Yes leave a bad review. Also, cancel or update positive review.

She devalued it herself when she started selling it at sale prices. And if it’s art, the value is subjective anyway - as the seller she puts her own value on it for sale purposes.

I’ve had this situation when I’ve bought on EBay and Etsy. I bought a couple of things on EBay from a seller in the US, as they were offering a ‘coupon’ price which amounted to about a 40% discount. When the package arrived in the UK I had a card from Royal Mail to say that the item attracted a customs charge. I paid it and when the package arrived there was a customs sticker on on which the seller had stated the full price of the items which resulted in nearly double the customs charge.

The Etsy item was hand made jewellery from Canada - sold at sale prices, and the same thing happened. I got nowhere with either of the sellers and ended up contacting the selling platforms involved to ask what their policy is on this kind of thing. Predictably I got nowhere with EBay because their customer service is shite. Etsy replied to say that as far as they were concerned, the price charged by the seller should have been the price they quoted for customs purposes. They didn’t intervene with the seller so it made no difference on that occasion but if it happens again, at least there is some recourse.

I would contact the selling platform for comment and once you have that, leave a calm and factual review for the seller, explaining what happened, and their reaction, and include any response you receive from the platform itself.

I had the same thing with a different US small business putting the “ original “ price rather than the actual (sale) price I had paid on the custom form so I had huge unexpected fees 😢

They don’t care - but they should as it means they’ve lost a regular customer (as in your case, I had bought a lot from them previously). Please leave a factual review OP - I wish I’d known ahead of time that some businesses put the amount they wish they had been paid on customs forms! 🤦‍♀️

She's cheeky . Definitely leave a review to warn potential overseas buyers of the customs duties etc and for them not to be caught out like you...

Rather aggressive and I’m not ignorant thank you.

So why is it a world famous thing that artists are ‘poor’ and they only ever make money when they’re dead? No one says that about plumbers!

No, not implying they should sell for less at all, just that it’s not something most people can indulge in (unless they are buying cheaper art). It’s similar to designer clothes, most people can’t buy a Chanel or Hermes handbag so designers get most of their sales from perfume etc rather than the clothes.

Why did the artist sell at a lower price?

The value means the price that was paid. End of.

Well, nobody has to do anything. A self-employed plumber cant get profit in his first week of setting up a business? It's just a hobby then. You obviously have never run a business if you think any company owner out there woke up on day two with 100k in their bank account and a full book of clients.
Every single thing you see, wear, use was designed by someone whom you consider not having a proper job. Every road sign, a print on your favourite pajamas, every book cover, every image on food packaging.. but no, it's not a proper job, apparently, and doesn't add value to society. And that's not even covering product designers and 3D artist who literally design everything from kitchen utensils to cars to assistive equipment.
Is a supermarket checkout person having a proper job? Let's face it, they are not doctors, are they...
The ignorance!

You are right that a lot of work needs to be done to make the arts more accessible to everyone.

But suggesting that artists should sell their work for less is not the answer (not sure if you're suggesting that but that seems to be the implication) - they need to make a living like anyone else.

I mean, show me a wealthy artist and I'll show you 1000 wealthy people showing off their botox 'influencing' on social media, or some such bullshit.

My bugbear is that art is often targeted/ devalued like this when there are so many other vocations that bring less value to people's lives, but are somehow deemed more worthy.

Of course, I agree with you about this artist being ridiculous (as I've repeated many, many times).

Entitled preciousness I believe.

Surely there is no better indicator of the 'value' of the item than the price it was sold for

Just a little OT but I recently listened to a (quite old I think) radio comedy called Artists with the fab Vicki Pepperdine. Some artists might appreciate it, it was very enjoyable. 🙂

It’s can be quite elitist though. I mean most people can’t afford to have real art on their walls. I like some art and can enjoy some galleries. The most expensive art I have is a painting that cost £1,200 but that was strictly a one-off. I have a couple of pictures on my wall from a local artist I like but they are limited prints and not very expensive (maybe £40 a piece), which I had framed so I’m certainly not an under-appreciator of art in my own humble way.

It’s the fact this artist is pleading poverty and having a poor-me attitude, whilst living in a ‘Homes and Garden’ level house, I would find that annoying and entitled. As others have said, her attitude would put me right off having her work on my walls.

Same principle though. You need to keep your prices stable or going up. Going down is never a good idea though private sales at a discount are another matter.

The OP didn't devalue the art. The artist put the artwork on sale as it presumably hadn't sold at the original price. The value of the artwork is the price people are prepared to pay for it.
She should have filled in the customs form correctly with the value of the item - in this case the reduced price because that was how much it was worth and not the original price.
She sounds like she has lots of issues. And yes, I would write a review to warn others that they will end up having to pay the customs duties on the original price and not the sale price. What if she'd originally listed it as 2000 dollars and it ended up selling for 300 and then someone is expected to pay customs on 2000 dollars instead of 300 just because she claims her artwork was worth 2000 dollars. That's just not on.

Well the vast majority of artists do also have part time jobs in related or unrelated fields.

This doesn't mean that is their 'proper job' and their art is just some kind of silly hobby. It's simply a result of how undervalued the arts are in our society.

What is ironic is that people love art - they want it on their walls - they want to see it in galleries and museums and books and movies and in magazines and on products that they buy. But so many think that being an artist is not a 'proper job' despite the fact that art is everywhere. People need and demand it, but they don't value it.

Making good, saleable art that people want to commission and buy is not easy, and it's not something you can just do in your spare time.

Society is so messed up in the way it devalues and dismisses art that brings joy and meaning to people's lives.

@catPA I don't know if it's the same in the UK but in Ireland you can query the charge with the post office and send them the receipt of what you paid and they will fix the charge.

She's batshit. You haven't devalued anything. You wanted to pay the correct amount of tax for the price of the item.

Sadly deal with this from American family. Get a parcel from the US and am told to pay £30 customs and then it's tea towels or something 🙁.

@Catza Agreed... what constantly baffles me is that art is always at the front of the queue being bashed but it is no different from any other commodity - fashion, home furnishings, fancy food, etc.

To someone making designer home furnishings, for example, people don't say 'oh well you had a lovely time making that sofa so I won't pay you for it because you had a nice time!'

Or fashion, which people pay silly money for. Or movies - look at Hollywood!

If we want to talk about overpaid artists, let's talk about Hollywood actors, not the small business owner doing oil paintings in their home studio.

There is something about people making a living from painting that just seems to rile people up, and I don't know why - it's no different to anything else that is not essential but adds value to people's lives.

(Sorry for going completely off-piste from the OP! - I've said my soapbox piece now, I'll step down).