Managing Studio Invoicing & Consignments

Selling art is a business transaction with an emotional side. Invoices, commissions, deposits and works scattered across galleries are rarely why people become artists, yet they decide whether you get paid on time and whether you can answer a simple question: where is that piece, and what happened to it?

This guide looks at the two places where studio administration most often goes wrong: the invoice for a sale, and works placed with galleries on consignment. It also describes the sales history that grows out of both, and a short monthly routine that keeps them under control without taking over your week.

Invoicing a sale cleanly

A good invoice is boring in the best way. It gives the buyer everything they need, leaves no room for interpretation and matches your own records. When it does not, the cost is usually a delayed payment or an awkward email thread weeks after the work has left the studio.

What to include

• A unique invoice number and the invoice date, in a sequence you never break.
• Seller and buyer details, including addresses and any tax identification your country requires.
• A precise description of the work: title, year, medium, dimensions, edition number, plus your inventory reference.
• The price, with shipping, framing or taxes shown on separate lines.
• Payment terms: due date, accepted methods, and what happens with a deposit.
• A reference to the certificate of authenticity, if you issue one.

Tax treatment of art sales varies a great deal between countries and between private and professional sellers. Agree the correct wording with your accountant once, then reuse it every time.

Be precise about the work

The description of the work on the invoice is not a formality. It is the buyer's proof of what they bought, and it may be the only document they ever receive. Use the same title, dimensions and edition number as your record and your certificate, and add the inventory reference. If two similar pieces exist, the reference is what separates them.

Invoice from the record, not from a blank page

The most common source of errors is retyping the same details into a separate document. A dimension is entered in centimetres on one and inches on another, or an edition number is copied wrongly. If the invoice is built from the artwork record, the title, dimensions and edition are already correct, and the sale lands in the work's history automatically.

In Art2App Artist Studio, the Masterwork plan generates invoices straight from a work's record and keeps a running history of what sold, to whom and for how much.

Deposits, commissions and shipping

For a commission, agree the price, the deposit and the delivery in writing before you start, and invoice the deposit separately from the balance. For shipped work, decide who pays for packing, transport and insurance, and show those costs on their own lines so the price of the work itself stays clean. Photograph the piece packed and ready to leave, and keep the tracking details with the record.

Working with galleries on consignment

When a gallery shows your work on consignment, you remain the owner until a sale happens. That arrangement works well when everyone knows exactly what has been placed, on what terms and for how long. It goes wrong when any of those things lives only in someone's memory.

What a consignment agreement should cover

• The list of works, each with its reference, price and condition on departure.
• The commission and who pays for framing, shipping, insurance and promotion.
• The duration of the arrangement and how either side ends it.
• When and how the gallery pays you after a sale.
• What happens to works that do not sell, including return transport.

Photograph each piece before it leaves, and record its condition. A short condition note written at departure resolves most disagreements about damage, and the same note protects the gallery.

Know where everything is

Once several galleries, a fair and a loan are in play, memory is no longer enough. Record the location of each piece and update it the moment something moves: studio, storage, with a named gallery, on loan, sold. Attach the signed agreement to each work's record and link the gallery as a contact, so the record shows who holds the piece and under which terms.

Reconcile with the gallery

Galleries keep their own lists, and the two lists drift apart. Ask for a written inventory of your works once or twice a year and compare it with your own records. A piece that appears on one list and not on the other is much easier to resolve this month than after two years. A friendly, specific request ("could you confirm you still hold these eleven works?") is rarely taken badly, and galleries usually welcome an artist who keeps tidy records.

A sales history you can rely on

Every sale, loan and exhibition belongs in the history of the piece. Over the years this becomes the backbone of your provenance: it shows where a work has been, who has owned it and what was paid. It also makes tax time less painful, because the information is already in one place and can be exported to a spreadsheet when your accountant asks.

Why it pays off later

A complete history helps in three moments: when a collector asks about a piece you sold years ago, when an insurer needs documentation, and when an estate has to account for a whole body of work. In each case, an artist who recorded each sale as it happened has the answer in a minute, and one who did not has an afternoon of searching.

A short monthly routine

1. Check the works placed with each gallery against the gallery's own report.
2. Mark sold pieces and issue any missing invoices and certificates.
3. Follow up on payments that are past due.
4. Update locations for anything that moved.
5. Note upcoming exhibition deadlines, fair applications and payment dates in your calendar.

The whole routine takes about half an hour a month, and it is far easier when the invoice, the certificate, the location and the contact all hang from the same record. If your records are still in a spreadsheet, Spreadsheet or Studio Software? When to Switch shows when moving them makes sense, and What to Record for Every Artwork lists what each record should hold.