Galleries- CONsignment

[Kronk]

So lets chat about retailers and how to deal with them.

Stuff gets sent on consignment and then you never hear from them again. Even after you know some work has sold. Even the nice ones.

How does everyone handle that. Any good stories?

Pester, pester, pester them.....

[Brian Newman]

Different story, but here goes:
I owed a headshop owner from him loaning me money to start up, getting "flowers" from him, and interest I had tacked on myself. I had done thousands of dollars of buisness with this fellow, but still owed him around $700. I had moved to Kitchener, as my rent in Toronto was $1000+, and now I pay $400 inclusive. I had left him hanging for longer than I should have, but had every intention of paying him, and had tacked on at least $500 over the years as interest, and with all the profit he had made on the "flowers" he was well ahead of the game. He never talked to me about it, but came and broke into my shop, and took my torch, graphite, picture cane, and the like. I phoned him with an accusation, and he admitted it. I made a list of the things that were irreplaceable that I wanted back, like the picture cane, a chain I had already sold and had just done a repair on, and the graphite skull presses I had paid to have carved. He hummed and hawed, talking about the money I owed him and saying he thought it fair. I got him to return the things on my "irrepaceable" list by threatening to epoxy his store door closed. If things end up getting ugly for you, this might prove effective.

[rustyglass]

I know what you mean Ed. I think there is a fine line between being attentive and being a pain in the ass. You want stay on top of what you have in their store and what has sold, but you dont want to do anything that may make them hesitant to deal with you in the future. Its tough and Im learning along with you. Im interested to hear some answers to this.

And Brian, Whoa.....that sounds like a heavy situation. Dont get into trouble, life is too short. Get what you can and write the rest off. For the price of what you dont get back, that guy is out of your life and you can move forward. Dont take step back and get into a pissing contest. Just my opinion.

[IF-Designs]

I always get a written contract before placing items in a store that outlines WHEN they pay me and how they pay me.Currenly where I sell pays me on the First of the month via check I pick up. I keep inventory of what I have in theior store and ever 3 months or so I go and check inventory to make sure ive been paid for everything and to make sure nothing has been ripped off...in the future this might be adventageous to do.

[somberbear]

get milons book.. making and marking better art work.. i think it is ... i finely got threw it

but it shaped my idea of how to deal with gallerys/shops......

I have a contract writen up for consignments saying i need a log of every thing thats sold and will talk to them once a month , if it doesnt sell in the agreed apon time i take it back and put it some where else... and give them a replacement if thats what they want... but there is an invetory for both me and them... and i call them once a month and they pay me in that cycle... depending on how you right it up will dictate the terms of the contract.

this is also a time consulting an lawyer would be a good idea or atleast know who you would call if you have to... and have them look over or direct you to a person that can help you draft these documents. I know groan all you want but there useful and alot scarier then epoxy... get things in writing... keep up with them... it will save you head aches.

in all reality i perfer just getting it done up front... but i also have legal documentation so if i get fucked over i get a paper trail that i can persue legal if need be.... i personaly dont take my fights to the epoxy part... but i have friends who do... and i would gladly epoxy a door for a friend.

rob

[steven p selchow]

Ed, tell them you have a contract, and need to have them abide by it, if they won't, pull all your stuff out and move on...sounds simple...and it is, not what you want to hear, but you can't let them jack you around.

I get paid once a month, sometimes she's late a week, but I tolerate that because its a good account, and she has no intention of doing it on purpose, it just happens.

Steve

[Racer X]

I got one that won't even answer my emails... it's been far too long now. I said I would accept a contract and never got one... shipped from a museum to the gallery and the asshole didn't even call me to say he got the work. I called him, everything was good, asked again to get an inventory and contract to sign. No dice. Now that he wont answer my emails I am beginning to believe one of two things. The work sold and he is avoiding me because he knows since I didn't ship it... someone else did and it would be hard for me to prove he ever even had the work. Except... I was on the show bill. Or he is out of business.

Now I know Milon was in the same show... so I was curious if he had the same problems. I might call him and see.

[borealisglass]

most of the places we go have their our consignment contract...I just make sure I read it over and check out the payment schedule. They will change anything on their dependent on what you need. In the case that they don't have one I provide one written just to my specs. We have never had issues with consignment...and if we did it was cause I had bad record keeping.

[Frrrit]

An inventory list is the best contract. Four columns: Description or item number, retail price, commision cut for the gallery, and then the last one is what they will owe you. Provide this with each shipment, get them to sign it. Keep a copy, leave a copy. When they sell something, they simply mark the item sold on your list. Have them send you a copy of your marked list with their payment each month.

[ech]

Over time I have been ripped off by a pretty fair cross section of "flowers" pedlers, head shop owners, and other glass blowers. My policy as of late has been rather stringent. Unless I have been paid and the payment has cleared in full I won't do business with anyone through the mails. In person I will consign but I have to have everything catalogued and a small contract/receipt drawn up. Its that simple. Unless your dealinig with a big really well established business you take a huge risk giving out credit. Also if your consigning pipe your running the risk of losing the whole investment. If the store gets raided and they lose their inventory don't expect them to pay their accounts oweable off.

[Cosmo]

Our consignment contract states that we pay the consignee no later than the 10th of the month for anything sold in the previous month. We have only been open two weeks, so we haven't been around long enough to worry about people not hearing from us, but our phone number, web site, e-mail, address, and every other means of contact is on the contract, and we make it a point to respond to e-mails and return phone calls we miss within 24 hours.

The consignees trust us with their work, and we make it our duty to show them that we appreciate them doing that.

[Dennis Brady]

So lets chat about retailers and how to deal with them.

Stuff gets sent on consignment and then you never hear from them again. Even after you know some work has sold. Even the nice ones.

How does everyone handle that. Any good stories?

Pester, pester, pester them.....

The best way to deal with consignment is to not do it.

If your work is good, retailers will buy it outright from you. Shops that can't or won't buy outright should be avoided as if they carry an infectious disease. Keep your business with the healthy ones - they'll still be healthy long after those sick ones have died.

[Zed]

The best way to deal with consignment is to not do it.

If your work is good, retailers will buy it outright from you. Shops that can't or won't buy outright should be avoided as if they carry an infectious disease. Keep your business with the healthy ones - they'll still be healthy long after those sick ones have died.

X2!

[Glassroots]

contracts, contracts, contracts.

[christopher]

I got one that won't even answer my emails... it's been far too long now. I said I would accept a contract and never got one... shipped from a museum to the gallery and the asshole didn't even call me to say he got the work. I called him, everything was good, asked again to get an inventory and contract to sign. No dice. Now that he wont answer my emails I am beginning to believe one of two things. The work sold and he is avoiding me because he knows since I didn't ship it... someone else did and it would be hard for me to prove he ever even had the work. Except... I was on the show bill. Or he is out of business.

Now I know Milon was in the same show... so I was curious if he had the same problems. I might call him and see.

Sounds like the cart got shipped ahead of the horse, Rex...

[Cosmo]

The best way to deal with consignment is to not do it.

If your work is good, retailers will buy it outright from you. Shops that can't or won't buy outright should be avoided as if they carry an infectious disease. Keep your business with the healthy ones - they'll still be healthy long after those sick ones have died.

I'm not sure I agree with that. We started our store on a limited amount of money, so we couldn't just go out there and buy everything we wanted. We encourage people to place items on consignment with us by offering a low commission (20%) and doing lots of advertising. I'd love to have an unlimited income to just go out and buy tons and tons of inventory, but until I hit the lottery, that isn't going to happen. Not everyone has a large bankroll to work with.

We both have full time jobs aside from our store, so we're not worried about the store making us a lot of money. We just want it to pay for its own rent and utilities. We have been open a little over two weeks and it has already done that for this month. Not too bad for a "sick shop", huh? Of course, we are the only store in town that offers the type of products that we carry, so that may be helping us out more than we realize.

[ShttrdSpctrm]

I've done some consignment, Make sure to have a contract,

[langglass]

Usually i don't do consignment, but there are a few stores that are really good about sending money. the stores that you don't hear from for a while just kinda pop in if you can and see what is going on. i kind of like the look on their faces when you show up and they have sold a bunch of you stuff...of course it just sold and they were getting ready to send the check. then i tell them that i am glad they didn't because my address has changed to mars...then i get the rest of my stuff right then and leave...problem solved