How to Sell a Painting at Auction. Advice for Beginners

How to choose the right auction house to sell your work? What should I do when setting the price? How to find a good time to sell and avoid unnecessary disappointment due to ignorance? About this and not only – our article

Feel free to contact the auction house directly. Often, people who want to bid on an auction start with an extra fussy step. The result is a waste of time. None of this is needed today, the protection doesn’t solve much of this case. If a thing is suitable, it will be accepted and so, and the price is determined in the hall, and the degree of familiarity with the organizers does not affect it.

Before going to the reception, form your own position on the price. You should take into account that to have your own idea of the price does not mean to insist on it. The fact that the receiver of the auction house – is usually a person with a huge “insight”. And by virtue of experience – with developed intuition. He is very likely to immediately determine whether a thing can be sold for this money or not. So his or her price recommendations are worth listening to. Remember that in the end, high aesthetics will not give you any advantages – it will not be you and the receiver, but the real buyers.

Do not break the price. It is clear that you want not to miss, but in this place, as a rule, and there is the most common mistake. The owner looks at the world’s auction sales and starts at the prices of completion of the auction, that is, to the maximum. This approach discourages any hunt for a potential buyer to fight for the object because it will have to trade up, which is above the market. And they do not go to auctions to buy at maximum market prices and above them. On the contrary, a low price is a real way to interest buyers, and the most unexpected results are possible in the bidding fuse. But be vigilant. The latest conflict between Rybolovlev and Bouvier showed once again that even rich people are wrong to buy at a low price.

Do everything strongly in advance. As a rule, it takes 3-4 months to get your work to the auction. Grabbed for 1 month, you are likely to auction with your painting will not get – the catalog begins to print for 2 months. Why so early? Yes, because the catalog is also a means of advertising, and then sent to the mailing list on the client base, distributed in the right places (exhibitions, fairs), and it all takes time. The presence of pre-auction exhibition, by the way, is a big plus to the auction, and whether it will be, you need to know in advance.

We hope that our advice will help someone move from theory to practice. Do not be fond of shopping alone. Test your choice – try to sell. The process, I must say, is not very wise, as it may seem and sometimes quite fascinating. Have a good deal!