BEWARE National Gallery Members!!!

The National Gallery is doing something I am sure is illegal. 

My guess is James Beardsworth-Shaw, Head of Loyalty at the National Gallery has not read the law and regulations around ecommerce and subscriptions. 

I am pretty sure that my Art Business Info for Artists page about e-commerce for artists covers cover the specific aspect that went "Kerpinnngggg" about distance selling and ecommerce in my head when I read my subscription reminder from the National Gallery just now.

Here is what is wrong

This is what I read - in the middle of the letter. Not up top where people skim read before deciding to read the rest.  

It was the £185 which got my attention first. 

• I don't pay that amount of money to an annual subscription organisation I visit regularly - for exhibitions only. 
• The RA lost my subscription when they started a hefty building programme and getting silly with subscriptions. 
• Looks like the National Gallery will now go the same way

That's right it says 

To ensure you continue to enjoy everything the Gallery has to offer, your Membership will AUTOMATICALLY RENEW to a House Membership Plus Guest on 1 November 2025 for an annual payment of £185, so you don't need to do anything.

The extra bold and capitals and change of colour is to draw attention to the fatal flaw in what I'm sure Mr Beardsworth-Shaw will come to regret.

He's adding in an additional service without requiring explicit agreement - and automatically chargeing people for this service. That's FRAUD!

To continue on the current basis I have to fill in an additional online form.

To renew to Exhibition Membership Plus Guest, please complete this short online form. Your new Exhibition Membership would start on 1 November 2025 and cost £123 annually.

So basically - do absolutely nothing, as most annual subscribers do every year - and you will get charged an extra £63 for something you have NOT said you wanted or explicitly consented to.

I KNEW this was wrong.

IT IS EXACTLY THE WRONG WAY AROUND.

You cannot change the terms of a contract - which is what a subscription is - without the EXPLICIT CONSENT of the customer.

To confirm this, as a short cut, I asked Google this question

Can you upgrade a subscription via online marketing without explicit consent of the person who is the subscriber?

Google AI answer follows - and said exactly what I expected!

No, you generally cannot upgrade a subscription via online marketing without explicit consent from the subscriber. Data protection laws, like the UK GDPR and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR), require clear, affirmative, and freely given consent before any direct marketing activities, including promoting upgrades. Simply sending an upgrade offer without active permission would violate these regulations, as consent cannot be implied, pre-ticked, or assumed from previous interaction

AND

Clear and Affirmative Action:
Consent must involve an active step from the individual, such as ticking an unchecked box, rather than passive acceptance or pre-ticked boxes 

Which means:

• I'm right
• Tomorrow I will be reporting the National Gallery to the relevant authority.
• I may just notify the news media re this - to access the membership at large

What they are doing is STRICTLY ILLEGAL. 

My recollection is such offences come  with a hefty fine and/or a prison sentence.

You must provide certain information if you’re selling goods or services through digital TV, by mail order or by phone or text message. This is called distance selling.

If you do not follow the rules you could be made to provide the goods or services as agreed, pay compensation or be given an unlimited fine or a prison sentence.

The National Gallery would do well to STOP ALL COLLECTION OF SUBSCRIPTIONS AS A MATTER OF URGENCY until such time as they have adjusted their system to only collect the ongoing exhibitions subscription.

I am not any sort of legal eagle but I'd recommend that the National Gallery read the 

• Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations
• the regulations relating to Sale of goods and services and data protection
• THE CONSUMER RIGHTS(PAYMENT SURCHARGES)REGULATIONS 2012

Artist of the Year Gallery: Artwork for Sale

This year the Artist of the Year team at Storyvault Films Ltd (SF) have developed the offering to artists past, present and future by creating a website which enables pod artists to sell their artwork.

It has some good points - and some significant weaknesses on the finance side - but nothing which cannot be addressed. Better sooner rather than later.

Artist of the Year Gallery Website - Home Page

What's on the Gallery Website

You can see:

• the artists - Artists are listed in order of their appearance on our programmes, most recent first. However not all artists are participating - partly because this is a new initiative and partly because some artists will have existing arrangements for selling their art which they won't want to compromise.
• the artworks - are produced by artists who have participated in the programmes - but not all artworks have been produced for the programmes. 
• The How It Works explanation
• Terms and Conditions (very important) - The Terms and Conditions need to be accessible via a PDF printable document for Artists to file - for the record - which they are not at present.

It's an interesting proposition because one of the things many artists struggle with is selling their artwork online - which is much less straightforward to do properly than people might think.

Consequently, just as any artist has to who is trading online and distance selling artwork has to do, this SF ecommerce operation MUST comply with all the rules and regulations around

• trading law and regulations 
• e commerce law and regulations 
  
• VAT on Art

(Note: These links go the relevant pages of my Art Business Info for Artists website)

BUT IF they're doing everything properly (see below), this site could be a BIG saving in time and effort for an artist in terms of mastering all the ins and outs of online distance selling of artwork! 

I haven't checked the site out thoroughly for ALL the aspects in detail but I assume they've done the wise thing and had 

• an expert ecommerce lawyer advising on what they must do and cannot do - and 
• an expert ecommerce adviser telling them what's the best approach for an operation like this.
• a VAT expert checking to make sure they got all the VAT aspects right.

However on a quick review, I ended up feeling a bit like "a party pooper" as I have reservations about whether SF have been wise in the approach they have adopted to 

• robust and secure monetary transactions / payment processing
• money laundering regulations for art galleries / dealers / agents
• VAT liability, transactions and associated documentation

At the end you can see how it works. 

Immediately below is a summary of the financial weaknesses I spotted which I think need addressing.

The BEST ways and places to sell your art - RESULTS

Back in January I created a POLL: What was the best place to sell your art in 2021

• on this blog - and
• also included it on the How to Sell Your Art on my Art Business Info for Artists website - which introduces the different options for selling art considered on the website.

The question artists were asked was 

PROFIT FROM ART SALES: Which 3 options generated the most profit (after expenses) for you last year? (i.e. 2021)

107 people have responded to it - and this is the chart of their responses - followed by a commentary on all the various options and suggestions about what some of the results might mean. For me they mean it might be instructive to try some more polls focused on particular ways of selling art.

If you want to see a bigger picture of the chart

• right click and open the pic of the chart in a new tab, you'll see a bigger picture.
• Or you can go to the  How to Sell Your Art  page my website - which provides a bigger picture

Of course it all depends on what you're viewing it on! I don't think you'll get the best view on a smartphone...

Commentary on profitability of different options for selling art

Scope of responses

Responses are from people who view the Poll and vote. There is no way of knowing which country they are from or whether they are 

• amateur, 
• semi-professional (i.e. beyond hobby income) or 
• professional (i.e. make a living from being an artist).

So the results need to be viewed with this in mind. Nonetheless they provide some interesting perspectives.....

Profitability

Never forget that this is a Poll and Chart about PROFITABILITY i.e. 

• NOT how many sales you make 
• but rather which options make you the MOST PROFIT.

People who have successful businesses understand how they make profit. 

Never ever confuse turnover with profit because If you have significant expenses you won't be making much money. 

By way of contrast if you don't need to incur third party expenses and are good at marketing your art, you can eliminate commissions to galleries and listing feeds for third party sites.

The big surprise

Figurative Art Now: how fair are the T&C to artists?

Some of you may have wondered why I have not promoted the Figurative Art Now Exhibition at the Mall Galleries. I have my reasons for not highlighting this art competition - and these are listed below.

I like art competitions to be fair for everybody concerned. I've recently found myself staring at a very difficult situation - which has given rise to a number of concerns about implications for artists. I have raised these (offline) but I'm still not happy that the issues this competition raises for artists are well understood by all those who need to understand. 

I've left it until now so that those who want to enter can. As all my regular readers will know  my art competition mantra is ALWAYS read carefully all the terms and conditions....

I really didn't want to write what I'm about to say - but, on balance, I think it presents an important learning opportunity for all concerned. 

So I'm writing in that context - and with the hope that some of this can be resolved before the exhibition goes online....

After which I may well do a checklist about government law and regulations relating to  ecommerce and trading standards for ONLINE art competitions / open exhibitions for both organisers and artists!!

Bottom line - online exhibitions can be way more complex than exhibitions in a gallery!

Non-involvement of the FBA Societies

Ostensibly this online art competition 'Figurative Art Now' is about the 60th year of the Federation of British Artists BUT having queried this competition, I found that....

• The exhibition was simply announced 
• It was NOT discussed in advance with the Presidents of the Art Societies which make up the Federation of British Artists.
• Which I just find really, really odd. The Societies are the FBA!! 
• How can they not be involved if it supposedly relates to the 60th anniversary?  
• Why aren't the Presidents involved with selection of artwork for the exhibition? 

Obviously life has been very difficult recently with all the disruption caused by the Pandemic - but even so, this just seems very odd to me.

 

Prizes for artwork which selectors have never seen?

Two of the prizes are very odd (a £5,000 prize and a week-long exhibition in one of the galleries) given that the artwork entered will NEVER EVER be seen in person by any of the Selection Panel.

I'm just gobsmacked about this! Seriously? How does that work?

I've been looking at online images of artwork and actual artwork in open exhibitions and art competitions for very many years and I'm certainly very familiar with the fact that 

• There can be digital enhancement of artwork by artists for competitions! It's far from unusual.
  
• Which is WHY all art competitions routinely have the proviso to eliminate any artwork which does not measure up (literally) to the digital image once received - even if it has been pre-selected.
  

 

ONLINE ONLY Exhibition + MAJOR changes in who does what

THIS IS AN ONLINE EXHIBITION ONLY i.e. no artwork will be hung at the Mall Galleries.   

Nevertheless

• Non-refundable submission fees are the same as the submission fees for the open exhibitions - once you discount the fact that the latter also provide for free entry to the REAL exhibition in the Galleries!
• Commission is 35% plus VAT - slightly less for an organisation which is doing an awful  LOT LESS than it normally does for a hung exhibition i.e. 
• No involvement of the Presidents / FBA Societies in the presentation / marketing of the exhibition or artwork 
• no use of the gallery space at all 
• no receipt / handling of artwork to be hung 
• no storage of artwork
  
• no hanging of artwork 
• no manning of a live "on the wall" exhibition 
• no return of artwork unsold 
• no communication with buyers re collection / shipping
• no financial transactions re shipping 
• no arrangements for delivering art (including Customs documentation as appropriate)
• (i.e. putting artwork online is now a routine and expected part of EVERY exhbition held by the FBA at the Mall galleries - NOT an added extra)
  

Artists are next expected to do MUCH MORE than they usually do - BUT this difference from the normal open exhibitions of the FBA Societies is NOT highlighted in the summary on the competition page.

No mention in the summary of the additional costs for artists
(re finance / time / effort of packing and shipping art - potentially anywhere in the world!)

What this means, for starters, is....

Artists have to ORGANISE AND PAY FOR ALL PACKING AND POSTAGE TO BUYERS as stated in the Terms and Conditions TO ANY DESTINATION within 14 days of the sale being confirmed.

4. PRESENTATION 

4.1 All Works must be exhibition-ready as if they were to be exhibited and ready for sale. All work needs to be delivered or shipped to the buyer as advertised. 

5. SHIPPING OF WORKS 

5.1 Artists will be responsible for the delivery of work to the buyer, including the cost of shipping.  All work should be labelled and attached to the works. 

5.2. Work should be despatched within 14 days of confirmation of the sale 

Thus, the artist is liable for the cost of sending the artwork anywhere in the world - in whichever country the buyer lives in - no matter what the cost!  

The buyer does NOT have to pay. No matter what the size or weight of the artwork!!! 

THE MISSING LINK to ING Discerning Eye Virtual Exhibition 2020

The ING Discerning Eye Annual Exhibition is online this year.

You'd be hard put to find it though.  That's because the normal website makes no obvious link to the actual exhibition!

So what we have is

• the normal ING Discerning Eye website https://www.discerningeye.org/home/index.php - which, on its home page......
• references the exhibition 

For the first time this year the ING Discerning Eye exhibition is being held online. A virtual gallery of the works selected this year is live online where you can view and buy this year's works .....

• and includes a link described as DEINGexhibition.org
• so you click the link and go to this site which for some reason has this link https://www.ingdeexhibition.org/exhibition (i.e. not the domain name referenced) 
• BUT you are not at the actual exhibition. Instead what we have are 
• ENORMOUS photos of the six selectors and 
• a top line menu 
• as if the whole thing is about the selectors and NOT THE ART!

This is as much as I can see on my 27" iMac screen - really bad design!!!

• so then you click the "Exhibition" tab on the top line menu.....
• .....and you wait
• .....and nothing happens
• .....which is puzzling

So I'm really not sure after following this tortuous route how people are supposed to find the exhibition!

The people involved with creating the new virtual exhibition obviously do not have a clue that simply because you create a website does not mean people will find it.

For example - here is the top half of the first page of Google for the search query "ING Discerning Eye 2020 exhibition". The two websites which get a mention are:

• https://www.discerningeye.org/ i.e. the conventional domain name for this exhibition which has been used for years and fulfils all the requirements for it to be top of Google for this query
• https://makingamark.blogspot.com/2020/10/ing-discerning-eye-2020-selected-artists.html i.e. my blog post about the Call for Entries - because my blog ALWAYS features on the first page of Google for this type of search query because I have been covering it for so long - plus of course my blog has Google "weight".

This presumably explains why this week I was approached by a PR person who wanted me to highlight the proper URL for the exhibition

I thought what they were doing was asking me to review the exhibition in advance - in much the same way as I've been invited to PR previews for exhibitions and hence see them before they open, write a review and then people turn up because I've recommended it (or not as the case may be)

However it turned out that I wasn't allowed access to the website in advance! 

All they wanted me to do was tell people about the correct URL!!!

I pointed out to them yesterday that my blog is not an advertising vehicle and this is not the way it works.

However - because very many artists have artwork on the site - I am now going to tell you THE MISSING LINK - because I have it even if you don't!

THE MISSING LINK IS https://www.ingdeexhibition.org/ 

i.e. the domain URL MINUS the extension which links to "the page about the selectors"

- and nothing like the domain name URL it purports to be i.e. DEINGexhibition.org does not exist! 

If writing or linking to a domain name URL you need to do it correctly!! 

Plus "www" prefix does matter if that's how the site is setup!!

However if you click the link I was supplied with https://www.ingdeexhibition.org/  you get this home page

UPDATE: Fine Art Transport Services and Couriers in the UK in 2020

I've spent some time today updating the UK Art Movers & Couriers & Fine Art Transport Services on my Art Business Info for Artists website (Ship Art section).

As part of my review of matters relating to the Recession, I wanted to check the current status of current providers of transport services for fine art.
Changes made include:

• CHECKING on current information provided and revising as required. (I've not quite finished)
• ADDING IN new providers - some new sole traders and private limited companies offering to pack/move art around the UK
• ADDING CAUTION NOTES - in relation to their current trading status and/or compliance with UK ecommerce regulations

I'm also looking for some help in keeping this page updated throughout the year - in order to avoid artists getting caught out by a business in the process of going under.  (please see the end).

Basic data checks and compliance checks re. regulations

I now check each service against a set of criteria - and a number of the services have noticed and have started to address their shortcomings!

How Banksy retains control

There is an absolutely fascinating article in the New York Times - Banksy Is a Control Freak. But He Can’t Control His Legacy - which unpicks the business model Banksy uses to remain in control of his brand.

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND artists read it as it's a very useful way of demonstrating ways in which artists can retain control over the copyright of their own artwork if marketing and selling direct to the public.

Banksy’s rise and rise is the result of years of meticulous control of his message, his market and, most importantly, his mystique.

Below I've attempted to summarise what actions Banksy has taken to control the market for his artwork - including:

• Pest Control
• Gross Domestic Product
• Bbay

It looks simpler than it is - and a lot of it is entirely to do with how the law works.

BANKSY COPYRIGHT CONTROL: In summary.....

In summary, he has created a wonderful system for keeping scams and fraud under control
(i.e. avoiding the awful Andy Warhol problem)

Gross Domestic Product - the website and shop created to regulate rip-offs of Banksy's Trademark.

Sale of originals

Banksy has no gallery representing him. Instead, he sells NEW original works for million dollar multiples to selected private collectors.

These sales help fund his big projects - which keep his "name in the frame".

Trade Mark without Text

This is the formal documentation of his trademark.

Subsequently he was challenged in court - which led to various developments described below.