Case Study

Li-Mei is a jewellery artist, and is just starting to sell her work. After advice from family, she chooses to sell her work through an online gallery outlet of a local crafts gallery. She knows the gallery owners, and agrees to sell her work through the outlet via an informal email exchange, for a price of $150 per necklace, which she thinks will cover her costs. It is agreed in the email that Li-Mei will receive 60% of the sale price, on a consignment basis. 

She doesn’t have a written agreement in place, and is asked after a couple of weeks to deliver her work to the gallery, as they will store, and then send on works to buyers. After not hearing anything from the gallery outlet for multiple months after delivery, Li-Mei checks the website, and is surprised to learn that the outlet has discounted her necklaces to just $50 each. 

She contacts the gallery and is told that they wanted to move stock and discounted all jewellery sold through their online outlet. In this instance, a formal written agreement with the gallery outlet, clearly outlining the price, and a process for any price adjustments, may have helped Li-Mei avoid her work being discounted in this way.