Art advisor or auction house?

Art advisor and direct consignment compared

The main difference between using an art advisor and consigning directly is who does the comparing and negotiating, and what that costs you. The auction itself is the same either way.

	Consigning directly	Using an art advisor
Who acts for you	The auction house, as your agent, which is also paid by the buyer	The advisor, who may be paid by you or by the auction house, so ask which
Estimate	Usually free, and one house's view	Usually free, with several houses compared for you
Commission	You negotiate it yourself	The advisor negotiates it, and may add a fee
Routes considered	Mainly that house's own sales	Auction, private sale and outright sale
Your time	Separate conversations with each house	One conversation
Time to payment	Normally one to three months from consignment	The same at auction, and usually two to six weeks for a private sale
Main risk	Accepting the first terms you are offered	A fee that outweighs the saving, or an interest you were not told about

When going directly to an auction house is the better choice

Consigning directly with an auction house is the better choice when an advisor would add little. That is usually one of three situations:

• The work is of modest value. For a decorative work, comparing houses rarely changes what reaches you, and any fee weighs more heavily.
• You already know the right saleroom. A regional saleroom that sells this artist regularly may be the obvious home, and it will usually cost less than an international one.
• You are willing to do the comparing. Auction specialists know their own sales well, their estimates are usually free, and published seller's rates are a starting point that you can negotiate yourself.

If you go direct, do what an advisor would do. Send the same photographs to two or three houses, and ask each for its estimate, reserve, commission, VAT, insurance, photography, unsold fee and sale date. Then ask for the net figure you would receive at the low estimate, in writing. Auction fees explained has the full list of questions, and which auction house covers how to choose one.

When an art advisor is worth using

An art advisor is worth using when comparing and negotiating can change what reaches you, and that depends mostly on the work's value and how many options it has. These are the usual cases:

• The work could go more than one way. It might suit several salerooms, or a private buyer instead.
• There is a question over what it is or its paperwork. The wrong first move can close doors, and an unsold result stays on the public record.
• You want discretion. A private sale leaves no public record if the work does not sell.
• The sums are large. On a £100,000 hammer price, each percentage point of commission is worth £1,000, or £1,200 with VAT.

What an art advisor cannot do

An art advisor cannot guarantee a price or a buyer, because an auction result still depends on who bids on the day. An advisor also cannot make a modest work worth more, and their fee can be more than anything they save you.

An advisor's interests also need checking. Some advisors hold stock or buy for themselves, and some are paid by the auction house rather than by you. We are an advisory and a gallery, and we are paid out of the reduced seller's rates we negotiate with the auction house. Ask any advisor the same question, and see what art advisors charge for what else to ask.

Three questions to decide

1. Is more than one route realistic for this work? If not, consign directly.
2. Is anything unclear about the work or its paperwork? If so, get that answered before you approach a saleroom, by a specialist or an advisor.
3. Will you compare two or three houses yourself and negotiate their terms? If so, you may not need an advisor. If not, one is likely to be worth asking.

Other ways to sell

An advisor and an auction house are not the only choices, and a private or outright sale can suit a work better than either. A private sale usually completes within two to six weeks, and a work that does not sell leaves no public record. An outright sale to a dealer is the quickest, and the dealer's margin is inside the price. How to sell art compares all of the routes.

Quick answers

Should I use an art advisor to sell a painting? Use one if the painting could go to more than one saleroom or to a private buyer, or if there is a question over its paperwork, because that is where comparing and negotiating changes what reaches you. For a decorative painting of modest value, consigning directly is usually the better choice.

Is it cheaper to go directly to an auction house? Not always. Going direct avoids any advisor's fee, but you may pay closer to the published commission, while an advisor may negotiate it down. Compare the net figure you would receive each way, in writing.

Will an auction house give me a free estimate? Most will, from photographs, for work they think they could sell. An estimate is one house's view of what a work may achieve in its own sale, so it is worth asking more than one.

Do I need an art advisor to sell at auction? No. Anyone can consign directly with an auction house.

How Whitebank Fine Art can help

We act for the seller. We compare what the salerooms would do for your work, negotiate their terms and set out the net figure from each, and where a private sale would serve you better, we say so. Our fees are typically 0%, and on rare occasions 2.5% to 10% where a sale is complex. For a decorative work of modest value, we would rather tell you to consign directly.

A valuation is free. There is no obligation to sell, and we act for you rather than for the saleroom.