Calculating Gallery Pricing

Calculating Gallery Pricing

Hey Artists!

(or anyone who sells through a gallery or business that takes a commission)

Here’s a formula you can use to price your work so that you end up with what you want for it once the gallery takes its commission.

Let’s say you want to make $325 on a painting, and the gallery takes a 40% commission on the sale.
If you price it at $325, once the gallery takes their 40%, ($130) you end up with $195.00 – Nowhere near $325.
If you simply add the commission percent to your price, you’ll still end up with less that what you expected.
Add the 40% commission, and you get $455.00: $325.00 + 40% ($130) = $455.00
But, if you price your work at $455.00, you end up with just $273.00 after commission: $455.00 – 40% ($182.00) = $273.00
So, how would you end up with $325 after the sale?
You’d need to price the work at $541.67 to end up with $325.00 after the sale.

Here’s the trick … DIVIDE by your percentage of the sale!

x ÷ r = p

x= the amount you want after the sale
r= the remainder of (100% – commission%) — Your Percentage
p= the price you list

Divide by the remainder [Your Percentage] of the sale: 100% minus the gallery’s commission.

Commission and Divider always add up to 100.

If the commission is 50%, divide by .50 [50 + 50 = 100]
If the commission is 35%, divide by .65 [35 + 65 = 100]
If the commission is 25%, divide by .75 [25 + 75 = 100]
etc.

15% commission = .85

20% commission = .80

25% commission = .75

30% commission = .70

35% commission = .65

40% commission = .60

45% commission = .55

50% commission = .50

In this 40% commission example, you’d need to divide your price by .60, because the gallery takes 40%. [100 – 40 = 60]

Here’s the formula for this example: $325.00 ÷ .6 = $541.67

Your take on the sale: $541.67 – 40% ($216.67) = $325.00

Here’s another example:
If you want to make $100 on a painting, and the gallery takes a 15% commission (r= .85):
100 ÷ .85 = $117.65

Of course, I’d round the prices off to the nearest $5 or $10.

Want this in print? Download PDF: Calculating Gallery Pricing