Bad Consignment Experiences

[GEP]

OK maybe darwin-ization is too extreme, but let's make sure the pitfalls are well known to everyone. When I was first asked if I wanted to sell my pots in a gallery, I thought it was an "honor" but boy was I naive. I really wish someone older and wiser had explained to me what was really going on.

 

I just ended my last consignment account. This was by far the best experience I had with consignment, and I still wouldn't categorize it as "good." The owner was hard-working and nice, but my work just sat there and rarely sold. You'd think it would have been obvious for me to say "I'd like to have my work back" but it wasn't. The owner got very upset, she begged me to change my mind, then she blamed my work for not selling.

 

And this is not nearly as bad as two other consignment galleries that I've worked with before.

 

One of them was started by a group of artists, who were volunteering their time to form a "community art gallery." Should have seen those red flags a mile away: committees, volunteers, and artists who were struggling to sell. It was located blocks from my house, which is why I wanted to get involved. They sold a lot of work at first, but forgot to keep track of what they were selling! And they let this go on for about 6 months!! What a mess. And their attitude was even worse. They kept sending us these weird cheerful notes saying "we promise to pay you soon ... isn't it great that we've sold so much stuff!" Like they didn't understand how much trouble they caused. They had to close the store for weeks, trying to figure out what they sold. They finally sent me a check for $75 more than they owed me (and they're not getting it back). A friend of mine told them "you still owe me $11" and she got another check for $11. She could have said "$100." In other words, their inventory was full of mistakes, and they knew it. All the while they kept saying "aren't we great?"

 

And here's my #1 worst experience with consignment ... I once gave some pots to a new consignment gallery that closed six months later. Only I didn't find out until 2 months after that (from an automatic email response) and the owner disappeared with my pots! I only had contact info for the gallery's manager, not the owner, so when I called the manager she described a nightmare. The gallery had bounced lots of checks during those 6 months, and the owner still owed her thousands of dollars of salary. But she had "moved to california" without leaving any contact info. Using a combination of google, facebook, and a private investigator (who discovered that she was some kind of pathological liar, with several names, birthdates, and lots of fake addresses) I figured out that she had a new job (in baltimore, not california). I sent an email to her new company looking for her, and 3 days later my pots arrived at my door.

 

That's three different experiences and a zero percent success rate, ranging from unproductive, to incompetent, to fraudulent.

 

So now I've been working with wholesale galleries for 4 years, and there is a 180° difference between a wholesale owner and a consignment owner. When a wholesale gallery pays for their inventory in advance, that requires a tremendously high level of taste, investment, commitment, and accountability. A consignment operation requires none of these things, and the people behind them don't possess these qualities.

 

I want to serve as the warning that I wish I had gotten! If you are trying to get your work in galleries, please stand up for yourself and work only with wholesale. If wholesale galleries are not interested in your work yet, don't settle for consignment! Go back to your studio and practice.

 

Am I being too harsh? Does anyone have any stories or thoughts that reinforce mine, or contradict mine? Let's share stories, hopefully spare lots of potters from the same bad experiences.

 

-Mea