How to Price Your Artwork in Australia: Commission, GST and a Simple Formula

Ask ten artists how to price your artwork, and you'll get ten answers, most of them some version of "I just guess." Fran, a ceramicist on the NSW south coast, was one of them. She'd finish a vase, pick a number that felt about right, and then keep second-guessing it: too high for the gallery, or too low to be worth the kiln time? The pricing tool in ArtFlow exists because she asked for it.

Working out how to price your artwork doesn't have to be a guess, though. Once you know the handful of numbers that sit behind a price tag, it becomes a simple sum.

Key takeaways

• Start with the amount you need to take home from a piece, then work backwards to the retail price.

• Australian commercial galleries generally take 40 to 50% commission on sales, plus GST on that commission.

• GST is 10%, and you only have to register once your turnover reaches A$75,000.

• Keep one retail price everywhere: gallery, studio, website and markets.

• Price by size and medium so your work makes sense side by side, then raise prices when work sells steadily.

How to price your artwork: start with what you need to take home

Most artists start at the wrong end. They pick a retail price, then find out how little of it they keep. Flip it around.

Ask yourself what you need to walk away with for this piece to be worth making. That number should cover your materials, your time, and a share of the boring costs nobody sees: kiln firings, studio rent, framing, freight, the market stall fee, the Adobe subscription. Only once you know that figure do you add the gallery's cut and any GST on top.

A simple formula for pricing your artwork

There's no single right method, but this one works for most artists who are starting.

Materials + (hours × your hourly rate) + a share of studio costs = your floor price.

The floor is the least you'd accept in hand. It isn't necessarily the price, but it's the most reliable first step in how to price your artwork. From there, look at the market.

Check what similar work sells for

Look at artists at a similar stage to you, working in the same medium and size, selling in similar places. A first solo show at a regional gallery isn't priced like an established name in a Paddington gallery, and it shouldn't be. If your floor price is well above what comparable work sells for, that's worth knowing before a gallery tells you.

Price by size so your range makes sense.

Buyers compare. If a small painting costs more than a large one by the same artist, they notice. Many painters use a simple rate per square centimetre, or a set price for each standard size, so the whole range hangs together. Here's how that looks at an example rate of A$0.40 per cm²:

• 30 x 40 cm (1,200 cm²): A$480

• 50 x 70 cm (3,500 cm²): A$1,400

• 80 x 100 cm (8,000 cm²): A$3,200

The rate itself is yours to set. The point is consistency, so a buyer choosing between two sizes can see why one costs more.

Gallery commission in Australia

Any honest guide to how to price your artwork in Australia has to deal with commission, because this is where most pricing goes wrong. According to the NAVA Code of Practice, commission for full representation at a commercial gallery generally sits between 40% and 50%, exclusive of GST. Artist-run spaces, craft shops and online platforms vary, so always check the agreement.

Here's what that does to a sale, before any GST.

• To receive A$300: retail A$500 at 40%, A$545 at 45%, A$600 at 50% commission

• To receive A$600: retail A$1,000 at 40%, A$1,091 at 45%, A$1,200 at 50% commission

• To receive A$1,200: retail A$2,000 at 40%, A$2,182 at 45%, A$2,400 at 50% commission

The sum is simple once you see it: divide what you want by what's left after commission. At 40%, that's your number divided by 0.6.

GST and pricing your artwork

GST in Australia is 10%. Under business.gov.au's rules, you must register once your GST turnover reaches A$75,000, and it's optional below that. Most artists starting aren't registered, which means they don't add GST to their own share of a sale.

Galleries usually are registered, though, and GST applies to the commission they charge you. So on an A$1,000 sale at 40%, the gallery's cut may be A$400 plus A$40 GST, leaving you A$560 rather than A$600. That A$40 is easy to forget when you're working out how to price your artwork, so it's still worth making.

Tip: Keep one retail price everywhere. If a piece is A$800 at the gallery, it's A$800 in your studio, on your website, and at the Sunday market too. Undercutting your own gallery is the quickest way to lose it, and the NAVA Code discourages discounting for the same reason.

Tax gets complicated fast, especially once you're registered or selling interstate and overseas, so run your own situation past an accountant. This is general information, not tax advice.

Pricing different types of artwork

How to price your artwork shifts a little from medium to medium, but the same thinking holds. Editions of prints and photographs are priced per impression, and some artists lift the price as an edition sells out. Functional ceramics usually sit lower than one-off sculptural pieces from the same studio. Large or heavy work needs freight built in. Our guide to the types of artwork covers what buyers ask about for each medium, which often shapes what they'll pay.

If you're pricing for a show, our post on preparing work for an exhibition walks through pricing a whole group of work so it sits well together on the day.

When to raise your prices

Part of knowing how to price your artwork is knowing when to change it. Prices should move up slowly and only in one direction. Dropping them tells collectors who've already bought that their piece is worth less. NAVA's list of what a gallery weighs up is a useful checklist: your experience, past prices, comparable artists, exhibitions, collections, commissions, prizes, materials, and the market.

In practice, it's time to go up 10 to 15% when:

• Most of a body of work sells within a show or a season.

• People are asking to be told when new work is ready.

• You've won a prize, had a sell-out show, or been picked up by a new gallery.

• Your materials or firing costs have gone up noticeably

It also helps to see it from the other side. Our guide to starting a ceramics collection shows how buyers think about price and value.

Let the sums do themselves.

None of this maths is hard, but doing it for every piece, gallery and sales channel gets old quickly. That's what the ArtFlow pricing calculator is for. You set the gallery commission, add sales tax if it applies, then enter either the retail price or the amount you want to receive, and it works out the rest in either direction. The retail price, your share and the gallery's commission stay separate on every artwork, so there's no second-guessing at the counter. You can see it on the features page.

Questions artists ask about pricing.

What's the easiest way to work out how to price your artwork as a beginner? Add your materials, your hours at a fair hourly rate, and a share of studio costs to get a floor price. Then compare with similar work at a similar stage and settle on a retail price that covers your floor after commission.

What commission do Australian galleries take? For full representation at a commercial gallery, generally 40 to 50% of the sale, exclusive of GST, according to the NAVA Code of Practice. Other outlets vary, so check each agreement.

Do I need to charge GST on my art? Only if you're registered for GST, which is compulsory once your GST turnover reaches A$75,000. A GST-registered gallery will usually charge GST on its commission either way.

Should my online price be the same as my gallery price? Yes. Keep one retail price across your gallery, studio, website and markets. Undercutting a gallery damages the relationship and confuses collectors.

How often should I raise my prices? When work sells steadily, you have a waiting list, or you've had a notable win. Small, regular rises of around 10 to 15% are easier for collectors to accept than big jumps, and prices shouldn't come back down.

The short version

That's how to price your artwork without guessing. Work out what you need in hand. Add the gallery's commission and any GST. Check the result against similar work, keep it consistent by size, and use the same price everywhere. Then raise it gently as your work sells. If you'd rather not do the sums on a calculator every time, start a free ArtFlow account and let the pricing tool do them for you.