Lay-buy

The main thing to consider with lay-buy is weather it is worth the hassle and risk to you. If you are currently selling enough work on a regular basis to easily support yourself or to allow you the funds to reinvest into materials for creating more art there is little or no incentive. But if not it can be a very worth while system for creating income and enabling people to invest in your work.
In the current economy many creative people have noticed a large drop off in sales. With the rising costs of living Joe public has tightened up the belt strings and sadly  "Art" generally falls into the "Wants" category of the budget and is quickly struck off the list when times get tough.
For emerging artists who haven't yet developed working relationships with galleries, agents or dealers and don't have any professional representation it can be very hard to get recognition or generate income in a struggling economy. So why wouldn't you offer lay-buy?
It was very common to lay-buy things when I was growing up. I used to lay-buy everything as I was sadly born to financially challenged parents and hand outs where few and far between. With five kids to go round money was always in short supply in our house. It was always much easier to pay things off over a few months. It doesn't seem to be as popular these days but is perhaps experiencing a bit of a "come back " at present.
If you are unfamiliar with the concept here is a very useful link that explains the NZ lay-buy act.
http://www.consumer.org.nz/reports/layby-sales

Most of us would have allowed friends and family to pay things off in the past on a "pay me when you can" happy go lucky sort of basis but if you are serious about making a living from your art you should be as professional as possible when dealing with a sale. Its important to set down guidelines by having a lay-buy policy that potential buyers can view to ensure that they understand their obligations and what they are agreeing to. Its always good to be as transparent as possible in all aspects of your business. It may take a bit of extra work to set up and maintain but it has the potential to save you a lot of bother in the long run.
Here's my Basic policy...............

Lay-buy Policy                      

I offer lay-buy payment terms for anyone interested in paying off an art work.

As long as regular monthly payments are being made the time frame for lay-buys is flexible however you will need to provide a guide line for approximately how long you think you will need to pay off an art work. The time frames need to be reasonable and agreeable to the artist and contact must be maintained between the artist and the purchaser during the lay-buy period by telephone, mail, Facebook or e-mail.

Art work on lay-buy will remain in the possession of the artist until payment has been made in full.

Collection of artwork or any extra shipping costs are the responsibility of the purchaser and should be discussed before the lay-buy commences. If shipping costs are minimal it’s general policy to cover them in the original purchase price.

A deposit must be made to secure a sale. ($10 minimum)

Payments can be made…..

By automatic payment.

By Internet banking.

By cheque through the mail.

Or by Pay-pal.

Lay-buy cancellations- An 80% refund policy applies. The artist can retain a maximum fee of 20% of moneys paid on lay-buy cancellations. 

I tweak this basic document for what ever exhibition, show or forum I plan to use it in. For example I have a laminated copy to be displayed at my up and coming event that has been slightly altered. I discussed my policy with the cafe venue I will be exhibiting in and we came to the understanding that in the case of any lay-buy sales I will forward their commission on to them as they are not set up administration wise to receive ongoing payments. I am lucky in this regard because as house artist I have a year round working relationship developed with them and my exhibition will extend through out the year. Any sold art work can stay on display until it has been paid for in full and I have excepted all risk by agreeing to pay the commission proportion of the sale  to them as it is received . If the sale fails for some reason I will be out of pocket but this is a calculated risk that is almost completely offset by the 20% cancellation refund policy. I have not had a lay-buy fall through yet.

It wont always be possible or practical to offer lay-buy and you must discuss it with any venue you exhibit through if you plan to offer it. You must always ensure if you are offering lay-buy to clearly attach it to the side of your business that you control and it could not in any way be misconstrue by a potential customer to be  attributed it to any galleries, dealers or agents who sell on your behalf. You don't want to end up in a nasty dispute or have a good working relationship undermined by a misunderstanding. They will have their own systems in place and you need to make sure it is obvious that the lay-buy you offer is solely on sales made directly through the artist/you.


This Saturday will be my opening night for "Take a Walk on the Wild Side" I will place one more instalment into this series of blogs that have followed some of the most important aspects of running an exhibition.
The final will cover "Opening Night" What not to forget, how to make it run as smoothly as possible and any thing else that comes up. I hope its been helpful so far. Please don't hesitate to leave a comment if you have something helpful to add.

Meri Te Tai Mangakahia
Sold by lay-buy 2010.
I sold this Art work through Facebook. The work depicts a NZ suffragist from the 1880's. The Australian based buyer who contacted me after seeing the art work posted on Facebook was a direct ancestor and was very pleased to acquire the art work.