July 13, 2025 • 7 mins
Show Notes: https://hyperluxmagazine.com/curated-muse-podcast-how-to-deal-with-high-shipping-costs-taxes-and-tariffs-as-an-artist/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Professional artists are having a really hard time
with shipping right now.
If you are shipping within theUnited States or you're shipping
outside the country or you'reshipping to and from any
country, going from the U.S.
or coming to the U.S., itdoesn't matter which way or
where you're all of it hasbecome more complex, 100 times
(00:23):
more expensive.
And now we're looking at tariffsand taxes and also just how
customs is dealing with thingswhen you're dealing with
international shipping, as wellas if you are within the United
States, packages are gettingstuck at distributing centers
for seven to 15 days with noinformation.
(00:45):
They're just sitting there.
And if you are a career artistwho ships your artwork to
galleries so it can be shown onwalls and be part of
exhibitions, you are now feelingthe heat of these rising prices.
You are feeling the fear of thetaxation.
Am I going to be charged?
Are you going to be charged?
(01:07):
You're now fearing when you sendthings, maybe you're selling
directly to collectors.
Are the collectors now going tohave to pay those fees?
There's a lot of concerns aroundshipping and we should have
concerns.
Again, shipping has never beenamazing.
I have been doing shipping since04 and as a gallery receiving
and shipping packages tocollectors since 2013.
(01:31):
Shipping has always beenchallenging.
You have to pack it like it'sgoing to go through war.
You have to make sure it'sinsured.
All of this stuff is greatlyimportant when you're shipping
work.
But more than ever in the moderntimes, in today's world, where
the Postal Service does not haveany accountability for lost or
(01:55):
damaged packages anymore, whenyou're having to deal with
customs, when you're having todeal with tariffs, whether or
not there's a tariff or there isa tariff Who knows these days?
You don't know if you're goingto pay it or if the other
person's going to pay it.
And then the rising costs ingeneral, just without all of
(02:15):
that other minutiae, isexorbitant.
The amount to ship a packagethat is, of course, when you're
shipping a package of art toyou're going to have a lot of
packing material in therebecause you want to protect the
artwork.
So that's expensive anyway.
And then the box is going to bebigger than the artwork.
(02:36):
They say on average at least twoinches around it, if you didn't
know, of packing material.
That's if you have to ever putin a claim, they want that proof
that you had at least two inchesof packing material on all sides
to protect the artwork.
And then you have to get onlineor go to your local post office
and then you have to make sureit's insured and that there is a
(02:59):
signature.
And by the time you pack it withall that packing material, all
of that time, and then they giveyou a quote, and for you to ship
it's anywhere between$50 and$100.
If your artwork is worth$500,you've just eaten$100.
It kills an artist's commission,shipping work sometimes.
(03:22):
More so now than ever.
I want to bring this up becauseI want artists to look at other
options.
For us as a gallery over thelast year, we have started
working with artists on a hybridlevel, meaning sometimes we work
with people in other countriesand even across the United
States that there maybe havesculpture work.
(03:44):
or other types of work that bythe time they pack it up and
they get it to us is going tocost them$100 or$200, which is a
big chunk out of one'scommission.
And in that, they've asked ifthey could do the digital
option.
So for our gallery, PoeticTiger, not all galleries do
this.
And so you'll have to look atthe galleries you're working
with.
(04:05):
We have a really great digitaloption meaning we have a
wonderful online presence.
We have a great store on ourwebsite to shop original art
where it can be shopped byprice, themes, all of that.
And we sell a lot online.
And we just wrote an article onHyperlux Magazine about the
shifting and changing of thegallery world.
(04:27):
And in there, there's a lot ofstatistics and information on
how the world is changing andhow a lot of buyers are buying
art online.
They used to not be that way.
But there's a lot of peoplemoving into purchasing art
online than there has ever beenbefore.
And if we work with an artistwho's in another country or has
(04:48):
some really big package that'sgoing to cost them a couple
hundred dollars, and we say,okay, you keep the artwork, give
us some professional photos,we'll put it up on our website,
we will sell it directly to ourcollectors through our
collector's preview, and if wesell it, then the artist
themselves gets to ship the workdirectly to the collector,
(05:10):
meaning they can put in a card,it can be specific, they can
really customize how they'regetting it to their collector,
which is really sweet.
That's a really nice aspect.
But more importantly, it's notabout that.
It's about not killing yourcommission.
As a person who believes in ROI,return of investment, we also
(05:32):
own a web design, SEO, anddigital marketing company, and I
have for 26 years.
We always tell our clients,whether or not their mom and
pop, their artist, or theircorporate, it's Any type of
investment you make in marketingor doing business, there's got
to have some ROI.
Whether or not it's money, whichis great, but at least there has
(05:55):
to be some form of return ofinvestment.
And if you are shipping andyou're spending hundreds of
dollars to ship and you're notreally getting that money back,
if you don't sell it, You justate money.
If you do sell it, yourcommission is really small.
So doing the online digitalversion first for some artists
(06:15):
is more beneficial and canactually improve their art
business.
So that's my tip for you.
If you are stressed out aboutthe shipping, if you are feeling
overwhelmed by the pricing andthe taxes and the potential fees
and the potential tariffs andall of that, it's rightfully so
(06:37):
in this moment to be concerned.
walking through this weird timein the world that we can find a
way to continue doing the thingwe love as a professional
(07:00):
without completely puttingourselves in a deficit.
And there are definitely ways towork around this.
Professional artists are having a really hard time
with shipping right now.
If you are shipping within theUnited States or you're shipping
outside the country or you'reshipping to and from any
country, going from the U.S.
or coming to the U.S., itdoesn't matter which way or
where you're all of it hasbecome more complex, 100 times
(00:23):
more expensive.
And now we're looking at tariffsand taxes and also just how
customs is dealing with thingswhen you're dealing with
international shipping, as wellas if you are within the United
States, packages are gettingstuck at distributing centers
for seven to 15 days with noinformation.
(00:45):
They're just sitting there.
And if you are a career artistwho ships your artwork to
galleries so it can be shown onwalls and be part of
exhibitions, you are now feelingthe heat of these rising prices.
You are feeling the fear of thetaxation.
Am I going to be charged?
Are you going to be charged?
(01:07):
You're now fearing when you sendthings, maybe you're selling
directly to collectors.
Are the collectors now going tohave to pay those fees?
There's a lot of concerns aroundshipping and we should have
concerns.
Again, shipping has never beenamazing.
I have been doing shipping since04 and as a gallery receiving
and shipping packages tocollectors since 2013.
(01:31):
Shipping has always beenchallenging.
You have to pack it like it'sgoing to go through war.
You have to make sure it'sinsured.
All of this stuff is greatlyimportant when you're shipping
work.
But more than ever in the moderntimes, in today's world, where
the Postal Service does not haveany accountability for lost or
(01:55):
damaged packages anymore, whenyou're having to deal with
customs, when you're having todeal with tariffs, whether or
not there's a tariff or there isa tariff Who knows these days?
You don't know if you're goingto pay it or if the other
person's going to pay it.
And then the rising costs ingeneral, just without all of
(02:15):
that other minutiae, isexorbitant.
The amount to ship a packagethat is, of course, when you're
shipping a package of art toyou're going to have a lot of
packing material in therebecause you want to protect the
artwork.
So that's expensive anyway.
And then the box is going to bebigger than the artwork.
(02:36):
They say on average at least twoinches around it, if you didn't
know, of packing material.
That's if you have to ever putin a claim, they want that proof
that you had at least two inchesof packing material on all sides
to protect the artwork.
And then you have to get onlineor go to your local post office
and then you have to make sureit's insured and that there is a
(02:59):
signature.
And by the time you pack it withall that packing material, all
of that time, and then they giveyou a quote, and for you to ship
it's anywhere between$50 and$100.
If your artwork is worth$500,you've just eaten$100.
It kills an artist's commission,shipping work sometimes.
(03:22):
More so now than ever.
I want to bring this up becauseI want artists to look at other
options.
For us as a gallery over thelast year, we have started
working with artists on a hybridlevel, meaning sometimes we work
with people in other countriesand even across the United
States that there maybe havesculpture work.
(03:44):
or other types of work that bythe time they pack it up and
they get it to us is going tocost them$100 or$200, which is a
big chunk out of one'scommission.
And in that, they've asked ifthey could do the digital
option.
So for our gallery, PoeticTiger, not all galleries do
this.
And so you'll have to look atthe galleries you're working
with.
(04:05):
We have a really great digitaloption meaning we have a
wonderful online presence.
We have a great store on ourwebsite to shop original art
where it can be shopped byprice, themes, all of that.
And we sell a lot online.
And we just wrote an article onHyperlux Magazine about the
shifting and changing of thegallery world.
(04:27):
And in there, there's a lot ofstatistics and information on
how the world is changing andhow a lot of buyers are buying
art online.
They used to not be that way.
But there's a lot of peoplemoving into purchasing art
online than there has ever beenbefore.
And if we work with an artistwho's in another country or has
(04:48):
some really big package that'sgoing to cost them a couple
hundred dollars, and we say,okay, you keep the artwork, give
us some professional photos,we'll put it up on our website,
we will sell it directly to ourcollectors through our
collector's preview, and if wesell it, then the artist
themselves gets to ship the workdirectly to the collector,
(05:10):
meaning they can put in a card,it can be specific, they can
really customize how they'regetting it to their collector,
which is really sweet.
That's a really nice aspect.
But more importantly, it's notabout that.
It's about not killing yourcommission.
As a person who believes in ROI,return of investment, we also
(05:32):
own a web design, SEO, anddigital marketing company, and I
have for 26 years.
We always tell our clients,whether or not their mom and
pop, their artist, or theircorporate, it's Any type of
investment you make in marketingor doing business, there's got
to have some ROI.
Whether or not it's money, whichis great, but at least there has
(05:55):
to be some form of return ofinvestment.
And if you are shipping andyou're spending hundreds of
dollars to ship and you're notreally getting that money back,
if you don't sell it, You justate money.
If you do sell it, yourcommission is really small.
So doing the online digitalversion first for some artists
(06:15):
is more beneficial and canactually improve their art
business.
So that's my tip for you.
If you are stressed out aboutthe shipping, if you are feeling
overwhelmed by the pricing andthe taxes and the potential fees
and the potential tariffs andall of that, it's rightfully so
(06:37):
in this moment to be concerned.
walking through this weird timein the world that we can find a
way to continue doing the thingwe love as a professional
(07:00):
without completely puttingourselves in a deficit.
And there are definitely ways towork around this.
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.