The questions to ask before joining an art sales platform

01Does the platform select its artists?

This is the first and most important question. A platform that accepts everyone without selection criteria is not a specialised marketplace. It is a directory. And a directory gives you no competitive advantage.

Selection is what creates value for you. When a platform examines artist applications and retains only a portion, it creates an environment where quality is guaranteed. The collector browsing that platform knows they will not encounter amateurism. This trust in the platform's overall quality reflects on every individual artist, including you.

The gallerist Emmanuel Perrotin has often explained that a gallerist's work begins with selection. Selection creates collector trust, and trust makes the sale possible. The same principle applies to a marketplace. If you can sign up in two minutes without anyone examining your work, the space you are in has no added value compared to your own website. For reference, Artedusa uses a two-phase verification: automated portfolio check, then manual review by the team including personal contact with the artist. This is what best-in-class selection looks like.

02Who are the collectors using the platform?

Audience is everything. A platform can have a gorgeous design, a strong brand and impeccable communication, but if its visitors are not potential buyers, none of it matters. You must understand who uses the platform and why.

Ask concrete questions. Where do visitors come from geographically? What is their profile: experienced collectors, new collectors, decorators, curious enthusiasts? What is the average price of works sold? This average gives you an indicator of the audience's purchasing power. If the average transaction price is fifty euros, you will struggle to sell works at eight hundred euros. If the average is a thousand euros or more, you know the audience is accustomed to investing in art.

03What are the actual fees?

Platform business models vary enormously. Some charge a fixed monthly subscription. Others take a commission on each sale. Others combine both. Others still offer a free model but monetise your data or your visibility.

You must understand exactly what you pay and what you receive in return. A fixed monthly subscription is predictable and lets you calculate your break-even point. A sales commission has the advantage of being due only when you sell, which aligns the platform's interests with yours. The worst model is one that charges you without guaranteeing anything: high fees without audience, without visibility, without support.

The artist and entrepreneur Jeff Koons, whatever one thinks of his work, has always been clear on one point: an artist must understand the financial terms of every commercial relationship they enter. This advice applies to a gallery as much as a platform.

04What is the platform's policy on rights?

This question is crucial and too often neglected. When you sign up for a platform, you accept terms and conditions. These terms determine what the platform can do with images of your works, your name, your biography. Some platforms reserve the right to use your images for their own promotion without asking your consent. Others strictly limit image use to the sale of your works.

Read the terms carefully. If the platform reserves unlimited usage rights on your images, you lose part of the control over your intellectual property. This is not an abstract legal detail. It is a concrete issue that affects how your work circulates in the world. The benchmark here is a non-exclusive, revocable licence limited to display and promotion, with one hundred percent copyright retained by the artist, no lock-in, and free withdrawal at any time. Images should be protected against download and scraping.

05Does the platform invest in editorial content?

A platform that merely lists works like a catalogue is a static space that does not generate discovery. A platform that invests in editorial content — articles about artists, interviews, contextualisation texts — creates an environment where the collector lingers, explores and discovers.

Editorial content is also an indicator of the platform's seriousness. Producing quality texts about artists requires time, skills and investment. A platform that makes this effort shows it considers its artists as partners to promote, not as lines in a catalogue.

Galerie Perrotin's model is revealing: the gallery invests heavily in editorial production — videos, texts, catalogues — because it knows this content builds its artists' value over time. An online platform that adopts this approach offers the same type of added value. Look also for AI-powered curation that reads emotion, palette, composition and art historical context for each artwork — not just keyword tags — and a gallery bridge where partner galleries can discover and invite artists directly from the platform.

06What level of support is offered?

An artist joining a platform for the first time needs minimum support: help uploading works, advice on photography and presentation, quick responses to technical issues. The level of support offered by a platform is a direct indicator of its regard for its artists.

Test the support before committing. Send an email or message with a concrete question. The delay and quality of the response will tell you a great deal about the platform's culture. A generic automated response is a warning signal. A personalised, prompt response is a quality signal.

07The ultimate question: will this platform help me sell?

Ultimately, the only question that matters is this one. You do not join a platform for prestige, for design or for promises. You join it to sell your work to collectors you would not have reached otherwise.

To answer this question, look at the artists already on the platform. Are they at a comparable level to yours? Are their profiles active and regularly updated? Do works regularly display a sold status? These concrete indicators are worth more than any marketing promises. Also verify payment security: escrow until receipt is confirmed protects both buyer and seller. Check whether the platform offers professional tools — analytics with conversion tracking, CRM, auto-invoicing — that help you run your practice like a business.

An informed artist asks questions before committing. That is a sign of professionalism, not distrust. Artedusa was created by art market enthusiasts to give independent artists what only major galleries offered until now: international visibility, an audience of qualified collectors and a space that respects your work. No noise, no compromise on quality. If your art is ready, Artedusa is too.