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InvoiceFlow for Art Sellers: The Complete Billing Guide

Billing for gallery consignment, custom commissions, direct sales, corporate procurement, and art fairs

Art sellers operate across billing models that most business invoicing tools aren’t designed for: gallery consignment settlements with artist-gallery splits and discount pre-approval clauses, multi-stage commission deposit invoices, direct sale invoices with certificate of authenticity references, corporate procurement with PO fields and copyright notices, and point-of-sale fair receipts. InvoiceFlow handles all of these from one Android app — with templates for each transaction type, deposit tracking for commissions, and the professional format that galleries, collectors, and corporate buyers expect.

When your work is in a gallery on consignment, you get paid only when pieces sell. Monthly settlement invoices track what sold, the gallery’s commission, and your share.

Gallery Consignment Settlement — [Gallery Name] — [Month Year]:

Account Details:

Works Sold This Period:

Inventory Status:

Payment Terms: Net-15 Discount policy: No discounting without written artist pre-approval. Unauthorized discounts will be deducted from gallery commission, not artist remittance.

Discount Pre-Approval Clause

This is the most important addition to any gallery consignment invoice. Without it, a gallery can reduce a price to close a sale and pass the discount proportionally to you — reducing your remittance without notice or approval.

With the clause, the gallery absorbs any unauthorized discount from their commission, not yours. Galleries that disagree with this policy are worth reconsidering.

Consignment Best Practices

Custom Commission Invoices

Custom commissions — portraits, site-specific works, series — require staged payments. The first payment protects you if the client cancels; subsequent payments protect you throughout production.

Art Commission — [Client Name] — Commission #[####] — [Date]:

Commission Details:

Payment Schedule:

Total commission fee: $[total]

Cancellation Policy:

When to Use Two vs. Three Stages

The stages protect you proportionally to the commitment. A $500 piece doesn’t need three invoices; a $15,000 corporate installation does.

Direct Art Sale Invoices

Invoice Flow app invoice editor of an art seller — an oil on linen with title, dimensions and year, a bespoke frame and insured crating to Paris in EUR with provenance and COA in custom fields
Title, medium, dimensions, provenance — the invoice becomes part of the work's record.

For sales from studio, art fairs, or your own website:

Art Sale — [Buyer Name] — [Date]:

Certificate of Authenticity Language

Include on every original art sale invoice: “Certificate of authenticity included. This document serves as a record of sale and provenance for the work listed above.”

This establishes both documents — the invoice and the certificate — as part of the provenance chain. Collectors, appraisers, and insurers will eventually need this.

Corporate Art Procurement Invoices

Design firms, developers, and corporations buying art for commercial spaces need professional format with PO reference and copyright documentation.

Corporate Art Procurement — [Company Name] — [Date]:

Buyer Details:

Works:

Legal Notes:

Corporate buyers frequently assume purchasing the physical work also gives them the rights to reproduce it. The most common scenario: a company wants to use the purchased painting in their marketing materials, website, or as a basis for branded merchandise. None of this is included in a sale.

If you don’t include the copyright note on the invoice, the first time this comes up is usually a conflict — not a question. Include it on every corporate sale.

Art Fair and Market Receipts

Invoice Flow app documents of an art seller — an original sale to a Paris collector, a portrait commission with deposit paid, a corporate office-art order and a paid print sale
Originals, commissions, corporate orders, prints — every sale on record and dated.

Art Fair Receipt — [Artist/Studio Name] — [Date]:

Send to the buyer’s email immediately. Many collectors use receipts for insurance scheduling.

If you sell prints or limited editions alongside originals:

Print Sale — [Buyer Name] — [Date]:

Using InvoiceFlow for Art Seller Billing

Commission deposit tracking: When a client pays the Stage 1 deposit, InvoiceFlow records the payment and generates the Stage 2 progress payment invoice. Each stage references the same commission number.

Gallery consignment templates: Build a monthly settlement template with the item-level percentage calculation. Set a recurring invoice reminder on the first of each month for each gallery on consignment.

Copyright notes on corporate invoices: Pre-load the copyright and reproduction rights language in the Notes field of your corporate invoice template. It appears on every corporate invoice without requiring manual entry.

Certificate of authenticity reference: Add the certificate of authenticity note to your direct sale and corporate sale templates. It takes ten seconds and establishes documentation from the first invoice.

Fair receipts: Build a simple fair receipt template. At the fair, fill in the work title, size, medium, and price. Send to the buyer’s email before they leave your booth.

Pricing Transparency for Art Buyers

Consider including a brief framing note on invoice at the bottom for serious collector buyers:

“This work has been authenticated by [Artist name] as an original work. The sale includes a certificate of authenticity documenting medium, dimensions, year, and provenance. Questions: [contact].”

This adds formality that high-value collectors appreciate, and reduces questions after the sale.

Download InvoiceFlow. Build the commission invoice with staged payments. Build the gallery consignment settlement with the no-discount clause. The commission that starts with a signed deposit invoice is the commission that ends with full payment — and the documentation that makes your work collectible.

InvoiceFlow is a free Android invoicing app built for small business owners. Send professional invoices, track multi-stage commission payments, manage gallery consignment, and document corporate art sales — all from your phone.