FAQ · 30 Questions Answered

Frequently Asked Questions

Everything you need to know about selling art with MoveArt — from getting started to closing your sale.

Getting Started

New to MoveArt? Start here.

MoveArt is an AI-powered art sales service. We research your artwork, identify 100+ galleries, collectors, interior designers, and auction houses who actively acquire work like yours, and send them individually personalized outreach on your behalf.

You pay a flat fee for this service — we take zero commission on the sale price. Whatever you negotiate and agree with a buyer is entirely yours to keep.

Marketplace platforms list your work and wait for the right buyer to browse past it — then take 35–50% commission when someone purchases. MoveArt actively identifies specific, qualified buyers for your specific work and reaches out to them directly.

The key differences: we take a flat fee (not a commission), we do active outreach (not passive listing), and we're built for fine art $1,000+ (not mass-market print buyers). See our full platform comparison guide.

MoveArt works best for:

No. MoveArt serves artists at any career stage, estate sellers, private collectors, and one-time sellers. Our AI assessment focuses on the artwork itself — its market, style, medium, period, and estimated value — not the artist's career status or exhibition history.

The most important factors are: quality of photography you can provide, availability of any provenance documentation, and realistic pricing based on market comparables.

MoveArt's free AI valuation analyzes your artwork using comparable market sales data to estimate a realistic price range. You provide photos and basic information about the work — medium, approximate size, any known artist information — and we return a valuation with market comparables and positioning guidance.

This is a market research service, not a certified appraisal. It is not suitable for insurance, estate tax, or legal valuation purposes. For those needs, we recommend a certified appraiser credentialed by the American Society of Appraisers or the Appraisers Association of America.

See also: Appraisal vs. valuation — what you actually need

Pricing & Fees

What MoveArt costs and how our fee structure works.

MoveArt's service starts at $149. The fee covers AI-powered market research, identification of 100+ targeted buyers, and individually personalized outreach to each one.

Higher-value artworks have higher-tier service options with more extensive research and outreach. There is no ongoing commission — you keep 100% of the sale price regardless of the amount.

For the math on what you save versus gallery commission, see our commission savings guide.

No. MoveArt takes zero commission on the sale price. You pay a one-time flat fee for research and outreach. Whatever you negotiate with the buyer is entirely yours to keep — we have no financial stake in the sale price.

This is fundamentally different from galleries (40–60% commission), Saatchi Art (35%), or any other percentage-based intermediary.

The $149 service includes:

  • AI-powered artwork assessment against comparable market sales
  • Realistic market price range and positioning guidance
  • Identification of 100+ galleries, collectors, interior designers, and specialists matched to your artwork's style, medium, period, and value
  • Individually personalized email outreach to each identified buyer
  • Direct forwarding of any buyer inquiry responses to you

No ongoing fees, no subscription, no commission. MoveArt charges a one-time flat fee per artwork or collection. Once paid, the research and outreach are completed. No future charges unless you choose to run an additional campaign for a different work or want follow-up outreach.

Our services are most cost-effective for works valued at $1,000 or more. On a $300 decorative print, the $149 flat fee represents nearly 50% of value — worse than Etsy's ~12%.

For works below $1,000, we recommend online marketplaces like Etsy or Saatchi Art, which offer large buyer traffic at fee structures better suited to affordable price points.

For works at $1,000+, MoveArt's flat fee becomes progressively more advantageous versus commission-based alternatives. On a $5,000 work, $149 is 3%. On a $25,000 work, it's under 1%.

Get Your Free Valuation

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The Process

What actually happens after you submit your artwork.

After submission, our AI assesses your artwork against comparable market sales and returns a valuation report with price range and positioning guidance — typically within 24–48 hours.

If you choose to proceed, we research and identify 100+ targeted buyers matched to your artwork's specific profile. Within 5–7 business days, individually personalized outreach goes to each buyer over a 2-week delivery window (to maximize deliverability). Buyer inquiries are forwarded to you directly as they arrive.

Timeline from submission to first buyer inquiry:

  • Valuation: 24–48 hours
  • Buyer research: 5–7 business days
  • Outreach delivery: Spread over 2 weeks to maximize deliverability
  • First inquiries: Typically arrive 2–4 weeks after outreach begins

Total timeline from submission to first buyer contact: approximately 4–6 weeks in most cases.

Your involvement is minimal until buyers respond. You need to:

  • Submit quality photos and basic artwork information at the start
  • Review the valuation we provide and confirm or adjust your target price
  • Respond to buyer inquiries when they arrive

The research, buyer identification, and outreach are handled entirely by MoveArt. There are no listing management tasks, no ongoing platform maintenance, and no shipping logistics until you've agreed a sale.

MoveArt guarantees that outreach is sent to 100+ qualified, targeted buyers. We cannot guarantee sale outcomes — those depend on market conditions, pricing realism, and whether the artwork finds a matching buyer among our outreach list.

If you receive no responses after a full outreach campaign, we review the situation with you. Common factors include: pricing above market comparables, insufficient provenance documentation, or artwork that requires a very specific niche buyer not captured in the initial list. We'll advise on next steps including price adjustments or expanded outreach.

When a buyer responds to our outreach, MoveArt forwards the inquiry to you with context about who the buyer is and what they typically acquire. You then communicate directly with the buyer — MoveArt's role is the introduction.

We provide guidance on negotiation approaches and fair pricing anchoring based on our market research. Payment terms, shipping logistics, and final sale documentation are arranged between you and the buyer directly. MoveArt does not intermediate the transaction.

See our guide on art shipping and logistics for guidance on the physical transfer.

Art Types

What MoveArt handles and what works best.

MoveArt handles original fine art across all mediums:

  • Paintings — oil, acrylic, watercolor, mixed media, tempera
  • Sculpture — bronze, stone, wood, glass, ceramic, mixed
  • Photography — fine art and limited edition prints
  • Drawings — pastel, charcoal, ink, pencil
  • Prints — lithographs, etchings, screenprints, woodcuts (signed editions)
  • Ceramics — art pottery, signed works
  • Textile art — tapestry, fiber works, weavings
  • Digital art — archival prints from digital originals
  • Significant decorative art and estate collections

We focus on original works and limited editions rather than mass-produced reproductions.

Yes — paintings are our most common category. We identify buyers for all painting mediums: oil, acrylic, watercolor, and mixed media. Our buyer database includes galleries specializing in contemporary, impressionist, modern, and representational work; private collectors with documented acquisition histories in relevant styles; and interior design professionals sourcing for client projects.

See our guide: where to sell paintings and our paintings service page.

Yes. Our buyer matching takes movement and period into account. We have buyers tracked in databases for all major movements including:

MoveArt specializes in original and edition fine art within traditional collector markets. For pure digital art and NFT-format works, the buyer infrastructure is very different from traditional art markets — NFT platforms like Foundation, SuperRare, and OpenSea serve that ecosystem more directly.

We can assist with digital art presented in traditional formats: archival pigment prints from digital originals, limited edition prints with certificates of authenticity, and physical media works that originated digitally.

See our digital art guide for more detail.

Provenance documentation — receipts, exhibition labels, past appraisals, certificates of authenticity — significantly improves buyer confidence and achievable prices, particularly for works above $2,000. It is not strictly required to use MoveArt's service, but we'll include whatever documentation you have in the outreach to buyers.

See our guides: provenance documentation and art authentication.

For Estate Executors

Handling inherited and estate art collections.

Estate executors face a specific challenge: liquidating art collections fairly and efficiently without the expertise to value or market individual works. MoveArt addresses this with:

  • AI-powered valuation for each piece, using comparable market sales data
  • Identification of appropriate buyers for each work (different art requires different buyers — a folk art piece and an impressionist oil need completely different outreach)
  • Simultaneous parallel outreach campaigns for multiple works
  • Documentation of valuations useful for estate accounting

See our full estate sales guide.

Yes. For collections of 5 or more works, we provide collection assessment pricing and can run parallel outreach campaigns for all pieces. Contact us directly at (305) 427-3952 or [email protected] for estate collection pricing — we work with estate attorneys, executors, and family representatives regularly.

Start with MoveArt's free AI valuation. Photograph the front and back of the work (the back often has gallery labels, stamps, or inscriptions that provide significant information). Submit with any information you do have — approximate size, any name or date visible, where the work came from.

Our AI researches comparable works and returns a realistic price range. For works that may exceed $5,000 in value, we recommend also obtaining a certified appraisal — particularly if the valuation has estate tax implications.

See: selling inherited art and appraisal vs. valuation

No. MoveArt's AI valuation is a market research service — it provides realistic price ranges based on comparable sales, which is valuable for pricing decisions but is not a qualified appraisal for IRS or legal purposes.

For estate tax filings, insurance purposes, donation deductions, or legal proceedings, you need a certified appraisal from an appraiser credentialed by the American Society of Appraisers (ASA), Appraisers Association of America (AAA), or American Society of Jewelry Appraisers (for applicable works).

No. MoveArt's entire service is remote. You submit photos online, we conduct research and outreach digitally, and buyers receive digital outreach. Physical artwork stays with you until you negotiate and complete a sale with a buyer MoveArt introduces.

Shipping is arranged directly between you and the buyer after a sale is agreed. See our art shipping guide for guidance on the physical transfer.

For Interior Designers

Sourcing and placing art for design projects.

MoveArt provides interior designers with two services:

  • Sourcing: Submit a client brief (style, medium, color palette, scale, budget) and we identify available works matching those parameters with pricing and acquisition contacts
  • Placement: If you need to sell works from a completed project or on behalf of artist clients, we run targeted outreach to buyers in our network who specifically acquire works suited to commercial and residential placement

Both services are available to design professionals on a project basis. See our interior designers page for more detail.

Yes. Interior designers with specific sourcing needs submit a brief describing the artwork they need — style, medium, dimensions, color palette, and budget. MoveArt researches available works matching the criteria and compiles options with pricing and acquisition contacts.

This service is available on a project basis. For designers working on multiple projects simultaneously, we offer design professional accounts with volume pricing. Contact us directly to discuss your sourcing needs.

Yes. Corporate art consultants and in-house buyers use MoveArt both to source art for commercial spaces and to sell corporate collection pieces when companies relocate, rebrand, or deaccession works.

Our buyer database includes commercial real estate developers, hotel chains, restaurant groups, and corporate art consultants with documented acquisition histories. See our corporate art page.

Yes. Galleries with inventory that hasn't moved through their local buyer network can use MoveArt to reach collectors and institutions in other markets. This is particularly useful for galleries looking to place works with international buyers, regional galleries seeking access to major collector markets, and galleries deaccessing work outside their core specialty.

See our galleries page for details on how we work with gallery partners.

Start with a free AI valuation — submit photos of your artwork and basic information. We'll return a valuation report within 24–48 hours with market comparables and a realistic price range.

If you want to proceed, choose your service tier and we begin buyer research and outreach preparation. For collections, estates, or design professional needs, call us directly at (305) 427-3952 or email [email protected] — we'll walk you through the best approach for your specific situation.

Ready to Sell Your Art?

Start with a free valuation. We'll tell you what your work is worth, then reach 100+ targeted buyers on your behalf — flat fee, zero commission.

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