I thought long and hard before posting this but decided to go ahead as it might prove useful to anyone currently considering whether to proceed with this type of arrangement.
I took out an agreement to rent some wall space at a venue. This took the form of me paying a rent each month and then being free to display my pictures and revolve them as appropriate. It’s different from sale or return, as with sale or return there is a documented process i.e. you leave x goods and at the end of a period, you take back x goods and any that are sold, you receive the money for.
At the end of the period of renting, I collected my pictures. Since the last end of month period (all sales are tallied and paid at the end of each month) two were missing. I received payment for one, but not the other as the owner claimed they could not trace a transaction for the missing picture. She concluded it must have been stolen (the first time this had ever happened to her) and therefore it was my responsibility.
My purpose in this post is not to look for comments about whether this was true or not - personally, I believe it to be untrue because a person walking out of the shop with a big picture under their arm (too big to hide under a coat) is an impossibility. I believe what has happened is the transaction has been made and then, for whatever reason, the sale has not be attributed to me.
My purpose in posting is to say that if you are considering this type of arrangement, you need to be prepared that whatever stock you leave, if that stock goes missing, there is nothing you can do to get your rightful money back. This puts you at risk from at worst, dishonest traders and at best, accounting errors by well meaning but incompetent people. So I would say to anyone considering renting a shelf, do so only if you are prepared to lose the stock that you leave. Yes such incidents are hopefully few and far between, but it is a risk. It’s not worth claiming insurance for such a small amount either, so the fact that my stock is insured is irrelevant…
My way forward for selling for me is only wholesale or direct sale as anything else is just weighed too heavily in favour of the shop owner.
Sorry for a miserable/ negative type post but hopefully it’ll be useful for people thinking about committing themselves to such an agreement.
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You should have a contract that states thief of items/damage it items while in the care of the shop owner are the responsibility of the shop owner.
Sorry this happened to you 
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Sorry to hear this happened to you, and as you say its definitely not an easy item to take out of a shop.
Its good that you posted this as I would never have thought about this and its definitely something to think about and needing to maybe put a contract in place as Eileen mentioned. x
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Unfortunately, theft is the artist’s responsibility. Damage would have been her responsibility. I just never thought someone could steal a 12 by 16 inch picture that easily - but apparently I’m wrong and they can!! (Part of me thinks what a great ‘get out clause’ though, so if something was damaged let’s just say it’s been stolen. After all, who’s to know???)
I’m not at all bitter am I?!!
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You have every right to be cheesed off. How horrid that the owner doesnt seem to care about the situation. Do they have cctv?
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Its not good at all it could happen to any of us especially as you say its our responsibility when it comes to theft so a contract probably would not help.
I much prefer honesty but like you say its a get out clause but I would feel awful if I was the shop owner and want to pay for any damage. x Debbie.
Yes they do have CCTV and I’ve asked to see it. 
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It is definitely potentially a get out clause and whilst I’m not saying that that has happened here, what makes me annoyed is the fact I don’t actually know what it was, theft, damage or mis attributed sale.
I have to take things at face value but my caution and displeasure is with the contract - and me for agreeing to it - I had agreed to something where I didn’t have a clear line of accountability for individual items. That can’t be a good contract (legally yes it’s fine of course for the shop and makes their life easier in terms of managing sales etc but for me, it’s left me very exposed). That was the learning point I wanted to promote!
Thank you for sharing and wish it had been a better experience for you. x Debbie
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Just heard back, no CCTV despite the stickers. At least nothing that records and stores images as I have seen the monitor behind the cash desk.
Oh well, my last action is to post a post on FB asking whether anyone bought one of my framed pictures from the shop as they will get a gift of 6 A5 cards as a thank you. Positioning this so that any genuine sale will be identified without it being a call out on a stolen picture!!
A long shot but you never know!
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Yep and it would of course be covered by the shops insurance, but some of us I think have a moral sense of right and wrong where this particular shop owner clearly does not. grrrrrrr.
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I had some stock in a shop local to me. You may have read a thread about this a couple of months ago. Well this is still ongoing, the owner reckoned she’d found my missing item in which she informed me about this 4 weeks ago. I emailed her and asked her to send them onto me via recorded delivery. Two weeks went by and nothing arrived so I sent another email in which she replied “How much did the items total” That shows me that she never had the items in her pocession in the first place. I’m now waiting for a bank transfer from her in which I was reluctant to give her my Bank Details. I’m now keeping a very good eye on my account.
I’m afraid the older I get the less I’m beginning to trust people when it comes to selling my stock in their shops.
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It’s a pain isn’t it! I’m glad you got your money though!
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Well not quite just yet still waiting for her to pay it. I shall just keep pestering her until I do get it.
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All very interesting, don’t think I would go down that road. I have done a couple of pop ups, they were really well organised. But to entrust some strangers… Naaa! Like Pauline!
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I had the opportunity to rent a shelf, as there is nothing like this near me l considered it, but would of had to post my cards, and the shop owner would display them, but decided in the end anything could of happened to them, so decided it was not worth the hassle.
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I had six months rent of a table at a local vintage emporium and during that time two crystal pearl bracelets went missing (presumably stolen). The terms of the agreement were similar and there appears to be no redress for stolen items. My advice for anyone considering such an arrangement is to inspect the security of the venue closely before even considering it. As my items are all very small and comparatively valuable/desirable I don’t think I will be involving myself in anything similar in the near future.
Sam x
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I don’t blame you especially if your items are expensive. Luckily for me my items that went missing lately didn’t amount to much it was just the principal of the matter that annoyed me.
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I’m confused as to how (possible) theft from a shop can be the artists responsibility. Surely it is the shops responsibility? They are responsible for the security on the premises, locking up etc after all. Otherwise what’s to stop them letting any customer walk off with any of your art with no legal redress?
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Hi Liz-the terms usually exclude claims for theft, otherwise there would be legal redress. Since this is the case Pauline would have to try to sue the thief or claim compensation through the criminal courts-that’s where things start to get tricky especially since there is not even any proof that Pauline’s art has actually been stolen! This problem also applied to me. The emporium stated that maybe the bracelets had been “moved” or had “slipped down the back” of another stall and they would tell me if they turned up. However, I am still waiting…
Sam x
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