How to record the sale of an artwork

You sold a piece at the opening. Half was paid in cash, the other half is due when they collect it, and the buyer left their name on a napkin. A year from now, when they ask about the certificate, that napkin will be long gone.

In this guide we look at what to write down on the day of the sale, which papers the buyer gets and how to avoid the most expensive mistake: selling the same work twice.

What do I need to write down?

Not much, but all of it on the same day:

Which work. With its inventory number, not just the title. If it is an edition, which impression (3/10).
To whom. Full name and a way to reach them. If the work is shipped, the address.
When. The date of the sale, which is not always the date of payment.
For how much. The agreed price and the currency. If there was a discount, the final price.
Its status. Paid, reserved with a deposit, or pending.
Your document numbers, if you issued a receipt or an invoice.

Everything else (that the buyer saw it at the show, asked for it framed, is a friend of someone) goes in separate notes that are just for you.

Sold, reserved or paid?

They are not the same, and mixing them up is how you end up with two buyers for one work.

Reserved. Someone committed, maybe left a deposit, but the sale is not closed. The work is no longer on offer.
Pending. The sale is agreed and payment is outstanding.
Paid. You have been paid in full. Only then is the money yours.
Cancelled. It fell through. The work is available again.

The rule of thumb: the moment someone says "I want it", the work stops being available, even if nothing has been paid. Mark it reserved right then. If the reservation falls through, you release it; if you didn't mark it and someone else shows interest, it is too late.

And when you add up the year's sales, count only what was paid. Reserved is not money yet.

Receipt or invoice?

It depends on where you live and how you are registered, so ask whoever handles your taxes. Broadly speaking:

The invoice is the tax document: the one you declare and the one the buyer can use with the tax authority. It is issued through whatever system your country requires.
The receipt states that you were paid for a specific work. It is the paper the buyer keeps as proof of what they bought, from whom and when.

Often you issue both: the invoice because you must, and the receipt because it is the one that describes the work. What matters is that both carry a number and that the number is recorded with the sale. That way, three years from now, you can find any document from the work, and any work from the document.

Which papers does the buyer get?

The receipt, with the work, the price, the date and your details.
The certificate of authenticity, signed by hand. For an edition, with the impression number matching the one signed on the work.
The invoice, where applicable.

Hand them over with the work or in the following days, not "whenever they ask". A buyer who gets their papers in order is a buyer who comes back, and who recommends you.

How do I avoid selling the same work twice?

With a single source of truth: the inventory. If the work is available in a spreadsheet, sold in a notebook, and the gallery has its own list, one of the three is wrong.

Editions are where it happens most. If you have a run of ten and sold four, you need to know which four, not just how many. That is why the art inventory keeps editions in a separate table.

What should I use?

A spreadsheet can hold everything above: one row per sale, with the work, the buyer, the date, the price and the status. It works as long as you remember to update the work's row too.

With Artium the sale and the work are the same thing. From the work's record, under Status, you mark it reserved or sold and the sale is recorded in Sales, together with the buyer, who is saved in Clients with their contact details and address. Setting it back to available cancels it. From Sales you can also enter it directly, with its status (pending, reserved, paid or cancelled), its Receipt no. and Invoice no., and private Sale notes that never appear on any document.

One click gives you the receipt as a PDF, with your document numbers and your signature, and the certificate of authenticity comes out with the inventory data and the right impression if it is an edition. The dashboard totals count only what was paid. All of this is on the free plan.

Artium came out of a studio where sales were written on napkins. If this guide helped, the app makes sure every sale lands in its place on the day, without typing anything twice.

Whatever you use: record the sale before you leave the opening. Five minutes that night save you an afternoon a year from now.