10 Tips For Collecting Art Online

Buying art online is becoming more popular and also more accepted. Here is how you should do it.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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Elena Soboleva (@elenasoboleva) is a Specialist at Artsy.

How can a Kour Pour be an impulse buy or the latest Chris Succo show sell out before ever leaving the studio? The swift currency of digital images have revolutionized the art market and the jpeg has become the single most ubiquitous sales tool with nearly 90% of galleries selling works sight unseen* through email, text, and online.While before a dealer needed a back room, now all they need is a smartphone.

Buying online is nothing new, but has yet to revolutionize the art market in the same way that it has disrupted the spheres of fashion and music. Although the art world has converted to digital tools, only 7% of sales reportedly come from strictly online transactions. However, this figure is rapidly growing and galleries, major auction houses, and collectors are investing in and recognizing the internet’s potential to create a new international marketplace, provide accessibility, and create transparency within the market.

Here is your insider guide for how to get started collecting online and find that perfect painting from Padua, the drawing from Delhi, or the sculpture from São Paulowithout the exhaustive travel budget!

*Hiscox Online Art Trade Report 2014

Do research.

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Check out the artist's site, Artsy, and Instagram.

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Consider your space and budget.

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Connect with the galleries.

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Build a collector profile.

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Ask about shipping and logistics.

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Consider “on approval” buying.

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Take it offline.

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Consider digital and time-based art.

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Remember trusted brands.

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