galleries lower their prices, the chains will lower their prices

"to stay ahead of the competition," and the competition will

in turn lower their prices yet again - until no artwork or artist

value exists.

With how connected and competitive the Internet has

made the art industry, artists cannot be represented at one

value and then be purchased for nearly half somewhere

else. If artists all over the world were sold at constantly

changing values, how would anyone ever have security in

the investment of the piece and the price asked.  This

scenario has been tried and tested in past times where the

only results were the hurting of artists' reputations and the

near total ruination of the art industry.  Because of this

harsh lesson, neither publishers nor artists give discount

incentives to chain galleries.

But you will notice galleries (usually in malls) will

have the price crossed out and marked at 40, 50, and 60

percent off.  This is a clear indication of one of two

possibilities. Either you're looking at a "mark down scam."

Where the art works are grossly overpriced to begin with

and then slashed down price tags used to indicate a

"discount," or the pieces available were bought in a

publisher's clearance.  These clearances occur when the

publisher is going out-of-business and as a result, the artist's

reputations and values suffer great losses or the artist's

career is now over or was never established.  The dead

inventory is liquidated, reducing each piece to only fractions

of their original value.

Unlike jewelry or clothes, the art market is not a retail

industry with high markups. Art has a general appreciation

in values, and established re-sellers market; because of this

it can take a long time for a piece to double in value. As the

industry is set up today you never see viable artists or

publishers giving any gallery patron a 50% discount from a

works' established value. It's unheard of!