There is no standard gallery discount. A quoted figure is one seller’s practice.

Ask a gallery for a reduction and you will often get one. Ask what reduction is normal and no published source answers. No law, trade code or fair rule sets one. That changes what a buyer should ask.

Published by ArtisDomus, written by Polina Surina.

The law does cover how a seller shows you a price and announces a reduction from it. The fairs’ own rulebooks say more than most buyers know, and less than they assume.

Under the French Code de la consommation, every seller must inform the consumer about prices and particular conditions of sale, by marking, labelling, display or any other suitable means (art. L. 112-1). This applies to all production, distribution and service activities (art. L. 112-2). A ministerial order sets how it is done.

The effect is narrow but worth knowing. Where the buyer is a consumer and the seller is in France, “price on request” is only a house convention. It runs against a legal duty to inform, and the house has no right behind it. Where the buyer is a company, a family office or a professional, the article does not apply at all.

The EU rule on reductions is more precise, and it speaks directly to discounting. Any announced price reduction must show the prior price the trader charged for a set period before the reduction (Directive 98/6/EC, art. 6a). The prior price is the lowest price that trader charged over a period of at least 30 days before the reduction. The article was added by Directive (EU) 2019/2161 and has applied since 28 May 2022. France transposed it in article L. 112-1-1.

The rule sets no percentage. It means that a reduction announced to a consumer must start from a price the seller really charged, for at least a month. A discount from a figure invented for the occasion does not count.

Part 4, Chapter 1 of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 replaced the old regime and came into force on 6 April 2025. It bans unfair commercial practices (s. 225). It covers misleading actions (s. 226), misleading omissions (s. 227), and practices below the standard of professional diligence (s. 229). For an invitation to purchase, the total price is part of the material information a trader must give (s. 230).

Schedule 20 lists practices that are unfair in all circumstances, with no balancing test. Three of them describe the room a buyer stands in: false deadlines, bait pricing, and a trader posing as a consumer. Paragraph 7 covers falsely stating that a product is available only for a limited time, or only on particular terms for a limited time, to push an immediate decision. Paragraphs 5 and 6 cover inviting purchase at a price the trader has no reasonable grounds to supply at, and advertising at a stated price to promote something else. Paragraph 25 covers a trader falsely creating the impression of not acting for business purposes, or posing as a consumer.

These rules make the story told around a price honest: the deadline, the availability, and who is on the other side of the table. They set no discount and give the buyer no right to one.

Art Basel’s Exhibition Regulations mention discounts. For the Basel show of 18 to 21 June 2020, clause 18.2 requires that “any indications of prices, discounts and bonuses” and any other information comply with three Swiss laws. These are the federal law on consumer information of 5 October 1990, the federal law against unfair competition of 19 December 1986, and the federal ordinance on the publication of prices of 11 December 1978. The clause names no rate. It points the gallery to consumer law.

The regulations for the Miami Beach show of 8 to 10 December 2023 contain the sentence that matters most here. In clause 20.5 the exhibitor represents and warrants that it will show only two kinds of artwork. The first is artwork it owns. The second is artwork whose owner has duly authorised it to offer and sell in its own name, for the owner’s account and “at the price the owner of the artworks has approved”. So the price of a consigned work belongs to its owner.

Two more clauses deserve a buyer’s attention. Under clause 21.7 at Basel and clause 20.5 at Miami Beach, the exhibitor warrants the authenticity and legal provenance of every artwork it shows, to the fair and to any buyer. Under clause 18.3 at Basel, cash above CHF 100,000 brings the exhibitor under special duties of care in the Swiss anti-money-laundering law of 10 October 1997. These include identifying the contracting party and establishing the beneficial owner.

TEFAF’s vetting committees examine authenticity, condition and attribution. Its terms then disclaim liability for the description, quality, authenticity, attribution, provenance, title and condition of what is sold. Responsibility for the whole process of selecting, exhibiting, buying and selling stays with the exhibitor who sells and the visitor who buys.

No published rule at either fair requires a price on the stand or sets a discount.

The CINOA Code of Ethics, updated 5 July 2024, binds member associations in twenty countries. It covers five subjects: due diligence and provenance, restitution of goods unlawfully exported, endangered fauna and flora, anti-money-laundering duties, and accurate description of what is sold. None of them covers price, discount or commission.

The BIID Code of Conduct of 1 April 2026 governs the designers who buy art for projects. It requires a written agreement stating the fee and how it is calculated and recovered. It forbids accepting payments or benefits that could impair impartiality. It sets no trade rate. The Architects Code of the Architects Registration Board, in force from 1 September 2025, requires architects to be transparent about inducements offered or received. It sets no rate either.

Auction houses publish a buyer’s premium schedule. Galleries publish no equivalent anywhere.

So no published document gives a normal discount. A percentage quoted in a room shows what one seller will do, on one day, for one buyer. It reflects no standard, because none exists. Anyone who names a normal discount is repeating a number that no document contains.