Before you list your first artwork on any online platform, there is one number you need to understand clearly: how much of your sale price you actually keep after the platform takes its cut. The difference between platforms is not small. On a $1,000 painting, the gap between the lowest and highest commission rates in the market is $150 — money that either stays in your pocket or disappears into the platform's revenue.

This guide breaks down the verified commission rates for every major art selling platform in 2026, explains the hidden fees that are not immediately obvious from headline commission rates, and helps you calculate exactly what you will earn on any platform before you commit to listing there.

The short answer — what each major platform takes

ZicoArt — 25% commission, no hidden fees

ZicoArt charges 25% commission on every sale — and that 25% is genuinely all-inclusive. Payment processing is built into the commission. There are no listing fees, no monthly subscription, no payment processing surcharge on top, and no promotional discounts that reduce your earnings. On a $500 painting, you receive $375. On a $2,000 painting, you receive $1,500. The maths is that simple.

Payouts are processed via Stripe within 3–5 business days of a completed sale — the fastest payout of any major art platform. Every sale includes a signed Certificate of Authenticity at no additional cost.

Saatchi Art — 40% commission (raised from 35% in 2026)

Important 2026 update: Saatchi Art raised its commission from 35% to 40% in 2026, confirmed directly from their official help centre documentation. Many existing artists report not being notified of this change. Artists who joined Saatchi expecting to keep 65% of their sales are now keeping only 60%.

Beyond the headline 40% commission there are additional costs that reduce earnings further:

• Promotional discount sharing: Saatchi Art frequently runs buyer discount codes of 10–20%. These discounts are deducted from the sale price before the commission split — meaning you effectively share the discount with the platform. On a $1,000 painting with a 15% buyer discount, you receive 60% of $850, not 60% of $1,000.
• Bank wire fees: International bank wire transfers from Saatchi Art incur fees from both Saatchi's bank and the artist's receiving bank. Saatchi themselves advise waiting until your balance exceeds $100 before requesting payment due to these fees.
• Payout speed: Saatchi Art pays 14 days after delivery confirmation plus 4–5 additional processing days — up to 19 days total. This is the slowest payout of any major art platform.

Etsy — the most complex fee structure in the market

Etsy advertises a 6.5% transaction fee, which sounds low. But Etsy's actual total fees are significantly higher once all mandatory charges are included:

• Listing fee: $0.20 per item listed, charged whether the item sells or not. For an artist with 100 active listings, that is $20 per month before a single sale is made.
• Transaction fee: 6.5% of the total order value — importantly, this is charged on the item price plus the shipping cost combined.
• Payment processing: 3% plus $0.25 per transaction through Etsy Payments (mandatory in most countries).
• Offsite Ads: If you earn more than $10,000 on Etsy in a 12-month period, Etsy's Offsite Ads fee becomes mandatory — an additional 12–15% on any sale attributed to an external advertisement. This cannot be opted out of at that threshold.

The combined mandatory fees on a typical Etsy sale are approximately 9.5% plus $0.45 — before any listing fee history or Offsite Ads are considered. For artists approaching the $10,000 threshold, the effective total rate on ad-attributed sales can exceed 24%.

Artfinder — subscription plus high commission

Artfinder charges a mandatory monthly subscription of £4.99 to £19.99 depending on the plan, on top of a 40–45% commission on sales. This means artists pay the platform even in months when they make no sales. For artists in quiet selling periods — common for any artist — the subscription cost can consume a meaningful portion of annual earnings.

UK artists also pay VAT at 20% on all Artfinder fees, increasing the effective cost further. Despite these high costs, Artfinder's curated approach and European collector audience make it a reasonable choice for established artists with a strong existing sales track record who can absorb the overhead.

Traditional galleries — 40–50% for physical representation

Traditional gallery representation typically involves commissions of 40–50% of the sale price, often with an exclusivity requirement that prevents the artist from selling independently or through other galleries in the same territory. Payment timelines range from 30 to 90 days after sale, and promotional costs are frequently shared with the artist.

For artists seeking physical exhibition and the prestige associated with gallery representation, these costs may be justified. For artists primarily interested in maximising their income from direct sales, the online marketplace model consistently offers better economics.

What the commission difference means in real money

Should you sell on multiple platforms?

Most major art platforms are non-exclusive — you can list the same work on ZicoArt and Saatchi Art simultaneously, for example. Many artists do exactly this: using ZicoArt as their primary platform for its lower commission and faster payout, while maintaining a secondary Saatchi listing for access to Saatchi's established collector network.

If you list on multiple platforms, keep your pricing consistent across all of them. Collectors who find you on one platform will sometimes check others — pricing discrepancies undermine collector trust and can result in difficult conversations.

The hidden cost that commission rates do not show

Commission rates are only part of the picture. The other factor that significantly affects artist earnings is payout speed. An artist waiting 19 days for a Saatchi Art payout effectively extends the time their money is working for the platform rather than for them. On high sales volumes, this delay has a meaningful impact on cash flow — particularly for artists who reinvest sale proceeds into materials and studio costs.

ZicoArt's 3–5 day payout means 75% of your sale price is available to you within a working week of the sale. Compared to Saatchi's 19-day maximum, that is a 14-day cash flow advantage on every transaction.