ArtBidHere

Sell your work without talking price. On your Instagram or on the wall.

You post a piece, people like it, somebody writes "price?" and the conversation goes cold. With ArtBidHere the piece has a bidding: you share it in your Instagram stories with a link, or put its QR label next to the painting, and whoever sees it makes an offer from their phone, in the browser. You never say a figure out loud. It closes on Sunday or in three months; when it does, you get the best offer and the contact of whoever made it.

0% commission: the full price is yoursEvery bidder's contact is yoursYou close the saleA phone is all it takes
Post your work stress-free: if it gets no bids, the credit comes back to your account.

See what a collector sees (opens in a new tab)

  • Visitor pointing her phone at a large abstract painting at an art fair
  • ArtBidHere's share screen on a phone, with the Instagram and Send the link buttons
  • Visitor in a gallery looking at her phone after scanning a painting's QR label
  • Printed A6 wall label with its QR code, beside a printer on a wooden table
  • Instagram story generated by ArtBidHere with an artwork's photo, "Bidding open", when it closes and "Tap the link to make an offer"
  • Woman checking her phone in front of an abstract painting in a gallery
  • Smiling visitor holding up his phone at an exhibition, paintings on the walls behind
  • An artwork's bidding page on a phone, with "Bidding open", its photo and who offers it
  • Large abstract painting on a white gallery wall with a small QR label beside it
  • Visitor scanning a painting with his phone at an open studio while the artist works
  • An artist's ArtBidHere page with their open biddings, for the bio link
  • Close-up of the QR wall label hung beside an abstract painting

Where it helps

The piece you just finishedYou photograph it in the studio, open the bidding and put it in a story. It closes on Sunday. Your followers bid; you never have to ask anyone whether they're interested.
The "price?" DMsInstead of answering one by one, a starting figure and a closing date. Whoever wants the piece, bids.
This week's seriesThree pieces, three biddings, each with its own clock, and a single link in your bio: your page, with every one that's open.
The people who've followed you for yearsThey've never had a button to make you an offer. This is that button.
9:41
Instagram story generated by ArtBidHere with an artwork's photo, "Bidding open", when it closes and "Tap the link to make an offer"
Open studio and opening nightThere are people, there's conversation, and nobody asks the price. The QR label says the figure once, quietly, and collects offers while you talk to someone else.
A café, a hotel, a shop windowYour work hangs for one or three months and nobody is there to sell it for you. The bidding can run up to 90 days; the same label works for every round.
Art markets and fairsYou're alone at your stand and can't attend to four people at once. Whoever doesn't want to wait scans and bids.
The group show you can't get toThe work is up, you're somewhere else, and whoever is at the door can't sell it for you.
Close-up of the QR wall label hung beside an abstract painting
Got a website?
A box with the artwork, the leading offer and the bid button, to paste into any website that takes a code block.

Either way the bidding stands in for you: it lets someone act while they're still looking at the piece.

How it works

Photograph the work and set your floor.

Photo, title, year and the lowest offer you'd accept. About forty seconds per piece.

Share it in your Instagram stories or print its label.

We give you the ready-made story and the link for the sticker; and an A6 label with its QR if the work is on a wall. One credit, the same bidding in both places.

People bid from their phones.

They tap the link or scan, make an offer, and you watch the offers come in. Nobody has to ask you anything, and you never have to say a figure out loud.

Closes on Sunday, or in three months

You choose how long it runs: seven days for a post, a few hours for an opening or an open studio, or up to ninety if the work stays up in a café or a hotel. What makes it work is that it ends: a piece that's "for sale" forever produces nothing; one that closes on Sunday night gets offers on Sunday afternoon.

If it doesn't sell, you reopen it on the same QR — that link never changes. For work you're leaving somewhere, print the label without the date, and without the price if you'd rather decide that next time. Then the same label serves every round.

What you keep

The full price. 0% commission.We take no percentage of your sale: you pay a flat fee per artwork and nothing else. Purchase and payment happen between you and the buyer, however you normally do it; the money for your work never passes through us.
The contacts, for you.Every bidder leaves a verified email and a phone number. At close you get the winner and the full list of everyone who bid, with their contact details. They're yours: tell them about your next show or another piece. We only write to them about that bidding.
Control.Pause a piece, withdraw one you sold in person, fix a typo in the title even while the bidding is running. The image, the starting bid and the increment can be changed until the first offer arrives — after that they are frozen, because people have bid on what they saw. The closing time is set when you open and never moves.

What ArtBidHere is not

Not a marketplaceNo catalogue of ours, no search, no permanent price history. Each bidding is only where you put it: the QR by the artwork and the link you share.
Not a payment intermediaryWe never touch the artwork's money. A bid is an offer; purchase and payment are settled between you and the collector.
Not an auction houseNo commission, no buyer's premium, no fee tied to the artwork's value. Ever.
Pricing

One fixed fee per artwork. Zero commission.

One credit opens an artwork for a few hours, seven days or up to 90. Credits last 12 months.

5 artworks
$10
$2 per artwork
If your artwork gets no bids, the credit comes back to your account.
15 artworks
$25
$1.67 per artwork
If your artwork gets no bids, the credit comes back to your account.
Best value
40 artworks
$50
$1.25 per artwork
Labels and Instagram stories without our logo, never expires
If your artwork gets no bids, the credit comes back to your account.
First artwork free with every new accountTaxes included where applicablePay by card via Stripe

Questions

What if nobody bids?
Your credit comes back. Each artwork you open for bids uses one credit; if it closes with no bids, that credit comes back and you can reopen the same artwork with it, with the same link and the same QR. The same goes for your free first artwork: if nobody bids, you get it back. You only use credits on artworks that get bids.
When does the credit come back, and when doesn't it?
It comes back when bidding reaches its closing time with no bids, even if you had paused it. It doesn't come back if there is at least one bid, even if you don't end up selling: the bidding worked and you have an interested buyer. Nor does it come back if you withdraw the artwork before closing. Bidding open in your Instagram stories and on the wall at the same time is still one bidding and one credit. A returned credit keeps its pack's expiry; if it had less than a month left, you get 30 days to use it. And once you have opened bidding with a pack, that pack can no longer be refunded in money, even if credits came back.
I post my work on Instagram. How do I use it there?
You open the bidding and we give you a ready-made story with the artwork's photo and a link for the sticker. You post it; your followers tap the link and bid. For posts, put your page's link in your bio: every open bidding is there.
I've never priced my own work. What do I put?
The starting bid is not a price: it is the lowest offer you would be happy to accept. Put that number and let the room do the rest. If nobody bids, you've lost nothing: the credit comes back to your account.
What if only one person bids?
Then you have one buyer at your floor price and their contact details — which is one more than you had.
Does it look like I'm selling too hard?
The label always carries the QR with the artist and the title, plus the medium and size if you entered them. You choose whether it shows the "Scan to bid" heading, the starting bid, the closing time and your name. Leave the price off and the wall says nothing at all; keep it, and that small number is doing the job you didn't want to do: it says the price once, quietly, so you never have to say it out loud or defend it.
Can I use it for a single piece?
Yes. The first one is free; after that, 5 artworks for $10.
Do bidders have to sign up or download anything?
No. A phone is all it takes: they scan the QR, verify their email and bid in the browser. Nobody asks for their name.

Your first artwork is free. Put it in your next Instagram story with its bidding.