Important: On TPW, your payment is held until you enter a valid tracking number. Tracking entry is what releases your payment. No tracking means no payment.
Welcome to The Painted World. Before you create your artist account, please read the following terms carefully. These are the rules of the road for selling on TPW. They are written to be clear, not complicated, because you deserve to know exactly what you’re agreeing to before you sign up.
When you check the box at the bottom of the signup form, you are entering into a binding agreement with The Painted World. If you have questions before signing up, contact us at thepaintedworld.com/contact.
1. Original Artwork Only
TPW is a marketplace for original, one-of-a-kind paintings only. You may not list prints, giclées, reproductions, or editions of any kind. Every listing on TPW must be a unique original work.
A print and reproduction option may be introduced in a future version of the platform and you will be notified when that becomes available. For now: originals only.
2. Your Images on TPW
When you upload images of your work to TPW, you keep full copyright ownership. You are giving TPW permission to display your images on the platform so collectors can find and purchase your work. That is the only use made of your images.
To help protect your work, TPW automatically resizes uploaded paintings to a maximum of 1,500 pixels on the longest edge when saved to the platform. You do not need to resize your images before upload.
Posting any image online carries a risk of unauthorized copying. TPW takes reasonable technical steps to limit this risk, but cannot eliminate it. Copyright registration remains your strongest protection.
3. Shipping
When a collector buys your painting, payment is processed by Stripe and held securely by the platform. Your payment is released after you enter a valid tracking number and it is confirmed by TPW.
- Collector purchases your painting and you receive a sale notification.
- You package and ship the painting within 7 business days.
- You enter your tracking number in your TPW dashboard.
- TPW confirms the tracking number and releases your payment.
- The collector is notified that their painting is on its way.
You can either include shipping in your listed price or set a flat-rate shipping charge. TPW takes no commission on shipping charges.
At launch, TPW supports domestic United States shipping only. If no tracking number is entered within 12 calendar days of sale, the buyer is entitled to cancel the order and receive a full refund. Repeated non-shipment can result in account suspension.
4. Fees and Commission
- Artist signup is free.
- There is no listing fee.
- There is no monthly charge.
- TPW commission is 12% of the sale price, deducted at payment release.
- Stripe processing is 2.9% plus $0.30 per transaction, charged by Stripe.
- Shipping amounts go to you in full.
5. Your Responsibilities
- Only list artwork you created and own the rights to.
- Only list original, one-of-a-kind works.
- Accurately represent your work, including subject, medium, size, and condition.
- Ship sold work promptly and enter tracking within 7 business days.
- Package your work appropriately to survive transit.
- Respond to buyer and TPW communications in a timely manner.
6. Image Liability
- You own the copyright to all images you upload.
- You understand that posting images online carries an inherent risk of unauthorized copying by third parties.
- TPW is not liable for unauthorized use, copying, or reproduction of your artwork images by third parties who access them through the platform.
- You are solely responsible for taking independent measures to protect your intellectual property, including copyright registration.
- TPW’s liability for any loss arising from image misuse is limited to the amount of commission TPW earned from your sales in the 90 days preceding the claim.
7. Account Termination
TPW reserves the right to suspend or terminate any artist account for violations of these terms, including listing non-original work, repeated failure to ship, uploading artwork you do not own, or conduct that harms buyers or other artists on the platform.
This checkbox constitutes your electronic signature and creates a binding agreement between you and The Painted World. Your agreement is recorded with a timestamp at the time of account creation.
