Buying a painting online in Belgium: where, and what to check before you pay

01The five places where people buy a painting online

• The big international art websites. Thousands of artists from all over the world, originals and prints, delivery by courier. The choice is huge; the artist is far away, and the site keeps a share of the price.
• Home decor and furniture shops. They sell mass-printed canvases under the word “painting”, at furniture prices. It is decoration, not original art, and you need to know that before you click.
• Instagram and social media. Many Belgian artists sell there direct, by message. The contact is real and the whole price goes to the artist; but there is no guarantee, no money held back, and no recourse if the work never comes.
• Online galleries. A selection of artists chosen by someone, higher prices, advice. The gallery takes its share, like a gallery on the high street.
• Auction websites. For old or sought-after art, lots to examine, fees on top of the hammer price. Rarely the right place for a first work.

And a sixth route, a recent one: local platforms that bring the artist and the client together for the handover, with the money held until the work is in your hands. It is the one arvel is building in Belgium.

02What to check before you pay

• Original or print? Look for the words: “printed canvas”, “canvas print”, “reproduction”, “print” mean a print. “Oil on canvas”, “acrylic on canvas”, “one-off piece” mean an original. If in doubt, ask in writing.
• The exact dimensions, in centimetres, and a photo of the work in a room or next to a person: a screen says nothing about size.
• Close-up photos, of the sides and the back. A canvas has texture, edges, a stretcher. A print has none of that.
• Who is selling: an artist, a gallery, a shop? A professional or a private individual? It changes your rights if something goes wrong.
• What the price includes: delivery, packaging, insurance, VAT. And who pays for the return if the work arrives damaged or doesn’t match.

03The costs that get added to the price

A painting isn’t a book: it is large, fragile, and expensive to ship. A 100 cm canvas sent by courier soon costs several tens of euros, more with a wooden crate and insurance. Outside the European Union, customs duties are added on arrival.

And there is what you don’t see: the share the site keeps from the artist’s price. Online platforms often take between 6.5 and 40%; the artist therefore sets the price higher to come out even, and you are the one who pays the difference. Buying direct, or on a platform that takes nothing from the artist, is the same work without that cut: the artist’s price goes to the artist in full.

04Can you return a painting bought online?

From a professional seller - a gallery, a shop, an artist selling as a professional - you have 14 days to withdraw from a distance purchase, with no reason needed, and you are refunded. That is the rule in Belgium, as across the European Union. The cost of sending it back can stay with you if the seller said so in writing before the sale. A work made to order, to your measurements, falls outside that right.

Between private individuals, that right doesn’t exist: an artist selling as an amateur on Instagram has no obligation to take the work back. That is why the seller’s status must be visible before you pay, and why a serious platform shows it on every listing.

Source: the right of withdrawal as explained by the FPS Economy, at the bottom of the page. This guide summarises, it doesn’t replace the text.

05The screen lies a little about colour, and a lot about size

Even a good photo shows neither the true colour of a canvas, nor its texture, nor its size in a room. The red on a screen isn’t the red of the paint, and a 120 cm work on a phone looks like a 60 cm one.

• Ask for a photo in daylight, without a filter, and another with a familiar object next to it - a chair, a hand.
• Stick masking tape in the dimensions of the work on your wall, for two days.
• And if you can, go and see it. A Belgian artist is rarely more than an hour and a half away.

06Find online, receive in person

The right way to buy a painting online in Belgium may be not to have it delivered. Search online, choose online, and meet the artist for the handover: you see the work in real life before it is yours, with no courier, no crate, no breakage.

That is what arvel organises: a gallery for every Belgian artist, original works, and a handover in person. The price you see is the price you pay, and the artist keeps all of it. The client’s money is held until the handover, and refunded if the work doesn’t match. Art doesn’t travel: we meet.

arvel isn’t open yet. Today the site lets you take your place on the waiting list, nothing more. We would rather write it than let you guess.