TIL a major art platform quietly changed its terms to claim a 30% cut of all secondary market sales

Found it buried in a legal update email last night. Has anyone else seen this and figured out a way around it?

3 comments

3 Comments

Ugh, that's so frustrating. I saw that email too and just felt my heart sink. It's exactly what @andrew646 said, they just slip it in hoping we're all too busy to notice. First it was a cut of the initial sale, now they want a piece every time it resells forever? What's next, a fee if someone just looks at your art for too long? It makes you not even want to use the platform anymore.

margaret991mo ago

I read an article from a lawyer who specializes in artist rights that said this kind of move is actually illegal in a few countries because it counts as an unfair contract term... something about the platform not providing any service for the resale. They pointed to how places like France already cap resale royalties for artists at a much lower rate. Might be worth looking into if enough of us complain or push back on it legally.

andrew6463mo ago

This is just how things work now. Companies keep sliding new fees into the fine print, betting most people won't read it. It feels like every service is trying to grab a piece of every single transaction. Makes you wonder what they'll try to take a cut of next.