Writers earn royalties every time a copy of their book is sold. Composers are paid when their music is performed. For most of the history of the art market, visual artists had no equivalent. They were paid once, when a work first left the studio, and received nothing however many times it was later resold, or for however much.
The Artist's Resale Right was designed to change that. It gives artists, and their heirs for a period after their death, a share of the price each time one of their original works is resold through the art market. For buyers, it is an additional cost that appears on certain invoices, and it is worth understanding before you bid or agree a price.
WHERE THE RIGHT COMES FROM
The idea is more than a century old. France introduced a resale right in 1920, and it has since spread widely. According to reporting in The Art Newspaper in 2026, some 90 countries now have a resale right in some form, although the rules and rates vary considerably.
In the UK, the right was introduced in 2006 under the Artist's Resale Right Regulations, following a European directive. At first it applied only to living artists. From January 2012 it was extended to the heirs of artists who have died, for 70 years after the artist's death, the same period for which copyright lasts. Since 1 April 2024, the thresholds and limits have been set in pounds sterling rather than euros.
The United States is the most significant market without a resale right. California introduced one in 1976, but it was struck down by the federal courts in 2018, and there is no federal equivalent.
WHEN THE ROYALTY APPLIES
In the UK, the royalty is due when four conditions are met.
■ The work is an original work of art by an eligible artist. ■ The sale is a resale, not the first transfer of the work by the artist. ■ An art market professional is involved, such as an auction house, gallery, dealer or art agent, whether as seller, buyer or intermediary. ■ The sale price is £1,000 or more.
Original works include paintings, drawings, prints, collages, engravings, sculpture, ceramics, glassware, tapestries and photographs. Works made in limited numbers, such as prints, casts and photographs, also count, provided they were made by the artist or under their authority and are normally numbered, signed or otherwise authorised.
The artist must be a national of a qualifying country. These include the UK, the member states of the European Economic Area, and countries with reciprocal arrangements, which since 2024 have included Australia and New Zealand. Works by artists from countries without a resale right, including the United States, do not attract the royalty in the UK.
WHEN IT DOES NOT APPLY
There are several important exceptions. A first sale by the artist, whether from the studio or through their gallery on the artist's behalf, does not attract the royalty. Nor does a private sale between two individuals with no art market professional involved. Sales to public, non-profit museums are exempt.
There is also an exception designed for galleries supporting new artists. Where a dealer bought a work directly from the artist less than three years before and resells it for £10,000 or less, the royalty does not apply.
HOW MUCH IT COSTS
The royalty is calculated on a sliding scale, applied in bands, much like income tax. The rates are:
■ 4 per cent of the first £50,000 of the sale price. ■ 3 per cent of the portion from £50,000 to £200,000. ■ 1 per cent of the portion from £200,000 to £350,000. ■ 0.5 per cent of the portion from £350,000 to £500,000. ■ 0.25 per cent of anything above £500,000.
The total royalty on any single sale is capped at £12,500. The sale price used for the calculation excludes VAT, and in practice auction houses calculate it on the hammer price. The royalty itself is exempt from VAT.
Some examples show how this works. A work sold for £10,000 attracts a royalty of £400. At £100,000, the royalty is £3,500: £2,000 on the first £50,000 and £1,500 on the next £50,000. At £200,000 it is £6,500, and at £1 million it is £10,000. The cap of £12,500 is reached at a sale price of £2 million, and no sale, however large, pays more.
For lower-priced works, then, the royalty is a significant percentage. For the most expensive, it is a very small one.
WHO PAYS
This is where buyers are most often surprised. In law, the duty to pay the royalty rests with the seller, together with the art market professional involved in the sale, who are jointly responsible for it. In practice, however, the cost is very often passed on to the buyer.
The major auction houses in the UK commonly add the royalty to the buyer's invoice for lots where it applies, alongside the buyer's premium and any VAT. Catalogues mark those lots with a symbol, explained in the conditions of sale, so the charge is disclosed in advance. Galleries and dealers selling on the secondary market take different approaches: some include the royalty within the price, some add it separately, and some absorb it. When buying a work by an eligible artist, it is worth asking whether the price includes the royalty, and if not, how much it will be.
To see how this looks on an invoice, take a painting by an eligible living artist sold at a London auction for a hammer price of £30,000. With a buyer's premium of 28 per cent, the buyer pays £8,400 in premium and £1,680 in VAT on that premium. If the royalty is passed on, a further £1,200 is added, at 4 per cent of the hammer price. The total comes to £41,280. The royalty is the smallest of the additional charges, but it is a real one, and a buyer setting a bidding limit should allow for it.
The royalty is collected by one of two collecting societies, the Design and Artists Copyright Society, known as DACS, and the Artists' Collecting Society, which then pay it to the artist or their heirs. Artists cannot claim it directly from the seller or the auction house, and the art market professionals involved must account to the collecting society for qualifying sales.
WHO BENEFITS
Supporters of the right point out that most payments go to artists whose work sells for modest sums rather than to famous names. According to figures reported in 2026, DACS alone has distributed more than £144 million since 2006, including £9.2 million in 2025, and some 60 per cent of individual payments are under £500, arising on works priced between £1,000 and £5,000. For an artist whose work is beginning to circulate on the secondary market, those payments can matter a great deal.
The right has critics as well. Parts of the art trade have long argued that it adds administrative cost and can encourage sellers to take high-value works to markets without a resale right, such as New York or Hong Kong. Others note that the £12,500 cap has not been raised since the right was introduced, and would be considerably higher had it kept pace with inflation. These arguments continue, but the right is now firmly established in UK law.
WHAT IT MEANS IN PRACTICE
For most buyers, the Artist's Resale Right is simply one more item to include when working out the true cost of a purchase. A few practical points follow from the rules.
■ Buying directly from the artist or their gallery on a first sale carries no royalty. ■ At auction, check the catalogue symbols and conditions of sale to see whether the royalty will be added to your invoice. ■ When buying from a dealer on the secondary market, ask whether the price includes the royalty. ■ When you come to sell, the royalty may be deducted from your proceeds or charged to your buyer, depending on how the sale is arranged. ■ Sales outside the UK are governed by the rules of the country concerned, which may differ in thresholds, rates and who pays.
None of this should deter anyone from buying. The royalty is modest in most cases, it is disclosed in advance when the sale is properly handled, and it supports the artists whose work makes the market possible.
HOW WE CAN HELP
When we quote for a purchase, we set out each cost separately, including any resale royalty, so you know the full figure before you commit. Our piece on the real cost of owning art places the royalty alongside premiums, VAT, insurance and tax. For any specific purchase, a Pre-Acquisition Review will confirm whether the royalty applies and what it will be.