Customs
Import duties and customs on a painting, explained
What is charged, who charges it, what paperwork travels with the canvas, and what to do if your parcel is held — written for buyers rather than for freight forwarders.
Every painting we ship crosses a border, and every border has an opinion about it. This page explains the mechanics once, so the country pages can stay short.
Three different charges, often confused
Freight is what it costs to move the parcel. We pay it; shipping is free at every size and to every destination.
Duty is a tax on the import of a category of goods. For paintings it is usually zero, because most countries classify original art at a nil or nominal rate — art is treated as culture rather than as merchandise.
VAT / GST is a tax on the value added, charged on import in most countries at the local rate. This is the charge buyers actually see, and it is collected by the courier before delivery, not by us. It is also the one we cannot quote accurately, because rates, thresholds and exemptions change with every budget.
What actually happens to the parcel
The painting leaves Shenzhen rolled in a rigid tube with the invoice and certificate inside. It flies to a customs entry point in your country, where it is either cleared electronically — the common case for a low-value parcel from a known courier — or held for a formal entry. If a charge is due, the courier pays it to release the goods and collects it from you before delivery, usually by text message with a payment link.
Two things make this boring, which is the goal: an accurate description on the invoice, and a declared value that matches it. Parcels go wrong when either is fudged.
Country pages
Transit times, packing and the local position on duty and VAT, country by country:
If something goes wrong
Film the unboxing, from the sealed parcel to the opened painting. It takes thirty seconds and it is the difference between a damage claim settled in days and an argument with a courier that runs for weeks. If the parcel is held rather than damaged, send us the notice and we will supply whatever document is missing — usually within a day, because the studio is awake when your customs office is closed.
Questions
Customs questions we are actually asked
In most countries, no duty on the artwork itself: original paintings are usually classified at a zero or near-zero duty rate. What you may pay is import VAT or GST on the value of the goods, which is a tax rather than a duty and is set by your own government. The two are collected together by the carrier, which is why the bill at the door is often larger than the duty rate alone would suggest.
Because it is fraud, and because the loss lands on you. An under-declared parcel can be held, fined, returned or destroyed, and the insurance is void the moment the declared value stops matching the invoice — so a damaged painting becomes an unclaimable painting. We declare the true value every time, even when a customer asks us not to.
A commercial invoice naming the buyer, the price and the goods description (hand-painted oil painting on canvas); and a numbered Certificate of Authenticity that names the work and the painter. Between them those two documents answer almost every question a customs officer asks. Keep them — they are also what an insurer will want if you ever need to claim.
Send us the notice you received. Nine times out of ten it is a request for a payment or for the invoice, and a copy of the documents settles it the same day. If a country asks for a formal declaration we will supply it. What we cannot do is pay your import tax on your behalf — that is charged by your government, not by us.
This matters, so we are precise about it. A hand-painted reproduction is an original painting in the customs sense — painted by hand in oil on canvas, not a print or a mechanical reproduction — and it is invoiced as such. It is not, however, an original work by the historic artist named on it, and the certificate says so. Buyers occasionally worry that declaring it as a painting is a stretch; it is not, provided the description is accurate, which is why ours names both the medium and the source.
Almost always. We ship worldwide with FedEx, DHL or UPS; the country pages exist because those are the destinations where buyers ask the most questions, not because the others are excluded. Ask and we will confirm transit time and the documents your customs office will want.
Ordering from outside the US, UK or EU?
Tell us the country and the wall. You will get the transit time, the documents we send and an honest answer about what your customs office is likely to charge.