Shipping, storing and insuring art: what a collector should demand

A work is sold twice: once when you decide, and once when it arrives intact. Everything between those moments (the crate, the carrier, the declared value, the customs form, the insurance) is where good galleries earn their commission and bad ones lose your work. This is what to demand, and what it costs to bring art into the markets we ship to.

Packing: the crate is part of the price

Works on paper and small canvases travel flat, in a rigid sandwich of foam board and corrugated plastic, inside a box with a margin on every side. Larger canvases travel stretched in a wooden crate or, when the artist allows, rolled around a wide tube with the paint outward. Ceramics and sculpture get a custom crate with foam cut to the object. Glass is removed from frames before shipping and replaced with acrylic. A gallery that ships in a reused Amazon box has told you what it thinks of the work.

Carrier and declared value

Most parcel carriers exclude works of art from their liability, or cap it at a few hundred dollars: DHL Express and Almex exclude art in their terms; FedEx covers artwork up to USD 1,000. Above that, the work must be insured separately, by the gallery or by a fine-art transit policy, and the declared value must be the real value. Undervaluing a shipment to save tax voids the insurance and is a customs offence in every country on the table; we never do it and neither should you. Our own rule: parcel carriers up to USD 2,500 per shipment with our insurance on top; above that, a fine-art shipper with a crate and a nail-to-nail policy.

What it costs to import

The table gives the tax a work of art pays at the border of each market as of September 2026. The United States charges nothing federal on original art; Europe applies reduced VAT rates between 5 and 10 %; Asia-Pacific ranges from zero in Hong Kong to 15 % in New Zealand; Brazil and Argentina are expensive enough that we advise buying locally. Mexico, importing in, charges 33.5 % on courier shipments cleared under the simplified regime, which is why we sell out of Mexico rather than into it. A gallery should quote delivery with these taxes visible, either included (DDP) or itemised, before you pay.

Storage: dark, dry, upright

A work not on display lives upright, never flat, never face-out against a wall, separated from its neighbours by foam board, in a room that is dark and dry (45–55 % humidity) and off the floor. Paper stays in its frame or in an archival box; canvases stay stretched unless a conservator rolls them; ceramics sit in their crate with the foam. Professional art storage in Mexico City, Miami or London costs a few dollars per work per month and includes a climate the average home does not have. Above a certain value it is cheaper than the risk.

Insurance: name the works

A household policy covers “contents” up to a limit and treats a painting like a sofa. A fine-art rider or a stand-alone policy lists each work with its value (the invoice or an appraisal), covers transit, accidental damage and theft, and pays the agreed value rather than an argument. Update it when you buy, when a work moves, and when the artist’s prices rise. The certificate and the invoice are what the insurer asks for; keep them together.

The checklist we send with every sale

Condition report with photographs before packing, signed by both sides.

Packing by people who pack art; glass replaced by acrylic.

Carrier chosen for the value: parcel with insurance up to USD 2,500, fine-art shipper above.

Real declared value; commercial invoice; certificate in the box and a copy by email.

Tracking shared, delivery date agreed, someone home to sign.

Unpack within 48 hours, photograph, report anything within 7 days.

A work that arrives well has been packed as if it would be dropped, declared as if it would be inspected and insured as if it would be lost. Then it usually is none of those things.

Figures from our KYC/AML and customs catalogue, verified September 2026 against the official sources of each country (Mexico’s LFPIORPI and RGCE 2026, the EU’s AMLR and customs code, the UK’s Money Laundering Regulations, US CBP and FinCEN, and the tax authorities of each country). Rules change; where a figure is marked “not confirmed” we have not yet read the primary source. None of this is legal or tax advice: it is what a gallery needs to know to sell you a work correctly.

How avant.dev helps

Art advisory is what we do every day from Mexico City: we help collectors discover, acquire and build collections of original contemporary art, with the paperwork, the delivery and the certificate handled. If you would like a second opinion before your next acquisition, book a free 30-minute consultation or browse the works available now.