What happens after you click buy

Step 1 — paying

Everything runs through Mollie, the Dutch payment provider. Four ways to pay:

In one payment. There is no instalment plan and no pay-later option. At €250 to €900 that is a real amount of money, and it is worth saying plainly rather than letting someone reach the checkout expecting otherwise.

What you get straight away. An order confirmation by email with what you bought and what you paid. Nothing on that message is designed to be discreet; it is an ordinary receipt from a studio.

What shipping costs. Shipping is charged by country, and it differs between a canvas and a print — a stretched canvas travels flat in a box, a print travels rolled. The exact rate shows in the checkout before you confirm, so you never pay a number you have not seen.

Step 2 — the three working days

The work is dispatched within three working days of the order. That is the whole promise about time on this end, and it is worth being precise about what it does and does not cover.

What it covers. Packing and handing over to the carrier. In practice that is the painting coming off the studio wall, being checked, wrapped and boxed, and the label going on.

What it does not cover. How long the parcel is then in transit. That depends on the carrier and the destination, and it is not something a studio in Boekel can promise on behalf of a courier in another country. What you get instead is a tracking code, which is a real answer rather than an estimate. No signature is needed on delivery.

Why not faster. Nothing here is picked from a shelf. Each canvas is one object, and the packing is done once and properly rather than quickly — see how your painting is packed and shipped for what that involves.

Step 3 — what travels, and in what

The two products travel differently, and it is the single most common surprise.

What the box says. A sticker with the studio name — Paintings by Willem van der Krieken — and nothing indicating what is inside or which painting it is. Anyone handling it learns you bought something from a painter.

What customs sees, if it crosses a border. A declaration of what the item is, which is required and cannot be avoided. Contents are declared as a painting or artwork. A false customs declaration is not a discretion feature, it is a criminal offence, and no reputable sender offers it. The full version of both of those is in how your painting is packed and shipped.

Step 4 — it arrives

A canvas needs nothing. It comes off the stretcher-flat packing ready to hang: a nail or two hooks and it is up. No framing, no glass, no assembly. Where to put it is a longer question and it has its own guide — where to hang a nude painting and how to display erotic art at home.

A print needs a frame. It arrives rolled, so give it a day flat under something heavy before framing. Any framer can do the rest.

Check it while the box is still there. Not out of suspicion, but because of the next section: keeping the packaging matters for both of the things that can go wrong.

In the box with the canvas: the certificate of authenticity. Keep it with the work; it is the beginning of the paper trail, and what it is and is not worth is set out in what a certificate of authenticity is, and what it is not.

If it is damaged

Rare, and it does happen, and the rule is the same everywhere in shipping:

Report it immediately. Not next week. Transit damage is the carrier’s liability, and a claim only holds while it can still be shown that the damage happened in transit. A day or two of delay is the difference between a claim that is paid and one that is refused.

Keep the packaging. All of it, exactly as it arrived. A carrier assessing a claim looks at the box before the contents, and a canvas out of its packaging is a canvas that could have been damaged anywhere.

Photograph it before you unpack further. The box as it arrived, the label, the damage. Three photographs is enough and it takes a minute.

Then email the studio. Everything ships insured, and the claim is handled from there. A canvas is one of one, so replacement is not what happens — what happens is that the insurance and the carrier settle it.

If you change your mind

You have 14 days from receipt, and they are there to let you experience the work. Take it out of the box, stand it against the wall, look at it over a few days and see whether it keeps doing what it did on the screen. That is what the window is for.

What it is not for is installing it. Hanging leaves traces: a nail, an adhesive strip, a hook, tape on the back of the stretcher or on the sheet. You keep the right to send it back either way — that right does not lapse — but a work that has been on a wall has lost value, and that loss is deducted from what you get back. On a one-off painting it can be most of the price, and on a €35 print with tape on it, all of it.

Three conditions, and they are the ordinary ones:

• In the state it arrived in. Unmarked, nothing stuck to it. Anything less and the difference comes off the refund.
• In the original packaging. Which is the second reason not to throw the box out on day one.
• At your own cost. The return shipping is paid by the buyer.

And one exception. A commission falls outside the right of withdrawal. It is painted from a photograph you supplied and exists because you asked for it, the way anything made to order does. That is set out on the commissions page before you commit to one.

And the thing worth saying about all of this. Fourteen days is enough to find out whether a work holds your attention. It is not enough to find out whether it works on a particular wall without paying for the privilege, because finding that out means hanging it — and that costs you the loss in value. If the wall is the thing you are unsure about, buy a €35 print and put that up instead. That comparison is original or signed print: which should you buy?

That is the whole route, from the moment you confirm to the painting on a wall. The paintings are here, and the signed prints are here.

Questions people ask

How do I pay for a painting?

Through Mollie, with iDEAL, credit card, bank transfer or PayPal. Payment is in one go: there is no instalment plan and no pay-later option. Shipping is charged by country and differs between a canvas and a print, and the exact amount shows in the checkout before you confirm.

How long does it take to be sent?

The work is dispatched within three working days of your order, and you get a tracking code. How long it is then in transit depends on the carrier and the destination, so no promise is made about that. Everything ships insured from the Netherlands, and no signature is needed on delivery.

Can I return a painting if I do not like it?

Yes, within 14 days of receipt, in its original packaging, with the return shipping at your own cost. Those days are to experience the work rather than to install it: hanging it leaves a trace — a nail, an adhesive strip, tape on the back. The right to return does not lapse if you hang it, but the resulting loss in value is deducted from the refund, and on a one-off painting that can be most of the price. A commission is made to your order and falls outside the right of withdrawal.

What should I do if the painting arrives damaged?

Report it immediately, keep all the packaging exactly as it arrived, and photograph the box, the label and the damage before unpacking further. Transit damage is the carrier’s liability and a claim only holds while it can still be shown the damage happened in transit. Everything ships insured, and the claim is handled from the studio.

Can I pay in instalments?

No. Payment is in one go, through Mollie. At €250 to €900 that is a real amount, and it is better to say so here than to let anyone reach the checkout expecting an option that is not there.