When an interior designer reaches out about your work, the conversation usually goes to price quickly. And if you've never sold through trade before, the question of what to charge them, versus what you charge a collector directly, can feel murky enough that you either make up a number or avoid the conversation entirely.

Price art for interior designers off your standard retail first, then apply a 20–30% trade discount. Never invent a separate number for trade clients. The discount comes off what you'd charge anyone else, which only works if your standard pricing is already structurally sound.

That one principle resolves most of the confusion around trade pricing.

Why designers get a discount at all

Interior designers are intermediaries. When a designer places your work with a client, they're doing sales and placement work that you didn't have to do. They're sourcing, curating, presenting your work to a collector who may not have encountered you any other way, and managing the logistics of getting the piece into an installed project.

That intermediary function earns the discount. It's not charity... it's a distribution channel with its own economics. The designer earns the margin between your trade price and what they charge their client (which may be your retail price, or higher). You get a buyer you wouldn't have reached on your own.

The trade discount standard across most of the market sits between 20 and 30 percent. A 20% trade discount is common for artists earlier in their careers or for designers buying individual pieces. A 30% trade discount typically comes with higher volume, established relationships, or designers who are actively placing your work across multiple projects.

Your trade pricing is only as clean as your standard retail. If you haven't established a consistent retail price using a structured method, start with how to price your art first.

How to set your trade pricing in practice

The starting point is your standard retail price: the number you'd charge a collector who came to you directly through a gallery, your website, or a show. If you've run your formula (square inch or linear inch rates, or time plus materials), your retail is already calculated. If not, that's the first step.

From there, the math is simple:

Or:

You charge the designer the trade price. They manage the markup to their client. You don't need to know or approve what they charge their client... that's their business. Your business is protecting your retail integrity and your trade margin.

What you never do: create a separate pricing structure just for trade. If you price originals differently for designers than for collectors without a systematic discount applied, you introduce inconsistency that's very hard to explain if two buyers compare notes. A designer who knows what a collector paid for a similar piece will question why the discount wasn't calculated off that number.

What trade clients typically buy

Understanding the trade buying context helps you price appropriately.

Unframed work is the norm. Designers typically want pieces without frames so they can specify their own framing to match the project. If your standard price includes framing, you may want to offer an unframed-only price for trade clients, which simplifies the math.

The price range that moves most easily through trade tends to be $100–500 unframed for work placed in residential or commercial interiors. This isn't the ceiling... significant commissions or high-end residential projects can go much higher, especially with established designers. But if you're just starting to work with trade clients, this is where a lot of the accessible volume sits.

Commissions are a real trade opportunity. A designer working on a large residential or commercial project may want something custom: specific dimensions, palette, or subject matter. Commission pricing through trade gets complicated quickly, because the time-plus-materials method is the right formula, and designers may not be accustomed to artists charging for the specificity. Setting a clear commission pricing structure up front (your standard hourly rate, materials, plus a custom-work premium) protects you.

Setting up a trade program

If you're working with designers regularly or want to, a simple trade program makes the process more professional for both sides:

A trade application or terms sheet. A one-page document that establishes: (a) that your standard trade discount is X%, (b) that it applies to your published retail prices, (c) that payment terms are net 30 or net 60, and (d) that trade prices are confidential (designers should not publish or share your trade pricing publicly). This protects your retail pricing integrity.

A portfolio or lookbook. Designers work fast and make decisions visually. A curated PDF of your available work, with dimensions, medium, retail price, and a note that trade pricing is available on request, is more useful than a link to your full website. Make it easy for them to see what you have.

A point of contact. Designers need to know they can reach you when they're on a project deadline. Being responsive, clear about availability, and straightforward on terms is as much of the trade relationship as the work itself.

When a designer asks for more than 30%

It happens. Some designers ask for 40 or 50 percent, sometimes framed as an agency fee structure or a "we have a lot of projects" negotiation.

Whether to go there depends on your situation. If a designer is placing multiple pieces across multiple projects and genuinely creating significant volume, there may be a case. If they're asking for an exceptional discount on a single piece, the math probably doesn't work for you.

What you protect, always: your ability to charge retail to collectors who come to you directly. If your trade discount gets high enough that a designer could undercut your retail price to their clients and still make margin, your retail integrity is at risk. That's the line.

Quick version

Art Price Lab lets you run your formula for both retail and trade clients from the same profile. Set up your pricing at artpricelab.com