How we're paid, and what we won't take
In effect from 8 September 2026. Adopted before we had any advertisers or sponsors.
Most people in the art world are paid by someone other than the person they are advising. You should be able to see exactly where our money comes from, so this page sets it out. It is deliberately specific, because the phrase "independent advisory" on its own means nothing.
What we sell
Documents. That is the whole business. A corridor brief explains what it costs to move money and art between two countries. A lot review is a written opinion on one work you are already considering. Corridor research is a brief commissioned for a route we have not published yet. You pay a fixed fee for a piece of written work, and that fee is the same whatever you decide afterwards.
What we don't do
We do not bid on your behalf. We do not hold or handle client funds. We do not take a commission, a share of the hammer price, or any fee that varies with what you spend. We do not tell you what to buy; you choose the work, and we assess what buying it actually involves. We do not receive a placement fee, introduction fee or any other payment from a gallery, dealer or auction house.
When we advise you to walk away from a purchase, nothing changes for us financially. That is the point.
Advertising in The Neo Art Magazine
The magazine is published bi-monthly and carries advertising. We restrict who can buy it.
We do not accept advertising from galleries and dealers, auction houses, commercial exhibitor programmes at art fairs, art financiers and lenders, shippers and customs brokers, insurers, or framers, conservators and storage providers.
The first four are excluded because they sit on the sell side of a purchase we might be advising on. The last three are excluded because they are services a client may need to arrange, and we would rather never be in a position where our advice about them could be questioned.
We do accept advertising from museums and public institutions, art schools and academic programmes, publishers and booksellers, materials manufacturers and suppliers, and non-commercial public programmes at art fairs.
We never name a vendor in a client document
Our documents describe what you will need to arrange, such as crated freight, transit insurance at declared value, or a customs broker licensed in the destination country, and how to judge whether a provider is suitable. They do not name specific companies. If you ask us directly for names, we will give you several, tell you if we have any relationship with any of them, and take nothing for the referral.
The magazine and the advisory
They share a name and an owner. They do different things, and we keep them apart. The magazine covers the primary market: artists, galleries, exhibitions and ideas. It is editorial work, and commercial considerations do not shape it. The advisory works on the secondary market and is procedural.
Where the two touch, we disclose. If a lot review concerns an artist the magazine has covered in the previous twelve months, that is stated in the document itself. Access we are given as a publication, such as studio visits, previews and embargoed information, is not used to source opportunities for advisory clients.
What we are not
We are not a valuation service, an authentication service, a tax adviser, a customs broker or a law firm. Our documents are research and guidance. Tax and duty rates change, and treatment varies by circumstance. Confirm anything with a qualified professional in your own jurisdiction before you bid or pay.
If something looks wrong
If you think we have breached this policy, write to us. Tell us what you saw. We will respond within five working days and, where we got it wrong, say so publicly.
Changes
If we change this policy we will date the change and keep the previous version accessible on this page. We will not quietly edit it.