Sell Your Paintings in Australia

Used paintings in Australia typically sell for A$38 to A$575 (about $27 to $405). A painting is worth what can be established about who made it, so photograph the signature, the reverse and the stretcher — and never clean or revarnish it before selling.

What paintings are worth in Australia

Guide ranges converted from sterling at the 2 August 2026 rate, not quotes — sellers set their own price. Grades are seller-declared; WishThrift does not inspect or verify them.

What lifts the price

• Artists with an established auction record
• Canvases with no tears, flaking or overpainting

What pulls it down

• Prints and reproductions mistaken for originals
• Water staining and foxing on works on paper

Selling paintings in Australia

Bank transfer via PayID is instant and is what most private buyers will offer. Cash on collection remains common for larger items.

Australia’s second-hand market is strongly local and strongly seasonal, with most activity concentrated in the eastern capitals and buyers who expect to collect.

Australia Post covers everywhere, but distance pricing is real and interstate parcels cost meaningfully more than local ones.

Australia is a pre-launch market, so it is worth saying what a seller here should expect when it does open. Distance dominates everything: interstate parcels cost several times a metro delivery, and bulky items effectively only sell within a city. Most trade concentrates in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth, and buyers in those cities expect to collect rather than wait. Seasons run opposite to the northern hemisphere, so listings that follow UK or US timing arrive exactly half a year out of step — warm weather items want September, not March, and winter gear moves from around May.

Working out what yours is worth

• Look closely at the surface — prints show dot patterns under magnification
• Search auction results for the artist’s name

Getting it ready

• Look for a signature and any date, including in the corners and along the edges under the frame rebate.
• Do not clean, varnish, retouch or reframe. Amateur cleaning removes glazes permanently and is the most common way value is destroyed.

Photograph

• The painting square on, whole, in even daylight without glare or reflection
• The complete reverse, including stretcher, labels and any inscription
• The surface raked with side light to show texture, craquelure, and any damage or repair

Put in the description

• Medium and support — oil on canvas, watercolour on paper, acrylic on board
• Dimensions of the work, and separately with the frame
• The signature as it appears, and any date or inscription

Artist, subject, medium and size: “Oil on Canvas Seascape, Signed [Name], 60x40cm”. If the signature is illegible, say so and photograph it clearly — buyers who collect a particular artist will recognise it faster than you can research it. Say oil, acrylic, watercolour or print.

Steady year round to a collector and decorator audience. Signed work by identifiable artists sells fastest; unattributed decorative paintings compete on subject, size and frame.

It costs nothing to list

There is no listing fee, no selling fee and no commission, so the A$575 a buyer pays is the A$575 you keep. You and the buyer settle up and arrange the handover between yourselves; WishThrift does not hold the money or ship the item.

Where in Australia

Australia is a big place and what sells well moves with it. These are the parts of Australia with their own page for paintings.

• Selling paintings in Sydney
• Selling paintings in Melbourne
• Selling paintings in Brisbane
• Selling paintings in Perth
• Selling paintings in Adelaide
• Selling paintings in Gold Coast
• Selling paintings in Canberra

Common questions

Where can I sell paintings in Australia?

List it free on WishThrift and deal with the buyer direct. There is no selling fee, so the whole amount stays with you. Bank transfer via PayID is instant and is what most private buyers will offer. Cash on collection remains common for larger items.

Who is the artist?

Say what the signature reads and what you actually know about where it came from. Speculative attribution to a well-known name reads as a warning sign to serious buyers.

Does the frame add value?

Sometimes considerably, particularly period frames. Photograph it separately, since it may be valued in its own right.

What should I do with labels on the back?

Photograph them and leave them alone. Gallery and exhibition labels are provenance and can add real value.

More: how to sell paintings, what paintings are worth, or Art & Collectables across Australia.