Is Bluethumb Worth It for Australian Artists? The Full Truth About Fees, Terms, and Who Really Benefits
Bluethumb launched in 2012 saying galleries charge too much. They now take 44% inclusive of GST, claim commission on sales they had nothing to do with, control what you charge on your own website, and will not let you put your contact details on your own profile. Here is everything artists need to know before they sign up.
Bluethumb is Australia's largest online art marketplace. It has over 30,000 artists listed. It has sold more than 110,000 original artworks since it launched in 2012. Its marketing is polished, its brand recognition is real, and for many Australian artists it is the first platform they consider when they decide to sell their work online.
This page is a full, sourced account of what Bluethumb actually costs, how its algorithm actually works, and what its membership agreement actually requires of the artists who sign up. Every claim here is drawn from Bluethumb's own public documents - their membership agreement, their fee schedule, their Pro plan documentation, and their own commission change announcements. Nothing here is speculation. All of it is what Bluethumb has written about itself.
Read it before you upload a single artwork.
What does Bluethumb charge artists in 2026?
Bluethumb charges a 40% service fee plus GST on every sale, which equals 44% inclusive of GST. The artist receives 56% of the final sale price.
On a $2,000 painting, Bluethumb retains $880. The artist receives $1,120.
On $30,000 in annual sales, Bluethumb retains $13,200. The artist keeps $16,800.
On top of that base commission, Bluethumb runs promotional discount campaigns of up to 20% off artworks. When a discount is applied it is deducted from the sale price first, and the 56/44 split is then calculated on the reduced amount. The artist absorbs the discount proportionally. A 20% discount on a $2,000 work reduces the artist's take to approximately $896 before shipping costs.
Source: Bluethumb FAQs - Fees (updated May 2026)
How much has Bluethumb's commission increased since launch?
This is the number the platform does not put in its recruitment marketing. Bluethumb launched in 2012 with a commission of approximately 20%. Their founding pitch was explicit - galleries take too much, we are the fair alternative. Here is what actually happened:
- 2012 (launch): approximately 20%
- Mid-growth years: increased to 25%, then 30% + GST (33% inclusive)
- May 2025: increased to 35% + GST (38.5% inclusive)
- 2026 (current): 40% + GST (44% inclusive)
In 13 years the commission has more than doubled. The platform that launched saying galleries charge too much now charges artists the same rate as the galleries it was supposed to replace.
Source: Bluethumb Commission Changes 2025
Why did the commission keep rising? The investor answer.
Bluethumb was bootstrapped for its first four years. In late 2015 it took its first outside investment. Its documented investors include Grand Prix Capital and Equity Venture Partners - professional investment firms whose interest in Bluethumb is financial return, not the welfare of Australian artists. Total documented funding raised is $1.16 million in a Series A round.
When institutional investors back a platform, they expect revenue growth. The most direct lever for growing an art marketplace's revenue is the commission rate - the percentage taken from every artist on every sale. Each commission increase since 2015 was announced with language about rising costs and reinvesting in marketing. The artists paid for every cent of every increase. The investors benefited from every cent of every increase.
Source: Bluethumb funding - CB Insights
Who actually gets seen on Bluethumb's platform?
Bluethumb has over 30,000 artists. What most artists do not discover until they are already on the platform is that uploading an artwork does not mean it appears in the main All Art browsing feed. Placement in the primary feed is determined by Bluethumb's algorithm and by whether the artist has been assigned to a promoted category - Featured, Rising Stars, Established Artists, Collectable.
These labels are not achievements earned by artistic merit. They are access controls assigned by Bluethumb at its own discretion, with no published criteria and no application process. An artist without a featured label may find their work pushed into filtered subcategories that collectors have to specifically search for, rather than discover through general browsing.
The algorithm works like all two-sided marketplace algorithms. New listings receive a temporary visibility boost - enough to generate initial data on engagement. If the work performs during that window, it receives ongoing placement. If it does not, it is buried. The artists who report receiving a Staff Pick in their first month and then watching their views collapse are not imagining things. The algorithm gave them a trial period. The trial ended.
This is the same mechanic Airbnb uses with new hosts. The difference is that Airbnb charges hosts approximately 3% per booking. Bluethumb charges 44% per sale.
The Bluethumb Pro tier - paying to be seen after already paying commission
Bluethumb Pro is a paid subscription at $29 per month or $290 per year. It provides access to scheduled publishing, advanced analytics, a profile carousel, custom discount codes, and - most significantly - VIP listings.
VIP listings appear on Bluethumb's dedicated New Exclusives page, on the home page carousel, and are more likely to be used in off-site marketing and curations. In other words, the visibility features that determine whether collectors see your work are locked behind a paid subscription - on a platform that is also taking 44% of every sale you make.
Bluethumb's own Pro documentation states: "just subscribing to Bluethumb Pro won't guarantee you more followers, likes or sales."
The true annual cost of using Bluethumb with Pro on $30,000 in sales: $13,200 in commission plus $348 in subscription fees. Total extracted from the artist: $13,548.
Source: Bluethumb Pro Plan FAQs
The VIP exclusivity trap
Artists who use VIP listing agree to sell that artwork exclusively through Bluethumb for a minimum of 60 days. If they sell the artwork elsewhere during that window - at their own studio, through their own website, to a collector who has never heard of Bluethumb - they must pay Bluethumb the commission they would have earned on the sale.
Bluethumb made no sale. They did no work. Under their own terms, they are still owed money.
Source: Bluethumb Membership Agreement
They claim commission on sales they had nothing to do with
The VIP clause is the visible version of a broader principle in Bluethumb's terms. The membership agreement states:
"In any scenario where the sale concludes off site by accident or deliberately the artist is required to pay Bluethumb the full commission component."
A collector finds your work on Bluethumb. They find you on Instagram. They buy from you directly. Bluethumb was not involved in the transaction in any way after the initial discovery. Under their own terms, you owe them 44%.
The agreement further states that any direct chat between an artist and a buyer on Bluethumb's platform binds the artist to completing the resulting sale through Bluethumb - or paying commission if the sale concludes elsewhere.
Source: Bluethumb Membership Agreement
You cannot put your own website on your own profile
The membership agreement prohibits artists from listing their personal website, email address, social media handles, gallery representation, or any other external contact information anywhere on their Bluethumb profile or artwork descriptions. Watermarks may only contain the copyright symbol and the artist's name.
Every collector who finds you through Bluethumb and cannot find your website has no way to buy from you except through Bluethumb. Every future sale from that collector generates another 44% for the platform. The clause is not about marketplace integrity. It is about ensuring that the audience artists build on Bluethumb stays on Bluethumb - generating commission indefinitely.
Source: Bluethumb Membership Agreement
They control what you charge on your own website
The price parity clause in the membership agreement requires that artwork prices on Bluethumb are equal to or lower than prices anywhere else the artist sells - including their own website, exhibitions, and other online platforms.
A platform that takes 44% of every sale also controls what you can charge on your own website. You cannot run a sale through your own mailing list without running the same sale on Bluethumb. You cannot offer a collector a direct-purchase discount without triggering the same discount on the platform where it costs you 44%.
Source: Bluethumb Membership Agreement
The image licence
By uploading to Bluethumb, artists grant the platform licence to use their artwork images throughout the Bluethumb website wherever Bluethumb deems fit. This covers editorial content, marketing campaigns, social media, and any other use the platform decides to make of your images. You retain copyright. The licence is broad, unconditional, and granted automatically on upload.
Bluethumb does not have structural image protection. Images uploaded are displayed in the standard way - vulnerable to screenshot and scraping.
Source: Bluethumb Membership Agreement
What other industry does this to the people who create its product?
A tradie listed on a directory does not owe that directory commission on jobs arranged privately. A musician on Spotify does not owe Spotify a cut of concert ticket sales from listeners who found them through the platform. An Airbnb host does not owe Airbnb commission on direct bookings. A candidate placed by a recruiter does not generate ongoing fees for the recruiter every time they receive a salary payment.
None of those industries claim commission on transactions they had no part in. None prohibit their members from sharing their own contact details. None control pricing across every other channel. None charge both a subscription fee and a commission and additional marketing spend simultaneously.
Only the art industry has normalised this. And it was normalised not because it is fair, but because artists have been conditioned for 150 years to believe that platform access is a privilege they should be grateful for rather than a service they are paying well above market rate to receive.
The full cost summary
An artist on Bluethumb with a Pro subscription, on $30,000 in annual sales:
- Commission at 44% inclusive of GST: $13,200
- Annual Pro subscription: $348
- Additional promotional spend (if used): variable, reported at $300+ per artwork
- Total minimum extracted: $13,548
- Artist keeps: $16,452
The same $30,000 in sales on Solene Haus at zero commission: the artist keeps $30,000 less the membership fee only.
This is the first in a series
This page covers Bluethumb. We will publish equivalent pages for every major Australian and international art platform - the same format, the same sourcing, the same questions asked of every set of terms. Artists deserve to compare platforms on the same basis before they decide where to list their work.
If you have had an experience with Bluethumb or any other art platform that you believe other artists should know about, the Burnt by the Art Industry series is collecting those stories.
Submit your story - Burnt by the Art Industry → Join Solene Haus →
Frequently asked questions
Is Bluethumb worth it for Australian artists in 2026?
It depends entirely on whether Bluethumb's algorithm promotes your work. For artists in the promoted tier who are genuinely being discovered by new collectors through the platform, there is real value in the audience access. For artists who are not in the promoted tier - the majority of 30,000 listed artists - the platform offers algorithmic burial, a 44% commission on any sales that do manage to occur, and membership terms that claim commission on sales made entirely independently of the platform.
What is Bluethumb's current commission rate?
40% service fee plus GST, totalling 44% inclusive of GST. The artist receives 56% of the final sale price. Source: Bluethumb FAQs.
Has Bluethumb's commission always been this high?
No. Bluethumb launched in 2012 at approximately 20% and explicitly marketed itself as the low-commission alternative to galleries. After taking outside investment in 2015 the rate has increased multiple times, more than doubling to 44% inclusive of GST by 2026.
Can Bluethumb claim commission on a sale I made privately?
Under their own membership agreement, yes - if the buyer originally discovered the artist through Bluethumb. The agreement states that in any scenario where a sale concludes off-site, the artist is required to pay Bluethumb the full commission component. Source: Bluethumb Membership Agreement.
Can I put my website on my Bluethumb profile?
No. The membership agreement explicitly prohibits listing personal websites, email addresses, social media handles, or any other external contact information on artist profiles or artwork descriptions.
Who are Bluethumb's investors?
Bluethumb's documented investors include Grand Prix Capital and Equity Venture Partners, with $1.16 million raised in a Series A round. Source: CB Insights.
What is the Burnt by the Art Industry series?
A content series on Solene Haus collecting real stories from Australian artists about exploitation, unfair terms, and financial loss within the art industry. Submissions can be made with or without attribution. Find it at /blog/burnt-by-the-art-industry-tell-us-your-story.