I know all the usual answers. I know all the pitfalls. Not my point. My wife's boss has become a personal friend. She has a collection of Inuit carvings from years of working in the north. One piece on display, signed and dated, I am WAG $1500. She is into it for $80.
Selling her stuff would be a hobby for me. She has no desire to sell herself, donate, give as gifts. Tell her to set up her own account that I would manage, I would get the "Pound sand" response.
I want the challenge more than the money.
I'm thinking 30% off the top and I pay expenses. She is a senior level hospital administrator who does not want a complicated answer.
Thoughts?
This is a very dull reply but I would check very carefully tax ramifications:
1) GST and PST in Manitoba as they apply to you as agent earning a commission and to her as the owner of the goods being sold. I suspect only the gross commission earned on those sales would be taxable to you from GST perspective but that should be checked carefully. The PST angle on commission is more complex.
2) Income tax as it relates to her. Sales of personal property are generally not taxable except when the profit exceeds $1,000 where they may become taxable as capital gain on disposal of personal property.
A competent local accountant specializing in taxation should be able to help you. This is a very tricky area and a DIY answer may not be appropriate.
@mr.elmwood wrote:
I know nothing about the tax, GST, PST implications of this proposal in your particular situation, but my impression off the top is that three things raised eyebrows:
1) "...My wife's boss" (Actually these are 3 potential issues in 1 -- you/your wife; you/your wife's boss; and your wife/her boss. Try to imagine a scenario, any scenario, where there might be some disagreement over the price obtained, issues with the buyer, shipping problems (breakage, loss), issues over provenance and true value. OMG. Who would be most upset with you -- your wife, or her boss, or both? This could be a very generous activity on your part to "help out" your wife's boss, or it could end in a rather unpleasant scene, with fallout for your wife's job. I'm usually quite an optimist, but I think you might be storm-chasing here without a weather report.
2) "Selling her stuff would be a hobby for me" You are generous, but is your wife's boss really just as generous if something does go wrong? It might end up not only not being a hobby, but occupying 90% of your personal time (see #1) above).
3) Provenance & value -- As 'cumos' says, where artwork, and especially native artwork is concerned, a lot of homework and research is in order before beginning to sell. If you don't have provenance (preferably directly from the artist him/herself) for each piece, you should attempt to get at least some background.
Regarding value, I'm a bit confused by what you mean by your estimate that one item is worth ca. $1500, but she is "into it" for $80. Did you mean she bought it for $80, or only wants $80 for it? The latter seems (sorry to say) a bit suspicious, or at least a little odd.
If she has a bona fide collection of native art, she could bring in a gallery or museum specialist -- or even a local auction house that specializes in art -- and get the whole lot appraised and possibly sold in one fell swoop. Galleries are often dying to get their hands on this kind of stuff if it's authentic. Why go through the process of selling them off, through you, piece by piece? These sorts of collections, if truly authentic, are worth a lot today! Something (sorry again) just doesn't seem quite right with this. This won't be doing you a favour, in the end. You'll be spending a lot of your time doing her a favour, as long as everything goes as expected.
OK, I've said my piece, not knowing the full details of course. However, given what you've described, if this were my husband's boss, and these were (purportedly) pieces of true native art, I think I'd decline. At the very least, I'd do some considerable homework, and also (yes, despite this being your wife's boss -- or maybe because of that fact) I'd probably do up a brief consignment agreement in friendly letter-form, for the items, setting out your terms. Just so that it isn't all done on a handshake. In other words, not a hobby. 
Wow, we were just about to say the same thing at just about the same time. You beat me to it (and more succinctly, too!). 
Everything you guys are saying is spot-on. The dynamics of the inter-personal relationships, I cannot even begin to explain.
The owner of the pieces has zero interest in doing any leg-work. They are a senior hospital executive bent on retirement, down sizing, other dynamic issues of a highly personal nature. I "think" this person's goal, when the day comes in the next year or so, is to leave town with a suitcase, and not much more.
Getting together with WAG is a good idea. I will be in Winnipeg mid September.
The pieces were all acquired in the NWT. The, my guess, $1500 piece, she bought for $80 back in 1995.
VN, excellent. I have not seen the sculptures, but, this person is no-one's fool.
I suggested they give these away as gifts. I got that look that froze me like a deer in the headlights.
40% plus fees almost struck me as high until I considered what a B&M would have to charge for the same thing. Probably at least that and probably more. As a senior person where I used to work said "We have to protect our profit".
