11+ Years on the Internet!                    2,950+ Paintings Sold!                    80+ Artists Represented, and Growing!                    No Fixed Prices!

                                                 
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Frequently Asked Questions

  If you have landed here from a Search Engine - 
Please Start Here:   Inside African Art Homepage

1. Image removed on request - What's that all about?

2. How do I contact you with specific questions about a piece of artwork that I am interested in?

3. I live outside the United States, can you call me to place an order?

4. What are the payment options available to me besides submitting my credit card information over your Purchasing Page?

5. What does 'Make An Offer' mean really?

6. How does your online credit card purchasing work?

7. Where are you located?

8. If the paintings are acquired in Kenya, how do you get them to me?

9. What is the cost of shipping?

10. What are my shipping options?

11. Where can I find more African paintings on the Internet?

12. Do you know the artists, have you met them personally?

13. How often will your web page be updated?

14. Final Thoughts

Image removed on request - What's that all about?

Because our prices are so reasonable, we sell a lot of paintings to art galleries throughout the world. These galleries do not necessarily want their clientele to know that they are purchasing these paintings from an African paintings website online. If the clients knew, they would buy the paintings online and save the mark-up! So on request we take the paintings off of the website.

I hate doing this, but respect the rights of the new owner of the painting. In the end the painting purchaser, the gallery owner, our website, and of course the painting's artist all benefit! That's four satisfied parties in one elaborate transaction!

How do I contact you with specific questions about a piece of artwork that I am interested in? 

Easy enough! You can email me and my wife Liz, at todd@insideafricanart.com  Another way to contact us immediately is to call us at our USA home in Florida any day from 12 Noon to 12 Midnight Eastern Standard time at 407-619-8761. Please mid the time zones! If there is no answer, don't give up - we're around.

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I live outside the United States, can you call me to place an order? 

Sure! We make our home both in the US and in Kenya, so we travel frequently and make a lot of international calls. If you need to talk, ask a question, or inquire further about a painting - send an email and we'll call.

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What are the payment options available to me besides submitting my credit card information over your purchasing page? 

We are open to most any method of payment:  You can e-mail us your information and shipping address. You can call us (see above at 407-619-8761) with the same information or we can call you at your request to obtain it whether you live within the USA or internationally (see above).  Alternatively, you can also send us a check, money order, a Western Union, or best bet: a wire transfer.  Just e-mail us to make the arrangements and your painting will be sent to you promptly. In some cases we can accept the idea of a payment plan too, but this is kinda weird.

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What does 'Make An Offer' mean really?

I know it seems a bit bizarre, but I have been around East Africa enough to know the way things work, and I NEVER pay the first price - why should you?  I carefully assess how much the painting means to me, and decide what I think it's worth... from there I make an offer!

Now I'm NOT saying that I will budge from the asking price, but... I'm open to negotiation. If you make a reasonable offer, I promise to consider it.  I will return your offer with either an acceptance or a counter offer. If you think it's fair, pay the agreed amount and the painting is yours!

This is the way things work all over the world, why should the Internet be any different?

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How does your online credit card purchasing work?

We offer credit card purchasing, but not the 'shopping carts' that are so prevalent on the Internet these days - and here's why: The paintings and craftwork that you see on these pages are original pieces - there is only ONE of them! Shopping carts cater to companies that have 5,000 blue towels or 2,500 copies of a certain book. What if you order a certain painting, and ten minutes later someone else orders that same painting?  I can tell you what happens: Trouble!  What these shopping cart programs lack (and what is needed) is a 'real-time' inventory.  

The Purchasing Transmittal Form was devised so that the order can be tracked by time and date to enforce our first-come, first-serve policy. Any painting can easily be removed from the page or marked as sold once we receive this notification. A shopping cart program does not have this capability.

In light of technological upgrades and the success of secure web servers and bank transmissions such as Pay Pal, we are looking into that kind of option for our website.  But the truth is: We've never had a problem in the over 2,000 transactions since the website's inception in 1999.  If you prefer though, you can learn about other methods of payment in the Frequently Asked Question listed above.

Please be patient as our website continues to grow, and as we continue to learn its potential. We want to make this website as user-friendly as possible, and we will do whatever it takes to make Inside African Art the best place on the Internet to learn about and purchase original African paintings - not just the only place!  

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Where are you located? 

I have lived in East Africa on and off for the past 18 years. As of July, 2004 I have moved to Kenya, East Africa. I took a job with a 'social enterprise' called KickStart which designs, manufactures, and distributes new technologies to the poor of East Africa--primarily focusing on micro-irrigation pumps for the farmer. 

Update: We are back in America with all of our connections in Africa intact. We have recently moved to Orlando, FL - that is Todd, Liz, and our beautiful little daughter. Liz, who is Kenyan, has a huge family in Kenya so aside from our paintings, we will always have the African connection.

Behind us we leave not only family, but a huge network of supportive friends and co-workers. After over 20 years in East Africa, the transition is intense! We plan on quarterly trips back to Kenya not only to visit, but to replenish the website with more incredible original paintings!

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If the paintings are acquired in Kenya, how do you get them to me? 

All of the paintings I buy from the artists in Kenya are sent to the US and mailed from there. I send them more and more paintings and in this way we keep the website recycled, fresh and fluid. Liz and I are able to administrate the website and the distribution of all its paintings to anyone...anywhere in the world...it's the perfect system!

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What is the cost of shipping? 

Within the USA, our regular cost to ship is $10.  Internationally, it is $25.  In most cases though we can negotiate the shipping costs within the cost of the paintings or obtain an exact amount from the mail carrier before you actually pay.  Inside African Art will always maximize your package(s) to save money.  We do NOT profit from shipping costs. 

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What are my shipping options?  

Most paintings we send over US Postal Service parcel post.  Using this method, internationally, it may take a few weeks at most to get your paintings to you.  Within the USA, it usually takes a week at the very most, depending on where you are in relation to Orlando, FL, from where the paintings are sent.  We have been starting to ship on request via Fed Ex, DHL, or UPS, although these options are usually more expensive than our normal rate with the US Postal Service. The method of delivery is up to you. Inside African Art will always maximize your package(s) to save money.  We do NOT profit from shipping costs. 

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Where can I find more African paintings on the Internet?

Good question, I wish I knew! 

One of the reasons we are publishing this website is that we spent over 200 hours searching for quality African paintings on the Internet, as well as doing research for this project. What we discovered is that there are very few sources of original African paintings to be found - anywhere! There is a niche to be filled!

Yes, there are a lot of websites that sell African artifacts such as masks and carvings, but there are very few that sell original African paintings. In fact, Inside African Art is the ONLY website on the Internet that is devoted entirely to original African paintings (as of this writing, I think there are now more than just IAA, copycats!! But none with the inventory and constant turnover of paintings). If that sounds like a bold statement considering the millions of websites on the World Wide Web - we dare you to find a comparable site! 

It is our hope that we are filling the void in respect to African paintings, as well as raising awareness to the fact that there is an incredible number of talented artists in East Africa.

By the way, if you are looking for something in particular that you can not find - let us try!  Todd Schaffer, owner of Inside African Art, is based in Kenya now and can easily search for and possibly locate that artist or painting that you are seeking out.

Unik Gallery has a new web page, it's called ARTZKENYA! Check it out!

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Do you know the artists, have you met them personally?

Yes, I am proud to say that many of the artists on the pages of Inside African Art I have met personally. Not only that, I have taken the time to go to their art studios and actually watch them at work. Some of the artists live WAY outside, so getting to their places and back can take a full day. On Kivuthi Mbuno's page, I describe my visit to the home of this renowned artist: A far drive towards Mombasa from Nairobi, then off-road for another hour or so, followed by a good long hike up the side of a hill... However, it was well worth the effort! It's my preference to go to them, to see their studios and hopefully see the artist in action!

However, in most cases I have met the artists in the city of Nairobi, Kenya. I have tried to take as many pictures as I could on these occasions - to give the viewer a sense that the artists really exist! It's always nice to put a face to a painting, and better still to learn a little about the artist.

As an example, the photo at right above shows me with the Ngecha Artists Association.  Their gallery and studios are about an hour outside of Nairobi. My lovely wife Liz and I spent the day with them, and on the way back stopped by to visit the artist known as House (in fact, we went to House's house!) The photo at right bottom shows Liz, House, and House's friendly dog, Poppy.

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How often will your web page be updated?

Every day?  Every week?  As often as we have to in order to keep things current and the pages full!

We have a huge stock of paintings in our history, ranging from $5 to $3,000, though the average cost of a quality painting is less than $200.  If you don't see what you like on these pages, then maybe we can source a painting or a particular artist's work for you.

In short, we will be continually updating, adding, modifying (from your suggestions) the site...and learning how to maximize the efficiency of our formats.

If you have a suggestion, question, or would like to make a comment about this website, you are welcome to use our Feedback Form. All submissions will be read personally.

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Thanks for visiting Inside African Art!  We hope you find our website culturally enlightening and a kind of learning experience, as well as visually pleasing! If so, support the artists by purchasing a piece of their work! They will be grateful, and you will have an original piece of African art to hang on your wall or to give as a gift!

Thanks so much for your interest and support! We hope that through us you have gained an appreciation for our website and the culture of a beautiful people it represents -Todd and Liz Schaffer