How we review
10 criteria, applied identically to every studio, each read from something the studio itself publishes.
The ranking and the ratings on this site are the editors' judgment. They are not a computed score and no average decides them. That judgment is formed from the ten criteria measured below, and three of them weigh most: whether the store photographs the finished painting and lets you approve it before it ships, whether it states what the canvas and paints actually are, and whether it publishes how long the work will take. The criteria table shows the measured facts for every brand, sourced to a public URL and a date - including every criterion where our top pick is weaker than a store we rank below it. Where the measured facts and our judgment differ, both are on the page: HandmadePiece measures best on the ten criteria; Art & See is our pick. Prices are shown separately and are not one of the ten criteria.
The ranking is ours: an editorial judgement about which studio most buyers are best off with, published under our name with the reasons beside it. It is not the output of a formula, and no average is presented as its basis.
The criteria below are where that judgement has to answer to something. Every cell is read from a page the studio publishes and carries the sentence it came from, the URL and the date — including the cells where the studio we rank first is the weaker one. Those stay on the page exactly as measured.
The criteria
| Criterion | How it is scored |
|---|---|
| Linen canvas stated | 10 = the store names linen (and ideally the weight) on the product or materials page. 3-4 = it names a canvas grade or the paint brand but not the fibre. 2 = it states cotton. 0 = the material is never named. |
| Published turnaround | 10 = a number of days for production and for shipping, on the product page. 8-9 = a published range on a policy page. 5 = vague ('a few weeks'). 0 = nothing published. |
| Photo proof before shipping | 10 = the store states in writing that it emails a photo of the finished painting and will not ship until the buyer approves. 4 = proof only on custom orders. 2 = proofs appear in customer posts but are not a published policy. 0 = not offered. |
| Return and refund terms | Points for a published window, a cash refund (not only credit), who pays return postage, and how few categories are excluded. Long windows with wide exclusions score below short windows with none. |
| Painted sides / gallery wrap | 10 = a gallery-wrap option where the image continues onto the sides, chosen at checkout. 6-7 = gallery wrap sold as separate items. 1 = bare margin for local stretching only. 0 = not offered. |
| Frame option at checkout | 10 = frames priced on the product page, arriving assembled. 8-9 = frames offered with a size ceiling. 0 = the store does not frame at all. |
| Shipping cost transparency | 10 = the price to your country is knowable before checkout and duties are explained. 6 = free in one market, quoted after ordering elsewhere. 0 = no published shipping terms. |
| Trustpilot score | TrustScore / 5 x 10, and only when the profile holds at least 30 reviews. Below 30 the cell reads "insufficient sample" and is excluded from that brand's average rather than scored, because a 4.0 from five people and a 3.3 from seven are not measurements of anything. The rule is applied to all eight brands at once and its effect on each one is set out in the effects table below, so it cannot be read as a thumb on the scale. |
| Declared painting origin | 10 = the store names the city or country its paintings are painted in. 5-6 = it names a region or discloses that origin varies. 2-3 = only a company address, which is not where the painting is made. 0 = silence. |
| Custom sizes | 10 = a custom-size tool with a published maximum. 7-9 = custom sizes on request. 0 = fixed sizes only. |
When a fact cannot be checked
A criterion nobody could look up is marked “—” and left out, not scored zero. A zero would say the studio failed. An exclusion says the evidence was not reachable. Those are different claims, and only one of them is true.
Every exclusion is listed below by name, with what it would take to close it.
The 30-review floor
A Trustpilot rating counts only when the profile holds at least 30 reviews. Below that the cell reads “—” and is left out of the criteria table.
A handful of reviews is not a rating. The floor applies to every brand alike — including our top pick, whose profile is one of the ones too small to count. The public figures are below so anyone can check that.
| Studio | Reviews | TrustScore | Counted? |
|---|---|---|---|
| HandmadePiece | 1316 | 4.9 | counted |
| BrushWiz | 5 | 4 | excluded |
| Art & See | 7 | 3.3 | excluded |
| 1st Art Gallery | 691 | 4.9 | counted |
| Reproduction Gallery | 24 | 4.5 | excluded |
| overstockArt | 169 | 3.7 | counted |
| TOPofART | 13 | 4.5 | excluded |
| ArtsHeaven | 0 | not rated | excluded |
What is not scored
Price is not a criterion. A cheap painting from a studio that publishes nothing is not a better buy than an expensive one that publishes everything, and folding price into the score would hide that. Prices are collected separately and shown as prices.
Nothing is scored on a testimonial published by the seller, on how a website looks, or on marketing language such as “museum grade.” Where Oil Painting Reproductions has not bought and received a painting from a studio, the review says so and the cells rest entirely on published policy.
Evidence collected September 5, 2026 across 8 studios. Cells are re-checked when a studio changes a published policy.