Urban Art Association

here we go again people!!!, by steadif on Apr 16, 2007 15:33:54 GMT 1, Well, let me start by stating I am the "looser" who bought this print on Ebay for 630 pounds... I don't want to make this thread very long but want to warn others that could fall for it. Story has a good ending and that is why I am sharing now:
I am the proud owner of two genuine Banksy prints and very happy with them. I really wanted a Happy Choppers and did the most stupid thing ever when you are on Ebay: Bidding like a fool with so many red lights around me and not seing them. I have had more than 200 transactions on Ebay in the last 5 years and I am well aware of how things go on there but , as everyone here, I am also very excited by my banksy prints.

I was blinded so rapidly by this print and did not care if the seller had only one transaction on his sleeve, did not care about the "not numbered", and most important , did not come on this forum (particulary this thread) to see all the info that had been collected on the seller BEFORE I bid... I clearly realised the "moron" was more than another banksy print.
Anyhow, I realised my mistake a few minutes after making payment and as soon as I discovered the facts surrounding this print, I asked for a refund before the guy sent the print. Of course he refused stating "those were ebay rules and I was bonded by contract and had to honor this one..." and he was right. No very polite or comprehensive but he had the right to refuse refund at that point. So I said fine, i'll wait for this print.
And I indeed received it, what a mess, this print was dented on each corners, some rippling effect all over, and a stain at the bottom, that you can actually see on the Ebay picture when you look closely, what seems to be a camera flash or a flare is indeed a freaking stain. The only thing I was happy was the tube it came in. From now on, I knew I had been robbed, this was clearly a fake print, not even a backdoor since the paper was so thick and far from anything used in quality printing. I quickly took my digital camera and made about 25 high resolution pictures of every square inch of the print and tube and paperwork, I even made a little quicktime video with the print aside the newspaper from that day just to prove I had received the print that way and would not have had the time to "scrap" it like that in a timely manner. I quickly put the print back in the tube and started to email the seller. To my surprise, he answered very quickly all my emails but I was on a mission , I wanted a COMPLETE refund and I would send the print back to him, no questions asked.
He then tried every trick in the book, to refund some of the money by telling me he had no idea the print was in this condition, then another email mentionned I was being too emotional about this and I would not get a refund whatsoever. He also told me he had made arrangements with Ebay to make sure I was not going to try anything sneaky to get my money back.
All communications had been very polite until then, when he assumed I was there to f%$k him over wich was the exact opposite... He then opened up hell's gate to himself. I filled a complaint with Paypal , it quickly went from a dispute to a claim and it took about 5 days for Paypal to plaid in my favor and got ALL my money back as soon as they got my tracking number for the return of the print to the seller.
Even when I got my money back, he finally tried to have me send the print to another address than the Paypal one stating he had put up the wrong address . . . That is some more "bull@#$" : what happens if I had listened to him and send it to the "new" address? He could have said to Paypal the package has never arrived and I would have proved I sent the package to an address they don't have on file. I responded to make arrangements with the people living at the Paypal address because that was were the print was going. So it finally cost me the return shipment (about 35 pounds) and a lot of stress and even a couple of nightmares. I always complained about Paypal fees being so high but I can clearly state now I will never do another big transaction without it. I am 100% sure I would have never seen my money back if it was not for Paypal. This was my first big scam on Ebay in 5 years and hope to be the last. This last transaction put me off a bit with dealing art on Ebay. I am enjoying my two Banksy on the wall right now (toxic mary and Love Rat) and will probably cool off for the moment. Thanks also to all other forum contributors that open up their eyes for the rest of us (dotdot, lesbianwednesdays and others, thank you). This forum has been great help building my case against that seller.
Cheers all