| Pauline Walsh Jacobson Fine Art |
Art Fraud, Fake
Art and Mass-produced Paintings on Ebay, Yahoo and other Internet SitesHome Return to NewsWARNING! Fake art being sold on eBay and Yahoo! - Paintings are being sold on eBay and other auction sites that are mass-produced in factories. The people doing the work are trained to paint the same painting over and over, or to paint one element, such as the sky, and then the painting is handed to the next person to paint a tree and so on. The paintings are cheap - $0.01, $9.95, $24.99, etc., and are being represented as "real oil paintings", not prints, "hand made", and so on. Most are either unsigned or signed only with initials (although some are signed with made-up names). Some are reproductions of old masters works (that's o.k. as long as they don't represent them as originals).An alarming number of these mass-produced paintings are illegal reproductions of copyrighted works stolen from popular artist's websites or eBay auctions. I personally found one of these dealers who had copied an artwork from the website of a local artist I know, and was selling multiple "hand-painted" copies on eBay. I contacted her and told her about it. When she looked at the dealer's auctions, she not only found copies of her art, but those of another artist she knew as well. She reported the violations to eBay, and the dealer's account was suspended. Unfortunately, these crooks just pop up again under a new account name, so artists must be ever-vigilant. Another eBay art scam I found was someone selling prints of a very popular subject - dogs, that are photos made to look like watercolor paintings using Photoshop, and being sold as "giclee fine art prints made from ORIGINAL watercolor paintings". I am a watercolor artist, and this makes me fighting mad! Most people cannot tell the difference, but anyone with experience with Photoshop knows these are easy to make. Unfortunately, this type of thing makes people suspicious of digital art in general. There is nothing wrong with digital art as long as it is identified as such (I have friends who are creating wonderful digital art!). When I reported it, the reply from eBay was in essence, "We don't know what you are talking about". What a shame that watercolor artists and digital artists are being hurt by this person's fakes! To make matters worse, eBay is ignoring the problem for the most part, saying they "are just a forum". The only recourse artists have is to join eBay's VeRO (verified rights owners) program. They can then report violations of their property rights. Ebay ignores reports of violations by anyone other than the property rights owner, which limits the ability for the eBay community to self police. EBay also does not allow its users to warn buyers of scams, and will suspend their account if they do so. It seems as if eBay is perpetuating the fraud instead of trying to stop it. Why? Because they are making money from these sales! Buyer beware! In addition to online auctions, mass-produced paintings are being sold in stores in cities all across America - Pier 1, Garden Ridge Pottery, Bed Bath and Beyond to name a few. And, you've seen the ads on TV - "Giant sofa-sized painting, only $25 dollars! It is very sad that unsuspecting buyers are wasting their money on this junk! There is no creativity or originality in these rip-offs, and they will never increase in value. Real artists are going bankrupt trying to compete with thousands of these fakes that are flooding the market. If you bid on art exclusively in the Self Representing Artists category on eBay, you will be buying directly from the artists themselves at great prices. There are many legitimate art galleries, both brick and mortar and online that sell artist's works at reasonable prices. And, many artists sell their work directly at art festivals and shows, so if you want to cut out the middle man altogether, these are great places to shop for original art. Don't get me wrong, I love eBay. I am both a buyer and seller with over 100 transactions and a perfect score. I just don't like people getting burned!
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