catawiki

BUYER GETS ALL THE SUPPORT- keeps item and a REFUND! Seller left with no Chanel Bag or the money
ID NUMBER *******
TRACKING NUMBER: LG******* GB

You promised it was being investigated.
AND I HAVE JUST CHECKED - YOU HAVE REFUNDED THE BUYER

AS YOU HAVE BEEN AWARE, THE Order shows it was DELIVERED on seller postal site ROYAL MAIL and BUYER one NL - the Netherlands post. As DELIVERED TOO ON THE 18TH DEC 2022

I phoned at least 8 times

For you to then release the payment
And
Despite all the aggressive behaviour from the buyer

You promised

You would explore and resolve the issue- after all both postal sites in the UK and the Netherlands
Showed as

'delivered on the 18th December. '

Finally you were about to close the case in my favour and release the money, as indeed you admitted the above was correct- and in the next week you overturned it, as the buyer was again nasty on the phone to you.

How can I ever sell in confidence on your site again, when, as a seller- I HAVE NO SUPPORT AND LOSE NOT ONLY MY EXPENSIVE CHANEL MEDALLION BAG BUT ALSO- the MONEY THAT YOU GAVE BACK TO THE BUYER AFTER PROMISING ME THE SELLER- YOU WERE GOING TO CLOSE CASE DUE TO STATUS SHOWING AS DELIVERED?...

THIS WHOLE MATTER HAS BEEN LONG. ARDUOUS, DIFFERENT ANSWERS FROM DIFFERENT AGENTS AND A RUDE, AGGRESSIVE BUYER I HAVE HAD THE unfortunate experience of having to deal with for 6 whole weeks

I am lost dismayed and disappointed you cancelled this order. NOW I HAVE NO MONEY - 510 EUROS
AND I PAID TO POST IT = ANOTHER 35 =
SO I HAVE LOST 545 EUROS AND AN EXPENSIVE CHANEL BAG WORTH ANOTHER 500 EUROS=1000

And NO BAG.
The buyer has been protected, catered to and refunded. The seller - Myself- HAS Nothing. No BAG and NO MONEY. My 3 CHILDREN HAVE MISSED OUT THIS CHRISTMAS

Catawiki is a terrible site, designed to make easy profits from auctions without any responsibility towards the buyer. Bought a table that came with a missing part and was in general not as described. Because they only allow disputes for three days, they basically told me to bugger off and simply closed the chat window. This comes on the heels of having bought another item that was advertised as "antique" and turned out to be a cheap reproduction. The added two minutes at the end of each winning bid drives prices up and you end up overpaying for a mediocre item. The sellers on Catawiki know this, and many take advantage of the blasé attitude of the company, knowing there's not much you can do except dispute the purchase through your credit card. And their "experts" estimating the value? What a scam... no one looks at the items and accurately examines what is being sold. Honestly, I highly doubt they even exist. Do yourself a favor and skip this platform.

They give you lower estimates to sell and charge 12.5% the seller and 10% the buyer for a nifty sum of 22.5%. What a joke of website.

Catawiki is a complete scam. I bought an item, it never arrived. I contacted the seller who ignored me, I contacted Catawiki who did nothing. After months and months of trying to get my money back, Catawiki refused. They will not answer emails, they will not listen to complaints. The site is an utter scam. I wish I had read the reviews, and believe me there are thousands of them reporting the same. DO NOT BUY from this site.

After having happily purchased from Catawiki for several years, I had in August 2022 the most awful experience with both the seller and the Catawiki staff.
I purchased an item which arrived to me NOT as per the original description and not as per the original photos. The item cost me 200 euros, and the seller charged me 50 euros for transportation. When I wanted to write a negative review, Catawiki prevented me from doing so just because the seller opposed it. Then Catawiki asked me to send them pictures of the item I received and all sorts of documents related to the transportation. I did send them the information. Still, Catawiki would not let me post a negative review because (hear this)... I could choose to initiate a claim with the seller in order to find a solution. Seriously? The seller was dishonest and I just wanted to post a negative review (the same way we do on any website such as amazon, etc). That's it. I have no time to file a claim nor go to a post office and sent the item back.
I undestand now why sellers on catawiki do not have negative reviews (or almost none): it's because the buyers cannot post them. And this is to boost the bidding activity on the catawiki website. Really dissapointing and dishonest on the part of Catawiki.
PS: Catawiki, please do not bother replying to this review. I can see already the "rational and logical" explanation you're going to come up with.

PS: I decided to add this review here because Catawiki just wrote me back on an another website that they remove negative reviews on sellers in "extraordinary" cirucumstances. My review was a just plain vanilla negative review complaining about the product not being as described. Dear Catawiki, I will post a negative review online everytime you choose to respond to me in bad faith. So please keep going.

Catawiki is no longer addressing customer issues including urgent ones. Beware!

Weeks and weeks after sending an email to Catawiki support - no reply, nothing. Only an automated message received on the same day about Catawiki's promise to reply within 2 business days.

Catawiki has several issues. It's great that they have an in house "Expert" to review your item, but a lot of times the expert is not that knowledgeable about items in the United States. It takes 30 to 40 days for payouts. You have to upfront shipping out of your pocket. There is a lot of risk shipping international. IN Europe buyers pay Vat taxes. If these are not paid, they item is returned and you lose your shipping cost. I just had a package returned with not item. Customs in Milan took it. It made someone a nice gift. Also, countries such as Italy and Spain do not have tracking, this takes over 30 to 40 days to get payouts. The customer service is horrible. It takes days for a response. This is nothing like selling on Amazon or Ebay. So, seller Beware. There is a lot of risk with this company.

I bought a rough opal via the Catawiki platform, the photo displayed a very vibrant multi-coloured rough opal with lots of blue as well as other colors. But what arrived was an opal that was pretty much colourless with some small minute color tinges when put in water. I asked Catawiki to intervene as well as request for a refund, because there was a gross difference in the actual good to the photo. Catawiki rejected my claim on the basis of their in-house expert's opinion and seller's feedback that the opal needs to be placed in water for there to be colors. I have purchased plenty of opals, precious stones and crystals from a variety of platforms in the past, and this is the first time I have seen such dramatic difference in the final good to the picture for stones and crystals. I am placing here the comparison of the actual photo on the site, versus the photos I took of the actual piece and one of which is in water. I am disappointed in Catawiki's customer service, integrity and their lack of protection of their buyers. Avoid this platform altogether.

I just bought my first item on Catawiki: 18 kt. Yellow gold - Earrings Blood Coral - Pearls... at 480 euros.
CISGEM experties confirmed my doubts: they are made of PLASTIC!
I am wandering who is the most responsible for cheating me, the seller or the Catawiki expert?
Moreover just keep in mind that Catawiki allows the sellers bidding over your offers and allows more and more minutes at the very end... whyyyyyy?

Let me start with the fact that I've been a buyer on Catawiki for a few years and have purchased a number of expensive items amounting to over €*******.
After my latest experience I'm convinced Catawiki is out to scam you or have you scammed by dishonest sellers and they're not going to do anything about it, as long as they're getting their commission.

I bid on the lot ******* and won it. The total amount to pay was almost €******* plus thousands of Euros potentially to pay to the customs since the item was listed from outside the EU. Right before submitting the payment I noticed that some photos in the listing have different background and resolution. Quick check online - and viola! This catawiki seller from Turkey using stolen photos from an active ebay listing based in California, USA. And catawiki's expert Stefani Markovic has approved this fraudulent listing. I've emailed Catawiki and warned them about the stolen photos in the listing, got ZERO reaction to my concern! Four emails sent to them - they were completely ignoring me for weeks, constantly sending me reminders to pay for this fraudulent lot. They were pushing me to pay for something the seller evidently doesn't have! Ignoring all the evidence of the fraud I sent to them! This company will have you scammed and you'll lose your money!
Now they've cancelled the transaction due to non-payment from my side. How funny! Not due to the fraudulent intentions of the seller but due to me not willing to get scammed this time and pay for something the seller doesn't even have. They're expecting me to pay auctions fee €751.77, while holding €1000 of my money they charged as bid pre-authorisation. Catawiki, you'll not get a cent from me! Should you continue holding my €1000 further or try to collect the fee, you believe I owe you for this fraudulent lot, there will be legal intervention. It won't be difficult to prove that the listing on your platform for which you're expecting me to pay is a fraud with stolen photos and copy-pasted description from another ebay listing. All screenshoted and documented. In all seriousness, I am willing to go the legal route as I should have done with your platform in 2021, when I received my purchase with advertised inclusions missing.

This company has a history of approving lots with stolen photos. I fell for this scam in 2021 when the invoice in the pictures was not sent with the item and turned out, the seller never even had it, just found a photo online and put it in the listing to get the listing approved. Their "expert" - Stefani Markovic, lacking competence for authenticating handbags and requests a photo of purchase invoice to approve a listing. This pushes the sellers to steal the photos of invoices from other listings online to get their auction approved. In the end, it's the buyer who gets screwed.
Catawiki is dishonest and not willing to accept any responsibility for fooling their customers! Instead they just opt to ignore you and keep your money - they are thieves! Buy at your risk! Make sure you take extra measures to protect yourself such as paying with a credit card NOT BANK TRANSFER! Be prepared to pursue your issue with them legally! Perfect if you have legal insurance to cover the cost, as I do

Received a mail from Catwiki that my account has been suspended with the following paragraph ending the email: Please note that due to the aforementioned breach, our decision on this matter is final and non-contestable. As your account is now flagged, further contact with our Customer Support teams will not result in a revision of our decision, and any new accounts will result in immediate termination
So I can't even contact them to resolve the issue, that is pathetic and I feel as if I am treated like a criminal.
Worst customer service by any website I have ever seen.

I bought a ring online and it was incorrectly advertised. The vendor agreed, I returned the item and received a refund. However, I have not received a refund of the import duties and Catawiki are refusing to assist me in obtaining this. I have been left to deal with the vendor and HMRC with no support whatsoever.

Nothing is correct about this so called Catawiki! No Service, No real items, No Customers. Don't spend any money

So I bid on 3 paintings and won all three. I go to pay, and I get declined. The site advises me to contact my credit card. I contact my credit card and they tell that they didn't get any request for approval. I email Catawiki and explain the situation. According to their website they are suppose to respond within 2 business days. After three business days, I get no answer, but I do get a nasty email saying I late with my payment. In reality, according to their site I have three business days to pay. I call them and explain the situation and complain about receiving the nasty email and not receiving an answer to my email. The answers I get are the they have no control over the emails that their computer sends out and that they can't always get through all the emails they get in a timely fashion. The representative said that she will escalate my issues to financing department and get back to me with a solution. After another three days of waiting, and not getting any answers, I tried my credit card again and this time was successful.

I was a seller and they they didn't pay me. I would not trust this fraud and scam company at all! As an artist I have lost several pieces without compensation. Don't buy and don't sell via Catawiki anything!

I wonder how it is possible for me to be denied absolutely all the artworks for 2 months now, by a single expert.
I started selling my paintings in February and I think I had a very good start, with wonderful feedback from customers.
Later, when this expert started repetitively refusing all my submitted paintings, I started to approach other styles and topics, taking into account that standard feedback that is sent when an object is rejected by this platform. The biggest dilemma I had was when 3 works already accepted, were eventually denied:
1. Lot NO. ******* - which was not paid by the winner of that auction (March 18th) and should have automatically entered the next appropriate auction. Please note that the 'Re-auction unpaid objects' option (which provides that "Any unpaid objects will automatically be added to the next applicable auction"), has been active since I made this account.
2. Lot NO. ******* and Lot NO. ******* (Closed in April 18th) - which I initially submitted with the price reserve, then, for as they did not reach this reserve, I submitted them again without a price reserve and they were rejected by the same expert, who had initially accepted them. I was informed by the site that these objects will no longer go through the evaluation process, following them to enter the next appropriate auction, as well as the Lot NO. *******.
Therefore, I thought that maybe it was an error, so I added these 3 works again and left a message for each, for the expert who was to receive them (same "expert"). In 30 minutes I received the classic email with the standard text for rejected items...

After Catawiki delete my review abut not serious saler, they apologise and give me Voucher code: A616-QBC6-F9ED after I recive this Voucer they block my account to don't have possibilities to use this.
And also I have item what I pay on the way. Avoid this unserious app

Below is my letter of complaint to Catawiki Customer Support. My photographic evidence was not accepted by their messaging service. I attach the Catawiki Webcare Team reply. A month has passed and several email interactions between Catawiki and myself have not resolved the question of fraudulent practice. Since writing this first email I have discovered a total of thirty nine paintings which necessitate investigation for malpractice by their sellers. I have not been informed of any concrete action taken by Catawiki in this regard, (reimbursement of duped buyers for example) apart from a promise to keep an eye on the three dodgy sellers in the future.
Dear………….,
I wish to bring to your attention an extremely serious matter, regarding two of Catawiki's "PRO TOP" sellers, which I am sure will be of interest to you.
My suspicions were first aroused in 2020 when two years after my purchase of a painting, lot number *******, I removed the glass from the frame and found traces of paint which was still wet (!) adhering to the inside of the glass.
Another painting from the same seller bought at around the same time and purporting to be by Giuseppe Aureli, lot no. *******, I recently find to be mere copy of a finer work.

I decided to take works sold by Catawiki which claimed to be Giuseppe Aureli (1858-1929) as a sample and research them as being potential frauds.
Here are some of the results, in chronological order, of my findings:
02.12.2018. Lot number *******. Painting entitled Odalisca signed G. Aureli
(this the painting I unfortunately bought)
Is a COPY of Fatima by Jules Joseph Lefebvre (1836-1911).

20.01.2019. Lot number *******. Painting entitled Figura della Classicità signed G. Aureli
Is a COPY of Cleopatra by J. W. Waterhouse (1849-1917).

13.02.2019. Lot number *******. Painting entitled Figura Neoclassica signed G. Aureli
Is a COPY of Sappho by Alexandre Isailoff (1869-?). See attachment 3.

12.01.2020. Lot number *******. Painting entitled Ritratto di Donna signed G. Aureli
Is a COPY of Dejando el Harèm by Vicente Palmaroli y Gonzales (1834-1896).

We can exclude any fantastical notions that Giuseppe Aureli copied famous paintings and signed them as his own work. He was a successful artist in his own right.
I refer you to an exhaustive and illustrated list of 184 original works by Aureli:

None of the above Catawiki listings used the words "copy" or "after", none of them mentioned the works' original artist and all of them bear the words "Signed G. Aureli". The descriptions neglect to say that the signatures are false.
I repeat that the above examples are the results of research into works claiming to have been painted by only one artist. If in just one morning's study I have found 4 clear examples of blatant fraud, I hate to think of how many others remain undetected. Probably dozens and dozens. My suspicion is that some Catawiki sellers (perhaps in collusion?) have a 'stable' of artists who produce copies for sale on internet bearing false signatures which the unwary or gullible buyer will bid for.
In the past I was myself amongst those incautious buyers. I am annoyed with myself, but also angry with Catawiki for allowing these situations to continue. Two "Pro, Top" sellers are obviously favoured clients at Catawiki: money-makers extraordinaire! But the Catawiki promise, "Experts you can count on" and Catawiki's claim of "commitment to trust and safety" are apparently nothing but empty slogans.

Such disregard of buyers' interests, whether by negligence or design, infuriates me.

I am considering taking further action regardingthe sellers in question, but await your exhaustive reply before making my decision. I wish to be informed of the action you take.

Regards,
Stephen Barley
Rome.

Edit
Reply from Catawiki

Feb 1,2022
Dear Stephen,

Thank you for reaching out to us regarding suspected fraud on our platform.
At Catawiki, we take these such claims extremely seriously.

We notice that you have sent this email to us a day ago. A member of our customer service team will be in touch very shortly to inform you of our next steps in this claim since this matter was brought to our attention.

Please be assured that this matter will be escalated and we will be investigating this case very thoroughly with all the information available.

Catawiki has a zero tolerance policy on these such matters and necessary action will be taken against any accounts vound to be in violation of our user agreements.

You will hear from us very soon.
Thank you for bringing this to our attention.

Kind regards,
Rosa
Catawiki Webcare Team
https://www.catawiki.com/en/help

Stupidly I have bought 5 watches from here 3 arrived broken or not functioning though described as complete, functioning, even serviced? 1 one was counterfeit and 1 was wayyyy overpriced I found out later. So yeah I learned the hard stupid way to avoid this terrible sit like the plague. The items are clearly not selected at all, let alone by experts it's no better than eBay, they take any piece of garbage and the sellers simply can get away with refusing to accept a return with a full refund, all catawiki offered me was $50 for my troubles... for a $300 piece of junk.