[dirtypete]

I have a bit of an ebay dilemma that I require help with and I thought the smart people of this forum maybe able to help.

I recently brought a Cauty print off ebay that I have wanted for ages, but even though I offered to pay for a good quality card board tube, the print was sent between cardboard and was badly bent. Now this surprised me as the sellar has a 100% rating and has sold over 400 prints through ebay.

The dilemma I have though is after explaining what had happened to my print the seller offered me an alternative version of the same print, to swap for the damaged print. The problem arises because I know the print he is offering me was sold to someone else, because I was also bidding for it and it has the same print number! After I did some detective work I even found that the buyer has already left feedback, thanking the seller for the print he has offered me.

So what should I do?

I have not let on to the seller that I know the alternative print has already been sold and therefore something very suspicious is going on. I’ve asked for a refund and to send the print back, but if this seller is knocking out fake Cauty prints, I don’t want anyone else to get ripped off.

[BME]

Hi, I'd suggest the following...

Contact the seller. If he/ she is a dealer (and it sounds like they are) then it's possible that they bought several of the same prints and have simply got their numbers muddled up. Anyone with a feedback of over 400 and 100 rating deserves the benefit of the doubt!

If they haven't got their numbers muddled up then I think that the most likely explanation is shill bidding. The seller has bid on his/her item and unintentionally won the auction. They have subsequently left positive feedback for themselves but still have the print in hand and see this as a good way ooffload it. Do a search for the buyer and see what percentage of their activity is with the seller. If it's over 50% it's likely to be shill bidding and you can report your suspicions to ebay.

The second explanation is, as you suggest, that they are knocking out fake Cauty prints. Franky, I think this is unlikely. No-one to date has successfully faked a Banksy print and given that Cauty prints go for 1/10th of the price it would be a strange choice. It would also require them to purchase a giclee printer which would be serously expensive and hardly worth the time/ trouble IMHO.

Anyway, I hope that helps- let us know how you go

[dirtypete]

Thanks for the reply. I don't think the numbers have been mixed up as he was very specific when emailing and even sent me the same picture used for the auction. I'll go investigate the bidding activity of the winner and see whats what.

Cheers

[mido]

I'd agree.

could be explanable.

Could be shill bidding. It seems to be an epidemic on ebay, espec after they hid the bidders!

Cauty's are unlikely to be faked. 1 - not worth it (except for a few exceptionally rare ones). 2 - they are giclees I think, so hard to get tha texture on a fake?