Buying Fine Art on eBay, or more importantly determining whether an eBay seller is really offering for Authentic Fine Art is not easy. As is widely known, eBay takes zero position regarding quality, authenticity, accuracy, condition, etc., of the Art Lots offered for sale on eBay.

eBay assumes this stance because they state they don't sell anything as "eBay never take possession of goods sold through eBay." Although eBay brings buyers and sellers together, eBay takes little responsibility as to whether counterfeits and/or fakes are offered for sale.

Too often, the eBay buyer is seduced into buying "Fine Art" that turns out to be "Fake Art", and realizes it after the fact.

A 2006 New York Times Article Titled: "Seeing Fakes, Angry Traders Confront eBay Times", confirms the point that eBay stands back while taking a fee for each transaction, whether the Work itself is genuine or not.

Aside from reviewing the eBay seller's feedback, each eBay Buyer has to determine the desirability/value of the various art works offered by sellers through the Seller's disclosure of the Work's authenticity, condition, size, signature, rarity, etc. And the act that eBay really doesn't investigate its sellers makes it even more difficult. 

As many of you know, many eBay Art Sellers  don't provide full disclosure of the respective Work being offered, which often makes the Lot seem more appealing than it would be after first hand inspection.  Examples include Sellers who won't/don't show a jpg of the Artist's Signature, especially if they know it isn't genuine. Others neglect the art's measurements, or worse, don’t include an actual jpg of the Work being offered for sale.

Many eBay Sellers even state that their Lot is accompanied with a Certificate of Authenticity, known as a "COA". Buyers need to make sure that the COA doesn't camouflage the fact that you might be buying “Fake Art”, and that there was no "deal" after all. In the end, the eBay Fine Art Seller that you thought was offering "fine art", is actually selling “Fake Art".

Before you buy Art on eBay:

• Take time to carefully review all of the Sellers Listings.
  
• Look carefully at the majority of the Sellers eBay art listings to see if there is a similarity.
  
• Take time to view what other Lots the Seller has sold recently; view the lots, read the descriptions.
  
• You might even consider checking to see if the Seller has a legitimate business.

You should also ask these questions before you ultimately make a purchase:

• Does the Seller have a website that provides pertinent information?
  
• Does the Seller have an address/a phone number?
  
• Does the Seller answer emails on a timely basis and address the questions asked?
  
• How long has the Seller been established?
  
• Does it make sense for a Fine Art Seller to offer a Work worth several thousands for a fraction of the price?
  

For example, there is one eBay art seller who routinely takes Color reproductions from Books or Auction Catalogues on Andy Warhol, and then states the work is hand signed with a "so called pencil Signature of Andy Warhol". 

This same eBay Seller then goes on to state that his respective Andy Warhol Work is from a "Private Collection, VIP who has died", and if you look over his listings, you see that ever Lot states the same thing! 

Why would Andy Warhol have signed so many Andy Warhol Reproductions?  The answer?

Andy Warhol did not sign dozens and dozens of reproductions that come from books, many of them published after Warhol died in 1987, but a fraudulent eBay Seller would.

This same eBay Seller states that their alleged Andy Warhol Works are sold with a "Certificate of Authenticity from our Gallery" as further assurance.

This same Seller then lists a dozen other "so called Warhol" Works all with the same "Private Collection, VIP - Signed Art book Collection" statement.  Because of the low price, many eBay buyers become seduced to bid on this Seller's eBay Lots, and reject an Authentic Andy Warhol Work because it cannot be sold at a similar unrealistic low price.

The COA that often comes with that so called puported Andy Warhol cited above is not only worthless, but since the Seller is in Switzerland, the COA provided is not binding in the United States.

The Andy Warhol Art Authentication Board, Inc., is the only recognized authority to Authetnicate purported Andy Warhol Works of Art.

Three times a year, the Andy Warhol Art Authentication Board, Inc., accepts purported Andy Warhol Art for Authentication; this is only Internationally accepted and recognized authority regarding Warhol Authentication. 

The hard fact is that if the Andy Warhol Foundation concludes that in "their opinion the Work that you submitted is not by Andy Warhol", a well-written COA will not have the power to override the Foundation's opinion.

Encourage eBay to better review its Art Listings to ensure that its Fine Art Listings are not filled with obvious Fakes. Should you see a pattern of something that looks suspicious, contact eBay. Send them an email, and if they do nothing, send them another email.

At some point, eBay start monitoring their site more closely as it would be better for all those eBay Sellers who care to sell legitimate items, and help protect buyers.

One of the reasons that so many the overall average price of lots sold on eBay continues to fall, is more and more buyers are abandoning eBay as a reliable source for Quality art.

Bottomline, most of those so called Picasso listings you see on eBay are sellers offering counterfeits; ditto many of those 60's Lichtensteins; and add for good measure those Matisse listings and the Degas and the Monets.

The Bottom-line, many eBay Sellers continue to state misleading information in order to purposely misguide and deceive Buyers of Art.