5 Tips to Protect Against Art Scams

Tip #1: Do a search
If you receive an offer for your art online, it takes almost no effort to do a quick internet search for:

1. The sender's email address
2. The sender's name
3. A sentence in the email with unique wording
4. An address, if provided
5. Anything else unique to the offer

You can't depend on a scammer being completely lazy and reusing the same ploy for each of his targets, but many times this is the case. A quick search can pull up lots of useful information, if not direct evidence that you're the target of a scam.

Tip #2: Check for warning signs
Does something seem a little "off" with the offer? Here are a few warning signs to look out for:

1. The person tells you they need the piece immediately (and hopes to get the item before the payment clears)
2. The email has poor grammar or many misspellings
3. The person asks questions that a real buyer would probably have already found the answers to (e.g. "How much does it cost?" when you have the price clearly listed)
4. The person is located in Nigeria
5. The person claims to be away on vacation, business, etc. and outlines specific shipping requirements for you to follow

Tip #3: Ask questions
If the person wants to arrange something that you're not comfortable with, like having your art shipped immediately before funds can clear, ask the specific questions about why he insists on doing so. Also, post your concerns to message boards, like our artist forum. You may find some people with similar experiences or good advice of their own.

Tip #4: You love me, you really really love me.
(For a price).
If a gallery or publication tells you they want to feature your work, but only for a price, be skeptical. There are a few legit organizations that do this, but there are many more that don't care as much about promoting your work as they do about collecting exhibition fees. Again, do your research and make sure you want to grace their show with your work, when there are many other opportunities with no cost to enter.

Tip #5: Never ship until you've received payment
Absolutely, positively, never send your item until the funds have cleared. Check out the links below to avoid chargebacks with PayPal, but also be wary of bounced checks or checks for amounts greater than you asked.

You might want to talk to the buyer about using an escrow service, which verifies funds and protects both the buyer and the seller. It does cost money, but may be worth it for peace of mind. If the buyer is serious, he'll go along with it.

Helpful links

• Art Scams: How to Avoid Becoming a Victim
• Avoid chargebacks with PayPal
• Some tips from one of our members
  
• List of popular scam emails and more
• More specific and recent art scams
• A few more tips

Knowing what's out there will let you enjoy your online art selling experience even more. Have you been the target of a scam in the past? Talk about it in the forum.