Artfire.com review: No refund and their customer service can do nothing 13

This type of problem is tragically common on platform based venues. They and the venue's conscientious sellers are as dismayed as you are that this kind of thing happens and their hands are tied. As of January 2012, Artfire is developing a powerful buyer protection program so this kind of thing will not happen to buyers in the future. I am a seller on Artfire and deeply and sincerely apologize that this happened to you. If you ever make your way back to Artfire and need a guitar strap, if you will let me know who you are, I would be honored to take 50% off the price for you, just to thank you for giving Artfire and sellers like me another chance. I am at Coolstrap.artfire.com. Again, my sincerest apologies.

I had a similar problem. I bought from a seller in Israel because he/she had good feedback. It was my first time using ArtFire. I got an email saying they would ship right away. I was patient because I had heard of orders being held up in customs and I wasn't sure what to expect when ordering internationally. Eventually it was looking like I might have been scammed. I replied to the seller's email and never heard anything. I tried to contest the payment in Paypal but I waited too long. I tried to leave feedback but I didn't set up an account since it's not necessary if you're a buyer though Artfire. Their customer service was completely unhelpful. After weeks of emailing back and forth I was told there was nothing they could do. They wouldn't leave feedback on my behalf or allow me to leave feedback, they wouldn't investigate the seller, they didn't even apologize for the runaround and not being able or willing to solve my issue. I am baffled as to how they are able to get away with such poor customer service.

Zetah, I'm so sorry. Traditionally, sites like Artfire, Etsy, and similar sites function as a venue for the seller, kind of like a virtual mall, where they provide the platform for selling but aren't involved in the transactions. They are currently developing a buyer assurance plan that will end this kind of thing. I know that is absolutely no comfort to you. The reason they are able to continue operating is because it is, believe it or not, an extremely rare occurrence for this kind of thing to happen and our buyers aren't privy to what goes on behind the scenes. But, I understand when you have been ill served, it doesn't really matter how many people received excellent service. I have been a seller on Artfire for 2 years and, believe me, even other sellers can get burned by a bad seller. I don't know the final form Artfire's buyer assurance plan will ultimately take but I do know there will be a logo or icon or some mechanism for letting the buyer know that a particular studio participates in the assurance plan. I hope you will one day give Artfire another try and, again, I am so sorry this happened to you. Terri

It's unfortunate that you had experienced this, there seems to be a high rate of these sorts of complaints on Artfire, 2500 of them per their COO in the past year. Which is why they're instituting their so called "Assurance Policy". don't be fooled, though, you will still be directed to work with the seller first, file any claims through your payment processor, and work within Artfire's limitations should those other avenues not be productive. There will also be a list of exclusions for things that do not apply, so I would caution you to believe the hype that this program will protect you any better than what you automatically get with your credit card companies or Paypal.

We'll know more about the details of Artfire's buyer protection program when it is formally announced and implemented. Until then, the details of its exact form are largely speculation. Odds are, it will closely mimic the buyer protection program procedures of other platforms, which walk the buyer through a series of recovery steps to the final direct reimbursement, with the one exception that the Artfire program will extend to 60 days as opposed to the more conventional 30-45 days. The proposal has caused an interesting and somewhat dismaying rift between Artfire sellers who support the concept and those who do not. Every collective venue like Artfire-- and there are many-- experience bad sellers and their only currently available course of action is to remove a bad seller but by then the damage has been done. When Artfire first brought this idea to its sellers, they were candid in their reasoning, including providing the data behind it, a remarkable transparency that I deeply appreciate as an Artfire seller. Other venues are not so forthcoming about their problem sellers. Sellers who do not endorse this buyer protection strategy have, I am sure, valid business impact concerns. But, buyers' concerns are paramount, at least to me, and I look forward to being able to provide this layer of protection to my Artfire buyers. Terri

I paid for 2 items in Feb 2012, still have not received and they were paid for. Buyer won't answer emails and neither do "service" at artfire. I checked feedback before ordering and it was 100 percent. REALLY? I no longer trust this site. I'm a single mom without child support and I had to save for months to order this item. Quite frankly, I'm broke and more than dissappointed and I will find every avenue I can to let buyers know DO NOT ORDER ON THIS SITE.. ! BUYER BEWARE...

Hi, Tampa Fox, I am so sorry you had this experience. If you paid with Paypal or Amazon, you have 45 days to file a complaint with them to either get your product or a refund. If you bought with your credit card, you can file with them for a charge back where they will take the money back from this seller. Artfire is working on a buyer protection plan because this type of poor service is an inherent risk of internet commerce and we don't want it on Artfire. While 99% of Artfire's sellers, of which I am one, are honest and ethical, there is the occasional really bad, unethical, dishonest seller. This isn't unique to Artfire-- you will find them on Etsy, Zibbet, Silk Fair, DaWanda, almost every collective selling site on the internet, but Artfire is creating a program to stop exactly this kind of thing from happening there. In the meantime, please don't paint with too broad a brush. I am a very conscientious, honest seller and just don't want to be lumped in with poor sellers. I hope you are able to resolve this to your satisfaction.

SCAM! Paid for an item; received NOTHING. Now I can't get any support from the site!

I ordered a jersey in September and still have not received it were is it it was a birthday present. I have called the number on the website and it is not artfire number
Was it a scam that needs to be reported
Were is my jersey or my money jack

I was also robbed by this site and nobody is helping me either I ordered 2 cameras from a company called indifference and they took my money and haven't been contacted since I ordered on 6/19/2021 and they aren't interested in helping me this is not fair nor is it right to take people's money and sell them a dream

Same story here, cant get anyone at artfire to respond to me on a cancellation and refund. The seller took my payment then 1 days later the seller deleted their artfire account! I am out $99.00! I am pissed. My bank is helping me if I can't get artfire to respond! I think we need to do a class action lawsuit against artfire.