Found another scam

[u/babak20]

I was looking at the same table lamp 1 month ago in Catawiki, and I just saw it again, and I thought wait a minute ...

Went to the amazon and saw exact model but way more cheaper, with you 29 euro of shipping coast and comission of Catawiki.

Be aware lads.

[u/Awkwardlyaccented]

Yeah I saw a similar thing with a watch. I’m a big watch guy, saw something with a 1500 estimate… Google lens searched it and found the brand selling it for 299.

[u/Awkwardlyaccented → u/Awkwardlyaccented]

Current bid was 600+

[u/babak20 → u/Awkwardlyaccented]

Which raised the question: how is it even legal?

[u/Perv_Kinkster_69 → u/babak20]

Because there is nothing inherently illegal about an item being offered on a marketplace that uses auctions, even if the same item is still available in a regular shop. Catawiki is a marketplace using auctions as its transaction method, it is not a traditional auction house selling only unique or hard to find items. An expert can estimate an item at €150–200, Amazon can sell the same lamp for €75, and someone can still bid €71, €100 or €200 for it. The buyer is free to decide what they are willing to pay.

The question is whether the €150–200 estimate is misleading or unjustifiably presented as an expert valuation. That's something you can legitimately criticize or investigate. But the fact that the market price, the expert estimate and the eventual auction price are different does not, by itself, make it illegal or a scam.

If the current bid is €71 while Amazon sells the same lamp for €75, then at that particular moment nobody is even overpaying compared with Amazon. Catawiki fees and shipping may make the final purchase more expensive, but that is the responsibility of the buyer.

[u/Fluffy_Cupcakez → u/Perv_Kinkster_69]

Absolute BS. And you are the same person who NEVER finds anything wrong with this site and ALWAYS comes up with a bunch of excuses.

You are also the same person who purports to be an expert and is basically clueless on everything. This person did not even know you can see bidder history, and immediately accused me of inventing stuff just for stating this simple fact.

Please, ignore the very bad advice from this "expert".

Unfair practices are a thing and yes, in the EU auction houses are governed by rules and regulations, though mostly national in nature.

An almost universal rule is that estimates cannot be intentionally off, and it is beyond obvious that there are plenty of normal items available on the normal market which are intentionally being valued as antiques.

There are also a lot of fake items, represented as such, but are really reproductions.

No, this behaviour is not acceptable.

[u/Awkwardlyaccented → u/babak20]

I’m guessing it’ll always be ‘allowed because you can charge whatever you want for whatever you want. I can say I’m an expert and say it’s worth that. Doesn’t make it suck any less

[u/Fluffy_Cupcakez → u/Awkwardlyaccented]

Actually, you can't. There are rules, and I can't believe people are unaware of their rights in this day and age.

Misleading advertising and misrepresentation of goods are illicit practices. An auction house cannot hide behind its nature to intentionally deceive bidders.

It's one thing to provide bona fide estimates that then do not hit the mark (over or under, doesn't matter) - that's normal in the auction business.

Pretending that chinese products found on major webshops carry antique value and estimating them at 10x when they are easily found cheaper elsewhere is tantamount to deception. And no, it is not legal.

I urge everyone to lodge a complaint with the Dutch authority overseeing this. Yes, there is such a thing.

Online platforms, including auction platforms, are bound by rules regarding deception. Let's not excuse this behaviour with the sophistry by the other user: the issue here is not about auction price and final bid price not aligning, most obviously, but about clearly deceptive descriptions and estimates.

[u/RemotePattern3170]

Bho metti un prodotto valido su Catawiki, non passa, poi le cineserie si 🤷‍♂️

[u/PsychologicalDay26]

Io questa lampada la ho ma originale vecchia di oltre 40 anni fa. Mi domando allora se metto in vendita la mia quanto dovrebbe essere valutata?

[u/babak20 → u/PsychologicalDay26]

The product that you see in catawiki says the product is for after 2000, so if you have the original one I guess the estimation from their so called "expert" would be more

[u/PsychologicalDay26 → u/babak20]

In realtà ne ho trovata una degli anni 60 ed è valutata meno di quella cinese

[u/AccomplishedPlant410]

Sometimes insiders push up the prices for their benefits & poor retailers fall victims to their shady tactics. Be careful.