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message from Romain SOMEONE IS SELLING MY ART ON CAF !!
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118 posts in this topic

message from Romain SOMEONE IS SELLING MY ART ON CAF !!

I am posting this on behalf of Romain Verlier who has not updated his CGC board membership and isn't able to post himself. Read Romain's message below. Troubling news!

I need help here. Some french guy called VISAR ALARD has been buying a couple of pages from me in the past few months. I watched him putting the art afterward on ebay with incredible price increase for a one day flip..Ii didn't matter to me..
Now he ordered a splash ( MTU 136 title splash by Ron Frenz ) and paid for it today
But  I have been told by collector friends on CAF the art was already for sale on his CAF and comicartshop !!!
Now he has just posted 8 new pieces on his CAF including my biggest pieces like the Avengers Neal Adams 1/2 splash, Art Adams Xmen page, etc...all are coming ( stolen scans ) from lafrenchcollection.com
 
I just wrote to CAF but I don't have Bill Cox direct e-mail address..also though I receive yahoo group mails I do not know how to post on it
I havn't updated my CGC board membership and won't be able to react on it neither..
 
Could you please spread the word on YAHOO comicart-L and CGC boards , HA and CL and everybody you think could be concerned ..please ...
 
man is called VISAR ALARD and his CAF id is " art lover "
 
Don't hesitate to mention the website lafrenchcollection.com   a little publicity won't hurt ...on the contrary..
 
Don't want to take on your time..but if any of you can help it will be very much appreciated.
 
All the best,
 

Romain Verlier

 

UPDATE! UPDATE! UPDATE!

Romain has informed me that he has spoken to Bill Cox at CAF and says that Bill is taking care of the situation. Bill was very fast to respond to Romain. Good on CAF! 

ONE MORE UPDATE FROM ROMAIN:

also to clarify
 
I had the MTU #136 pg 1 splash by Frenz for sale 1800 euros on my website for quite some time now..
 
Couple of days ago he orders it on lafrenchcollection.com but in the same time a collector friend recognized the very same splash for sale on his comicartshop ( the CAF "shop" ) at $3000 !! it wasn't bought at the time as I didn't reply to him ..
 
Today ( 2 days later ) I received the 1800 euros payment in full with 30 euros add for shipping and in the same time the piece is removed from his comicartshop !!!
 
That means someone has just bought my splash for 3000$ unaware I was selling it myself on my website for 1800 euros !
 

Please forward this last clarification message on the CGC board 

Edited by lobrac
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My own personal dealings with Visar was also negative.  He tried to buy a piece from me.  I invoiced him via paypal.  He emailed me saying payment was made.  When I logged into paypal, the invoice had been rejected.  I e-mailed him but he never responded.  A few years later, he tried to buy something else from me.  At that point, I spam blocked him permanently.

:sick:

@wurstisart

I think Roman's issue is that the individual is taking scans from Roman and offering art for sale that does not belong to him nor was it consigned to him.  There is another thread with this topic.

@lobrac

What Roman should do is post the images in his own gallery on CAF.  You do not need to be a premium member per se to join.  If he forgot his password, he should  have CAF reset it.  Same with CGC boards.

Don't sell him any art.  Reject his payment.  That should solve the issue.  You should also consider Watermarking your images with your website name.

 

my 2 cents.

 

 

Edited by NelsonAI
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Yeah, I had a negative experience with him years ago on ebay too.  He won something and I think it was about 1K, which I needed to make other art purchases (the story of my collecting life).  I then receive a claim on ebay about item not as described and he was saying the text bubbles were extremely yellow (which was quite evident in the scans) and some had fallen off (maybe it did).  He then demanded a discount ($100) to make his claim (and the hold on the $1k in PayPal) go away.  maybe the text bubbles did fall off and maybe it does bother him but I felt extorted.  I just gave him the partial discount to go away.

A few years later he inquired about items on my caf (that weren't for sale). I was about to sell when I realized it was him and said I won't sell to him.  He must have a short memory because he tried to buy from me again a few years later.

Malvin

 

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2 hours ago, wurstisart said:

So what is your message ?

isnt that what every dealer is doing, selling for profit ???

otherwise they would be out of business.

I think the issue is he's taking scans that he hasnt even bought yet, trying to sell them at a markup on his own website, and then once he's made the sale, and only then,  buying them from Lobrac. I did this when I was like 17 years old and first started in the hobby. Spencer called me and lovingly tore me a new one and explained why that wasn't just bad form but illegal.

Also, Im pretty sure Visar is on these boards.

Edited by Khazano
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So the warning is about a guy flipping art?

I see people responding that he didn't pay for an item or two, but the initial post is about a guy buying art from an artist at there asking price and reselling it at a profit?

Am I missing something here?

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No the warning is that Visar is selling art that does not belong to him.  He is only purchasing art from Romain after someone has paid him under the guise that said art was his to begin with.

This is like me selling a car that doesn't belong to me, but if someone purchases it from me I then go and buy it from the actual owner.   

This is not an issue of someone flipping art for a higher price.  This is an issue of someone selling art that doesn't officially belong to him.  

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1 hour ago, Swartzisgod1 said:

No the warning is that Visar is selling art that does not belong to him.  He is only purchasing art from Romain after someone has paid him under the guise that said art was his to begin with.

This is like me selling a car that doesn't belong to me, but if someone purchases it from me I then go and buy it from the actual owner.   

This is not an issue of someone flipping art for a higher price.  This is an issue of someone selling art that doesn't officially belong to him.  

Not sure I see the real issue here. Other than the buyer paying more than he has to.

If I understand this correctly this guy finds the buyer, gets the buyer to pay first and then buys the art from the owner. If the owner doesn't have it or raises the price I'm guessing he just cancels the order. He might even have the seller ship direct to the new owner. Many online sellers do this with other products. Drop shippers.

 

 

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19 minutes ago, buyatari said:

Not sure I see the real issue here. Other than the buyer paying more than he has to.

If I understand this correctly this guy finds the buyer, gets the buyer to pay first and then buys the art from the owner. If the owner doesn't have it or raises the price I'm guessing he just cancels the order. He might even have the seller ship direct to the new owner. Many online sellers do this with other products. Drop shippers.

 

 

Drop shippers have authorization to do so before selling the item, and in most instances the buyer knows the item is being drop shipped..the actual owner of the item certainly knows it's being drop shipped. Knowledge, notice, transparency, honesty.  These are all things needed for a satisfactory business transaction and all things missing from this narrative.

In this case you have someone, without authorization of the real owner and without informing the buyer, trying to sell something that he doesn't own.

Take that sentence all by itself. Does it sound like a good idea? Does it sound like sound business practice? Does it sound like someone you'd trust to do business with then they withhold such a basic and material part of the deal...owning what they're selling?

When it comes to one of a kind works, like artwork, holding yourself out to be the owner of a piece that you don't own, or the authorized seller of a piece on behalf of the real owner when you are NOT authorized, is the fastest way to destroy your reputation.

People are less likely to associate that type of behavior with the normal course of business as they are to someone trying to deceive them in the midst of a business deal. Omitting that you don't own, don't possess and aren't authorized by the owner to sell a piece is how most people define RED FLAGS!  

On the spectrum of adjectives this behavior slides far away from "normal" or "acceptable" and towards "shady" and "slimy". 

Edited by comix4fun
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I doubt you can legally sell something that you don't own.

and we are not talking about commodity items that you can buy anywhere in quantities.

 

here it is a one of a kind item, a piece of artwork, that you can't sell if you don't own it.

 

my two cents 

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19 minutes ago, buyatari said:

Not sure I see the real issue here. Other than the buyer paying more than he has to.

If I understand this correctly this guy finds the buyer, gets the buyer to pay first and then buys the art from the owner. If the owner doesn't have it or raises the price I'm guessing he just cancels the order. He might even have the seller ship direct to the new owner. Many online sellers do this with other products. Drop shippers.

 

 

No one would be complaining if the guy bought the item ahead of time and then listed it up for whatever price he wanted. 

I mean, no one complains about CoolLines hm

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8 minutes ago, SquareChaos said:

No one would be complaining if the guy bought the item ahead of time and then listed it up for whatever price he wanted. 

I mean, no one complains about CoolLines hm

:signfunny:No one complains about the Donnellys...Bwahahahahaha

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Damn, I should've done my due diligence before purchasing from him on CAF. I purchased four pages from him over a month ago, said he shipped and provided me with a bad tracking number, and now he's gone radio silent, though he posted new pages for sale a couple weeks ago. I naively assumed that since he's been a member of CAF for so many years and has a premium account, it would be a smooth(ish) transaction. I unfortunately made the mistake of using Friends and Family with PayPal as well. Anyone have suggestions?

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On 5/25/2017 at 5:38 PM, wurstisart said:

I doubt you can legally sell something that you don't own.

and we are not talking about commodity items that you can buy anywhere in quantities.

 

here it is a one of a kind item, a piece of artwork, that you can't sell if you don't own it.

 

my two cents 

Free legal advice. Actually, you can sell something you don't own. In fact, you can sell your car, for example, to 10 different people if you want. But, if you do, then the 9 people who don't get the car can sue you for breach of contract damages.

 

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6 hours ago, T Shen said:

Damn, I should've done my due diligence before purchasing from him on CAF. I purchased four pages from him over a month ago, said he shipped and provided me with a bad tracking number, and now he's gone radio silent, though he posted new pages for sale a couple weeks ago. I naively assumed that since he's been a member of CAF for so many years and has a premium account, it would be a smooth(ish) transaction. I unfortunately made the mistake of using Friends and Family with PayPal as well. Anyone have suggestions?

Once you pay with Friends and Family you have nothing to fall back on other than attacking their public reputation. Considering this thread... that probably won't help here.

 

My personal take is that I only use F&F payments if I'd be more disappointed in the person ripping me off than I would be in losing the money. As in losing a friendship / relationship with someone I felt I had a good relationship with. For a purely business transaction... people just shouldn't do it. If the seller insists, do the math, tell them you'll pay the extra 2.9%, and then use the Goods and Services payment method so you have some protection if things go south.

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Hi

 

I mglad to see that i m considered as a thief here !!

 

I flipped a page before...woww, i must be the only one here doing that, i guess that most of you don t do that and resell at the byuing price (so if you have old kirby pages you d like to resell for a few hundred bucks, i d be interested)

 

For romain, i sold a page i didn t have in myhands, but i already had paid for it to him, and the deal was concluded, so it was just a matter of days before i get it

 

For t shen,i answered on caf, the package shipped about 4 weeks ago, it might be a bit long, but it ships from france so it may happen

 

I didn t keep the tracking number because i didn t need it anyore, and by writing quickly,i wrote one extra number

 

My post office is looking at it, and am waitinfg for an update,  but that doesn t mean i didn t ship  the package

There s a big différence between a late package, and being a thief 

I ve dealt with many caf members, and never had a problem, a very few package may have taken longer, but that happens and you just have to be patient instead of judging me without knowing anything

 

I ve dealt with dave buckley, max fargo, jason d ambrosio, david gee, trevor parkinson, alan nafriz, jeff Chahal, earl hamilton, e c xavier. Patrick pieroni,  Stephen crawford, jerry c, .....and so on.....and several catawiki members too as i m also selling on catawiki

 

 

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