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ArtFire is a website where online shoppers can buy handmade items from independent sellers. ArtFire describes itself as ‘a marketplace, craft and maker community where people from around the world come together to buy, sell and interact. Located in the heart of the Tucson Arts District, ArtFire partners with Maker House to offer a community creative destination that supports local makers and indie businesses.‘
ArtFire does not show any telltale signs of an ecommerce scam. The About Us page states that the company was founded by CEO John Jacobs of Tucson, Arizona in 2008. This information is consistent with ArtFire’s LinkedIn page. John Jacobs also has a real profile and it clearly mentions ArtFire.
Looking at the Key Facts section of ArtFire’s Scamadviser page, we can see that the domain name was originally registered in 2001. However, snapshots from the Wayback Machine show that ArtFire in its current form has been operational since at least 2009, lending credibility to the claim on the website that the company started doing business in 2008.
The information also shows that ArtFire has a considerably high Alexa rank of 17,636 which means that it is popular. The company name and location are also publicly visible, which shows that ArtFire is being transparent with company information.
The information on ArtFire’s Facebook and Twitter pages also check out as the year and location match those on the website. Additionally, ArtFire also has an active presence on other platforms, namely, Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube and Tumblr.
ArtFire has a community forum for asking questions and can be contacted via email on the address service@artfire.com. Facebook and Twitter are also listed as contact channels.
All this information put together indicates that ArtFire is indeed a real business that has been active for more than a decade. Curiously, we have received several complaints about ArtFire via email, on our website and also on our social media pages. Therefore, we investigated a bit further.
ArtFire’s business model is that it allows sellers to run a ‘shop’ on their platform for a monthly fee between $9.99 to $49.99. Additionally, they also charge a ‘Sales Service Fee’ between 12.75% to 14.75% on items sold through the platform. ArtFire is therefore a service provider and does not directly sell the items listed on the site.
While ArtFire calls itself a marketplace, it is not as involved in the transactions that take place on the platform compared to marketplaces like Amazon and AliExpress.
Payments by customers are made directly to the PayPal accounts of sellers. Deliveries are directly handled by the sellers too. As a result, disputes have to be taken up with the seller or PayPal, with ArtFire having no involvement in the matter. In this respect, ArtFire is similar to classifieds platforms like Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace rather than Amazon or eBay.
ArtFire has a hands-off approach when it comes to seller verification and dispute resolution. As stated in the Terms of Use document, ArtFire has no obligation to check the authenticity of sellers, resolve disputes or compensate for damages.
Therefore, all transactions that take place on ArtFire are considered to be between the buyer and seller, and ArtFire does not act as a middleman. Unsurprisingly, customers do not seem to be aware about this (as people rarely read the Terms of Use) and therefore hold ArtFire responsible when things go wrong.
ArtFire’s rating on TrustPilot is a ‘Bad’ 1.5 out of 5 based on 158 reviews. Nearly 85% of these reviewers have given ArtFire a 1-star or 2-star rating. Similarly, ArtFire has a rating of 1.5 out of 5 on SiteJabber too, based on 378 reviews. Of course, it is understood that the ratings reflect the customers’ opinions of the individual sellers and not necessarily ArtFire but they have nowhere else to complain.
Overall, these may be a small number of reviews considering that ArtFire has been in business for a long time and probably has thousands of happy customers who never wrote reviews, however, they are not insignificant enough to be ignored either.
The reviewers also clearly understand that their unpleasant experience occurred mainly due to the seller. Even with that being the case, it seems that customers have made purchases on the site expecting that ArtFire might have vetted the seller and would offer assistance with regards to scams.
Their disappointment seems to stem from the fact that ArtFire apparently tries to wash their hands off the matter altogether, something which the company has the right to do as per their Terms of Use.
While there is nothing suggesting that ArtFire itself is a scam, there is reason to believe that scammers might have set up shop on the platform.
ArtFire’s Terms of Use states that it ‘cannot independently verify the identity of sellers’ and does not handle payment disputes. As anyone signing up on the platform is required to accept ArtFire’s Terms of Use, they are agreeing to the terms and cannot hold ArtFire liable for losses. As a result, customers have no recourse and are likely to end up losing money if the seller turns out to be uncooperative.
Considering these facts, sellers should proceed with caution before making a purchase on ArtFire as there is a moderate risk of being scammed by sellers.
If you desire to make a purchase from a seller on ArtFire, it might be a good idea to contact them just to check their professionalism and responsiveness. As the transaction is completely between you and the seller, the responsibility of checking the seller’s authenticity falls on you.
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This article has been written by a scam fighter volunteer. If you believe the article above contains inaccuracies or is missing relevant information, please contact Scamadviser.com using this form.
