Already, the FTC has prosecuted a Florida man for using online auction sites to hawk computers he never delivered. But the New York City Consumer Affairs Dept. With eBay's Safe Harbor plan, you're paying a third party a fee to hold your money. The buyer who is unhappy with his or her purchase must forfeit that fee. Auction Universe has no third party for escrow.
Insurance otherwise is minimal.
He notes that Sotheby's knows its dealers and vouches for them. In fact, the auction house has contracted with 2,500 reputable dealers to sell ''every property that we currently handle,'' including high-end items. On the buying side, Redden says Sothey's will protect itself by thoroughly screening bidders' credit situations, particularly where large sums are involved. Redden says he sees online auctions as simply an extension of what catalogs do. But a critic like Richard Solomon, president of Pace Editions, a major print gallery in New York, believes that buying an artwork without eyeballing it is a big mistake.