“High shipping fees, not reliable experts, seems that the experts put high prices on a list of sellers which is relatives of their own. Fake prices. I have seen fake items or items sold twice with the same photos. No reaction despite my intervention. They accept cheating by not doing anything. Only buy gemstones with a GIA or IGI certificate (which I did). It somewhat saved me from fraud.”
“Catawiki experts have their friends, relatives and Top sellers whom their favor. They don't really accept new sellers and they give you no chance. I was trying to sell some genuine sheepskin rugs but they won't allow it, although there are tons of sellers who are selling the exact same thing. But your sheepskins are worth nothing and "they are readily available" while other can sell theirs and everything works fine for them.
As a new seller you have no chance of selling your items. There are Top sellers who have 40 necklaces on auction in one week, while you can call yourself lucky if they approve one item on auction per month.
You invest all your money in merchandise, merchandise you cannot sell because you are not in the expert's good graces.
Lousy experts, lousy customer service, lousy website.”
“Use chargeback, via your credit card--if you are being cheated
It works and they don't like it..they will close your account--threaten you with legal proceeding....but if you give full details of how you have been defrauded Chargeback will work in your favor!!!
They must to recover the funds from the fraudster who they were happy to recomend and issue false experts valuations...
RIGHT IS ON YOUR SIDE...GO FOR IT TAKE THEM OUT!!!”
“DO NOT USE THIS SITE..
PURCHASED £100s OF SO SAY EXPERTS HIGH VALUE WINE--UNDRINKABLE--NO HELP FROM MERCHANT OR CATAWIKI..
OBTAINED FULL CHARGEBACK VIA VISA CREDIT CARD AFTER RETURNING THE WINE TO THE WINE MERCHANT-WHO SAID IN FEEDBACK I WAS STUPID TO BUY IT.???
WINE EXPERT VALUED IT AT £ZERO..NOTHING..
THEY ARE CROOKS AND SUPPORT FRAUDULENT MERCHANTS.
THEY ARE GOING TO TAKE ME TO COURT IF I DO NOT CANCEL THE VISA CHARGEBACK---BRING IT ON !!!!
VISA SPENT WITH MBNA EXAMINING THIS CASE AND THEM AND GAVE ME 100% BACKING...TAKE THEM ON-
WILL UPDATE...”
“Pretty much fat cats overpricing cheap goods and then protecting themselves ! A real example ? I bought a wrought iron garden stand for euros 250. It turned out not to fit where I wanted to use it. I tried to sell it again but was told I was not allowed to put a reserve on it and it was not worth the value.
Great site for real quality !”
“I have made over 20 purchases with Catawiki recently. There has been an occasional delay and hitch but when I have contacted Catawiki customer support has been excellent with great efficiency and kindness. My experience with them has only been positive.”
“catawiki is a real organization, the experts theoretically cannot sell the objects but not practically under other accounts of relatives and friends. it is not explained why the experts Esposito and trevor auctions of minerals .metaphysics etc. always approve everything more than 50 to a seller items being a private individual and to you maximum 2 three it is not about quality are the same items example black opal yours is not approved and that of a seller always "HIGH QUALITY OPAL" esposito and trevor do not know that smoked opal cannot be high quality experts of what? black opals are rare and those who own them certainly certify them. tell them to the experts and then if they are the same objects why to whom do they and others not? is the judgment of the experts unquestionable? or is it a real organization ......... the next review will show you the real cost which at most does not exceed 20 dollars.”
“catawiki is a real organization, the experts theoretically cannot sell the objects but not practically under other accounts of relatives and friends. it is not explained why the experts Esposito and trevor auctions of minerals .metaphysics etc. always approve everything more than 50 to a seller items being a private individual and to you maximum 2 three it is not about quality are the same items example black opal yours is not approved and that of a seller always "HIGH QUALITY OPAL" esposito and trevor do not know that smoked opal cannot be high quality experts of what? black opals are rare and those who own them certainly certify them. tell them to the experts and then if they are the same objects why to whom do they and others not? is the judgment of the experts unquestionable? or is it a real organization ......... the next review will show you the real cost which at most does not exceed 20 dollars.”
“It is a big scam. Items are sold and appear the best day again...which is odd if it supposed to be antique. Second, while I had bid the highest on one object and the time went to zero....nothing happened except that two minutes were added and other were bidding. I am glad I deleted the App. If I want to buy something nice, I buy it in a shop.”
“Absolute bunch of crooks especially so-called auctioneer-tacakiwi.
Avoid and stick to honest auctioneers like ebay and the Saleroom. When and not if a problem arises they hang onto your money and refuse to answer emails over weeks. When you legally ask AMEX to oppose the charge, Catawiki immediately and automatically suspends your account still refusing to reply to mails.The question below asks how quickly does Catawiki reply to emails and no option of never so 'over a week' ticked!!AVOID CATAWIKI- interesting that my servers in France refuse me to connect to catawiki.com or .eu with 'access denied' as considered it seems not an acceptable site/service in France. Catawiki started OK but now just wants the cash.”
“Bought over 500 pounds worth of wine all corked and undrinkable trying get @ refund what a joke ignore you and hide behind lies donr use this site unless you want to be swindled”
“I bought a ring with tanzanite (lot 41497201) and since it's half lockdown I didn't wear it immediately and I'm not a really look well on it when I received it (also I had trust to catawiki and thought that they have checked it). Anyway around 6-7 days after I received it I found a chip on the stone (a little piece on the side was missing) it was 04.11.20. I made photos and wrote to seller but couldn't attache photos on the platform of Catawiki. Seller answered to me that it's an inclusion (I understand what is inclusion and it's not). So I wrote in support with all photos attached. Passed around 4 days and no answer. I wrote again. And than I decided to change my review on catawiki site (I thought it will help to get some attention to my problem). Meanwhile I found on the photo of the lot the same chip but in the description - nothing only excellent condition and on certificate no mark about any damage.
From catawiki I received this:
In addition, when you contacted us, your picture attachments also cannot be opened (we also see that the seller is mentioning the same issue). Therefore, we are also not able to have your item re-evaluated by our experts.
Seeing that this item is not re-evaluated, we also would like to kindly inform you that we have to remove the feedback you left for the seller.
So they didn't ask me to send them photos again! But just changed my review from negative to neutral (at least not good!) and I can't change it anymore (by their rules I have 90 days to do so). And the seller put as a response to my review this:
I am very sorry that after a month you think otherwise, first a good evaluation and a month a bad evaluation. Since you do not understand precious stones, I explained that natural stones have natural inclusions, that they are not crystals. Explained in the description of the article and in the IGI Certificate of the stone.
You hurt serious sellers, more than 4 years selling on Catawiki and 100% good valuation.
They said about after a month - first review was from 31.10.20 and second on 09.11.20 so it's the first lie.
And than she keep saying that I don't understand stones - maybe but I think even a child can understand the difference between inclusions and a little hole in stone. If you will go to this lot (I wanted to put a link but it's not possible) and make the main photo big you will see it on the left side a little bit under equator of the stone.
On this fact not catawiki's support neither seller doesn't answer and by mysterious reason none of my photos is possible to see! And only after bad review on the site support answered me on the second!!! email. What a mystery!
I'll never ever suggest anyone to do any sell or buy with this horrible service. The worst of all. And they get 25% fee in total from the buyer and seller! I'm just happy that my experience was not very expensive.
No trust to this company of the thiefs. I'm sorry for my english and the expressions but it's so disappointing!”
“Won a Roman coin that could not be shipped to the U.S. due to antiquity laws which were not posted. Made several large purchases prior without any problem. Made my payment but did not hear back concerning a refund from Catawiki after several emails and 2 weeks. In the meantime the seller was very communicative but his hands were tied. I took the initiative to put in a credit card claim. Only then did Catawiki send an email with rude comments and disciplinary action threats.
All in all, terrible customer service for the honorable sellers from which I purchased from.”
“Horrible service. Won a beautiful mineral specimen. Paid the seller a lot of money. Item supposedly shipped September 7, the seller sends me a message a few weeks later saying item is lost in the mail and how would I like to handle this. I said refund me in full please. They say that they have issued refund supposedly and that it is up to the auction site to handle it from that point. I have waited an additional 2 weeks for the refund to show up and it hasn’t. Catawiki or the seller closed the message box for the listing so I cannot even contact the seller anymore. I appear to be out a bunch of money and what I purchased is lost. This is my first experience with this website, I cannot afford to flush money down the toilet but that is exactly what happened here. I am extremely sad and frustrated.”
“Please resubmit again at the end of next week. This week's auction has been compiled already. Thank you Send again at the end of next week. This week's auction has already been filled out. Thanks for the usual phrase that the expert in this case the MAZZA returns to me since May. For a lemon quartz an answer to which you can not say anything, but you can think that behind the sales there are their gems or those of the usual affiliated sellers. If you notice all the experts on their resume they own an online store or a family jewelry store. Which with a minimum of logic makes one think ..... I know if demented or preprinted. The experts carefully evaluate the objects, an unquestionable judgment but why do the experts always evaluate and insert in the auctions the objects of the same sellers? And your parents always postpone in the queue? The answer is simple and it is confirmed .. This is my question why you always prefer the same sellers. Habitual among other non-professionals?
maximum 3 4 approved and sometimes nothing. I remind you that they are the same articles I know where are bought and cost and "quality" reaches you The usual message does not reach 75 euros or does not arouse interest I remind you that I do not sell vegetables. I have been buying gems for more than 15 years I have been passionate about costs, sources and suppliers if you want to give me an expert answer I remind you that maybe in a sense I am more experienced than you .. Be correct. Read the answer it has nothing to do with that what I've said. From italia”
“Plenty of fakes in the so called Egyptian antiquities section. Worse, estimations are crazy for the whole benefit of Catawiki. People who are buying djed pillars or wedjat eyes that were produced by hundreds of thousands should be aware that such very common amulets sell for about €100 in any saleroom.”
“I have to start this review saying this: DONT TRUST THE "EXPERTS" most of them are nothing compared to an expert.
I live in Amsterdam, a city well known for its diamonds trade.
Recently I purchased two diamond rings via Catawiki, the "expert" said that the value for both was around 10,000 Euros or 11,700 US dollars.
I ended up paying around 2,800 EUR including the shipping and taxes because it came from Israel, It all sounds until here quite ok, the problem is when I went to realize the taxation of the rings the jeweler almost laugh at me telling me that unfortunately, the rings are barely worth and with luck no more than 2,000 EUROS! I wanna make clear that I went to not only one but a few many places, all respectable institutions like Lippens, Gassan or even talked with an expert from The Royal Asscher, if you know Amsterdam for sure you all know this places, again, all of them trustable and 100% professional.
To make it clear, DO NOT TRUST CATAWIKI, their experts are mostly nothing and indeed if you click in the small "i" next to the price it says the extimations are aproximate but I am so sorry, from less than 2,000 to 10,000 isn't an aproximation, it is just a cheat.
BEWARE of CATAWIKI and their cheats.”
“As a seller you have no chance. Their Track & Trace system does not work, it doesn't show that the parcel was picked up by the customer, so the money keeps on getting delayed by 2 weeks over and over again. I called Customer Service, they said they will help me and mark the parcel as "Picked up" but they didn't, they just lied to my face. A month is a very long to wait for your OWN MONEY. They just use this new COVID situation to delay your payments. Shame....”
“The feedback system is a joke, negative feedback is removed by Catawiki upon request of thd seller. Feedback is automatically cancelled after 12 months, so anything negative from last year can't be seen. Many sellers have near North Korean style positive ratings of 99,8 %, which is ridiculous. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD STAY AWAY FROM THUS SITE. Too many forgeries.”
“Dear Haydn,
Thank you for your review.
We are sorry to hear that your experience with Catawiki was not the expected one. According to your previous correspondence with our agents, we can see that the lot you have received was conforming to the description advertised and the consumer protection act was not applicable.
Please let us know if you have further questions. we will be happy to assist.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Kind regards ,
Catawiki
The above is their response and is simply lies. Their experts have never viewed the watch. Consumer protection is applicable. They say the seller is not a professional. Anyone who sells over 50 items is in trade and the purchase is covered by the protection. Two basic requirements of the Badges of Trade are Profit Motive the sellers have a reserve price to ensure a profit. The other volume of transactions 50 items is hardly a hobby from an unprofessional. My credit card company will action a refund. Do not buy from Catawiki the will rip you off and clearly decide which part of consumer law suits them. They have failed to prove when the watch was physically seen by their so called experts, Cartier watches come in 3 sizes Ladies, MId (unisex) and Mens. I bought a watch in good faith to be Unisex i.e. Mid size. Despite sending 4 confirmations from jewellers with photos that the watch is a ladies including one on their website they refuse to accept this. Section 75 of the consumer protection clearly covers the purchase. They have no proof that other than photographs they have seen the watch. They further claim the seller is a private seller. I have never met anyone that has numerous watches for sale. They seem to overlook local taxes by the seller. They charged me 20% which is UK VAT not Dutch VAT at 21%. The company is not reputable. They think they are masters of trade yet display the tactics of an inadequate 2nd hand car dealer. Go”
