Sanity check please - was I 'devaluing her art' or is this seller a headcase?

[catPA]

I bought some items from an online artist based in Canada. The first purchase was for just under £200 and I paid about £45 in customs tax for that. Fine.

After my first purchase (but while it was still in transit), I looked at her Instagram and the seller had done various posts about how her business is struggling to survive, 'artist poverty is real', '30% off with code 'help me pay my electric bill' etc. I thought all this seemed a bit 'unusual,' (also possibly a bit 'tone deaf' as she lives in a huge, beautiful house by the sea and does her art full time so she can be a SAHM - not a choice many women could make)! But I thought fair enough, she's being honest; I genuinely love her art and good for her living her dream. I wanted to support her business if I could.

So I bought another item for £280 which had previously been listed at about £450 (I think). She was doing a sale across all her work.

I couldn't have afforded it at £450 and also the higher customs tax would have been a bit much for me, on balance.

Anyway, both packages didn't arrive for ages and it turned out they were being held at the post office, pending customs charges. The first package, as I said, required a £45 customs tax payment. However, the second package, required a customs tax payment of £95! I asked how that could be possible, when I had paid £280 for the item. Then I saw that the unexpectedly high customs tax was because the seller had stated the value of goods as £450 (or the equivalent in Canadian dollars).

I messaged the seller and told her that surely it's standard practice to state the actual transaction price on a package for customs purposes.

Thst was it. She was straight into "What do you expect me to do?" etc. Then went into the woe-is-me 'artist poverty is real' and how could I be devaluing her art in this way. She got very personalised very quickly. She said she will never devalue her work again because I had done that for her! She said I was essentially asking her to defraud customs. She basically said she wished she had never sold me anything because I don't value her art!

Ffs I had spent over £600 on it (with the tax). I was talking about labelling for customs tax - I believe it should be the transaction amount stated, not some previous price. How is that in my control?

In summary, she became very unprofessional with me and then blocked me.

I had left her a really positive comment on Instagram as well - before all this!

Apologies for the length.

WIBU?

Also, should I leave her a review stating my experience?

What a fucking idiot.

Just send her that as a message.

I had a similar occurrence with a discounted product, a handmade sign. It was about 70% off, but customs receipt had full price so I ended up with a huge customs bill.
Is there possibly a reason seller's do this, something in their benefit?

"The value, it's more now on what someone will pay". Well, duh. She's nuts. Dying to see what she makes but appreciate you probably don't want to share.

You are correct. She is indeed a head case.

I know someone from the UK who now lives abroad and sells her ‘art’ via Instagram. It’s really lovely work but very expensive. She’s always having sales and moaning about needing to sell quick to pay one bill or another. She’s using all sorts of means to get money given to her. She’s a grifter!

Thank you. It's true, I would have bought more from her in the future no doubt, if this hadn't happened.

Now, to be honest, I feel as though I have art by an oddball person on my walls!

leave a review saying that you have bought two of her pieces and that she deliberately overvalued a piece on the customs label leaving you 50 quid out of pocket that you weren't expecting?

then block and leave well alone. She's an idiot.

I love her comment about how the value of something is what someone is willing to pay, not what it costs to make. She is saying it as if it’s some kind of gotcha, but it is the actual definition of economic value.

this is why I trained as an economist and my work as an artist remains a hobby. I know that no one would ever pay even minimum wage plus materials for what it takes me to make most pieces.

people need to be incredibly talented and more than lucky to earn a living as an artist.

Art is only worth what someone is prepared to pay for it. She didn’t get $450 because it wasn’t worth $450. You didn’t devalue her work. She over valued it.

I know, I mean it was her decision to have a sale and sell at that price. What else did she want me to do?

Did she think the customs people were going to decide they wouldn’t buy her art as it was so cheap or something?
She sounds crackers.

You need to out crazy and be out offended

"I am deeply wounded by your harsh implications .." type of thing

Even today, I saw she has left a long 'woe is me' post on her Instagram, essentially being rude about a customer (not me)!

Her responses are ridiculous- defintely do not engage in any more messages. If she thinks it wasn't sold for the correct price, she shouldn't have discounted it.

Give the art some time on your wall- hopefully you can look back and laugh at the craziness, and enjoy the pieces again in addition to the story of their acquisition!

@Soontobe60 - I wonder if it's the same person?!

She bonkers. I live offshore and we often have to pay local tax on items delivered, we pay it on the amount actually paid for the item, not the pre-sale price! I'd leave a review.

So weird. Why would she shoot herself in the foot like this by overcharging a customer money that she won’t see anyway?

Can't be legal to write a higher price on papers than the price sold for. You should be able get £ return by showing the reciept.

She is a nutcase.

Wow she sounds like a total dick in those screenshots. Something is only worth what someone else is prepared to pay and if people will only pay $200 not $400 then it's not worth $400.

Also I can't stand it when artists refer to their pieces as "she", bleugh.

She needs to pull her head out of her arse.

Absolutely batshit

Yep, she’s mad.

Fucking nutcase.

It's worth what you paid; that's what it sold for, that's what should have been on the customs info.

I'd leave a simple review.

"I paid X amount for a piece of art, but artist stated X amount on the customs leading to an extra unexpected charge of £95. Seller was unfortunately not helpful when I approached her with her mistake."

If she's an experienced seller she should know for customs you write the actual price paid. She should have apologised for the error.

You could have argued it out with customs by showing the invoice and having the amount due recalculated.

She sounds crazy! Hilarious that she's claiming you're devaluing her work when she's the one who put it on sale.

I can't stand 'artists' who act as though they're doing the world a personal favour by creating art. We should all worship at their feet for their selflessness. If someone can't support themselves financially with their art, they should do it as a hobby, like the rest of us do!

I have a similar reaction to people who describe themselves as public servants and then imply that they've made some sort of sacrifice by pursuing their chosen career. 🙄