Michael D.

You would think that after all these years in business they might be able to iron out some of the kinks?! Think again! You might think this Auctiva idea never left the family garage. Customer service is some of the worst I have ever encountered! They just made a big change with their templates which now only show 5 photos with nothing posted to let customers know that by clicking on one, there are many more. I already had an Ebay customer ask me why there were no photos of the watch movement. I had to cancel the listing along with 10 other listings. Auctiva has no doubt cost us a lot of money over the years with their incompetence!

The following is an email that I sent to Artfact the sister company of Invaluable in which I had sent several times without even a response;

To whom it may concern,

I have been a member of Invaluable for about 2 years now and along with access to your database of past auction results, I use the on-line bidding feature on a daily basis. I am grateful for the opportunity that has been given to me as it has helped me financially by purchasing items for resale. However, it does not come without a cost. I don't mean the regular fees associated with on-line bidding and buyers premiums. I am talking about your member auction houses taking advantage of on-line buyers because they cannot see the items in which they are bidding, in person. We have to rely on honesty from these auction houses and I must report that that honesty is a very gray area. Most of these companies have an area of "Small Print" in their on-line bidding contract that states they are not responsible for the condition of items and that it is our responsibility to ask if an item is damaged in any way. By doing this, it becomes a clever numbers game for that auction house where a certain percentage of Invaluable on-line bidders might not ask if a valuable item has a crack or a dent that is conveniently not photographed or disclosed in the item description. I know first hand of these practices as I myself have suffered losses due to such practices. I am a power seller on EBay where there is a well oiled system in place to protect buyers, more so than the seller. It is not only my duty as a seller on EBay to disclose each and every detail concerning condition in my listings, it is a matter of my being ably to continue the privilege of being able to use the valuable services that EBay offers me as a seller. In fact my membership depends on it and could be in jeopardy.
This is the third time in several months that I am writing to Invaluable with these concerns and have yet to receive a response from anyone. I was once told about a year ago that basically it is not Invaluable responsibility as Invaluable is only a liaison. I must inform you that if this continues on a large scale which it will, you will find out eventually that it is your responsibility because you could have done something about it. Like myself as an Invaluable member bidder, These auction houses are also members that Invaluable provides a valuable service in which they greatly rely upon. If you do not currently have rules in place to protect the buyers who use your service, then I believe it to be in every ones best interest to implement some changes in policy. In the long run, and I mean long because your service is so wonderful, I believe that Invaluable will be around for a long time, "it will pay off". Why, because morally, its the right thing to do. All I am asking is that member Auction houses be required to disclose proper condition reports in their listings if they want to continue to use the services of Invaluable and Art fact.
If you would like, I would be happy to consult with Invaluable concerning these serious matters and help in any way I can.