Quote:
Originally Posted by barrysloate
It's apparent that even prestigious auction houses are not doing their due diligence to determine whether or not certain items are real. There are so many knock off and downright counterfeit items in the marketplace that something like this doesn't surprise me. Of course, all he is entitled to is a refund, and maybe if he's lucky an apology. Suing for $7 million is ridiculous. I too am glad he lost.
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While I agree that it was WAY over the top to sue for 7m, I also think it lets the auction house off the hook a little too easily regarding the due diligence issue - There needs to be some level of responsibility greater than simply giving a refund when a buyer happens to find out an item is not what they bought it as - IF an auction house wanted to take the "risk" of misrepresenting items and only have to refund the buyers that find out, it seems that the "reward" would far outweigh the "risk". I think some type of standard should be set - 1.5x the final bid refund? - that would act as some level of true "risk" for misrepresented items.
my 2 cents.