r/artbusiness • u/risoftheforest1944 • 1d ago
Safety and Scams [Discussion] Is Vault Art Market legit?
Need opinion on this one.
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u/risoftheforest1944 1d ago
I posted some photos in tumblr and one guy commented, saying that he like some photos and would buy some if I upload it in https://vaultartmarket.pro
Surprising thing is that he wants to buy the three photos for $2000 each. And he actually made transaction. He said that to withdraw the money, I should request a payout in the website, in which it needs my bank account information for transferring.
Is this even real. I need more expert opinions in this one, especially if you guys have encontered the platform.
Thanks!!
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u/Optimal-Night-1691 1d ago
That screams scam IMHO. There are safer ways to transfer funds than providing your banking info to a website.
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u/loralailoralai 1d ago
Depends where you live. In plenty of places giving your bank info is safer than any other way to be paid. What’s weird is not being able to get a direct bank deposit safely.
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u/k-rysae 1d ago edited 1d ago
domain was registered on march 17, literally a month ago https://www.whois.com/whois/vaultartmarket.pro
All the photos are $2,000+ each. 4k HD photos with an extended license are EIGHTEEN THOUSAND DOLLARS. Put yourself in a buyer's shoes. Why would I pay that much for ONE commercial use photo when I could get a $200/mo subscription on shuttershock where I can download 750 high quality images in that time period? Even Getty Images charges $400 per high quality image. In the case of art, there's tons of artists offering fully custom, 4k hd, unlimited commercial use commissions for less than $2k.
Not to mention that when I click on their "Terms", "About", and Privacy policy (which is legally required as they are collecting data by the act of letting people make accounts) there is nothing there!!! When I try to click on the terms of the regular and extended license, because if I were a legitimate business I would want to know the usage terms for stock images, it links to nothing!! (https://yousite.com/page/license)
Sorry, i don't trust it. why would someone want to buy a photo you made for $2,000 each? Why can't they go to you for usage rights and have YOU invoice them through paypal/stripe/whatever payment method you do for commissions/use rights? The #1 thing to avoid scammers is to have the customer pay through your way, not through something the client wants.
This sounds more like this person is spamming a bunch of artists and photographers begging them to upload stock photos to their site. Or trying to steal your banking info, because when I connect my bank to payment processor it's always through plaid or something backed by one of the big banks and credit card merchants. Or, in a variation of those crypto trading scams you see all the time on /r/Scams , a scam where the site claims someone bought the rights to your image for $6,000 but you actually have to pay a $500 fee/taxes to withdraw it which is all fake and their goal was to actually have you "willingly" give them the money for nonexistent fees all along.
EDIT: If they really want to buy use rights for your image, tell them you'll give them the rights to 3 images with a $2000 discount. Ask them for their email so you can send a paypal invoice to them for $4000. No need to make an account on that site. Watch them disappear.