Artfire.com is an online marketplace that bridges the gap between vendors and consumers, according to the official website.
About ArtFire
ArtFire was established by Maker House’s founder, John Jacobs. Maker House was a land-based entertainment venue at 283 N Stone Ave, Tucson, AZ 85701.
Image: BBB
Maker House Shuttered Its Doors Permanent
Maker House has been officially closed as of April 11, 2015, according to an article posted online at Tucson.com. In April 2015, John Jacobs, owner, announced Maker House would permanently shutter its doors on April 11, 2015.
Image: Tuscom.com
Maker House Facebook page has not been active since March 31, 2018. A business search via the Arizona Corporation Commission shows the LLC filing for Maker House in the “Inactive” status. The filing has been inactive since May 2016.
Image: Arizona Corporation Commission
Image: Arizona Corporation Commission
ArtFire LLC
A business search via the Arizona Corporation Commission validates ArtFire as an active LLC. The owner is Magnitude Management Services INC.
Image: Arizona Corporation Commission
Not Accredited By BBB
Art Fire is not BBB-accredited. The BBB filing for ArtFire utilizes the address 17 E Pennington, Tucson, AZ 85701. A Google search shows the address, 17 E. Pennington St., Tucson, AZ 85701, which is connected to Nuanced Media, according to a Yelp filing.
Image: Arizona Corporation Commission
Art Fire has a D- BBB rating and 1-star customer rating, with 28 complaints in the last year and 67 complaints in the last 3 years. The customer complaints are regarding delivery, refund, and knockoffs sold as genuine brand-name products.
Image: BBB
Several customers claim ArtFire sellers were advertising knockoff NFL apparel as genuine. A red flag, the prices are a small fraction of the original prices.
Image: BBB
ArtFire Seller Account
A BBB complaint caught our attention, regarding an ArtFire merchant account. The complaint claimed vendors could electronically transfer their Esty listings to the ArtFire platform. The customer agreed to pay a $255.95-membership fee, only to disocfer the Etsy transfer was not an option. A BBB complaint ended in a $35 refund, nothing more, nothing less.
Image: BBB
ArtFire’s response is generic, refusing to take responsibility for its merchants’ fraudulent activities.
ArtFire Facebook
The Artfire Facebook page shows 59,049 followers, with minimal engagement. Each post has a maximum of 6 likes at best. With 59,000 followers, you would expect a lot of engagement from followers. The only plausible explanation is paid followers.
Image: Facebook
Google Image Search
A Google Image Search for “Wedding Shoes Green Apple Bridle Shoes” rendered a connected with another website wwb.sneakera2020.com. Several Google Image Searches linked to other websites. The duplicates may be ArtFire sellers promoting their products on other online marketplace platforms.
Image: artfire.com
While ArtFire sales are limited to homemade items like Etsy, a Google Image Search rendered several websites selling the same products.
Image: Artfire.com
1.7-Star Trustpilot Rating
The 1.7-star Trustpilot customer rating is linked to shipping issues and unauthorized credit card charges. A customer claimed to have been charged twice for a firepit that never shipped. There are loads of similar complaints.
Image: BBB
Summary – ArtFire Scam
Art Fire scam! ArtFire is a suspicious website with loads of BBB, Trustpilot, and SiteJabber complaints, all of which are similar. Customer places an order and seller issues fake tracking number (no tracking number in some cases). Most of the complaints were associated with NFL apparel, which was priced at a fraction of the original cost. This is the first red flag, prices slashed by 50%, in some cases. If it is too good to be true, in most cases, it is too good to be true.
Image: BBB
How is NFL apparel “handmade goods?”
If the LinkedIn filing is up-to-date, John Jacobs is still the owner and CEO of ArtFire. He claims to have more than 60,000 ArtFire merchants selling “homemade goods.”
Image: LinkedIn
Image: BBB
ArtFire has nearly 60,000 Facebook followers, with minimal engagement. The most recent posts have between 1 and 8 likes, most of which are the same Facebook members. If the followers were real people, each ArtFire post would receive endless response.
Image: WhoIs
Unfortunately, there is a new ArtFire scam victim every minute (not literally). If eBay and Amazon refused to protect their customers from fraudulent sellers like ArtFire, they would have been forced out of business a lot time ago.
If ArtFire had 60,000 vendors, there would be no need to buy Google ads. Craftspeople would flock to the platform to promote their handmade creations.
When ArtFire vendors are scamming consumers, ArtFire is scamming consumers.
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