Art scam sample reply (email) letter

If you want to use the following sample reply letter verbatim when you reply to potential art scammers then feel free to do so. It is just an example though so swap and change things around to suit your own writing/communication style. I do suggest that you try and use the same sort of formatting in the sense that whatever you send should have the below mentioned key components in the mail so you can properly assess whether they are genuine sales enquiries or not.

One of, if not the most important key factor you should look out for is over payment, if that happens politely refuse along the lines of "you don't know what the total amount if yet" and then lay out details/terms regarding what and how costs/payment should be made. Also watch out for 'money grams', flat refuse those, so make sure you state legitimate payment terms - PayPal is another valid alternative if you have an account that's widely accepted with pretty strong anti-fraud checks in place.

Dear [name]

Thank you for contacting me in regards to the purchase of my artwork which you saw on my web site [link]. I can confirm that the following [artworks - painting, sculptures, drawing, prints etc.] are still available for purchase;

1. [list item 1] priced at £[value]
2. [list item 2] priced at £[value]
3. ...
4. ..

The total cost of the above artworks comes to £[value] excluding insurance and delivery, which is usually carried out by [UPS, CityLink, etc.]; a delivery address will be required so that a finalised total can be put together for you that will include the cost of the artworks, insurance and delivery.

Payment should be made in full and drawn from either a known high street bank in the UK (Lloyds, Abbey, NatWest, HSBC etc.) as a 'bankers draft' or from a known international bank; please note 'personal' or 'business' cheques are not accepted, neither are 'money grams', 'money orders' or payments from 'Western Union'.

IMPORTANT : please be aware that as is standard practice, your order will not be shipped out to the address which you provided for delivery until payment has been receive, processed in full.

If you have any questions or comments about the above, please reply ASAP and I'll/we'll do my/our best to respond appropriately post haste.

[Salutation - Yours Sincerely, Best Regards, etc.]

[Artists name]

[Artists brief contact details]

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