Buying paint on Ebay

[David Sorg]

Has anyone purchased any of the paint offered on ebay? I've seen most major brands offered, with final prices often far below the deepest discount one would find from an art supplier.

Are these legitimate tubes of paint? How do these sellers keep coming up with these 8 or 20 or 40 tube sets? They say "new, never opened" but could they be ten years old or something?

Just wondering if there's a caveat before I bid $20 on $125 worth of paint...?

[Chris Saper]

HI David,

I've had great results with Ebay, but it is buyer beware. You can email and ask questions of the sellers and also get the information on how other people rate their experience with a particular seller.

People are very quick to write scathingly bad reviews when they get burned.

I've bought brushes, clothing, cameras, printer ink, a Flamenco shawl, deerskin hides, faceted semi-oprecious stones and a skull model. And I am sure tons of other things as well, and so far I have had excellent luck.

I NEVER BUY if the buyer won't take PayPal. Requirements for written checks, money orders or Western Union payments are recipes for disaster.

For $20 go for it.

[Cynthia Daniel]

Note that if you click the small ebay banner on the right, the Forum gets a small commission - usually amounts to less than a dollar.

[Jean Kelly]

I've had excellent luck also, once purchasing aver $350.00 worth of paint for about $75.00. Brushes, conte crayon, ect. but I would think more than twice about any canvas or linen.

Happy bidding.

Jean

[Julie Deane]

Ive bought paper, pastels, some oil paints, used cameras, clothing, books, etc. I never had a bad deal, although you can get ripped off by shipping costs if you're not careful. I always check out the person's feedback, really reading the responses (It could say "positive" but the text might not be) and how long they have done business under that name.
I too draw the line at linen canvas, but was really tempted this past week. But paint lasts for a very long time, so it could have sat around in someone's home and still be good. Just check out that buyer info.

[Claudemir Bonfim]

I never had trouble. Most of the time I buy my stuff from Amazon ( and I use Cynthia's link, and I hope it is working). The last book I purchased was untouched.