Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in North Carolina

First, its not a donation. if you give money, you give money and do not get anything in return, like when you give money to a charity of some kind unless they are offering some kind of promotion (for example a local PBS station has a fundraiser and promises its donors they get a totebag or magazine or something if they give a certain amount). If he is not a charity, then its a sale of goods - his artwork for $20.

Second, if you used a real credit card (not an ATM card) you havve 60 days from the date that the charges first appear to dispute the charges with a credit card company. You can try, but if the payment went to Pay Pal rather than the person and Pay Pal substantiated the charges, then this may not go anywhere. I would try anyway and see if you can explain it well enough and provide the documentation to support this to the credit card disputes department.

If the person was so big of a fool as to send messages advising that they basically had no intent on delivering the product and planned on raking in dough, then that is theft by deception (or some similarly named offense). However, you do not indicate where he is located. If he is in the United States, then contact the authorities in the city/state where he is located and turn over your information to law enforcement. Chances are if he ripped you off then he has ripped off others as well.

If he is out of the US, you can go file a complaint with federal authorities, but this will go nowhere. You will have learned a $20 lesson.

In the future, avoid doing business with disreputable people. There are plenty of legitimate charities to which you can give money.