Dear Giovanni:

I'm so pleased you like my vase! I love the Clair de Lune color and the gu shape. It is about 9.5 inches in height. I have it on a small Louis XV side table and found a small Qing brush pot with a recessed neck in the same color that I have placed with it. I bought both items on eBay from Chamberlain antiques and the owner Josh Chamberlain is lovely to work with and gets some elegant items at his auctions. Nearby I have a large bottle-shaped vase in Clair de Lune that comes from Michael Vermeer's estate and that was sold at the Brunk auction after his death. So that is my Clair de Lune corner! In case you are interested, I'm attaching a few images, but none of these items is for sale!

Kind regards,

Errol

Dear Iluvatar:

I agree that the weakest point of Catawiki is one's inability to contact sellers directly. I never bid on an item on eBay without first contacting the seller. I find that there are almost always questions usually about dimensions or about  apparent flaws that the seller has either overlooked or failed to mention. I think it is in the best interests of sellers too that buyers be able to contact them. A buyer should not open a package and get any unpleasant surprises that lead to acrimony and returns. You might have seen my complaints about Catawiki in another thread on this forum. In the case of one auction I actually, I think, tracked down the seller myself fairly easily because he apparently had the same rather rare silver item for sale on several different platforms including eBay which included his contact information. When I emailed him I was greatly surprised when he stated that the Catawiki auction was "illegitimate." The auction is now over and the item is still posted as being for sale on various websites. It might be that he was not involved and simply had one of a pair of silver goblets, but I doubt it. The story does show though how disadvantageous it is for both buyers and sellers when they cannot get in contact with each other. You might have also seen the post on this forum from Catawiki this week in which they advised potential buyers/bidders who use bidamount.com to address questions about Catawiki items directly to Peter Combs who would then presumably forward them to Catawiki and one of their "experts" would then reply to Peter who would then reply to the potential bidder. That is simply insane and excessively cumbersome. Moreover, my questions related to the dimensions of the item involved. No expert can answer such a question - only the seller can do that. So it's a real mess and why should Peter be burdened with work that Catawiki should be doing themselves?  I assume Catawiki does not want buyers to contact sellers directly because of the very real possibility that they might make a private arrangement that bypasses Catawiki. However, I think their current policy results in even more losses of sales. 

Regards,

Errol

Posted by: clayandbrush

I am really tired with ebay and their stupid policies. Here some of them.

• I live in Italy. If I list my items on ebay.it, I have no visibility at all. Then, to have visibility, I am forced to list on ebay.com. Why shouldn’t be a single global place? Which sense has today to have their site split on different areas, with different rules? That is STUPID.
• On ebay.com, you have a paid choice that allow you visibility on ebay.gb. Why England and not other Countries? Which sense has all this? That’s STUPID.
• If I have some problem on an item that I have listed on ebay.com, I can’t contact ebay.it for that. They say that I have to contact ebay.com instead. That’s STUPID.
• Of I need assistance at ebay Italy, I can contact them by mail, chat, or phone. But if I need assistance for an item that I have listed on ebay.com, the only way to contact them is by phone. I must phone from Italy to USA, with all the related problems (cost, understanding, and so on). That’s STUPID.
• Ebay allows a maximum of 12 picture for each listing. Each picture has a maximum weight of 12 MB. Yes, it is not a mistake, it is 12MB!!!!!!!!! Twelve pictures are not enough in many cases, when you have to show details, damages, etc. Why on Earth should one need an image of 12 MB?? Instead of 12 images of that weight, each listing could host 720 images weighing 200 kB each, which is much, really much more than enough for a picture that have to be seen on a monitor. Why are them not impose a limit of 200 kB for each image, and increase the maximum number of images, saving even a LOT of space on their servers? That is not only STUPID, that is IDIOT.
• Ebay ALWAYS protect the buyer, and ALWAYS at seller’s expense. How to call an attitude that completely ignore seller’s right, when it is obvious that no sellers = no ebay, other than saying that it is STUPID?
• If one list an item declaring that he does not accept return, and clearly says that minor blemishes like surface wear is expected on a 300 year sold item, and that alone can’t be accepted as a valid reason for return, ebay forces him to accept the return for whatsoever reason raised by the buyer. In practice, there is no way for not accepting return. So why ebay lets you declare that you do not accept return if at the same time always forces you to accept it? That’s STUPID.
• I had some problems with some buyers. One refused a Kangxi rare dish, saying that the glaze thickness was not uniform and that must be considered a damage. Yes, it is true, damage!! Another one refused a vase saying that the glaze crackling were hairlines. A net of hairlines!! When this happens, you have a message from ebay saying that the buyer is contesting the purchase. You can only accept the return, or offer a partial refund, or refund completely without the return. No way to contact ebay for explaining that the reason raised by the buyer are not valid. Your money is automatically locked on paypal and you are forced to accept the return or to offer a partial refund. That is the more STUPID attitude that one can imagine.
• It is clear that, being so, (point 8), not honest buyers are invited to offer a substantial amount, because they are sure that after winning, they will raise the most stupid, or useless or invalid claim, being sure that they will obtain a partial refund. Which is set by them. That is not a buyer protection, that is an incitation to behave not honestly, in other words incitation to stealing. That is not only STUPID, that should be seen as an illegal attitude, and should be enough for a class action against ebay.
• In conclusion, ebay is STUPID and I have really enough of all that. I hope that soon or later a real alternative will appear. Katawiki is not enough, they too have some stupid things unfortunately.

Giovanni

Couldn't agree more.
I absolutely hate ebay and their stupid policies. There is even much more to that what you have listed Giovanni. The list could o on and on. That's why I have set up my own store, where nobody tells me what to do and how to solve problems. I run the show and that's it, there is nobody between me and my customers. Yes, I pay an annual fee, but ebay has exactly the same or even higher prices for their store.
I recommend you Giovanni - do the same, if you are a dealer, be independent, open your own store. It takes a bit of a time: domain, logo, renting server, but then setting it up is very easy and you have the full support from the supplier depending on what platform you go for. And another great aspect for doing so (if you plan to grow of course) is that you are building yourself a brand, a name. No matter who you really are, doing this via ebay is harder and yet again - it won't be your independent success, ebay will always stay behind. Now all those e-store platforms are well connected to social media - it's quite easy to get attention online: you put another product in the stock and its available instantly on facebook, instagram, etc. If I was doing only that and not having a full time job, I'd get much more sells than I have now. Yet I think that from this alternative: my own store vs ebay, the choice is simple.

All the best,

Adrian

Wow, so many answers, thank you.

Dear Short Dong, I didn’t see your first answer, sorry for not having replied sooner. You made a very good suggestion; contacting the buyer before sending the purchase is a good idea. Especially valid in case of new customers, or buyers with low feedbacks. That way I can supply more pictures than those allowed on ebay.

Contacting ebay is possible but the way of doing it depends from the location. Ebay.com is only contactable by phone, I found this as a way for discouraging ebay.com accounts from other Countries. I don’t know why they keep different places and rules. Some ebay’s features are only possible for ebay.uk or ebay.de accounts.

I don’t think that ebay could force a seller to refund the buyer if the money is not on paypal account. That is not possible, may be you mean that they will force to refund by threatening of suspension of the account.

I had a request asking about the shipping cost of that big vase to UK, to which I answered that it is 35 dollars. Were you?

Dear Supioduo, you are right, I knew that some of ebay’s choices are stupid for us users but are deliberately made for increasing their income. This is especially true for the market of antiques. It is well known that 90% of antiques on ebay are fake, but they do not take action just for that, could them give up of 90% of the income? Not, damn money.

Dear Erroll, I am glad that you bought a vase coming from my dear friend Mike Vermeer. Most of his pieces were sold at that strange Brunk auction, which has been a disaster. Many good pieces were sold at very low prices. Many was bought by the ebay seller The Joanie House, who resold them on ebay with a great gain. Beware because I saw that she applied Mike’s labels on some items that was not belonging from him.

How ridiculous Katawiki asking users to contact through Peter (a third party), crazy!

Dear Adrian, that is surely the best way. I thought about that in the past, but I think that it is not the case for myself, especially now. I started to sell what I want to get rid of my collection, and what I find here around at local antique stores, flea markets, etc. But now the availability dropped dramatically so it is not worth to run a site for so few occasional items, besides my lack of skills about these new technologies.

Thank you all!

Giovanni

Hi Giovanni,

Adrian from Malka Art has raised some thoughtful and interesting points with regard to your current backlash against eBay and others.

His suggestion would in all fairness probably solve your concerns. I don't know Adrian at all but I do follow his website etc.

I believe even Xin who also had an eBay account has also set up his or with another entity a similar web page as Adrian.

With the exposure to this forum/website growing day-to-day I am convinced that if you sold/advertise your goods and more importantly yourself via said page you could and in all probability solve any issues you currently have.

I understand whole heartily the frustration that you are experiencing. I many moons ago way before PayPal was even a thought use to trade on eBay through western unionn.

Food for thought!

Mark

Dear Short Dong,

you mentioned the items that I am currently selling. The best piece there is the qianjiang footed bowl, which is a “connoisseur” vessel. Rare because of the date and because signed by a famous artist.

It is dated 1881, hence one of the earliest piece of this style, when they were known among a strict group of appraisers. If you have never read about this, look here what Mr. Koh says about earlier qianjiang ware:

  http://www.koh-antique.com/qj/qjmain.html

Dear Erroll, nice clair de lune items ! How has it been dated the water pot? Not 18^th C. I think, because they are extremely are and command stratospheric prices, Chamberlain knows this very well.

I particularly like the gu vase, it is grandiose.

Giovanni

Dear Mark,

yes, that's true, it would be the best way but as said my sales are reduced in number, it depends on what I find.

Actually I am thinking about having my own site for another reason. Time permitting I will study the possibility, to see if it is not that difficult, because I am not so expert about these technologies, and especially about social places like facebook etc, I am not acting there.

The reason for thinking about having my own site is that I would like to show my collection of snuff bottles, to make them known.

Giovanni

Dear Giovanni:

My Clair de Lune bottle vase with the Vermeer-Griggs label was not obtained from Joanie's. One of the photographs that I attached to my post is from the actual online Brunk auction house catalog. It shows three vases of which I own the largest. I think that is good enough proof that the vase originated from the Vermeer estate. I did buy a green-glazed bottle vase with the Vermeer-Griggs label through Joanie, but I first found it in the Brunk catalog also so I would assume that that vase too came directly to Brunk from the estate and then was bought by Joanie's.

Good luck with your selling problem on eBay. I know nothing about that topic. I wonder though whether you could not filter out bidders when you hold auctions if the bidders, for example,  have zero or perhaps fewer than five prior successful bids that got good ratings from other sellers?

I know personally another eBay seller, who has high-end items, who has given up on eBay for reasons similar to yours. She told me that mainland Chinese buyers often resort to the tactics you describe in the hope of knocking down the auction price after they have won the piece. In other words, it's blackmail pure and simple. I do understand from your posts though that there are many other different problems for sellers. I had no idea that the combined eBay/Paypal cost to sellers was 20% of the sales price. Additionally, as you point out, Paypal has exorbitantly high fees for currency conversions both for buyers and sellers.

Regards,

Errol

Well done on your vase Giovanni, It was beautiful one, and very large. A very lucky buyer. I think you got a fair price. I was an early bidder on the  crackle Vase (small peanuts) Under £100 and I was not the person who inquired about postage 🙂 

That is a beautiful Crackle Vase. 

Hello Giovanni:

In response to your question, the water pot according to Josh Chamberlain has a six character Kangxi mark on the foot (see attachment). However, in his eBay description he stated that he thought it was early 20th century in dating. I asked Peter about it prior to bidding and he agreed with that and thought it could possibly be a little earlier, perhaps late 19th century as far as I can recall. In this case, the price was not stratospheric I got it for about $800 at auction and it has a couple of relatively inconspicuous chips to the rim. I'd appreciate your thoughts on the likely dating of the pot. I include in the photographs a true Kangxi peachbloom water pot with a similar configuration to mine and a similar recessed neck that is in the collection of the NY Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Many thanks and best regards,

Errol

Dear Short Dong, thank you. It will go back to China ? 

Dear Erroll, when I saw your water pot in the first picture, not seeing the base, I thought that, if not modern, it should be Republic at its best.

But now seeing the pictures of the base I think that Peter is right, it could well be late 19th. Good purchase!

Giovanni

Hi Giovanni,

I would appreciate a link to your eBay page in order to have a look at your items currently on offer.

Mark

Hi Giovanni:

I'm pleased you think the pot is probably late 19th century. I owe a lot to Peter who has often very generously taken the time to advise me on potential purchases. Apart from that watching his weekly videos is a wonderful way of picking up information and getting educated.

I too would appreciate a link to your eBay web page.

Regards,

Errol

Dear Mark and Erroll,

my ebay name is the same that I have here, clayandbrush.

I have nothing on sale currently. I had three lots that ended yesterday, one very early qianjiang style footed bowl dated 1881 and signed by a known artist, the vase mentioned by Short Dong and a lot of seven overlay glass snuff bottles. This last lot was not sold because there was a reserve price of 600 dollars, much less than what I paid them.

Yes, I am not among those big sellers that sell anything they have on sale, and at high price. It seems that many ebay buyers are more attracted by the quantity of items that you have on sale than else. They evidently thinks that antiques should be found at supermarkets.

I will list something within a couple of weeks, I think.

Giovanni

Thank you Giovanni,

I understand from the local supermarket that qianlong imperial maderins are on sale next to tongzhi red tomatoes.

When you do list can you please provide a link I would be very interested in buying from you. The market for snuff bottles can be very brutal as you probably already know.

Mark