Attribution more important now

[artifice]

HI Just a thread to consider murano sales in our current economic times,have you like me noticed a big drop of in bidders for any murano you may put up for sale on ebay or shop site,have you noticed the prices asked for well attributed pieces rise,while those of uncertain lineage attract little or no interest, I have, people in uncertain times crave security I suppose and in the case of glass, attribution eases the mind instills confidence in buyers. when I started out collecting Murano if it looked like Murano that was good enough ,that half of it turned out to be Czech no matter it was still accepted as Murano by most. When selling now l find it no longer suffice to simply to say Murano vase/bowl shape&form I feel the need to give an attribution. I think l am not alone here,as l have also noticed a rise in wrongly attributed pieces ,some sellers dish out attributions of F.Toso to anything with the hint of a murrine in it, and some times it seems D Martens designed half of all Murano glass up for sale.Attribution is now I think more important than ever in selling glass, unfortuanatly the unscruplous,will attempt to cash in with wrongly described wares.These are my thoughts at this time,any views welcome

[tam bam]

You are so right Artifice. You put that very well. I do agree. I was trying to get a bird last week made by a certain Murano company and the seller and I went back and forth about it and I told the person that Murano is not selling that great right now and to take my top offer which was very fair. This was on Ebay and the seller had the piece as a Buy it Now/ Or Best Offer type deal. The seller was so quick to decline my offer that I moved on and bought something else. Well, the very next morning the seller comes back and says hey, I will take your offer. I replied and told the seller that it was too late. I think the seller kind of regreted not at least thinking about my offer now. That is just a fine example of people trying to over price for a known maker of Murano. I thought well fine, w'ell see just how fast you sell the item now.

I have been seeing the trend your are talking about lately, Artifice. A lot of the generic Murano is very nice and I have a lot of generic pieces myself. But yes, about 5 years ago there would be about 15 bids on a generic piece on Ebay but now they hardly sell, if the peices sell at all. It is so bizarre. The attributed pieces or pieces by a known maker is super sky high and like my story from above, people don't want to negotiate very well on the price even it says Buy it Now or Best Offer. Well, best offer my butt, the sellers will take no less than 20.00 off. That is not a good deal in some cases. The market is all over the place on the prices for pieces that are attributed and I guess I am just used to seeing the prices so low that it is now sticker shock for me.

[TxSilver]

Keyword spamming is a problem with glass, both for buyers and sellers. It seems to me that more than half of the Murano pieces are not readily attributable. It would be nice if people just called them Murano and left it at that. To try to increase bids by dropping a name is fraud. Of course, a lot of sellers don't know they are doing it. I have made some mistakes in attribution, particularly when I was new to Murano. I didn't know that many companies made pieces that look very similar to each other. So if it looked like Barbini, it was.

Misattributions hurt sellers, too. As you mentioned, anything that looks tutti frutti is often attributed to Martens, though he had nothing to do with these pieces. It trivializes his name and drives down the market for his real pieces.

I guess this should be in chat, but I wanted to mention one other thing. I've noticed since the bad financial times have set in, there has been more Murano glass on eBay and on the message boards that is not easily attributable. I wonder if people are holding on to their attributable pieces until the market improves.

[artifice]

Hi l am greatful for your comments Tam Bam & TxSilver ,first my thoughts on Buy it now, with a best offer option in my view this can lead the seller to inflate the buy it now option to allow him/her to obtain the full market price allowing some buyers the idea that they they have obtained a bargain price when the seller achieved the price the item is worth at top of market.Some may call my view cynical,but in this world of ours you would need to be naive to think it does not happen. I must say that the vast majority of ebay sellers l have dealt with have been honourable ,but on the ebay sites l visit there are a few sharks,people may argue "caveat emptor" but l am for encouraging collectors/buyers as it benefits all engaged in Murano glass if the market is busy and deemed creditable, anyway in antique /collectable trade 10% discount is the norm, hard times would l suggest make this the starting point.Well done Tam bam having courage to walk away from a deal you dont like.In conclusion l think TxSilver is right and this should be on chat section maybe Mod can move it Cliff P.S l am not going to sell anything other than my mistakes at this time from what l see on ebay uk that may be a common view.

[Glebeboi]

Hi there, Im new to here & Im still resonably new to the world of collecting Murano pieces , [about 2 1/2 yrs] and I would have to say that about 95% of mine have all come from ebay. I originally saw this parrot that I thought would look good in my kitchen after ive done all the renovations. So I bought it then discovered it was part of a set of 4. hmmmm. So then I had 4.
But whilst looking around I found that there were other types as well, roosters, cockatiels etc n before I knew it I had all of them - I think? [about 18]. That wasnt going to be a prob until I discovered that I could also buy from ebay overseas countries as well. I have this theory that murano allocates certain colours to different countries, ie: say red parrot to Aust, green to USA, blue to Canada, pink to Uk etc as theyre the same style just not all avail in one country at same time.
Anyways I think I must have - gulp! - over 300 by now!! and wait they're still all in boxes cos I havent finished renovating yet.
But relating back to topic here - I must admit that ebay sellers are an odd breed - I cant figure them out at all sometimes. Ive had some who have a start price and after a couple of days with no bids I ask if they want to offer BiN. They refuse claiming to want to wait til end cos thats when the run comes in. Ok fair enough its their item. Auction ends & Im the only bidder at start price. That piece started at $49.99 and won at same. I was prepared to BiN at $150. This has happened quite a few times. Or the classic when I ask for post cost to send to Aust - [which I cant stand - Im sorry but I only ship within the continental states of the US. Total hypocrites! cos if you look at their buying history theyve bought from outside the continental states of the US]. So rather than sell it to me they have to go thru and relist again usually cheaper, pay more fees etc and go back a week later n still there. haha.
But youre right with the BiN or offer. Some of them the difference is like $5 off. You wonder why they even bother. Some arent even discounted Ive found. But I must admit I have had some good offer wins. 1) BiN $229 - offered $150 & won. 2) Bin $85 - offered $50 & won. 3) best one was BiN $1950 - offered $1000 & won! and i truely didnt expect to. I was being cheeky & placed the bid before going out that night, got home next day to see I'd won.
Unfortunately with ebay its the post thats the killer for us folk down here in Aust. I win a lot at say $20-30 mark but it cost like $38 -60 to get it here -plus exchange rates. And then getting it here is another thing. I must avg 1 in 5 arrive not broken or damaged but in some cases totally smashed to pieces. As for making a claim - forget it! thats a total joke & scam.
But when I do get to unpack them all I know it'll be impressive as I know that I have some truely wonderful pieces and some that im sure are worth a small fortune which I bought for nix.
cheers

[TxSilver]

I've noticed there are different colors of glass in the different countries, too. Australia appears to have more colorful glass than we do in the USA. I've been tempted to buy some of the things, but postage is so high. It costs even more to ship from Australia than to.

Most eBay sellers are fine folks. I sell on eBay whenever the bids are not too low. One reason it is difficult to sell on eBay is that the profit is very low or nonexistent. Sellers quite often pay some amount of money, say $100, for an item, think it will do well, only to have someone snipe it for $49 in the last minute. When considering listing fees, sellers end up paying buyers $60 to buy the glass, though the buyer doesn't realize it. Sellers can start auctions at a higher price, but often no one bids because it is not a bargain. It is a very tough market that requires a lot of understanding between buyers and sellers.

There is no reason justifying bad packaging, though. If you receive something broken from the USA, keep the packaging so you can take it to the post office. Then have the seller file. You should receive your money back. I personally consider a package is mine until it is delivered. If it arrives damaged, it is up to the seller to make sure you don't suffer a loss. PayPal agrees, so there is no need to lose any money.