Sellers selling design items with wrong designer and factory names

[cajan-mika]

Hey, 

This is really hard topic as I tried once helping one seller and it ended up as a storm of insults from the other seller and I needed to block the seller from sending me messages. 

I sell only Finnish mid-century modern design glass. It has been my love and hobby for a decade now. 

I have one nice customer who buys a lot of Kaj Franck design glass and once he sent a photo of his collections to me.  It was sad to see that there was many items which were not designed by Kaj Franck. I was able to help him to identify the glassware as other designers glass from different European countries. 

My next step was to go through Ebay with the advertisement selling Kaj Franck. There are so many items which are listed as Kaj Franck but are not from him. I know it for sure as I have spent hundreds of hours in museums, in internet and in libraries studying his work.  I have made sure that I'm not talking about the advertisements stating "In the manner of Kaj Franck", "Kaj Franck era" or "Similar to Kaj Franck" 

As I believe disinformation should not be allowed but I don't know how to approach this deligate subject carefully enough. 

If  I start reporting items I think I should be able to identify the items as what they really are and I cannot just report items saying "this is not Kaj Franck".  But this method is so hard and takes time going through Google pictures like a maniac. 

I don't want any harm to other sellers. I would love to PM them saying that this might not be Kaj Franck and I have tried it but I don't get any answers. 

What do you other sellers think. Should I just mind my own business even though I really think that others should not be selling glassware as Kaj Franck unless they are sure about it's really designed by him?

[castlemagicmemories]

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wrote:

Let's but it this way. Someone buys the item and learns it's not what was said in the advertisement. 

That means negative feedback, returning the money and paying shipping two-ways.

So me pointing out wrongly listed design items can also be seen as a favor to the seller. I believe so but unfortunately the person I tried to help did not see it that way. 

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You're right and I have approached similiar situations like that, with the same results.  I am less inclined now to help for the few who genuinely appreciate it, because of those who really don't care and take it out on you. 

Sometimes people just don't appreciate your help; then there should be no surprise when the negs show up.

[castlemagicmemories]

There's an old saying, no good deed goes unpunished, that I think is very applicable here, sadly.

It makes you sorry you tried to help someone.  

[thallidguy]

I understand your concern and sympathize with it, but realistically I think this is a real problem without an easy solution.

There are two fundamental issues that it's very difficult to get around:

One is that sellers have been harrassing competing sellers on eBay since Day One. A seller may suspect that you're trying to mess with him rather than help him. And if he's of that mindset, the fact that you trade in the same items that he sells is bound to make him more suspicious, not less.

The other issue is very much related: Ultimately, we're all strangers here. No one really knows who you are, or why they should trust your claim to authority. A few times, I have had people message me about errors in my listings; they were items about which I didn't know as much as I might, so after a little more research that verified that they were right, I accepted the correction and thanked them. But it's always a roll of the dice, for understandable reasons — some stranger appears out of nowhere and tells you that you don't know what you're talking about? Always dicey.

So I understand your frustration, but I suspect that the nature of the medium is always going to get in the way of what you want to do: As the expression goes, on the Internet no one knows that you're a dog.

A well-meaning suggestion that may or may not help: Maybe take up blogging to work through the frustration? Since you have a clearly defined interest and are obviously passionate about it, a blog with good Search Engine Optimization could draw in people who are also interested in that genre and the related designers. A blog gives you the time and space to convince people that you know what you're talking about. If they Google "Kaj Franck" and they find your blog, your insights might help them. Just a thought. 

[the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth]

I've been told to MYOB a few times. So the only time I email now is if I have proof I can show someone. They have no idea I was a founding member of my collector's club or have bought and sold only in my niche for 20 years. 

[lintbrush*]

Unless I can help another seller with the right information to correct their listing, I keep my mouth shut.

If I see a pattern I know but the seller hasn't included it, I tell them.

If I see a typo in the title and they look like they do try, I tell them.

If I can identify a maker and the seller doesn't know, I tell them.

If I see a glaring error in the listing that could hurt the sale, I tell them.

I can only think of one (which happened to be recent) where the seller hasn't thanked me.  His listings were showing all the html coding.  I shot off a message - heard nothing back.

I don't go looking for mistakes though.  These are things I just happen upon.

[tellmemama]

It's a tough call but I vote not to message them.  I've been collecting mid century since before it got expensive but I am not familiar with this designer.  That said, the ones selling fakes must have a little bit of knowledge to keyword spam his name.  Of course they know they will get more money for a Kaj Franck piece than a unattributed mid century art glass piece.

I too have fairly extensive knowledge in my vintage toys niche since I've been selling them for over twenty years.  I own a few dozen reference books written by the most respected experts.  So I could easily troll the listings and contact other sellers trying to correct their accidental/blatant errors but what's the point?  Very few will listen and many will attack you for your attempt.

But I really love being contacted about my listings with "corrections" which are 100% wrong.

[vintageista]

Years ago we had some really good eBay Discussion Boards where you could post a picture and get some ideas of authenticity or not, mostly that is no longer the case! So if you are not sure of an item, what do you do? Research may not work for some items, may prove wrong in some cases. Too bad eBay has messed with the boards so much they are not really very useful anymore to share your knowledge and/or expertise, if they were, you might have less mistakes!