Is it time to give eBay another chance? Item Number: 100007 $0.00

DescriptionOne of the many “challenges” I seem to face each week as I sit at my computer, is trying to write about a topic that is timely, interesting (talk about subjective!) and with broad appeal. eBay may not be a topic that appeals to the majority of our clients, but I do feel it has some other attributes that makes it a worthy topic this week.

I’m going to put right out on the table, in no uncertain terms - I have a strong love / hate relationship with eBay! 12 or 13 years ago, when eBay first came into vogue, I thought this was the greatest idea on the planet (and if I had happened to be smart enough to buy any quantity of their stock on the IPO date, I am sure I would still feel that way). In those early years you could find outstanding, authentic ancient art buys at really great prices! But, like most good ideas, someone/something had to come along and ruin things. In this case, and in the category of antiquities, too many people saw the opportunity, jumped right in with all sorts of trash and ruined the concept! Shopping eBay a year ago you were lucky to find 5% authentic ancient art among the hundreds of fakes sold by the thieves in Lebanon, Egypt, Peru, the US, Bulgaria, the UK, Canada, etc. If it weren’t so tragic it would have been funny watching all these people spending real money on tourist trinkets being offered as real. Some of my favorite offerings of the time included an ancient Greek pottery jar “that had to be real” because it was dated right on the vessel when it was made in 425 BC (please don’t make me explain). Or how about an authentic miniature Venus de Milo with the same missing arms it has today (seems the seller figured the original was made armless, so he should sell the fake the same way) – and naturally both items had pretty strong bids.

Much has happened with the antiquities category listings eBay over the last year (I will spare you the specifics of what, when, where or how), but suffice it to say that some anonymous antiquities dealer, perhaps the one even writing this column, would simply not take ‘no’ for an answer any longer, and tried no less than a dozen different ways, over at least 2 dozen months to find someone within the mighty empire who would listen to him about the massive theft that was being “sanctioned” by eBay. After all that time, after all that effort, this dealer finally found someone who was both interested in curing the problem and had the authority to do so! So the chopping began, and within a month, more than 80% of the thieves selling at the time were gone… and the cleanup continues to this day! Most of the really blatant thieves are gone, all the “authentic” Cleopatra and King Tut busts are now history (admittedly replaced by many new thieves and perhaps more sophisticated fakes – and a few honest sellers have begun to return).

If you like the concept of “treasure-hunting,” eBay has become a much more level playing field. In the past 6 months we have probably bought more off eBay than we had in the prior 6 years. And I can honestly say each piece we have bought has proven to be 100% authentic, and often coming with pretty spectacular provenance. We have found items from Charles Ede (including examples published in his book on collecting ancient art), the Leo Mildenberg collection of ancient animals, from Royal Athena and from Axel Guttman’s collection of ancient armor. Prices certainly are not as low as they were in the early years, but for the most part they have been very fair – and once an item has ended and no bids have been received – that is the perfect time to strike a bargain with the seller!

Now it would be very silly of me to sit here and spell out all my tricks for buying off eBay, but a few I don’t mind sharing are as follows:

1. Set up search words for areas in which you have an interest, and go over these search results frequently.

2. Ask sellers for specific provenance of anything that might be of interest. Ask for proof!

3. If you see something you really want, and you know it is priced low (as in way too low), contact the seller and try to make an off eBay deal. Other dealers have told me that this sometimes works…

4. If you don’t like the images provided in the listing, ask for more/better photos. Sometimes the photos of really good pieces can be really awful. This can be a big opportunity for the buyer!

5. After the auction has ended, ask the seller what other goody he might have that has not yet been listed. Maybe I should have kept this one to myself…

Let’s face it… eBay will never be the same as it was 10 years ago. But, if you love the hunt that does not mean it should not still be one of your favorite places to search. Personally, I don’t think I would trust a single piece of Roman iron or bronze offered on eBay (unless I personally know the seller, or the provenance), but there are tons of other great buys to be had out there!

Life’s an adventure, eBay can be too!

Questions? Comments? We'd love to hear from you!
Bob Dodge