Getting
into detail about the imperfections of an object is important to avoid customer
disappointment, but in this case I believe it worked against me.
When I
carefully cleaned up this brass coated iron wall hanging I noticed there were
fine scratches from scrubbing on the surface and I honestly put that in my
listing. That was last year summer and the thing didn’t sell. Hauled in earlier
that year by my neighbour.
I tried
again last September and had a feeling that I should avoid the word ‘scratch’ to
describe the slight damage. I decided on a more neutral ‘visible signs of wear
and age’. I think that worked as I sold the crane in about two weeks. But when
I dug it up from storage it had lost a bit of shine and developed a few more
spots after the photos were taken, so I was a bit worried about the buyer’s
reaction. But she just held it up and exclaimed: what a cool thing!
2 comments:
What a lovely piece; I'm sure your buyer was thrilled. I was interviewed the other day and we were discussing the difference in people's reactions between 'I bought this in a charity shop' to 'It's vintage'! Looks like you've discovered the same. I love the idea of the scratches on my dining table telling a story, for example, but others pay to have their tables French polished to restore to 'perfection'. It's all about perception ;)
Hi Rachelle, thanks for stopping by! I totally agree with you that real wear tells a story. I'm much in favour of leave as is if possible and I can't always appreciate the made to look old makeovers of t2t-ers.
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