R. Lalique Spirit of the Wind Lalique Victoire Hood Ornament For Sale! Only minor damage AND “It has never been for sale before…” it’s Item No. 160528702044 which has since been removed by Ebay.

Update: After receiving complaints about the auction, the seller changed out the stolen photo to a photo of a different Victoire Hood Ornament and amended the description to list more damage. Here is a link to a cached version of the original listing with the stolen photo showing: Stolen Photo Original Listing****

And here is a post complaint photo of a Victoire the seller then claimed he was actually selling in the now deleted listing, which is obviously not the one in the original photo and listing as shown in the cached version of the original ad. Needs a bit of nose job don’t you think? End of Update Section, but see Danger Sign #6 Below.

Danger signs:

1. The auction advertisement has one photo in it, a photo that you can find elsewhere on the web if you look around a bit. Seriously, do you need more warning signs than that? If you are even thinking of bidding knowing this, serious due diligence should be taken to confirm the seller is in possession of the pictured item.

2. The seller has 18 feedbacks over 6 months or so. The top three transactions are for $85, $30, and $20! Heck, there’s even one for $0.99 (that’s ninety nine cents).

3. $32 shipping charge would not even cover the insurance!

4. Sellers of expensive items with high starting prices usually have lots of photos, not just one.

And MOST importantly:

5. This listing sits atop the list of suspicious items on the R. Lalique Police Page!

Update:
6. The Seller showed a single photo in the original ad of a Victoire that clearly was not for sale and coincidentally was a lot nicer looking than the one in the replacement photo later shown in the now deleted ad. Inquiring minds might ask: Was this fool me twice? End of Update

It’s always a good idea to ask an online seller for more photos, just to be sure they have the item. But getting more photos is still not a guarantee that the seller owns the item shown in the ad or the item shown in the additional photos (what, they’re not the same item?), but it’s a good starting point to screen out many possible problems. And an even better idea to talk to an independent Lalique Consultant to minimize the chance of a major mistake!

The two photos in this article were taken from two different places. One is from the auction ad, the other from the web. Now seriously, which of the two photos here is the one from the auction, and which is the one you can find on the web? Hmmmmmmm …..

So be careful out there. The best case here would appear to be that the seller just took a photo off the web being too lazy or unable to take his or her own photos of this apparently expensive item. And even this best case would usually be a big problem if the photo taken from the web is not a photo of the actual item for sale (a bit unlikely?). Care should be taken to sort it out before bidding.

And finally, there’s an extension of Ebay scams where there is a stolen or borrowed photo listing to be aware of if you do run into one. After the auction ends or Ebay cancels the listing, if you had written the seller during the auction to make an inquiry, then after the auction you might get something like this:

“Hi,

My Lalique “BACCHANTES” Vase is not on ebay anymore, but it’s still available for sale.

My usual schedule has been changed and I had to go to Spain to take care of some business and that’s why I closed my auction.

The final price for the vase is US $ 1,700.00 including all the shipping costs and insurance. The vase is in perfect condition with no chips, cracks or dings.

Also I want to let you know that you will have the opportunity to receive and inspect the vase before you actually pay for it. If you are interested and want to know more details regarding the purchase just contact me.
Thanks,
Leda

P.S: If you want to see more pictures with the vase give me your email address.”

If you bite, the follow-up to this email is that there is an escrow website you can wire your money to before you receive the item. But of course you can get your money back if there is any problem. Really?

**** About the Cached Auction Link: You may have to use the zoom function of your browser (or whatever program opens images for you) to get the cached image to expand in the window if it does not appear full size. After clicking on the link to the item, a new window will open with the cached image in it. On a Mac, just click on the image and see if that expands it. If not, press the apple key and click on the cached image in your browser window. On a PC, hold down the alt key while clicking on the cached image.

All Articles on These Topics: R Lalique and Rene Lalique Fakes-Copies-Frauds, R Lalique and Rene Lalique on Ebay, Rene Lalique Car Mascots and R Lalique Car Mascots

This entry was posted on Friday, January 7th, 2011 at 2:13 pm and is filed under R Lalique and Rene Lalique Fakes-Copies-Frauds.