I don't know how many of you track HL's on eBay, but I do know several of you do. I thought it might be interesting to start a topic concerning little blunders people make when posting HL's for auction. Most of these folks really don't know that much about HL's which is obvious by how they describe their item.

The first one I noticed this morning was an Erie Land Light up for auction and this is part of the item's description:

"WOW THIS LAND LIGHT PA(MODEL # 692) THAT YOU HAD TO BE AT THE COLLECTORS REUNION IN 2005 TO RECEIVE IS FLAG # 312 OF 500.RAREST HARBOUR LIGHTS IN EXSISTANCE.I AM NOT GREAT WITH PICTURES,..."

This is not meant to embarass anyone but to show how uninformed people are about what they sell. Who knows, drawing attention to some of these blunders may even help sell it for the seller.

Bob

And to think that Dave probably knows where this ELL first originated from too!
I've seen some crazy things as well...people need to at least try to do a search on the internet and get informed.

Bob, I seen the ELL blunder too. Thought about sending the seller an email.

That particular item had a "letter" attached to it saying it was a "Collector Forum" piece, next time the seller listed it as a "Collectors Society" piece.

Oh, well.

"New" St. George's Reef offered for sale "Made in 1991". So how can it be "New" and 16 years old?

Item listed with total honesty...OOOOOPS!!!!
"This Piece is Broke"

Judy

OOOOOOPS is right! Definitely broken, but are at least honest about it and show several angles of the broken pieces.
They could've added that it's a "fixer-upper"!

Or Handyman Special !!! :p

Harbour lights and band saws do not mix!!!!

Good one Eric.

"SKANKY HEAD,
MASSACHUSETTS
THIS LIGHT IS FROM THE LIMITED ADDITION PIECES THAT HARBOUR LIGHTS MAKES THE PIECES WERE STRICTLY LIMITED TO 6500 PIECES WORLDWIDE
THIS PIECE IS #2195
OUT OF 6500."

This eBlunder has been posted more than once on eBay. This seller has some nice close-up photos of the piece but he or she should really correct the spelling of the lighthouse name which obviously should be "Sankaty Head" and not "Skanky Head". He or she should also replace the word "addition" with "edition".

Bob

One plus to the Nauset piece. Always wanted HL to make a "Nauset on the Move" piece? Here you go! Move the lighthouse across your floor. Move the keeper's house across your floor.

A fully lifelike representation!

Hours of endless fun!

"Cat-free home?" Does this seller have something against cats? Do cats do bad things to Harbour Lights? I have two dogs and they don't show any interest in my collection. I can see a concern about smoking, but cats? I do admit I have seen several auctions that list HL's coming from "pet-free" homes. I'm a pet lover and really can't see a few flying hairs doing any damage to a lighthouse replica. On the other hand, if a cat was using the statue for a scratching post or a target of marking their territory, that would be a different story.

I guess the moral to the story is don't put your HL's in the bottom of a bird cage, a litter box, or any where a pet could take aim. Thank God for glass enclosed curios!

Bob

My sentiments too, Bob. Geez! My cats are lighthouse cats and appreciate fine things.

~Judy

To the Webmaster's point ...
Well ... in our humble realm
... "New" Point Comfort Light ... 1805
... "New" Cape Henry Light ... 1881

And in the realm of many others I've noticed hanging around ...
... the "New" course at St Andrews ... 1895

Damn, I was even "new" once ...

Bob,

Yes, cats can do terrible things to lighthouses! One of my son's cats sent my Boston Light flying off the shelf. Thanks to Rich you can't tell where the crack is, but I know. My dogs couldn't care less about my lights, but cats just know where they are not supposed to be and go there anyway.


Cathy

I'm so glad I have dogs. My precious girls couldn't care about all the lighthouses all over the place - as long as they have our attention!

My cats go wherever they want, because cats are like that, but they have never bothered my lighthouses. They may curl up and take a nap nearby, but they don't touch the shelves.

Have never had a problem with my grandchild either who will be seven in June. He and the cats treat the lights with respect.

Judy

Here's a listing that makes me wonder if it has treasure buried inside...a Colchester Reef Christmas piece with a starting price of $200 plus a "Buy it now" price of $240, flag #8007.

In the remarks, I find this notation, "This is a very rare and difficult to find issue. I spent 6 months finding it and paid much more than the Buy it Now figure."

Oh my. Hope he gets his money back... :rolleyes:

~Judy

Why would a logical person sell something for less than he paid for it? I mean-it took this person more than 6 months to find it and if it's so rare??? :rolleyes:

And a church?

There are many picture problems I have run across on Ebay. The latest was a clear shot of the lighthouse with a lightning rod and serial number in the 300's. I won the piece and when it arrived, no lightening rod, and a number in the 5000's. The seller forgot to make sure the picture changed when they templeted the first of 2 lights they were selling. They have offered to take it back and and reimburse me for shipping back. I thank them for their honesty.

Lesson learned. Will now ask the obvious.

My cat sits and watches when I unpack new lighthouses, takes a close-up look and approves my purchase with "Meow! No problem!

All my lighthouses are in curios. Our cats can only look at them through the glass.

Excuse me! Excuse me, Mr. or Mrs. Seller! What your selling is NOT a Harbour Lights Lighthouse!

:p Bob :p

"Hallucinogens not included."

Maybe what we need is to form a "League of Knowledgeable Harbour Lights eBay Sellers"

People who won't use the copyrighted photos OR the copyrighted text and will accurately describe the product, etc.

Hand signed autograph? As compared to??? Received in person? Tough to get a hand signed autograph unless the person is there to sign it.

Maybe this wouldn't really be considered an eBay blunder, but it did jump right out at me.

Bob

This may not be exact considered a "blunder" but I thought it was worth mentioning so you can imagine what can happen via eBay.

I recently purchased two HL's from a person via eBay. The seller agreed to discount the shipping because I purchased more than one piece. My total shipping bill was $28.50. Not cheap but I suppose it's in the ball park.

When the box arrived at my home, it was crushed. Its overall height was reduced by about 10%. My first thought was this isn't good. I opened the box and removed some of the packing peanuts to reveal two HL original boxes with similar "crush" damage. The first box I removed had a hole blown through the side where the tower of a Montauk LE had gone through. I opened that box and found the HL was wrapped in bubble wrap and was amazingly undamaged (whew!!!). Even the ventilator ball was still intact. The second box had puncture damage from the tower of another LE but the tower didn't go all the way through. Luckily, the piece survived without damage (double whew!!!).

I contacted the seller and advised him that the box was crushed and the two original boxes were also damaged. I also advised him the two HL's survived the assault by the shipper. I also pointed out that I didn't see the word(s) "FRAGILE" written any where on the exterior of the box. His reply was when he puts "FRAGILE" on boxes they get crushed anyways. Hello! If your boxes keep getting crushed marked "FRAGILE" by a particular shipper, don't you think it's time to complain or at least change shippers?

I've seen damaged boxes before but not anything like I received from this seller. I was somewhat surprised by his response. Was I incorrect to advise him of what the shipper did to his merchandise?

:rolleyes: Bob :rolleyes:

Bob,

Not at all! You did the right thing. His/her childish response was an immature attempt at salvaging his lack of integrity and responsiveness.

bobo

I think that you did the right thing, also! The seller should be concerned with how things are arriving at their destination and then take proper action to make sure that this doesn't continue!
I wonder what the reaction would have been,had they arrived damaged?!

Of course you were right!
We always tell sellers if their packaging is not up to scratch. How else can they do better next time.

We just had a similar problem with a stamp stock book, which came to lightly wrapped and got slightly dented. We suggested to the eBay seller, it might be an idea to put some card round the book before wrapping. He was grateful and said he'd make sure of that next time.

But in this case I would have thought your seller would have changed shipping company by now.
Some people just don't care.

Be happy the LEs did not get damaged!!!

I'm wondering if the seller didn't care because he was only concerned about the LEs themselves, and figured "so what if the original boxes were messed up". Some folks don't realize that having an undamaged original box adds to the value of the collectible in most cases.

Of course he's running the chance of not being so lucky the next time. However, if he has insurance with the shipper then he doesn't lose any money does he??? He goes to the shipper to get the $$ so he can refund the money to you and he still got paid for the item. The real loser is the collector because he no longer has a mint collectible.

Can the collector leave negative feedback? Sure, but how seriously is it taken when the seller replies "I don't know what his beef is, I refunded his purchase price."

Unfortunately, seems like a lose/lose situation unless enough people continue to leave negative feedback, then I believe Ebay drops the merchant, and would they with the merchant always making the refund? Or would the shipper no longer want to do business with the merchant for making so many claims? Which is what you were trying to get him to do in the first place!

Taken from an eBay ad for a Tillamook OR HL photographed balancing on an outdoor fence post that has been exposed to the elements:

No box, a dreaded 10,000 edition size, no low flag#, balancing on a moldy post outdoors for picture purposes, and he or she thinks it's worth close to $175? Two words: wishful thinking! Obviously this seller is not a connected collector.

:rolleyes: Bob :rolleyes:

I sent this seller a "heads up" six days ago. The auction ends tomorrow, but he hasn't changed the info. One of his photos is even of the Spoontiques label on the bottom.

Judy

Judy, I seen that one too. I had to do a double take. Didn't think there was a Mystic CT Little Light.

"MIB" I don't think so. The pictures don't lie

Cape Blanco

Mint in box? Take a close look at the photos - lots of chips around the base. And 'complete with tent card and COA'. Tent cards didn't come along for several years.

John,
When tent cards did arrive, did HL make them retroactive to the beginning? All of my Original 17s have HL tent cards.

Sandy

Sandy. I don't have dates on when those were added to the latest editions.

There was a long period when you could purchase a complete set of cards from HL for under $10 ($7 seems to come to mind) so it was possible to get tent cards for those that never had them in the box originally.

John

In addition Sandy, there was a long period of time that you could send a list to HL and they would send you missing tent cards for free. Also, I think the original tent cards were white. Several of my older pieces came with the white cards.

As far as I know, you can still request a list of missing tent cards & COA's. I just did this late last year.

Thanks to all who responded. Some of my Original 17 have white cards, some have standard tan cards. I don't recall requesting tent cards for them, but then again, I don't recall what I had for dinner yesterday. . . . :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Sandy

Wow! I don't think the seller of this Portland Head knows much about HL's if he or she thinks the non-LE sells for up to $800 on line. Maybe he or she is planning a trip around the world on the money they'll get for this LE.

Bob

I think this eBay seller must be a little unfamiliar with the location of New London Harbor. Maybe he or she has a variation.

Bob

If it is a variation...it's a good price!

I forgot to copy another very special blunder a month or so ago. The seller was selling a HL without the original box but stated you could go to any Harbour Lights dealer and get a replacement box. Definitely not a connected collector, for sure!

Bob

If it was that simple why didn't the seller do it, right?

Bob,

I sent email to the seller of the New London Harbor located in RI. She sent me a nice note in return. She admitted that she was in error. And said that she was sorry.

Funny thing, she also mentioned that she is selling the entire collection of Harbour Lights that used to belong to her husband's ex-wife. Cute.

bobo

Great news! Bob didn't die in that motorcycle crash, he lives!!!

Bob

Well, I guess you could say that the Portland Head HL125 auction fell a little short of what the seller was hoping to get..... just $26.00 That's too funny for a Portland Head!!

Perhaps it was really a HL404, eventhough the picture shows a HL125!!

Saw this one this morning and had to chuckle...

It rivals Danbury Mint!

Judy

I saw one seller that has a Sea Grit for sale.
One of the photos that is posted-shows a closeup of the flag. It plainly says Sea Girt.

I'm going to have to take that as a personal affront.

Hmmm....That light and the others you have on eBay look an awful lot like Leftons. Does Harbour Lights sell a conversion kit where you can change a Lefton into a Harbour Lights?

Let the buyer beware! I'm sure this is an innocent mistake, but some buyer may not be happy if he or she finds out they didn't get the HL they expected.

:rolleyes: Bob :rolleyes:

Ah yes, another true and accurate description!

Never out of the box but the ventilator ball is gone. Nothing but a white spot where it used to be. Could it be a factory defect, or perhaps an extremely rare v-ball less HL? Two words: damaged goods!

When will sellers learn to give a true and accurate description of what they are selling?

Bob

Gee, Bob, I would have wondered how they got pictures of it if the light had never been out of the box.... You are so unrealistic, expecting honest, truthful and accurate desccriptions . . . . wouldn't that lower the price they might receive???

Like the old saying goes, "If you can't dazzle 'em with brilliance, baffle 'em with bullsh@%"!

I saw a White Shoal Christmas piece on eBay for a very low opening bid a couple of weeks ago so I put in a bid. I think I have 4 or 5 of them so it wasn't really needed. The seller used a Paul Brady photo borrowed without permission, and described the piece as in excellent condition.

Needless to say, I "won" it for the opening bid and paid more for shipping. When it arrived it had the dusty-dull look and one of the supports on the side of the light had been glued back on. Who ever repaired it didn't do a very good job. You could see where all the extra glue leaked out and hardened making the repair very obvious.

Due to the fact the piece was not described accurately, and the repair was never mentioned, I emailed the seller to express my displeasure. He may be a poor judge of condition but at least he's an honest man and is giving me a full refund on the piece.

Once again, "Let the buyer beware" on eBay.

Bob

Anyone notice the Big Bay Point just listed yesterday for sale on ebay?
The pictures show Colchester Reef and the bottom of the piece with sticker that says Big Bay Point.

Could be an honest mistake but anyone who is bidding on that piece should contact the seller first to make sure you are bidding on the correct HL.

Bob

I emailed him and he has corrected it. So-you were right on the money Bob!