Hi Bruce, First, it's another great testimonial to the service you provide, prior to anyone bidding or buying (supersize enlargements), although to be fair, your buyer who wrote you either has never bought from or visited the Heritage, Cinemasterpieces sites (and now MPE), to name but 3, that offer the enlarged images on their sites.
That being said, I wonder how much of a response you will get, at least publicly, with regard to the question you posed about boosted colors being a good marketing tool or a deceptive practice. I presented this question on APF when images of the Heritage Berwick posters began to appear on the HA site, once they had been washed, cleaned and linen backed. It was (and is) very apparent that HA boosted the color on many of those posters (to the point where some had the "look" of oversaturated reprints). In my comments and question, I repeatedly made mention of taking into account differences in cameras used, lighting setups (or lack thereof) etc. Some agreed and also made their own independent comments about this very subject. Yet there were a handful, saying that NO boosting had been done, how dare anyone accuse HA of doing such a thing and that kind of talk. No one was suggesting that HA had committed any crime or murdered a newborn, for goodness' sake, but that their photo dept had simply boosted and saturated the poster images...lol To this day (and that post was a week and a half ago), there has been no response from HA directly about this color boosting question. Because you asked for thoughts on this practice, I think that all poster images should be presented as they actually look, battle scars and all (unless restored and described as such). To present images of posters that practically radiate off the page is deceptive, in the sense that they are not a true representation, especially on high end items like the Berwick Find. Not everyone can travel to Dallas to look at posters that HA auctions (Berwick or others for that matter), so presenting an accurate image is vital. -Kerry On Sat, Mar 3, 2012 at 4:59 AM, Bruce Hershenson <brucehershen...@gmail.com>wrote: > I received this e-mail from a customer yesterday: > > "The lobby card which I bought in the Tuesday February 14 auction arrived > today in perfect condition, thanks to your superlative packing. I am > delighted with the card, which is my favorite of all lobby cards. In fact, > it actually looks even better in reality than in your scans, as the > super-sized image brings up even the tiniest imperfection very clearly. I > know nobody else who provides this enlargement service so you can see > exactly what you are buying." > > I replied as follows: > > "Thank you very much for your kind words! I have been buying through the > mail for over 40 years, and I have always been amazed how many sellers > would try to deceive you with poor quality photos that hide defects. Now, > with modern day scanners, you can make scans that "burn away" defects > (including even foldlines and pinholes), and people also use them to > "boost" the colors of the item! > > Some people seem to feel this is just wise salesmanship, but to me it is > both deceptive and thinking for the short term, because you may get the > person to pay more *THIS *time, but you are likely to lose a customer > when they see how they were deceived. The way I do things with honest > images that show 'even the tiniest imperfection very clearly', as you put > it, I know that I gain the customer's trust, and that they are likely to > order again and again, so I think those auctions that have the other > philosophy are being 'penny wise and pound foolish'." > > *What is YOUR **view on this?* > > -- > Bruce Hershenson and the other 24 members of the eMoviePoster.com team > P.O. Box 874 > West Plains, MO 65775 > Phone: 417-256-9616 (hours: Mon-Fri 9 to 5 except from 12 to 1 when we > take lunch) > our site <http://www.emovieposter.com/> > our auctions <http://www.emovieposter.com/agallery/all.html> > <http://www.emovieposter.com/unused/signature/20111028Frankensteinemployeegroupphotosignature.jpg> > > Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com > ___________________________________________________________________ How > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: > lists...@listserv.american.edu In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF > MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. > > Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: lists...@listserv.american.edu In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
