another tempest in a tea pot
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At 04:59 AM 3/3/2012, Bruce Hershenson 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)
<http://www.emovieposter.com/>our site
<http://www.emovieposter.com/agallery/all.html>our auctions
[]
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At 10:11 AM 3/3/2012, lovenoir2 wrote:
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
<<mailto:[email protected]>[email protected]> 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: <tel:417-256-9616>417-256-9616 (hours: Mon-Fri 9 to 5 except
from 12 to 1 when we take lunch)
<http://www.emovieposter.com/>our site
<http://www.emovieposter.com/agallery/all.html>our auctions
[]
Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at
<http://www.filmfan.com>www.filmfan.com
___________________________________________________________________
How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List
Send a message addressed to:
<mailto:[email protected]>[email protected]
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: [email protected]
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: [email protected]
In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L
The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
