Bidding Online for Hull:

A Personal Story and a Lesson Learned

All that Hull pottery coming up for auction (see Kovels newsletter, September 2007) was too tempting to pass up. I couldn’t be in Roseville, Ohio, and couldn’t stare at eBay Live all day long, but I was determined to try to buy a set of Little Red Riding Hood salt and pepper shakers.

So I brought up the auction online, signed up to bid (it’s easy if you’re already a registered eBay user) and checked the auction every so often to see if something I wanted was coming up. I missed the first bunch of LRRH pieces, but tried to buy a salt and pepper in the next group. The action was fast and furious, with bids from the floor and the Internet popping up on the screen too quickly to digest. I placed a few bids, but stopped when prices topped my limit.

Then came the second day of the sale. Lots were less expensive and included more pieces. I gave up any hope of buying a piece of LRRH, but I placed a few bids for Hull artware. To my surprise, my bid of $25 won a lot of nine pieces of Magnolia Gloss, which dates from 1947-48. Not a popular pattern, but I was happy-until I received the emailed bill: $25 for all nine pieces of pottery, a $3.75 buyer’s premium, and a hefty $66 for insurance and shipping. I reviewed the “terms and conditions” of the sale and saw that multiple pieces required additional shipping charges. The lesson I learned: Read an auction’s fine print carefully and ask questions about how insurance and shipping charges are calculated before you place a bid.

I mailed my check and soon received three large cartons holding my nine carefully wrapped pieces of pottery. Nothing was broken. I love my Hull pottery-but my husband thinks I’m crazy.

-the editor