ebay: art sellers news flash......... Dec. 2003........
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If you haven't heard of Thomas Kinkade by now, you've probably been holed up in one of those charming forest cottages or lighthouses that feature prominently in so many of his paintings.
According to CBS's 60 Minutes, Kinkade has sold more canvasses than Claude Monet, Rembrandt, Renoir, Edouard Manet, Vincent Van Gogh. Leonardo da Vinci, Picasso, and Paul Gauguin combined. He is "America's, and the world's, most collected living artist. He is to art, what Henry Ford was to automobiles."
The analogy is fitting because to some critics the Kinkade industry resembles an assembly line. The state of the art lithographic copies of his originals, many with hand-painted oil highlights, are available in a dizzying array of editions and sizes.
The self-styled "Painter of Light" has built a worldwide legion of fans who clamor for each new work and scour eBay for rare "sold out" editions from years past. By some estimates, more than 10 million people own a work by Kinkade and there are 100,000 serious collectors in the United States alone.
On eBay, one seller has achieved a similar celebrity by catering to the needs of Kinkade collectors. In less than two years, Karen de la Carriere has become one of the premier sellers of higher-end Kinkade works, with more than 150 items selling at any given time.
Recently, the market for Kinkade has softened considerably, though de la Carriere says it hasn't hurt her business. "People know they can find many of the best and rarest Kinkades through me," she says. "In fact, 30% of my business is with Kinkade galleries." When customers approach galleries looking for well-known Kinkades from the past, the gallery owners know there's one place to find them."
De la Carriere started selling on eBay in January 2002 as a way to dispose of duplicates in her collection. "Collecting Kinkade is addictive and as my own passion for the artist grew, I started to buy entire collections, even when they contained works I already owned."
Within a few months of starting, she went from PowerSeller to Gold to Platinum and continues to do a brisk business. De la Carriere credits her success to careful attention to customer service and a single-minded focus on reducing response times when customers make an inquiry or purchase. She has a toll-free number that she answers personally and prides herself on trying to respond within 30 minutes to each and every email-even though that often amounts to 200 per day. She's even gone the extra mile to ensure that every customer gets a FedEx tracking number for their purchase within minutes of completing the transaction.
"There is so much room for miscommunication and misunderstanding online," she says. "When you can reassure customers with instant feedback, things go a lot more smoothly."
She's also a strong believer in merchandising and displays a savvy knack for keeping customers coming back (80% of her buyers are repeat customers). Most of her listings carry a substantial reserve and a "Buy It Now" price. But she also mixes in the occasional smaller "classic" edition as a no-reserve auction to generate interest.
"Many of my no-reserve auctions are won by first-time Kinkade collectors," she says. "Once they receive the piece and hang it in their homes, they come back a few weeks later and buy one of the larger works for $1500-2000."
Each of her listings features multiple, high-quality photos and a compelling description, including a quote from the artist about the work, and a thorough provenance that includes such critical details as whether the work is signed by Kinkade and the size of the edition.
Such detail is increasingly necessary given the rising tide of Kinkade forgeries and knockoffs showing up on eBay. De la Carriere says the growing number of listings that feature "Kinkade-like" or "Kinkade-style" works is hurting the overall market and diluting values.
"Like all great artists, Kinkade has attracted a bunch of copycats. So it's important to do your homework and make sure you're buying from a reputable source," she says.
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