Thank you for the recent appraisal of our Noritake Berenda set of china. I'm a bit confused by the low pricing as I am seeing very different prices on EBay. Please see example links I have included below. I think the $4,300 USD for the set is totally out of line. I am also, of course, keeping in mind that those items have not yet sold. However, there still seems to be such a difference in supposed value from your appraisal.

Any insight on this would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance for your continuing assistance.

Judy Johnson

Hi Judy,
The prices on eBay are largely considered retail pricing, not least because there is no oversight and people can put whatever prices they want and hope they find someone willing to pay that amount. (Ebay often removes the price of an item once it sells and there is no telling if the seller accepted a lower price.)
And yes, if you were purchasing a brand new set of Noritake I would expect to have to pay a few thousand dollars at Macy's, Bed Bath & Beyond, etc.
In the case of about 99% of Noritake patterns, they are bringing approximately $2-3 PER PIECE at auction, which is a secondary market. A similar analogy would be someone finding a gently worn item of clothing at Goodwill which is priced at a deep discount from what it would sell for in a boutique because its not new. Auctions are a bit like Goodwill; the advantage to auction is that if you have two bidders who really want something, there is no telling how high they will go. I would not be surprised to see this set bring several hundred but at auction, you start low.
If you go to www.liveauctioneers.com and do a search for "Noritake Berenda" you'll probably find examples of sets of that pattern that have sold at auction and I think you'll see that the prices realized for Noritake at auction are in line with what I've priced yours at.
That said, if you find examples please forward me the links so I can reconsider; I'm always happy to adjust values with evidence to support the change.
Here to help so let me know if you have additional questions, etc.

Hello - I have been so appreciative if the great service you provided to me with regard to an appraisal of my Noritake china. The past few days I have had a private party messaging me through your website who shows an interest in the china. Now all of a sudden I am not able to get into those messages anymore and it says that the link provided may no longer be available. Is that something that Mearto controls? Perhaps it is only available to be for so long? I now have no other means of being in touch with the potential buyer. Is this intentional? Any assistance you can provide is very much appreciated. Thank you.

Regards,
Judy Johnson

Hi Judy,
I've forwarded your inquiry to our client services dept for their input. Stay tuned...
Delia

Thanks so much for your speedy response and action Delia. I am so impressed with your company.

Hello Judy,

Thank you very much for your appraisal purchase! Delia forwarded me your question about the communication that was cut off between you and a potential buyer. This was not intentional... just bad timing! We launched a new online marketplace yesterday where customers like yourself can sell items to dealers and professional buyers. It will be free to list an item on this marketplace, but we will take a 7% transaction fee on anything sold and have removed the public messaging capability from our site. Since you began the conversation with this potential buyer before we launched the marketplace, I'm more than happy to waive this fee for you and will do what I can to put you back in touch. Do you remember the name of the individual that made you an offer? Please feel free to reach out to me directly by email at: [email protected].

My apologies for the inconvenience!

Best regards,
Lindsey Bourret
Managing Director, Mearto