NZ’s oldest auction house responds to Temu lookalike complaints

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One of the five spider brooches offered since April at Cordy’s auction house (left) and a $3.63 version from Temu. Photo / Sylvie Whinray
Diamante scorpions, bejewelled spiders and glittery dragonflies have fetched $100-plus at an Auckland auction house. Kim Knight puts customer concerns about cheap online counterparts to Cordy’s.
Versions of a giant sparkling spider brooch worth less than $5 on Temu have sold for up to $180 at a weekly Auckland estate and collectables auction.
One buyer says she feels “ripped off” after discovering cheap online lookalikes of jewellery she won at Cordy’s.
The auction house says the pieces were offered with a starting price of $10 and no reserve, descriptions were not misleading, and the market dictated the final sale price but, following New Zealand Herald inquiries, would add the phrase “modern costume” to future listings as appropriate.
A search of 40 Cordy’s online estate and collectables catalogues from the past 12 months found three-quarters contained jewellery that appeared to be similar to items available on Temu, an online marketplace operated by a Chinese e-commerce company.
Notable examples included an adjustable owl ring with brightly coloured eyes. Routinely auctioned for $20 or more, a pack of five similar rings was last week listed on Temu for $1.52. This Monday, when the winning bids for an “oversize diamante scorpion brooch” and a “novelty skeleton necklace” were $130 and $55 respectively, Temu was listing similar pieces for $7.81 and $2.28.
Since April, Cordy’s has auctioned at least five versions of a distinctive bejewelled spider brooch. Winning bids ranged between $60 and $180.
Cordy’s descriptions of the brooches included “oversize colourful costume spider brooch” and “oversized multicoloured spider brooch”. With the addition of the auction house’s 17% buyer’s premium, final sales prices ranged from $70.20 to $210.60.
The Herald purchased a visually similar piece, described as a “vintage chic spider brooch with sparkling faux crystals” from Temu for $3.63. (Yesterday, the online marketplace was advertising a “vintage spider brooch pin with rhinestones, 14K gold plated alloy” for $4.98).
Auckland woman Helen McKinnell won her “oversize diamante spider brooch” from Cordy’s in June with a top bid of $70.
“I like glitter, I like bling and these certainly looked glittery and blingy . . . I was very happy. I thought it was wonderful . . . but if I’d seen it on Temu, I would have bought it off Temu.”
McKinnell successfully bid on three other Cordy’s lots she has discovered have Temu lookalikes: a diamante grasshopper, a red and white dragonfly ($25 for the pair) and a blue dragonfly that she won for $55.
Auction records show Cordy’s has sold at least five versions of the blue dragonfly (all described as “costume”), top bids hitting $50 to $170 ($58.50-$198.90 with the buyer’s premium). The Herald purchased a similar piece from Temu for $2.07. It was advertised as a “crystal dragonfly brooch” .
“I’m pretty annoyed,” said McKinnell. “If I was the person that paid $180 a few weeks ago for that spider…“
McKinnell was alerted to the existence of cheaper versions of her purchases by work colleague Brigid Ogilvie who, in turn, contacted the Herald following a recent story about the sale of unlicensed Slim Aaron photographs at Webb’s auction house. Ogilvie says she frequently google searches auction listings before bidding.
“It’s something I do with items that I think potentially could be made somewhere else for a cheaper price. In saying that, you really hope the [auction] place they come from has done their own due diligence as well.
“I could understand if it was one estate lot but these have been kind of multiple and drip fed … I’m not really sure how to deal with it, but it just doesn’t sit right.”
Ogilvie said she always hoped things she bought at auction were not replicas, “because I’m kind of thinking about the environment. I don’t want to buy brand new if I don’t have to”.
Both Olgivie and McKinnell had contacted Cordy’s with their concerns. In an emailed response to McKinnell, the auction house said “most of the items have a starting bid of $10. The market then decides what a person is willing to pay for said item”.
This week, Cordy’s director Andrew Grigg, reiterated that message to the Herald.
“We get this one vendor who’s been sending us some costume jewellery, but we don’t put a reserve on it or anything,” Grigg said.
“It starts at $10 and if it goes for $10, it sells. So the market dictates. We’re not misleading anyone, we’re not calling it ‘gold’ or ‘diamond’ – just a large, costume spider brooch. And if people want to pay $120 for it, then that’s the market.”
Items for sale via the estate and collectables auctions, which can feature up to 1000 lots each week, are described in Cordy’s online catalogues as “antique, collectable, retro and more modern”.
Grigg said, in future, more specific wording would be added to applicable lots.
“Since you’ve brought it to our attention, then I’m very happy for us to give a description on all those lots that we put forward, that come through from that vendor. We’ll put the word ‘new’ in there.”
Later, via email, Grigg added: “Items similar to the ones we were discussing that are in the upcoming auction have already had their descriptions changed to say ‘modern costume’ and will be so from now”.
Cordy’s, operating from Auckland’s Mt Eden Rd, bills itself as the country’s longest-standing auction house with a list of 1964 founders that include artist Colin McCahon. It describes itself as “New Zealand’s premier Antique, Art and Collectable auction house” and sells items on behalf of vendors, charging a range of GST-inclusive commissions: 17.25% for items that sell for $100 or more, 23% for items between $50-$99 and 46% for anything under $50.
Grigg estimated “98 or 99%” of the lots Cordy’s auctioned involved estate or secondhand goods.
“I firmly believe in being as honest as we can and surviving by repeat business … We are the best recyclers in the business, but I can’t get anyone to run that story – I get you ringing me about five spider brooches.
“The percentage of landfill from a spider brooch is nothing like buying a dressing table or chest of drawers that is made of some composite material that might only last a few years, rather than a solid rimu chest of drawers that will last a couple of generations.”
Grigg said Cordy’s would refund buyers if they had been misled through incorrect descriptions.
“We abide by fair trading.
“I’m happy to call them ‘new’. I don’t want people buying them, thinking they’re a vintage piece – certainly, we’ve never called them vintage.
“If you put up one of these owl rings and it makes $40, well there is definitely something wrong if we said ‘vintage’ or we said it had aquamarine eyes, you know? But I’m just looking at it now – ‘blue-eyed ring – adjustable’.”
Information about rules, regulations and consumer rights at auctions is available via the Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment’s consumer protection website (www.consumerprotection.govt.nz). It advises potential buyers to research how much goods might be worth before bidding, to help determine how much they might be willing to pay.
Kim Knight is a senior journalist with the New Zealand Herald’s premium lifestyle team.

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