(General...)

1. (Opening Hours) Are you open on Bank Holidays ?
Usually, yes ... from 10am to 4pm. Check first before coming!

2. (Selling) Do you buy furniture ?
Yes, but generally pre-1930s.

3. (Valuations & Advice) Do you give valuations and advice ?
We give written valuations for insurance purposes. There is a charge for this service (approx £15 + VAT per item, reduced for multiple items). This cost can usually be reclaimed from the insurance company.
We also give (free) valuations and advice to those who have something that they are genuinely interested in selling. In this case, the valuation is the price at which we are prepared to buy the item.
Unfortunately, we are not able to provide (free) valuations and/or advice to non-customers. If you need information, you should check on the Internet or in the appropriate catalogues.

4. (Valuations) Do you give valuations over the phone ?
In general, no. It is not possible to give a valuation without seeing an item ... especially when there may be numerous variations (style, size, colour, etc), possible restoration that the seller may or may not be aware of, variations in wear, etc. See the next question...

5. (Selling) I have an item (or items) I want to sell ... how do I proceed ?
We prefer to see and examine item(s) for ourselves (see Note A) before we make a firm and reasonable offer, but we appreciate that it is not always possible/feasible/convenient for people to bring items to us, so...
If it is convenient for you to bring the items to us ... please do so.
If it is not convenient and you live in the UK and have a rare piece or sizeable collection to sell ... contact us and we will arrange for someone to visit you.
If it is not convenient and you live in the UK and have a single item to sell ... send (email?) us details and a photo. (See Note B).
If it is not convenient and you live outside the UK ... again, send (email?) us details and a photo. (See Note B).

Note A: This is because we find that relayed descriptions are often not very accurate and sometimes fail to mention wear and/or damage.
Note B: The better the description and photo, the more accurately we can determine the value of the item(s). Please describe the condition and any damage as fully and accurately as possible.

6. (Prices) You have a number of products which appear identical, but the prices are different ... why is this ?
There are a number of possible reasons. First, some products may not be identical - eg there may be some variation (eg in colour), with some variants being more desirable or worth more than others. Second, the selling price depends to some extent on the price at which the item was bought. Third, some items belong to vendors, who set their own prices.

7. (Buying) Do you provide a china-matching service ?
No, sorry. Try Chinamatch or Tablewhere.

8. (Newsletters) When and how often are Newsletters issued ?
This has not yet been decided. At most, there will be 3-4 per year.

(Website...)

9. (Stock) Is the stock shown on the website up-to-date ?
Almost. The database is not linked to the main (live) database, but is a secondary copy. The secondary copy is updated at regular intervals, but with the volume of transactions, it invariably lags behind the main one.
You should always contact us to confirm availability and price.

10. (Photos) Many products do not have photos. Why ?
We now have approximately 1300 photos on our website ... but we are aware that this represents a fraction of the stock and that most stock items do not (yet) have photos. Our aim is to add lots more, and we are doing this as an ongoing background process ... but with a huge amount of stock and daily changes in stock, this is a lengthy (and never-ending) process.
In the meantime, please bear the following in mind. First, many items and their photographs can be found in catalogues. Second, if you really need to see a photo, contact us and we will send (email) one to you.

11. (Email) The email links do not work, or there is a problem with them. Why ?
When you click on an email link, the browser starts your email program (eg Outlook Express), so that you can compose/complete and then send your email. The email program may allow you to compose and edit your message within its own window, or it may start another program, an email editor (eg Word), to compose and edit the message.
All this depends on what software (and versions) you have on your machine and how it has been setup and configured. If you have problems with email links, you need to check your setup and configuration.

12. (Email) There is a problem with email addresses. Why ?
See Notes on Email Addresses.

13. Many sites use Flash, DHTML, etc. Why don't you ?
Our aim is to ensure that the website works with as many browsers as possible, including old(er) versions of IE, browsers other than IE and browsers without 'plugins' installed.

14. One of your pages appears to be missing information or out-of-date. Why ?
This may be due to your browser using an "old" copy of the page concerned. Almost all web browsers maintain a local copy of web pages (and associated items) on your disk or memory to speedup reloading of previously visited pages from the Internet. In order to ensure that you are seeing the current/latest copy of a page, you should either force the browser to load the latest version of the page (bypassing the cache) or clear the cache entirely.

(eBay...)

15. (Postage & packing cost) The 'Postage and payment details' section quotes a cost of £8. Why so much even for small items ?
This includes a small amount for packing (materials and labour), but the remainder is a standard 'Special Delivery' charge with Royal Mail, which includes insurance.

16. (Payment methods) Your eBay listing states that you accept payment by credit or debit card only - and not PayPal, AMEX, cheque, money/postal order or direct bank transfer. Why ?
Card payment is the quickest and most reliable way of completing payment and the transaction. The net result is that we can get goods out to customers very quickly.
The other methods either involve extra work on our part and/or delay (cheque, money/postal order, or direct bank transfer) or involve charges that we consider unacceptable (PayPal, AMEX) ... and of course cheques can and do "bounce" (and we incur a charge for presenting such a cheque!).
However, that said, a significant number of buyers ignore the advice on the listing and still try to pay by one of these methods!