- Do you keep your full inventory online?
- I can't find what I am looking for, can you help me?
- Do you offer gift certificates?
- Can I special-order specific items I am looking for, but currently are not listed in your inventory?
- How do I know when you received new shipments and how can I locate your new items in your online catalogs?
Majolica Collector Questions (most frequent questions for
beginning collectors)
- How can I see the difference between
old and new majolica?
- Is all majolica marked?
- Should I only buy pieces in mint condition?
Ordering Online
- Can I order online?
- Can I make any changes after I put items in my shopping cart?
- What happens if the item I order is no longer available (and I may have already paid for it with my credit card)?
- When does my online order become "final", at which point I cannot make any other changes?
- Can I check the status of my order myself?
Payment Questions
- How can I pay for my online order?
- Should I worry about giving you my credit card information?
- What are my options if I do not want to pay with my credit card?
Discounts & Promotions
- I still have a promo code from Out of Brussels, how do I use it when ordering online?
- What is a MajolicAddict?
- I am interested in buying a lot of pieces from Out of Brussels, can I get a volume discount?
Other Services & Purchasing
- I have majolica items for sale myself, would Out of Brussels be interested in buying them from me?
- Do you offer appraisal services?
- Do you offer repair services?
Dealers
- I am a dealer, how do I avoid paying sales tax on my online order?
Policy & Privacy Questions
- What is your return / refund policy?
- What happens if my order arrives damaged or broken?
- Will you give my personal contact info to any third parties?
- Can I opt out of your newsletter?
How can I see the difference between old
and new majolica?
It's not always easy to see the difference between old and new pieces,
especially for the beginning collector, so be careful.
You have to know that there's new majolica around, which is fine as
long as it's sold as such. Imitation majolica is usually well marked
and if not, it's fairly easy to distinguish, because the designs are
new, the colors are different, there's a lack of detail and no wear
at all. Of course, the new pieces should be a lot less expensive.
Among the manufacturers that make new majolica are William Sonoma, Vietri,
Sadek...
The reproductions are the real headache!
Keep in mind that for a manufacturer it's worth to try to reproduce a
great piece of majolica.
Nowadays, a lot of reproduction majolica is coming out of Asia. A copy is made
to look like the original, sometimes even with the original, signature marks.
They are made to fool the buyer and are sold by dealers who are ignorant or
insincere. That's why it's always a good idea to buy your pieces
from an established dealer.
Another situation arises where manufacturers have kept their old molds
and are still using them to make new pieces. An excellent example of that
are the many Saint-Clement animal pitchers. You all know the rooster and
the duck. These new pitchers are different in color, less detailed and marked
differently. The new Saint-Clement pitchers for example have a printed mark,
whereas the old ones had an impressed mark.
Now, how can you avoid an unlucky purchase?
First, try to buy from a reputable antique dealer.
Second, study the lines and the pieces that interest you. The old marks, the
old models and designs, the unsurpassed glazes and brilliant colors are often
good indicators. If the crazing looks overdone to you, it might be fake.
Just keep studying, because new fakes come into the marketplace every day.
As a general guideline, the old pieces usually have signs of wear and usage
on the base.
Finally, go to the antique shops and shows and handle as many pieces as you
can, real ones as well as fakes.
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Is all majolica marked?
Unfortunately, a lot of majolica is not marked.
Beginning collectors sometimes ask me if majolica is marked "majolica".
Not at all! In fact, only Sarreguemines, a French maker, has used the mark "majolica" during
a couple of years in the 1880's. Strangely enough, the French word for majolica
is barbotine...
If the piece is marked, be aware that many manufacturers used different marks
during different periods of time. The best way to learn about this is to buy
a book on majolica or on marks in particular.
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Should I only buy pieces in mint condition?
It's a collector's eternal dilemma.
Before you buy a piece of majolica, you should always check its condition.
Take the time to inspect the piece for chips, cracks, crazing, discoloration,
wear, repairs and missing pieces.
I do think though that you need to be more forgiving with majolica, because
most majolica was used daily. So it's pretty much inevitable that majolica
will show traces of that usage, which may include discoloration, chips, nicks,
hairlines, crazing...
Also keep in mind that there are flaws that may have occurred during the making
of the piece.
My advice is, if you really like a piece, don't turn it down because
it's not perfect and jump on it if it's perfect.
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Can I order online?
Yes, you can. Our website features a fully integrated shopping cart, just like the ones you find on other popular e-commerce sites. Just browse our online catalogs and click on the "Add to Cart" button below any items you like. Upon clicking the "Add to Cart" button, you will get a message "the item has been added to your shopping cart". When you click the OK button, you will be redirected to the last page you were on so that you can continue shopping. Repeat this process for as many items as you like. Your cart gets filled as you go, just like you fill your grocery shopping cart. You can review what is in your cart at any time by clicking the "View Cart/Checkout" button below any item in the catalogs, or by clicking the "View Shopping Cart" link in the top right corner of any page. When you are ready to checkout, just follow the instructions in the Checkout section.
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Do you keep your full inventory online?
Although the online catalogs are comprehensive, they are certainly not exhaustive. They are a good representation of our full inventory. Feel free to check with us about any other inventory items if you don't immediately see what you are looking for.
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Can I make any changes after I put items in my shopping cart?
Yes, you can. After you have clicked the "View Cart/Checkout" in the catalogs or the "View Shopping Cart" link in the top right corner of any page, you get a detailed overview of the contents of your shopping cart. You can now remove any items, or change the quantity for any item.
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What happens if the item I order is no longer available (and I may have already paid for it with my credit card)?
All online orders automatically process the required inventory deductions. When an item is no longer available, and upon clicking the "Add to Cart" button, you will get a message saying "ERROR: currently there are no more ITEM ID items in stock", thereby prohibiting duplicate ONLINE orders.
However, sometimes it is impossible to process all NON-ONLINE sales in real time. On a very rare occasion, this may mean that a customer orders an item online that already has been sold, for example an hour ago in our booth at one of the shows. The customer may even have paid for that item already by having his/her credit card charged online. Should this indeed happen, we will inform you by email upon processing the order, and there will be an immediate chargeback of the full amount to your credit card. To make up for the inconvenience caused, we will also send you a promo code for a 10% discount on your next online order (see special conditions on your promo code email).
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When does my online order become "final", at which point I cannot make any other changes?
When going through the Checkout process, and after putting in all your information (payment info, billing and shipping address, where you heard about us, etc.) , you will finally get to a page titled "REVIEW YOUR ORDER". Your order will become final after clicking the "Continue" button at the bottom of this page. As long as you have not clicked this particular button, you can always go back to the previous pages of the Checkout process and change anything you want.
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I can't find what I am looking for, can you help me?
Before going any further, have you tried the Search box in the left navigation menu on our site? You can simply type in a manufacturer's name (e.g. Orchies), a pattern (e.g. artichokes), or just any words (e.g. Joan of Arc, return policy, etc.). You can also click the sitemap button at the very bottom of any page to see a general overview of our site. If these utilities still don't help you locate what you are looking for, don't hesitate to contact us. We will gladly assist you in any way we can.
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Can I special-order specific items I am looking for, but currently are not listed in your inventory?
You can always contact us to tell us what you are looking for. We will (1) browse our full inventory to make sure we don't have your item(s) readily available, (2) give you an idea of how likely we are to find the item you are looking for, and (3) place it on our "to-find-list", with a specific reference to your name. Should we have been able to locate the item, we will contact you with price and availability information and you will get the first right to purchase the item. You are obviously under no obligation to purchase the item at that time, but you will have the first chance to do so.
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How can I pay for my online order?
Out of Brussels offers you a wide variety of payment options and it
is up to you to select which option you feel most comfortable with. Go to the
How
to Order section to review these options.
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Should I worry about giving you my credit card information?
No, you most definitely should not. The credit card payments on our website are processed through a 100% secure gateway, and we only use the most reliable third party services. For credit card processing, we use LinkPoint Central's gateway. You can visit http://www.linkpoint.com for more details.
Furthermore, we will destroy your sensitive credit card information as soon as your transaction has been processed.
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What are my options if I do not want to pay with my credit card?
You can mail in your check or money order, or you can pay through PayPal.
Go to the How to Order section
for more details on these options.
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I still have a promo code from Out of Brussels, how do I use it when ordering online?
First, enter your personal promo code (the code is case sensitive, no spaces) in the "Customer Code" box on the first screen of the shopping cart checkout process (just above the payment options box).
Then, click "Submit".
Now, select your payment options.
Finally, click "Go to checkout", and continue through the rest of the checkout process.
The 10% discount will be shown automatically on your invoice.
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I am interested in buying a lot of pieces from Out of Brussels, can I get a volume discount?
You should contact us to discuss the details of your intended purchases. We will work with you and determine the best possible discount for your volume purchase.
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I am a dealer, how do I avoid paying sales tax on my online order?
There is indeed a possibility to prevent the sales tax from being shown
and charged on your online invoice. A very specific process needs to be followed
during the shopping cart Checkout process to do so. All the details of this process
are listed in the How to Order section
under "Policies & Conditions",
item 3 - Sales Tax. Failure to follow the process and to provide all required
information as requested may result in another charge for the sales tax.
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What is your return / refund policy?
Our Satisfaction Guarantee comprises a well defined return and refund
policy, the details of which are described in the How
to Order section under "Policies & Conditions", item
5 - Return & Refund
Policy.
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Do you offer gift certificates?
We most certainly do. In order to get your friends or loved ones to
share in the funky world of Majolica, you can get them hooked to it by giving
them one of our gift certificates, starting at $50.00. You can order them online
by just clicking the link Gift Certificates
on our left navigation menu. Here, you will also find the explanation of how
exactly it works. You can also choose to have the gift certificate sent to
you, or directly to the recipient of your choice.
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Can I check the status of my order myself?
Yes, you can. Although we will send you frequent updates on your order
by email, we still offer you the possibility to check the status of your order
from any computer, which has web access. All you have to do is visit our website,
go to the Order Status page and
put in your order number (your order number was listed on your receipt). After
you have clicked the "Continue" button, you will see a copy of your
receipt and the most up to date status is shown in the top left corner of this
updated receipt.
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What happens if my order arrives damaged or broken?
Out of Brussels ships all your items using its comprehensive "HiPro Shipping, Insurance & Handling" method.This special High Protection Shipping, Insurance & Handling is intended to optimally protect your shipments from damage. Should damage occur anyway, the insurance we have taken on your behalf will cover the complete cost of the item and the shipping costs.
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How do I know when you received new shipments and how can I locate your new items in your online catalogs?
The best way to do this is by signing up on our website as a MajolicAddict. This will put you on our email-list. On a regular basis, we will send out Newsletters with special promotions or discounts, other benefits and miscellaneous pieces of information and news. Among other things, you will always receive an email when we have received a new shipment and the new items have been added to our online inventory.
When new items are added to our online catalogs, we will always put them at the very beginning of the respective catalogs. So, if you are a regular visitor and you start running into pieces you have already seen, you know that you have seen all the new items within this particular catalog.
The one backdraw this method may have is that older items may be moved to further pages within the catalog and it may be impossible to locate them quickly if for example you have made reference notes to find a particular item back on page 2 of the plates & platters catalog. If in this example, we have received enough new plates to fill 2 pages at the beginning of the catalog, then your old item will have likely been moved to page 4 of the plates & platters catalog (unless it was sold of course...). To maintain optimal traceability of the items you have browsed before and marked for reference at a later point, we recommend that you keep note of the Item number instead of the location within the catalog. The item number always starts with an "M" and usually has 4 digits behind it. It is then very easy (and quick) to locate the item by putting the item number into the search box on the left hand navigation menu. The search will return a hyperlink to the page where the item is located. Just click this link, then scroll down on the page until you see your item.
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What is a MajolicAddict?
A MajolicAddict is a cool and funky person who wants to share in the joy of Majolica with the Out of Brussels team, and with other collectors in the Majolica Community. Sign up for it, and you will experience it first hand!
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Will you give my personal contact info to any third parties?
Most definitely not, we hate getting emails from unsollicited third parties ourselves and will never do that to our customers. You can be 100% confident that your email addresses will stay with Out of Brussels and will only be used to send you information about your purchases and about exciting news from Out of Brussels itself.
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Can I opt out of your newsletter?
You can do so at any time by sending us a simple email with a Subject title "OPT OUT" and your email address. As the number of opt outs is a direct reflection of our success (or failure) to keep you interested and motivated in Majolica, we would appreciate any comments as to why you are opting out and any suggestions on what we can do better. We need to feed off your suggestions for improvement and will gladly take any constructive criticism into consideration.
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I have majolica items for sale myself, would Out of Brussels be interested in buying them from me?
Out of Brussels is always interested in buying quality pieces. Feel free to send us an email with digital pictures and a detailed description of the piece and its condition, along with your best asking price. Should we be interested in it, we will contact you and agree on the specifics for payment and delivery.
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Do you offer appraisal services?
Unfortunately, we currently do not offer any FORMAL appraisals. However, we are always willing to give you our (free) comments on any piece that you want our input for.
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Do you offer repair services?
Unfortunately, we currently do not offer repair services. However, feel free to contact us with your repair questions. Depending on the need and location, we may be able to refer you to one of our colleagues who could offer you such services.
