eBay is by far the largest selling venue for Cybis porcelains, with more than 1000 listings active on any given day, but the range of approaches taken by sellers is as wide as the Grand Canyon. An epically-awkward listing recently appeared and prompted me to create this post as a small tutorial showing the Good, Bad, and Ugly when it comes to offering a piece of Cybis for sale.
All four examples below offer a Fleurette. She has her own dedicated Archive post, and I strongly suggest that you take a quick detour to read it first, if you haven’t previously. The seller photos shown below are exactly as they appear on eBay (with no editing for size or better visibility) except for the collages which are the actual thumbnails, grouped to save space.
Seller #1
Listing title: Cybis Porcelain Fleurette A Tale of Two Stories Code NB320 (8.25” h) Style 4048
Number of photos: 14
Description:
Please review pictures, it does look like there is a little damage on one side of her handkerchief, look at the pictures with the hand to see.
This exquisite porcelain figurine is a masterpiece from the Fleurette collection, titled “A Tale of Two Stories’ and codified as #NB320. Crafted in 1981, it stands at 8.25 inches in height and 8.25 inches in length, with a weight of 1 lb 2.4 oz. This figure features a beautiful multicolor design and is made of high-quality porcelain material.
The Cybis brand is well-known for its exceptional artistry and attention to detail, making this figurine a perfect addition to any decorative collection. Its intricate design and vibrant colors make it a stunning piece that will catch the eye of any collector. This figurine is a must-have for lovers of porcelain art and Cybis enthusiasts alike.
This seller provided many good-quality photos and also called attention to the area of damage that exists on the sculpture. Kudos to them for that!
However, “A Tale of Two Stories” has nothing to do with the Cybis studio’s title or category (it’s simply part the title of my Archive post), and neither does “NB320” (it is the internal stock number that Replacements.com has assigned to the figurine that they are offering at an incredibly unrealistic price). This is a typical example of one erroneous listing title having gone viral throughout eBay. Four of the five active listings for Fleurette are using it. That said, 4048 is indeed the Cybis design code for this sculpture, so at least that part is correct!
The description is obviously AI-generated except for the line that calls attention to the damaged handkerchief. The description is wrong in calling it “part of the Fleurette collection” and in stating that it is “codified as NB320”. Boilerplate AI descriptions like this are simply meaningless babble at best, other than the inserted data such as dimensions, but the length given in this description is incorrect. Overall, a perfect example of GIGO (garbage in, garbage out.)
What is not mentioned anywhere is that this is a limited-edition sculpture, although the signature/number area is shown in one of the photos. A much better title would have been Cybis Porcelain Fleurette limited edition #521, Vintage 1980s figurine 8.5” tall.
Seller #2
Listing title: Cybis Porcelain Figure Fleurette 1981 (8 ½” tall)
Number of photos: 25
Description:
This beautiful Cybis Porcelain Figurine from 1981 is a stunning addition to any collection. Standing at 8 ½” tall and 2” long, this multicolor figurine features a delightful girl subject with a matte finish. Made in the United States, this porcelain piece is a true gem for collectors of all kinds. The brand Cybis is well-known for their high-quality collectibles, and this figurine is no exception. Perfect for display in any room, this piece is sure to bring joy and wonder to all who see it.
This seller, too, supplied plenty of photos (though a few were blurry) – but failed to mention that the handkerchief is almost completely broken off. Enough remains for it to be obvious, which may be why there is no condition statement other than the standard eBay classification of ‘Used’ – which is a cop-out when the item being offered is something like this. Is a broken porcelain figurine “operational and functions as intended”? And is breakage reasonably defined as “some signs of cosmetic wear”? Both are part of eBay’s definition of ‘used.’
The description isn’t quite as blatantly AI-generated as the one used by Seller #1, but the omission of the damage is significant, especially as the seller could not possibly fail to notice it when they were taking the photographs. The length is incorrect in this description also; neither the length nor width of Fleurette is 2″ .
Seller #3
Listing title: Cybis Porcelain Fleurette A Tale of Two Stories Code NB320 (8.25” h) Style 4048
Number of photos: 2
Description:
This exquisite Cybis Porcelain Fleurette figurine stands at 8.25 inches tall and is a beautiful addition to any collection. The intricate details and multicolor design make this piece truly special. It was crafted in 1981 and is part of the A Tale of Two Stories collection. The figurine weighs 1 lb. 2.4 oz and is made of high-quality porcelain material. With its elegant style and subject of Fleurette, this figurine is sure to impress collectors and enthusiasts alike. Add this stunning piece to your collection today!
Ho-hum, again we have AI-generated blather but at least there is only one actual mistake (the “A Tale of Two Stories collection”) if you give them a pass on the “crafted in 1981” which is not true. Fleurette was introduced in 1981 but because the intended edition of 1000 continued to be offered by Cybis until the studio went out of business more than 35 years later – and this piece is #334 – we know that this one was definitely not made in 1981. There’s no way to know when she was actually made other than “after 1981.” But in reality the exact year of creation doesn’t matter nowadays.
These are the only two photos that were supplied, so there is no way to know the condition of the lace, flowers, or leaves on the back of the sculpture, nor is there a clear side view of the long green waistline ribbon. The handkerchief looks okay, though.
The main failing of this listing is the lack of more photos, but it’s a failing nonetheless.
Seller #4
Listing title: Cybis Porcelain Fleurette A Tale of Two Stories Code NB320 (8.25” h) Style 4048
Number of photos: 1
Description:
Cybis Porcelain Fleurette A Tale of Two Stories Code #NB320 (8.25″H) Style 4048
The only positive things to say about this SINGLE image are that (a) it exists, and (b) the seller actually took the photo instead of stealing it from somebody else’s listing or from the online auction where they acquired the piece. I’ve seen sellers do both of those things on eBay.
The description is nothing more than a copy/paste of the title. Could any LESS effort have been expended on this listing?!? This seller clearly doesn’t know or care about what they are selling or what condition it is in. If they did, they would have taken a moment to compare their item to at least ONE other actual eBay listing for Fleurette (other than doing a copy-paste of the title), and realized that the arm is clearly a horrible attempt at a replacement, the handkerchief is completely broken off, and there is something seriously wrong with the lace along the top of her bodice. One side of her face appears to have a shiny finish that does not exist on a normal Cybis sculpture. And to top it all off, she’s filthy and no attempt was made to make her more presentable or even mention her parlous state. (The arm is even worse than this photo conveys, based on the multiple photos that the prior selling venue had in the listing from which this seller acquired her.)
This listing is truly a poster child for how NOT to list Cybis on eBay!
Actual Sales of Fleurette
That is the tally of what people are actually paying for a Cybis Fleurette currently, as a screenshot today from my Recent Sales page. The asking prices in the four example active listings above are (as of this writing):
Seller #1 is asking $120 or best offer. This is a fairly reasonable starting point, although I would not expect that anyone would pay that for a damaged piece.
Seller #2 is asking $185.50 as a Buy It Now. This price point isn’t justifiable, considering that the piece is damaged. The seller in the November 19th sale for $179.50 claimed that their piece was undamaged, which was not true; and the damage clearly occurred after that seller acquired it. What we don’t know is whether the buyer realized it before purchase, or whether that seller issued a partial or full refund if the buyer filed a complaint upon discovering the damage.
Seller #3 is asking $190 or best offer. They clearly based this on the November 3, 2024 sale of an undamaged piece for $185.99 but that does not take into consideration that two other undamaged examples sold for $34 and $70. That brings the true average market value for an undamaged Fleurette to about $100 in reality. This assumes that this piece has no damage, but with only one photo other than the underside, we don’t know if that’s the case.
Seller #4 is asking $100 or best offer. This is the same piece (#644) that is shown first in the Recent Sales screenshot. Given what condition this piece is really in, it is not worth any more than what the seller paid for it. It is completely worthless as a piece of Cybis – or as anything else, given the horrendous ‘repair’.
So, what sort of Fleurette listing would get my Seal of Approval? Let’s run it down:
– It would have at least 12 good quality, sharp photos (because when one zooms the eBay pics nowadays, they become pixelated and less clear), like the ones that Seller #1 provided. The photos would include detail shots of all intricate areas such as flowers, lace, and hands.
– It would not blindly copy-paste the title from any other listings (thus eliminating the irrelevant “NB320” and “A Tale of Two Stories” elements) no matter how many times that title appears elsewhere on eBay. Viral doesn’t mean accurate!!
– It would not use an AI-generated description (a/k/a meaningless blather with plugged-in data points), because that makes the seller look as if they are either unwilling or unable to think of anything coherent to say about the item that they are offering.
– The description would call attention to anything that looks like it might be damaged, OR if the seller isn’t sure if the condition is really ‘as new’ at least tell the shopper to “carefully examine all photos, because they are part of the description.”
– It would not copy-paste paragraphs of text directly from this site without mentioning where it came from. (These didn’t do that, but some other sellers – and even auction houses – have.)
– And finally, if the item is a limited edition, the asking price should show some evidence that it wasn’t just pulled out of the seller’s….um, ‘hat’, but instead bears some resemblance to reality. A price that is either based on eBay’s research tool or – better yet – on my Recent Sales Page, and taking condition into account. There’s nothing wrong with making a profit, but setting a completely-indefensible stratospheric price (like Replacements.com does) will only lead to that listing being dismissed without a second thought or even first look.
Some sellers who are reading this may think these expectations unreasonable. To them I would say that I’ve sold online in the past, both on eBay and on Etsy, and so I’m not expecting anyone to do anything that I didn’t do myself every single day. If you’re such a high-volume seller that you have thousands of listings and no time to do anything more than copy-paste titles and generate AI descriptions so that you can upload a listing in 5 minutes or less, maybe you don’t really care whether your piece of Cybis will ever sell. But if that’s the case, you’re probably not even reading this post.
On the other hand, if you’re a new seller, you’re not going to have any success if you are too lazy to do anything but copy-paste some other seller’s title and/or description and take a single crappy photo with your phone. That’s not how anyone makes any money selling anything like this online. (Or selling anything at all, for that matter.) Have some respect for your potential buyers because if you don’t, you won’t have any.
Off my soapbox now. 😊
Name Index of Cybis Sculptures
Visual Index (for human figures/busts only)
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