Does knowing a patent number help sell on ebay?

You would think so. At least I'd think so! Today I did a quick search of items in the Vintage Jewelry category that had the word "patent" in the title and took a look at how helpful the information about the patent was in the seller's listing.

It was pretty discouraging. While the sellers of the 15 items that I found, believed that the fact that there was a patent number on their piece, was important enough to highlight it in the title of their auction, most of them went on to leave out any useful info in their listing. So, I think a real missed opportunity!

Some of the non/mis-information I found was:

• saying there was a patent, and describing that the piece then dates to a certain time frame, or by a certain designer, but then not giving the patent number or showing it at all on the piece.
  
• listing the incorrect patent number. Okay, I know they are hard to read, sometimes near impossible! But if you are selling a piece of jewelry and the patent number you list is for a dress, it isn't very helpful.
  
• Using a utility patent number to "date" a piece. For example saying that a piece with an earring clip mechanism patent from 1945, dates the earrings themselves to 1945. Utility patents really can't be used that way, since often, things like earring mechanisms were used again and again over the years. About all you can establish is that your piece is no earlier than the date of the mechanism (utility) patent.

All in all, of the 15 listed, I'd say 3 or 4 had accurate info, mostly because they simply stated what they saw on the piece and didn't actually try and make fabulous and strange connections with the info. At best, a missed opportunity..at worst, providing misleading and possibly fraudulent info.