WHO WE ARE, OUR MISSION
What is the mission of Grand Vintage?
Our mission is to become the largest market place for Italian and French antic and vintage furniture and décor items in the world. This means our offer will be comprehensive of paintings, sculptures, all pieces of furniture with different styles such as Regency, Renaissance, Art Déco, Liberty, vintage, industrial, 70’s etc…
We offer therefore the antic resellers to make business through the internet by digitalising their shop and giving the range of products offered a much larger visibility. They are of course those who decide what to promote and at what price, our job is to manage the rest: publicising, promoting, managing the payments, the shipping, the after sales service etc…
We are experts in the internet industry, the resellers are experts in antics and vintage furniture and décor items, our cooperation is bound to be successful.
But that does not mean we accept to put anything on our website. For our service to reach a high level of quality, we need to select what we sell.
We screen the products submitted
Internet is a mirror of the real world. We need, therefore, to “separate the good wheat from the chaff”! For that, we go out and meet the antic resellers and vintage dealers in their shops and on the fairs and trade shows every sundays. We analyse carefully the pictures they send us. In case of doubt on the quality and originality of an item, we submit it to one of our experts at the Tribunal: in case it is a copy, an “upcycled” item, not a real genuine antic or vintage item, we inform the seller that we cannot accept it.
Obviously, we exclude also swedish and cinese items manufactured industrially.
Regarding the price, we let the seller decide but we expect her or him to take into account the market trend by looking at similar items on our web site or competitor’s web sites. Outpricing an item will not help selling it…
The logistics
By “logistics”, we intend the transport from the location where the item sits to the location of the buyer. It needs to be precise and managed carefully. For this reason we have chosen Bartolini and SDA for the Italian market and TNT-Fedex for the international shipments; all are well known for their seriousness and reliability.
In case the seller wants to offer a delivery managed by himself, no problem, we offer him to price his service for 3 different distances: within 15 km, within 50 km or within 100 km.
The payments
Making the payments safe and reliable has been our top priority in starting-up this business. For that, we have partnered with Paypal and Banca Sella for the credit cards, the two market leaders.
Both allow us to freeze the client’s money for 3 days without collecting it on our account in order to reimburse him easily in case he sends the item back, at his charge, within the legal 14 days in which he can activate his right to withdraw.
For that reason, we cannot send his money to the seller before 14 days.
Being serious with the seller’s item and with the clients money is the only way to make people happy and last on the long run, according to us.
The user’s assistance
We, as private persons, are also heavy internet users and we know how frustrating it can be to have a technical or commercial problem and no one to talk to. For that reason, you will always find us to help you, either by email (assistenza@grandvintage.com) or on the phone (00 39 02 500 412 05).
And now, who we are:
We are internet professionals passionate for antic and vintage items.
The founder and operational manager based in Milan is Olivier Cater (olivier.cater@grandvintage.com) 
After graduating in economy in France at the Institut Supérieur du Commerce de Paris, he started working for Olivetti in Italy and France before establishing definitely in Milan to manage, as Country Manager, the French company Matra Cellular Terminals, then Sony Ericsson before becoming Managing Director of A Novo Italy. He then started-up his own business in 2006, Top Partners (toppartners.it) of which he is currently the main shareholder and which is currently one of the leaders in Italy in the “B2B lead generation” business. To learn more, please revert to Linked In: http://www.linkedin.com/in/oliviercater/.
Serge graduated in economics and finance at ESSEC and Paris-I Sorbonne. He served as President and CEO of Fortune-100 Emerson Electric's Leroy-Somer S.E.A. He serves on the board of several corporations, funds and charities, as well as Alliances Françaises, and the Cleantech Business Angels. He is a lifetime honorary member of the Rotary.
“I liked Olivier’s idea and I decided to take part into the project upon the garantee that the operations would be international from the beginning. I am in charge of the strategy and international financial development and partnerships of Grand Vintage. I believe indeed that Grand Vintage will have a tremendous success internationally thanks to the high prestige and top quality of the antic and vintage Italian items… and thanks to the great job that is currently being performed!