Has the economy hurt your sales?

[Vinca]

I sell antiques and collectibles in a group shop and have noticed a significant decline in earnings this summer. Foot traffic in the tourist-driven town seems to be way down. I also sell on ebay during the winter months, putting the best stuff on between September and Christmas. How has business been there? Thanks for the new group, Skinner!

[Missy M]

1. I am in two group shops.....

one is in a tourist driven town and sales have been bad this summer. The other is in a town with a gambling casino and sales have been OK but not where they should be. It is getting harder to find good antiques at reasonable prices, in order to resell.

[EV_Ares]

3. Hi Missy, I am not A collector but my wife has is. We have not sold

any but she has so many now, was thinking about trying to put some out there but have no idea how to do it. We have bought some things on Ebay but not real knowledgeable about it.

She has a lot of Xmas ornaments, Polonaise & another guy that hand makes them. Also Hallmark. She has a large bird collection, I know some are made by a Karl Ens. Anyway, my point is how would be the best way to go about selling things like this? I thought about leasing her a booth at some antique type store, trying to figure out how to put them on Ebay, see if I could find someone to do that for us. Thought you guys might be able to help or have some ideas. Thanks.

[Missy M]

6. Sounds like your pieces would be under the....

collectibles category. Putting them on ebay is an idea and I think you could do it on your own. It really isn't that difficult, just the matter of taking some good photos. You could go on ebay and look over their format for selling and take a look at the fees they charge. Renting a booth at an antique type store can be costly each month but many stores have cases to rent for much less. A case is the way to go to prevent breakage and theft for small items. Selling can be very enjoyable and at times very frustating. You have to make sure the items you buy to resell are bought at the right price so you can sell them at a profit. Buying items at a too high price is the mistake we all make, sometimes many times over. Good luck!!

[InvisibleTouch]

11. Check out ended listings for an idea of the price you can expect.

That's often very different, especially these days, from what a book or a professional appraiser will tell you. Do a search of completed listings for the items you have, to see if there's a market and what they're going for. (Go to the "Advanced Search" and check "show only completed listings.") If it's worth it to you to sell at the current rates, I'd definetely say go for it.

If you don't want to put them up yourself, you can find a trading assistant in your area who will do it for you, for a fee. I sell on commission sometimes, for instance, but have only done so for friends and family to date. I really need to list myself on Ebay as an official trading assistant.

If you're selling fragile items, offer optional insurance (or require it, if it's a truly valuable piece). I tend not to like to sell pottery and glass just because of the hassle of packaging, but I'll do it if it's a nice enough item. And as long as the buyer is clear that I'm not responsible for damaged mail unless they purchased the insurance, it all works out.

[quispquake]

2. I do records on Ebay

Found things have gone WAY down...still getting people from Overseas, but the new postage regulations are hurting those sales too...

I used to put in a very low opening bid and let the price go up. Nowadays,I'm lucky to get a second bid, so I've let some stuff go for low opening bids, which stinks!!! So, I'm stepping back for a few months, and seeing how things go...(gives me a chance to get new stock anyways!!!).

[Vinca]

16. I've got a question about records on ebay.

As a rule, I don't deal in records because I don't know much about them, but I bought a huge collection at a yard sale for $20 and thought I might sell some in the group shop and some on ebay. The sales are going okay at the group shop (priced very low), but every time I check what my record guide indicates is a rare record on ebay, there's always at least one essentially new, sealed copy of it going for big bucks while all the rest go for nothing. Where on earth do people find "new, sealed copies" of these things? Suspicious person that I am, I wondered if some people repackage the things and sell them as original. What's your opinion?

[democraticinsurgent]

23. Usually they are sealed originals

it's possible to reseal a record but reputable dealers wouldn't do that because there are too many ways to get caught. Vinyl experts know what kind of shrink wrap should be on a vintage record, how it should have aged, etc.

There are still just lots of old sealed records floating around. Obsessive people bought multiple copies back in the day, or they got gifts of items they weren't interested in. I own a brick and mortar store and am amazed at how many sealed records from the 60's and even 50's come in. Usually they are not the high ticket items but sometimes, they are.

Regarding records on ebay, i learned awhile back that collectible records do well in an ebay store. you have to have relatively hard to find items in good condition, but if you do, you can set your price and just wait. has worked well for me, while auctions, not so much.

[Vinca]

25. Thanks for the input and suggestion about the store.

Do you, by any chance, remember "Tommy Z and the Sleepers?" I thought that's who you might be since you're in Columbus and he used to own a music store there.

[democraticinsurgent]

38. I am really a Hoosier

...have lived in Columbus for a couple of years, but don't know Tommy Z. Did they do a record?

[Vinca]

39. They were an Ohio garage band - I don't think they made a record.

They were playing the same circuit as the Music Explosion and the Lemon Pipers (who, of course, made records). I only asked because one of my best friends in high school married Tommy and we've lost touch over the years.

[proReality]

4. Research questions from a babe in the woods

I have a lot of old to antique glass/crystal pieces, along with several pieces of Bavarian, German and English "Royal" this and thats, Red Wing pottery, etc., I would dearly love to find new homes for as soon as possible. But I have extremely little time to do the thorough research in the multitude of books that have me thoroughly confused.

So my questions are: Would it be a good idea to have all of the pieces professionally appraised and get it all up online at once?

OR

If the answer is to research on my own: What book(s) are the best for research in the various categories? Are there specialized publications I should subscribe to? Or is there some fantastic URL that could save me endless hours?

Thanks for any advice!

[ClintonTyree]

18. As far as research books.....

get them from the Library. You can end up spending a fortune on books, I know. :cry:

Some of the books might be a few years old but prices don't change that much from year to year.

As far as getting you items appraised....you can spend a fortune doing that as well. Some appraisers charge $5 an item so if you have a lot of them......you do the math. ;)

Look at items already listed or previously listed on eBay that compare to your items.

In short, nothing good comes easy. If you want top dollar for your items you have to do the research, make sure the item is clean and attractive looking and take nicely framed photographs for the potential buyers to view. In my opinion you can never show too many photos of your sale item. I almost always use picture-pack (depending on the cost of the item, of course) and seem to have pretty good luck that way.

To answer the OP's question: YES! Sales are down and the prices have fallen now. The high times were in 2000-2004. Another victim of the "Bush economic miracle"". :sarcasm:

Good luck to you. I wish I could have given you some magic method of appraising, listing etc. but it all comes down to the old adage: " you get out of it what you put into it".

[grasswire]

22. honestly, the best thing you can do is study eBay sales

Find items that are similar to yours through the search function, and watch to see what the bids are. You can also search for completed auctions for the past thirty days.

As far as research goes, the bidders on eBay are going to already know a lot of the information about the piece. Red Wing? They'll know. They'll know more than you or I do. Display clear photos especially of makers marks, describe the physical attributes of the piece, and then let them do the research. You can always say "I'm not an expert in porcelain, but I'll describe as best I can and answer any questions you have." I do that.

One really important thing is to be scrupulously honest about condition. Note EVERYTHING that might be a flaw. That's how you keep your reputation as a seller.

Honestly, I think you would be wasting money on appraisals unless you have something extremely fabulous.

One other point: usually a good item WILL realize a fair price on eBay. New sellers worry about not getting full value. I believe you have to trust the marketplace there. If it's good and desirable, you'll get a fair price.

[proReality]

28. Thanks CT & grasswire...

Sounds like very good advice.

[GenDem]

5. I just got back from the Madison Boukville antique show

....and although my sales were about the same as last year, it was tough going. Furniture was completely dead. The other thing that I noticed was how much I had to slash my prices to make a sale.

We set up on Tuesday and sell through Sunday.

[Missy M]

7. I did Madison Bouckville some years ago and was in an....

antique shop there for a few years. If the furniture was completely dead what was selling?

[GenDem]

9. It was tough in just about all categories

I sold a box of post cards and trade cards for about $400, and I would say my other sales came primarily from low end glassware,ironstone,kitchen stuff, and linens marked very low. I had a box of Liberty Blue (lots of pieces) and I sold a lot of that, too.

The past few years I did very well with vintage and Victorian oil paintings, watercolors, pastels, prints. This year -- I sold 1 print. :shrug:

I also have had great luck selling Formica top and enamel top tables, cupboards, and little farm tables. I sold one farm table for $65.00 that I would have gotten 100.00 for a couple years ago, and the rest I brought home.

We set up at Quaker Acres right across from the food booth -- it's a very good spot with the traffic from the food and right on the road where people have to walk to get to their cars. The promoter said that all the dealers were complaining about their sales being WAY off.

To be honest I don't have a clue what's hot and what their buying. I remember the trends -- chintz, jadeite, tole ware, McCoy. I wish someone would clue me in, because I just don't know what to buy anymore.

[Missy M]

14. What I sell now is all over the place.....

so I don't have a clue either about what to buy anymore. What I think will be a sure sell doesn't sell. I have sold antique architectural drawings, Sandwich glass, Mammy dolls, antique wire egg holder, antique Xmas ornament, folk art, those sort of things. I can't sell very early EAPG, Currier and Ives prints, Victorian furniture is a hard sell. Have had success with early country but it's getting hard to find at decent prices.

[grasswire]

31. looking at magazines helps, I think

Anything that Martha Stewart features is likely to turn hot. Watch the decorating and lifestyle and home magazines on a big magazine rack. Look for trends in the feature articles.

[GenDem]

36. I try to follow the Martha trends

but it just isn't like the old days when one thing (Jadeite) would just skyrocket in popularity.

We try to carry every day decorator type stuff that people can still use -- cake stands, lighting, egg plates, linens, etc.

:hi:

[redwitch]

29. I FINALLY made it there this year!

For the last Friday and Saturday. Exhausting, fun, wish I'd had more money, time, and a bigger car. I have space in 2 centers, just showcases so I only buy and sell small stuff.

[GenDem]

35. If you got up to Quaker Acres this is our booth

Right across from the food booth.





My friend, Kelly, and I do this show every summer. We kind of think of it as a working vacation. It is long, though -- we are there from early Tuesday until late Sunday afternoon.

:hi:

[InvisibleTouch]

8. In general, yes.

People still buy household necessities, especially if they can get a good price, but the market for collectible items has really dropped.

When I first started on Ebay in the late 90's, I remember putting up a bunch of listings and already having bids on my first few items by the time I got to the end of my list. These were sci-fi collectibles for which there was, at the time, a hot market. An occasional rare piece will still sell for a nice price, but the more common stuff doesn't move anymore. And no one seems to want Star Trek anything these days. :(

Summer is always a dead time for me, though I actually did quite well in July just because I put so much time and effort into it - but these were mostly new-in-box BIN items that sold for me, not collectibles. And I had to pay quite a bit in listing fees to sell what I did.

August ran pretty dry again. I'm waiting for September when I expect (hope) that sales will pick up.


Glad to see this group! :)

[cspanlovr]

10. I'm in the same forest as Babe in the Woods. I've bought things

on Ebay, and would like to sell some things too, but I'm only a cave(wo)man "lawyer" and all these things "startle and confuse me." No, really, I just haven't had the time and energy to devote to it, and I don't want to sell things for less than they are worth. I know I've always bought things on ebay for less than they were worth, sooooo, logic tells me the same will happen to me.

By the way -- Thank you Skinner for starting this forum!

[InvisibleTouch]

12. See my reply to EV_Ares.... n/t

[cspanlovr]

13. Thanks!

:hi:

[Missy M]

15. It does take a lot of time when selling on ebay....

listing, answering emails, packing the goods, taking them to the post office or UPS. If you are in a group shop or antique mall they do all the work for you. The two places I'm in don't require you to work any hours and they don't take a commission. It does take time to find good things to sell and to stock your booth or case, but not that much.

[Stinky The Clown]

17. I'm going to comment on this from the point of view of a buyer/collector

It seems inventory at brick and mortar shops and group malls is far more stale that at any time I can remember. The same stuff in the same booths with the same faded ink on the tags.

We often speak with the dealers (we've been buyers for so long that we know most of them pretty well). They all report that prices are down and inventory stays unsold longer. There are no real trends and nothing's hot.

I have a theory about this ......

I collect fountain pens and watches. Sparkly collects other things - including old books.

Pens were a cheap throw-away for dealers back in the 70s and early 80s. Most dealers got them as parts of large buy-outs when people died. The pens usually gopt thrown into boxes and when the box was full, they got sold as unsorted, raw lots. Back then, i used to pay $10 or $20 for the now fabled "Box-O'Pens". To we pen nerds, these boxes often yielded many serious treasures that we quietly traded, bought and sold among ourselves.

Dealers soon learned about the value of pens and the boxes became harder to find. Pens were sold by the piece more often than not. Prices were still reasonable ... but no more true bargains. By the mid 90's we collectors were grousing about 'Smithsonian Prices' for junker pens.

Along came eBay and pen prices went totally insane.

At about the same time, the raw materials became pretty much unavailable. The estates that would have contained pens had all been sold. Quite simply, there were no more pens 'in the wild'. The market became one of resale. We used to theorize that every pen collector would own every pen ever made at least once in his life.

Today, the pen market is pretty dead. A few new people with deep pockets are still in it. A few poorer newbies still makes the occasional onsie-twosie pen purchase. But the market is pretty much moribund. High prices, little new stock, disinterested buyers.

I think this same thing has happened in other markets. Particularly in the 'smalls' market. Ebay drove up the prices, became the defacto market and then went dry.

We furnished our house almost entirely in 'antiques' ..... mostly stuff from the Depression through the early 50s. When we bought this, the prices were low because Victorian was still hot. Now the price for stuff we like is high, but the supply is low. And newer stuff (60s thru 80s) (and not all of it, but some) was aesthetically pretty awful and holds little appeal.


I'd guess this is a normal cycle, but add in the economy and it would look pretty bleak to me if I were a seller. And until I, as a buyer, get excited again, that's the way it might stay. There will always be buyers and sellers, but it seems to me the mid 80s to mid 90s was the golden era. And it may never come back.

[KoKo]

19. I wonder about the China Factor is some goods.

real wood furniture for folks who worry about their kids with asthma which is on the rise. Also made in America Dishes and cookware Doesn't always mean they don't have lead or something else in them, though. I got rid of some Fiesta Ware plates and bowls because they were the colors that had lead in the glazes.

Where I live it seems most of the 40's and under are buying IKEA type stuff they have to put together or furniture that is made in China on a higher scale but is still veneered. They don't collect because they live in new houses where the "stainless steel, hard surface, granite look" is what they and all their friends want because that's what they see from the Decorators. "Homey" or "Country" is out unless it's white painted particle board "Country" that again comes from China and is sold in Target or Home Depot. They just don't like clutter. Don't have time to deal with it and don't have friends who are interested in history to collect anything.

I wonder if it's a cycle. Or, if the PC Age isn't just taking so much time away and working two jobs or one that takes all your time doesn't cut down on "outside interests." :shrug:

Still...if folks stop buying Chinese Hard Goods does that mean that things well made and solid will have a resurrection? I hope so ...because I've got stuff to sell...

[Stinky The Clown]

20. You make a good point ..... and you're right about young people .....

At least I can speak to it anecdotally. My son and daughter-in-law-to-be-in-two-weeks were in the process of furnishing their new (old) house. They took a few hand-me-downs from us, but didn't want a few other things we had that they could use because of aesthetics.

I sent them to a few dealer friends of ours who deal solid but ordinary furniture from pretty much all eras. One I recall was a really nice, super solid, excellent condition immediately post-War (late 40s/early 50s) rock maple dining room set. It was nice because it wasn't that sort of faux country that was common back then. Instead it was a late deco style that was actually quite modern looking. Kinda like Heywood Wakefield. The entire set (table, 4 side chairs, 2 arm chairs, china cabinet and buffet) was tagged at $800, but my friend said she would sell it to them for $400.

They didn't like the style. :shrug:

Now they have a table I gave them, a church pew I gave them and four IKEA chairs.

Oh well ..... I still love them both.

[grasswire]

24. I read an article written by Harry Rinker

Do you know who he is?

I wish I had a copy of it. He wrote a treatise on who collects, when they collect, when they stop collecting, and how the market changes to follow trends. And wow, in the last decade-plus furniture, for example, has gone from Victorian to "cottage" or "shabby chic" to mission/arts-crafts to "vintage" to mid-century modern to retro to "atomic" or Eames, etc.

He said that most people collect something of sentimental value remembered from their childhood, and stop collecting in their fifties. I finally started thinking about that when buying for resale. I deal in ephemera and vintage papers, so I had to make a concerted shift to also look for things from the fifties and sixties.

This principle means constantly educating oneself or at least making savvy guesses. Example: I was at a church sale last month. There was a cabinet from the old Sunday school that I could only tell was mid-century. I bought it for five bucks because I had a hunch about it. Got it home, did some research, and learned that it is limed oak finish made by a respectable furniture builder and is worth about two grand. Last year I wouldn't have even looked at it, but the trend toward modern furniture in the stores here has opened my eyes to the possibilities.

In any event, it's a crap shoot. I research everything that catches my eye.

Say, do sales of ink bottles have the same malaise as fountain pens?

[Vinca]

26. I've had the same experience with mid-century modern.

It's the one thing I buy that flies off the shelf. It seems the uglier the lamp, the better. I'm always on the lookout for "egg" chairs and furniture that looks like it came from the Jetsons. Your church sale find is so exciting!

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

27. When you say 'egg' chairs, do you mean

the white swivel chairs that are molded & look sort of plasticy? I ask because my parents have a kitchen set that they've had since the mid 60s. It's an oval table with a pedestal base & 6 chairs. Ugliest thing I ever saw. :rofl:

[Vinca]

30. Any of the ugly, eggy-style chairs are hot, but the one I'm always

looking for is the white one that has a stereo system inside it. There was one in a scene from "Sleepless In Seattle" if you happen to have seen the movie. The one the little boy and girl were swiveling around in. So far, the only one I've come across was in a Mailboxes, Etc. store. Someone was shipping one off to a happy ebay buyer.

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

32. I remember those.

They used to have them at the airport & you could plug a nickel? dime? in & listen to music. I always bugged my parents for change & would sit there happily while we waited for some relative to fly in.

And I remember that they were sold for home use (without the coin slot).

Fun trip down memory lane. Thanks!

[Stinky The Clown]

33. I don't know who he is, but I like the theory you cite

It makes perfect sense. I'm not sure I agree with the detail that people stop collecting in their 50s .... but maybe.

Ink bottles ..... I'm not sure what you mean ......ink bottles as in old Sheaffer or Parker ink? Or inkwells?

Ink bottles were always simply considered pen ephemera and never went for all that much. Even NOS ink bottles from the 20s and 30s.

Ink wells (and dip pens, for that matter) is actually a whole other market and one with which I'm not at all familiar.

[grasswire]

37. here's a link to Harry Rinker's web site

http://www.harryrinker.com/harry.html

The columns that are archived are quite interesting, I think. The specific one that I summarized above is not on the site, but others are good, too.

[zabet]

21. My sales have fallen directly in line..

with the economy. Books still selling fairly steady but, glassware
has to be choice and hard-to-find to command good prices.

edit spelling

[Stinky The Clown]

34. I spoke today with a dealer friend ......

He deals both 'antiques' and just plain old used furniture. His smalls mostly go on eBay.

He says he's down across the board except for the used furniture. That, he says, is doing better than it ever has. Also he says he's getting lots of calls about stuff offered for sale.

This sure seems to be a result of a crap economy.

[Dulcinea]

40. People are much slower to pay.

I used to get people who paid instantly. Now it seems that they're taking several days.

[1776Forever]

41. Yes Big Time - We had to give up our used printer business

The reason for this was the cost of gas, cost of storage and just a down turn in the turn over of sales. We just started again to do our collectables auctions. We had been subcontracting with a local government agency for there used printers and did pretty good for about 3 years. It has been rough right now in Florida finding anything full time so we just do the best we can.:shrug: