Need
help selling your stuff?
With enough time and motivation, nearly anyone can learn to sell their
antiques and collectibles online. As we receive a lot of questions
from folks asking how to get started, we thought this list of sites,
services, and selling tips might be useful to you. And, for those of
you not inclined to the internet, we've also included a section on offline
selling options too.
Not sure exactly what you have, or what it's worth? We recommend
you do some research before putting your item up for sale. You can
either do the legwork yourself, or pay an expert to do it for you.
If you think your item is quite valuable, it might be worth spending some
money for an professional appraisal. Visit our
Research Help page for pointers on how to
determine values, and referrals to people who can assist you. To
help authenticate your antiques and collectibles, you might want to review
the Black Light page before you put your
items up for sale.
Top of Page
eBay Auction: The world's largest online auction marketplace. Listing fees, photo
gallery fees, reserve fees, and sales commissions can be brutal, but if
you have a unique item, this is the best place to sell if you don't have
your own website. With millions of registered users worldwide, eBay
has the largest audience reach for the money. However... if your
item is fairly common, be prepared to receive garage sale prices.
The eBay site averages 16 million listings each day, so it's easy for
common items to be devalued. Obviously, the higher the supply, the
lower the demand is per item, thus driving prices down across the board.
Learning how to sell on eBay can be an overwhelming task, so if you need
help, you might want to
contact an
expert auction seller for free advice, or buy some
reference books on online auction selling.
Yahoo Auction:
While the listing fees and final value fees (commission) are lower on
Yahoo, so is the buyer audience. Listing an item with too low a
price could be disastrous, as there are not always enough bidders to drive
the price up to current market value. For example, we once listed a
mint condition collector plate in the original box with the certificate of
authenticity for a starting bid of only $0.01. After the 10 day
auction was over, the winning bid was $0.06 -- yes, that's SIX CENTS.
Moral of the story: Start your Yahoo auctions at the minimum price
you want to get for that item or use a reserve..... you may only get one
or two bids for it!e-Commerce Stores: If
you have enough items and want to start your own online shop, you might
want to take a look at e-Store options such as
TIAS (The Internet Antique Store),
Ruby Lane,
GoAntiques, or
Trocadero. These sites are host to
hundreds (if not thousands) of antiques and collectibles stores. You don't have to know
how to build a website or learn HTML coding -- they have everything set up
for you. It is easy to upload digital photos and descriptions, and
these sites have a large user base, so you should receive a decent amount
of traffic right away. The downside, however, is that there is little
flexibility on layouts, and all stores tend to look the same, so it's
hard to differentiate yourself from the pack. In addition, most of
these sites charge commission on top of maintenance fees, so you need to sell a decent amount
of volume each month to make it worthwhile.
iOffer:
Listings are free here, so there is no upfront cost..... you only pay a
commission if your item sells. The traffic levels are pretty good,
but offers tend to be low from our experience. But, if you're
patient and willing to negotiate with people, you may just find the right
buyer for your goods. If you have time, you can also browse through
their partner site, eWanted, to see
if someone is searching for what you have for sale.Store Building:
If you don't want to compete with other antiques and collectibles dealers
in a co-op environment (see e-Stores above), and don't have the technical
know-how to build your own shop, you might want to try an independent
build-a-store site such as
FreeMerchant. While a basic shop used to be free (hence the
name) they still offer low cost online store templates for as little as
$9.95 a month, plus a start-up fee. However, as you don't have to
pay commission on the
items you sell, it's very cost effective in the long run. The site is easy to use for the beginner but, again,
there are limitations on how your store will look and function. You
are also "on your own" when it comes to marketing. Unlike TIAS
(which has an advertising and marketing program to attract antiques and
collectibles buyers), you will have to work on building your own traffic
through banner exchanges,
submitting to search engines,
joining webrings, etc. This
is takes a lot of work and time, but you can't beat an easy-to-open online
store for about 10 bucks a month!
Top of Page
Website Building Software: If you're serious
about making a commitment and want to sell online full time, there is no
better way to go than building your own .com store with
Front Page 2002. Unless you are an expert in HTML code,
you'll probably need help designing your website. Rather than hiring
a web designer for thousands of dollars, you can do it yourself with
Microsoft Front Page 2002 software for about $150 (one time cost), plus
monthly hosting fees. But, if you already have an ISP, you probably
already have a certain amount of free hosting available to use. If
your online shop is small, you may not even need additional space to host
it. Generally speaking, Front Page is easy to use, but it is helpful
if you know HTML, especially when trying to add some "advanced" features
such as forms, shopping carts, frames, Java Script, etc.
Domain Hosting: Need to register your domain and/or
host your website? We have found
GoDaddy to be pretty user friendly and relatively low cost. You
can research and register your .com address, park your shop, get
additional e-mails, add a shopping cart, or open a credit card merchant
account. We like their "ala cart" menu that lets you choose only the
services you want, without having to pay for stuff you don't need.
Shopping Cart: If you already have a web
presence but lack a full service online purchasing system, you can't beat the
shopping cart offered by PayPal. This
merchant selling feature has no set up fee, and is fairly easy to use.
There is no monthly maintenance cost, and you only pay fees when you
receive a payment from a buyer. The Premier merchant fees are very
reasonable, especially when compared to the cost of having your own
merchant account. The main downside to using PayPal is the inability to
take credit card orders over the phone. For fraud protection
reasons, PayPal does not allow you to do this. The upside is that
once a buyer is registered with PayPal, they never have to re-enter their
personal information or credit card number again in order to buy from any
seller who accepts PayPal. We have used the PayPal shopping cart on
this website since it was first offered a couple years ago, and have been
very happy with it.
Top of Page
International Selling: If you truly want to
take advantage of the world wide web, you should consider offering your
items to buyers around the globe. Doing so, however, takes extra
work and a bit more patience. For example, we sometimes receive
e-mails in languages other than English, so we found that free
online translation
and
currency converter sites to be helpful in getting over these hurdles. Another sticking point
to international commerce is trying to figure out postage charges.
This is made a whole lot easier by consulting the US Postal Service's
international shipping calculator.
Building Trust: If you watch the news or read
the paper, you have undoubtedly heard a number of stories about internet
fraud, where someone (or many people) were swindled out of their money by
an unscrupulous online seller. Needless to say, these isolated
incidents affect everyone, and make things tougher for those of us who are
trying to make an honest living in online retail. So.... how do you
earn buyers trust? If you sell in the online auctions, your
feedback
rating is critical. If you have a website, membership in
customer evaluation services such as
ePublicEye and the Better Business
Bureau are useful in putting potential customers at ease. As most of these service charge fees, you'll need to
decide which ones will be most beneficial and cost effective for your
online business.
Customer Service: Whether you are selling a
couple items you don't want any more, or going into the antiques and
collectibles business full time, it is critical to offer buyers good
customer service. This is especially true if you ever want them to
buy from you again. Exceptional customer service includes:
 | Being reachable by e-mail, telephone or both, if possible. |
| Supplying clear and accurate photos and descriptions of your
items. |
| Answering questions politely and promptly (within 24 hours is
best). |
| Providing clear terms of sale, payment options, etc. |
| Packing items with great care, using quality packing materials. |
| Shipping immediately upon receipt of payment. |
And last, but certainly not least........
| Thank them for buying from you! |
Top of Page
Selling to Dealers: Most antiques shops will
welcome the opportunity to buy your quality antiques and collectibles.
The key here is remembering that dealers cannot afford to pay retail
prices (known as "book value") if they are buying the items for resale.
Inasmuch as most dealers enjoy their trade, they are, after all, operating
a business. If there is no room for a profit after operating
expenses, dealers cannot afford to buy your goods. It is best to
offer your items to dealers when you can sell in bulk, such as an entire
collection or estate, for one reasonable (i.e. wholesale lot)
price.
Offer us your items.
Consignments: Most brick-and-mortar antiques
and collectibles shops will consider selling your items in their store on
consignment. That is, you retain the right of ownership of the item
while it is for sale in the shop, then receive payment for the item when
it sells. Consignment selling is very easy, and the price you
receive should be reasonable. The downside to consignment selling is
that the buyer pool is limited to only the customers of that particular
store, and items may languish on a shelf gathering dust for weeks, if not
months. The going rate on this service varies by region, the value
of the item(s), the type of store, and the asking price of the item.
Generally speaking, consignments can run anywhere from 10% to 35% of the
sale price, with the higher value items usually being charged the lowest
percentage. If you decide to go with a consignment, be sure to ask
for a contract specifying the terms of the sale, your lowest acceptable
price, how long the item will remain in the shop, how damages and theft
are handled, when you receive payment, and other important details.
Selling to Collectors: This is the method
where you will undoubtedly receive the highest dollar amount for your
antiques and collectibles. Collectors in search of an elusive item
have been known to pay almost anything to get that rare item to complete
their collection. However, these people are few and very far
between. To reach collectors, a classified ad in the newspaper is
still the best way to go, especially if you live in or near a large city.
However, if you live in a small town, it may be hard to find a buyer for
your 15 foot tall metal gas station advertising sign. In this case,
you might have to go the consignment or local dealer route. If you
decide on classified ad selling, we recommend meeting the potential buyer
in a public place, for security reasons. Or, if they must visit your
home, make sure you are not alone when they stop by.
Local Auctions: The quickest and easiest way
to dispose of goods of any type is by putting them up for sale through a
public auction house or estate sale service. You might receive lower
prices per item this way, compared to the other methods above, but
in-person auctions are great for moving a boat-load of items FAST. On the
other hand, rare items sold through well-known auction houses can bring
record high prices. So..... whether you just inherited Aunt Edna's old
house crammed full of not-so-interesting household goods, or even
some scarce artwork by listed artists, you can likely sell it all quickly, in one fell swoop,
through an auction house.
Find an auctioneer in your town.
[ Seller Tips ] [ Research Help ] [ Buy Books ] [ Black Light Testing ]
Top of Page
Thanks For Visiting
Trojan
Horse Antiques & Collectibles
Please Come Back Soon!
|
