posted on May 31, 2003 08:30:44 AM new
I try to include "key words" in my descriptions...today while checking feedback I realized again how important this is!
In this auction PRETTY LADY COAT AD CHARLES CITY IA c1910 WOW
Item # 2173440302
(sorry no good with links)I listed "collie" at the bottom of the listing. A lady from France purchased the postcard and in checking the other items she bought I found that they are "collie" related. The collie is really an insignificant (to most of us) part of the postcard but it was the very thing that sold it! It is often worth your while to take the time to think of aspects of your item that might appeal to a wide market of buyers!
Now...what more can I say about a post office from Timbuktu..
edited because i am like a kid with a new toy!
[ edited by neglus on Jun 2, 2003 08:41 AM ]
[ edited by neglus on Jun 2, 2003 08:42 AM ]
posted on May 31, 2003 03:01:34 PM new
neglus, you have made a very good point here...the title is the thing that has to draw them in...including an important word can lose us $$$$$.
now, how about a lesson in selling postcards? i have recently come into a lot of about 300-400 and most are from 1907-08
how to sort and sell them?
sorry for infringing on your initial post with this question but this way I was sure you would see it.
You are so, so right. Exactly what I was talking about in the Brainstorming thread. I've not sold very many postcards but one I did sell had an old car way down in the corner. I finally decided it was a Packard so Googled for images. I was right and the person who bought it collected things Packard.
My only suggestion would be to try to include your key words in the title as most people don't search title and description. I'd skip the Pretty and the Wow if you're short of space.
Here's an alternate title for what turned out to be your collie card.
LADIES COAT AD,COLLIE,CHARLES CITY IA c1910
PRETTY LADY COAT AD CHARLES CITY IA c1910 WOW
Good luck with your cards and if you find any old street scenes of San Luis Obispo, CA, please let me know. My son collects them.
posted on May 31, 2003 05:29:38 PM new
OHmslucy - I have listed many street scenes of San Luis Obispo - none right now but who knows! I just a grab a handful of cards and list them - my supply is not organized which makes it kind of fun!
The title i used "pretty lady" is because that is the genre of the postcard (many people collect "pretty lady / woman " postcards and I felt that was the likely target) there is also the advertising angle and the collie was an afterthought...i just had room in the title for a 3 letter word and that would be "wow" (i usually add "look" or "nice" when i have room but dont jeopordize the main search words to do so.)
rarriffle - rather than take space up here you can email me and I will send you a postcard primer I wrote for my relatives who like to look for postcards for me. I should say that the primer is geared to American View post cards and NOT greeting and specialty post cards!
[ edited by neglus on Jun 1, 2003 08:14 AM ]
posted on May 31, 2003 08:28:11 PM new
When I search my my hometown I always search title and description as my hometown is very little and I doubt many postcards were made. There is also other towns with the same name so I also include my state spelled out. I get about 10 more hits.
posted on June 1, 2003 05:43:42 AM new
Libra- you should not only spell out your state but use the official postal abbreviation and also the traditional abbreviation with and without periods...
or a better way - when I look for my hometown in Nebraska, I first do a search by the name of the town and when I find a listing for my town ,nebraska I open the listing and then i click on the category at the top and THEN do another search "only in Nebraska" - I am always surprised at the many different ways sellers abbreviate states! I personally use the postal abbreviation in the title and the full name and other abbreviations in the description - often there is no room in the title for the full state name.
My husband collects Swiss postcards and used to search by using the word "postcard" or "post card" ...it's surprising how many more postcards he found when he took "post card" out of his search. I never waste space in the title for "postcard" (unless title is VERY short) ... I got chastized once by someone who thought i was selling a motel in Arizona ... yeah right! for $5.00???? Postcard and its variation post card are both in my descriptions.
[ edited by neglus on Jun 1, 2003 06:38 AM ]
posted on June 1, 2003 08:00:06 AM new
Neglus: Me too, please! [email protected]. I'd love to see your tutorial on selling postcards. I've been sitting on 800 or so because I was timid about beginning to sell them. Well, not sitting on them literally, you understand.
About the keyword thing: When I was first starting to sell, I listed a ratty old booklet from 1925 with a flapper girl dancing on the cover. It was an booklet produced by a radio station in Chicago when it first went on the air. I described it as best I could, posted lots of pictures, and listed all the different keywords I could find from the booklet, like Edgewater Beach Hotel, Chicago, where the station was located, and also pictures and words about the cable company which produced the station's cables. I thought that was unimportant, but did it anyway.
Started it at $7.95 because I thought it'd be a miracle if it sold at all. Finally sold after heavy bidding among 3 bidders for $125! I could not believe it, and after I had the money in hand I sent my standard "what the heck were you thinking" message (but much nicer, saying I'm just wondering what the main attraction in this booklet was for you, etc.) Turns out the guy has a small bed and breakfast with radio museum in a small town in Indiana. He had a sample of that company's cable but no pictures of the factory and workers, and I'd posted a centerfold of pictures of just that. I sure did learn my lesson fast! Keywords are awfully important.
He was planning to reproduce the booklet and sell it at his museum, also display the booklet next to his cable sample.
But I don't string a bunch of keywords at the end of the description as some people do. I usually put them in the description's sentences, but I've wondered if I should just write a string of them.
Please do send me what you've written. I'd love to see it. ~Adele
posted on June 1, 2003 09:58:52 AM new
Yikes! Getting lots of emails requesting my primer! Perhaps this is a better way to go...here is a URL to a very good guide to post cards giving history, types of postcards etc: http://shilohpostcards.com/webdoc2.htm -
my sales tips are pretty simple: 1)dont waste your time listing great smoky mtns and niagra falls - no matter how beautiful..THEY WON'T SELL!! Boston, washington dc, williamsburg va are not good markets except for "special" cards 2) GET A SCANNER! Don't use digital camera to capture your image and DONT use ebay's ipix! 3) dont expect a very good sell through rate - around 30% at the best of times and I don't even want to talk about now! Be prepared to "eat" a lot of listing fees! 4) don't even try the .99 list unless you want to sell your pc for that price (not worth your labor - post card selling is very labor intensive because each listing is different!) - most times you get just one buyer wanting a PC and he/she will pay a reasonable price for it and of course would LOVE to have it for a buck! 5) title your items well, include condition in description - mention bent corners etc - be upfront with the postcard's defects! Make sure you include "key words" in your description - not spam - just words that fit the postcard (see above)..and when you decide that it all is too much work for low ticket items and lousy sell through rate, you can contact me LOL ...I am always looking for new sources of postcards and I actually LIKE the work!
posted on June 1, 2003 11:31:36 AM new
neglus, sorry for causing you so much trouble..but thank you for the tutorial...maybe I will just post them as a lot together....they are almost all linen and I have pulled out what I think are the really interesting ones.
posted on June 2, 2003 05:08:32 AM new
no trouble rariffle! Lot selling is another option (I haven't tried it) - make sure you show some sample postcard scans in your lot listing. Earlier you said your postcards were from 1907-1908 - those wouldn't be linen. Good luck!
A good thread! I sell magazine ads (which have many of the same types of collectors as your post cards, I'd imagine). I'm surprised that you hadn't realized about listing dog breeds before. In advertisements dogs are HOT! An ad that would be worth less than $1 to a collector item being advertised can sell for $10-50 if it has a good picture of a popular dog breed. I've gone as far to bookmark some good dog breed reference sites so that I can identify them better. Dog breeds also have their own categorys! (I think it's under Collectibles->Animals->Dogs->Specific breed). That's the place to list them! Give it a shot, and you'll be amazed!
I agree with your other tips as well... except for the scanner part. I tried scanners, but found that they are WAY too slow. I use a macro-setting on a good digital camera and get excellent results. I find that I can take pictures about 5-10 times faster than I can scan an item. As they say... time is money! Aside from that... I think your advice is right on! (it's amazing how similar postcards and advertisments are!)
posted on June 2, 2003 06:17:03 AM new
Forgot to mention, that another trick with the digital camera is to take the pictures at an angle (rather than straight on). That way if the picture has a glossy surface, the ad won't reflect the flash.
posted on June 2, 2003 07:15:46 AM new
eaution: maybe digital photos work ok for magazine ads because they are larger than postcards? The postcard listings i have seen using photos instead of scans have been inferior to the scan's detail - maybe because the scanner presses the postcard flat you can see the bent corners, tiny tears etc whereas a photo seems to capture the image ok but not details that concern collectors.
My scanner bed can hold three horizontal postcards and four vertical postcards - I place that many on the scanner and scan them at one time in a preview, and then frame each one and name individually. I don't think this is any more labor intensive than taking photos and then uploading them to pc and I know that the scan will perfectly capture the image while photos may have to be redone. Just my opinion anyway...
Thanks for the dog tip...no i didn't know that there were that many dog collectors out there!! A new thing to look for when buying postcards to sell! thanks!
posted on June 2, 2003 07:29:08 AM new
neglus:
do you accept consignment at all?
seven months pregnant with twins, I have no time to learn a new category right now and am up to my elbows in my Grandmother's postcards and stamps!
(the stamps are a nightmare ~ no idea as far as country, dates, etc ~ yikes!)
The postcards are mostly international from travel abroad w/my grandfather ~ an official photographer for US dignitaries. Most are from around the 1930's.
Any interest in tackling the project for me?
(I'm begging, oh-pleasy-please, on my knees) (not easy for someone as pregnant as me!)
I have a feeling that the poor digital-camera pictures you have seen of postcards are probably the result of poor-picture-takers and/or inferior camera equipment. While most of my ads are larger than post-cards, I do sell quite a few that are actually post-card size or smaller! Take this one, that is about 3x5 inches:
Here's the url for the pic (I can't seem to get the image to show up in the thread):
http://imagehost.vendio.com/bin/viewimage.x/00000000/eauctionmgnt/W41.jpg?&&pt=bidpay
It was taken with a good macro, at a slight angle, at a medium resolution setting. The text is clear and sharp, plus you can see a slight imperfection in the upper left-hand corner. I'd argue that it actually shows defects MORE clearly than a scanner for the precise reason that it is not being forced flat by a scanner. Sometimes that can hide edge curls and other imperfections that a properly taken picture can illustrate.
Your method with the scanner is good to save time... but try using a stopwatch to time how long it takes to scan in 7 postcards, and compare it to the time it takes to snap 7 shots on a camera (in fact you can save even more time by setting the camera on a tripod, having guide lines to place your post card and just click away!) I bet you'll find that the camera is MUCH faster. If you have access to a good Macro digital camera (mines an older Fuji FinePix 1400, but has a sharp lens and a great macro feature!), I'd strongly encourage you to try it. I saved lots of time when I switched to this method! Hope that helps!
[ edited by eauctionmgnt on Jun 2, 2003 07:41 AM ]
[ edited by eauctionmgnt on Jun 2, 2003 07:43 AM ]
[ edited by eauctionmgnt on Jun 2, 2003 07:45 AM ]
[ edited by eauctionmgnt on Jun 2, 2003 07:47 AM ]
[ edited by eauctionmgnt on Jun 2, 2003 07:48 AM ]
posted on June 2, 2003 08:04:14 AM new
ZOOMING ..I havent done consignments because of how labor intensive listing postcards is, low sell through rate and low ticket items...I might consider it though - haven't thought much about how to structure it. Summer is not really a good time to sell postcards. You usually just get one bid, if any bids at all. I am still listing but, like many sellers, holding my better items for fall. Perhaps it would be better to sell your grouping as a lot - I WOULD be interested in purchasing it!
OHMSLUCY: I found out that I do have a San Luis Obispo motel card ( a nice one) listed now - ROSS' GRANDVIEW MOTEL SAN LUIS OBISPO CA
Item # 2176718006
eauction: I think you have some distortion using the camera at an angle method - not to mention $$ for a good digital (mine is middle of the road olympus) and tripod - then we have the skill issue (my husband complains i always cut the feet off in my family photos).
My scanner is a microtek, cost about $100 and does a great job without much user skill required (other than being able to put things straight on the bed which i always a problem for me- as demonstrated in the motel postcard above) - I don't think a camera could capture this postcard nearly as well:
http://imagehost.vendio.com/preview/ne/neglus/35hrv25sanfrancisco.jpg
[ edited by neglus on Jun 2, 2003 08:45 AM ]
[ edited by neglus on Jun 2, 2003 08:46 AM ]
posted on June 2, 2003 08:13:27 AM new
thanks Neglus!
I'll probably separate them by Country / point of interest and list them in lots.
My eBay room is currently undergoing transformation into a Nursery ~ I'm still up & eBaying for another few weeks but the printer & scanner are no longer hooked up.
Looks like I'll have to save the postcards until life settles down some!
posted on June 2, 2003 08:18:06 AM new
zooming - my husband is from Switzerland and would be interested in buying pc's of small towns there if you have any (not mountains or big towns like zurich, geneva etc)
There's no doubt that your method does produce a very high-quality image. But... I'd be willing to bet my method is providing me with about 90-95% of the quality, with about 10-20% of the work. Of course... I've grown up in a family of professional photographers... so taking a good picture is 2nd-nature for me. You are right about the distortion created by taking the picture at an angle.... but I haven't found it to be an issue with my bidders. I could fix the distortion AND the glare by setting my camera up on a copy stand with lights... then taking the picture w/o flash. But, I haven't cleared enough space in my office for that yet!
Anyhow... I'm glad that your method works for you and that mine works for me. I just thought I'd share my methods with you in case they could save you some time like it has me. I know that with the low-sell through rate, every second that you shave from listing is more money in your pocket. (I don't know about you, but I have MUCH more inventory than I have time to list!)
posted on June 2, 2003 08:28:25 AM new
I have to tell you all something interesting! My husband is on the board of a new historical museum in our little town which is about to open. He has tons of historic pictures taken 80 years ago or so at our cabin near here, and in the town itself, which if course the museum people are interested in. He is in the time-consuming process of scanning the pictures they want copies of, and then cataloging them.
As he told me how he catalogs the pictures, I realized it's exactly what we do with key words in our auctions. He has to figure out, from a big cheat-sheet provided for him, which categories (keywords) each picture covers so that visitors who are researching can find them easily. They're doing that for postcards, too. Would any of you be interested in seeing this sheet he works from? (I haven't seen it so am not sure how helpful it'll be for us, but seeing the thread above about dog breeds on postcards made me think. . . . ) ~Adele
P.S. His work for the museum is giving him a new appreciation for what I go through to list an item! Love that.
posted on June 2, 2003 08:35:03 AM new
I agree eauction...probably a matter of preferences when it gets right down to it. Sounds like photography is second nature to you whereas it is a true art..scanners are pretty much dummy proof! ( i am living testament to that!)
posted on June 2, 2003 11:30:41 AM new
Speaking of keywords! Last night I sold a hardbound book, the play Kismet by Edward Knoblauch. I thought it would appeal to someone looking for far eastern or 1st ed. plays or stuff by Knoblauch.
Turns out the buyer is giving it as a birthday gift to a friend living in Kismet, Fire Island, who has lots of Kismet items in his home.
posted on June 2, 2003 01:18:05 PM new
well, now I have really got a lot to think about as far as sorting these cards.
neglus,
most of the cards have postmarks from 1907-08., if not linen, what are they? I am a real novice at this and learning more everyday as far as ads and pc's go.
i only have a couple of the package cards, what are those called? you know, 7 or 8 all connected.
