posted on February 23, 2001 04:03:18 PM
For the past two months my single remaining booth in antique mall has done much, much better than eBay. Both in volume of sales and prices realized. Anyone else seeing a return of buyers to the B&M stores?
posted on February 23, 2001 05:33:02 PM
I have returned to real life shops and malls for 3 reasons.
I am sick and tired of plowing through auctions on eBay where the sellers don't have a clue and have done no research. If I never see a 1970's orange pot listed as "really old", "art deco", "arts and crafts", and yes even "art nouveau", it will be too soon.
I am no longer willing to waste money receiving objects that have flaws not listed, or are otherwise not what they appear to be. I want to see and touch before I buy for the most part.
The last reason is that I am finding that real life shops and mall sellers have become a lot more realistic in their pricing. I believe eBay has influenced the real life pricing structure.
posted on February 23, 2001 06:04:36 PM
I completely agree about the pricing--not nearly so may outrageous prices in the mall where I sell.
And there are so many sellers out there with a little knowledge that do hurt the rest of us who have spent years becoming familiar with our product lines and areas of specialization.
However, one thing I have always loved about internet auctioning is that no one steals my stuff and no one breaks it and leaves it on the shelf.
Therefore, my mall prices will always have to be a bit higher than my ebay prices just to cover shrinkage. So if bidders look for the tried & true dealers, they can still find some very good deals and some hard to find items at ebay.
Just having a hard time making up my mind to do a 180 and go back to having the majority of my stuff at the mall.
posted on February 23, 2001 06:40:53 PM
I've been in three malls for years and, other than the normal seasonal fluctuations, haven't seen any dramatic sales declines.
I noticed early on that my mall sales are completely commensurate with the amount of effort I spend rotating stock, displaying it attractively and pricing it reasonably.
Which, when you also sell on ebay and other venues, is easier said than done. It *is* a challenge to do justice to all the irons one might have in the fire, but necessary nonetheless. Diversification is a must for those in the antiques business. It's only when a dealer has a choice of sales outlets that he/she can realize the highest return on each particular item in their inventory.
That's because any particular item will do better in one place than another. Learning which items will do better in which venue is key.
posted on February 23, 2001 07:36:11 PM
I spent most of today in about 5 antique malls just looking around. I know that you are limited to the amount of space and you need to maximize that space with product, but please leave enough room for a person of a medium size (I'm not a size 4) and a purse to walk through. There were several booths that I just had to pass by because there was no room to even view what they had in there, especially anything lower than eye level.
posted on February 23, 2001 07:51:03 PM
Well Naturally many ebay sellers have moved back to the malls and flea markets and are seeing a rise in sales above what they can make at Ebay.
you are all moveing back to R.L. Malls and flea markets where I am going and buying things to list on Ebay.
I think what is slowly happening is that many are finding there is room for all these the B&M markets and online auctions as well.
The earily days of thinking that Ebay and other auction site are easy Money are fadeing to as many have tried there hand at listing auctions and finding the Rent is lower but the Effort of takeing pictures writeing ads sending EOA packageing and all is more work then Just paying the High rent and getting Cash in the hand there is far fewer dead beats at a flea market as well its cash $$$ no bounceing check no Terms of services no refund policys.
With a B&M you can on a whim turn the sign to closed and pack up and off on time away with Ebay you Have to wait 5 to 10 days for sales to end send EOA wait up to 30 days to turn the bids in to cash pack the Items and ship before you pack to go on that trip by that time you forgot what you wanted to do and the spirit of the moment is gone.
If you Just take off and leave an online store and auction on a whim for a two week spur of the moment trip you come back to a trashed business and who knows how many negs from upset buyers.
with a store or flea market you can even hire someone to work for you with Online auctions if you leave some one in charge you are takeing bigger risks doleing out your passwords for many site it take to run your online sales and at the mercy of the other persons packing of your Items.
Im sure there are more reasons people who have sold outside ebay move back to the other venues these are just a few I can think of.
posted on February 24, 2001 08:48:51 AM
We sell a variety of jewelry and giftware as well as antiques and collectibles in our store and the antiques and collectibles have been selling much better the past year or so.
Many of the items sell for more in our shop than we would get on ebay but other items do much better on ebay.
One good thing about selling in our shop is that when someone comes in to choose a piece of china or glassware (or any other item) they seem to accept defects very easily and most don't seem bothered by bubbles or straw marks in the glass, or a tiny bit of wear on the gold on the china, etc.
We describe each piece very well on our auctions right down to little pin marks in the glaze and we go over each piece several times. Then we wonder if we have made the item sound much worse than it really is or if the buyer is expecting total perfection on an item that is 50 to 100 years old, even after any defects are clearly noted.
So it is kind of a relief to have a customer walk in and buy an item and accept it for exactly what it is.
posted on February 24, 2001 09:15:43 AM
we were in a couple of malls for awhile and selling on eBay.
Then, on Saturday while I was there a woman came in and stopped by my booth.
After asking if I could be of help, she simply said "no, I can get this on eBay cheaper."
A group of other booth holders got together and had been finding the same experience.
You're correct. The buyers are more sophisticated with the internet auctions and the prices available.
It's become incumbent upon me to buy much smarter.
Although we've given up the mall route, we are considering it again.
But, in reviewing the mall situation now just after 6-months, there are more of them, and less quality.
Plus, rates have gone up rather than down - when the competition is considered...
I'm not sure where you are, but here in Michigan within a 300 mile radius malls have been closing like flies dropping. We're not at all experiencing what you are.
As far as our sales, I would say the last 6 weeks have been better than the last 2 years in our booth in the mall, not sure why, but sales are picking up in the B&M, but going down on eBay too.
posted on February 24, 2001 10:50:26 AM
Flynn--Our experience here in WI is the same as yours. A few malls have closed but they weren't very good to begin with. The better malls dropped rent and commission rates last summer as sales had been dismal and a lot of dealers were moving out. Since the beginning of the year our sales at our mall have been outstanding.
A lot depends on weather here but even with a cold, snowy winter, we have had great sales. Just a little hard to understand unless a trip to the mall alleviates cabin fever.
I analyzed what does well online vs the mall and find absolutely no predictors. Exactly the same stuff does well online as at the mall which is great but tends to make it difficult to determine future directions.
