posted on December 30, 2003 05:12:46 PM new
I've been spending the last couple of days reconnecting with a town I used to live in. It wasn't THAT long ago. All the old consignment shops (even the decades-old established ones) are gone. All the small sole proprietor antique stores are gone.
In their place is one newish consignment shop, which is no longer taking items because they can't sell the stock they have. And one heaven-help-us "retro" collectibles store, heavy on the incense. They'll both be gone in six months or sooner. The owners are totally clueless.
posted on December 30, 2003 06:13:38 PM new
Fluffy you are probably right. We don't have many places in our town as eBay sellers are quite a few. One just went out of business. I have noticed that there are more handicraft stores opening up. I did notice that one of our estate sale people that also have a brick and mortor store are taking space in an Antique Mall. Does this mean that Antique Mall's will be coming back. What I think is that the buyers can buy at an antique mall, no shipping charge and no description problems as they have the object in hand.
posted on December 30, 2003 07:11:58 PM new
It seems that in my area (State of Maine) there have been many changes in the quality of the items in the antique shops. I think eBay did a number on most of the nice smalls because people were - and I stress the word "were" - getting much better money on eBay than in their shops because of the larger number of shoppers on eBay. But I think that trend is slowly changing back. I found some of the nicest stuff this season like blue decorated crocks & jugs, pantry boxes, basic primitives, blue & white stoneware, and just some exceptionally nice "real" antiques - you know...stuff that is actually over 100 years old.
I'm set up in a group shop and have been for about 8 years now and we've seen major changes from "before" eBay days, and now. I also own and operate my own antique shop in downtown and put just my very best stuff in it. People come into my shop and seem amazed that they can actually find some really nice things in there because eBay has changed so many of the shops and people are just putting their crap in the shops and selling the good on line. I hate to admit it, but I tend to put my lower-end goods in the group shop we're set up in. But lots of people are looking for those less expensive items too.
But we've seen many antique and consignment shops come and go in our area as well - a good many. It's a hard business to get into if it's your only form of income and you can't take the highs with the lows. You have some good money-making months and then some really slow months. I'm just glad my husband has a great job.
posted on December 30, 2003 07:48:14 PM new
Personally I think soccer, dance, kong fu and Rv's have killed the small time antique store.
Moms no longer have the time to spend afternoon browsing thru small shops. And people with time and money (retired) are getting into the RV mode and downsizing instead of "addin to".
The real collector finds much better selection and even better prices in antique malls. Small shop owners have to add too much overhead to keep the doors open. And the business end takes all the pleasure out of finding treasures.
That's what happened in our town. Even though we are a hot vacation spot and I used to have repeat customers from Canada to Washington State, it seemed I just spent more and more time telling people about the treasures they had found elsewhere and had insufficient sales to keep the light bill paid.
I even used to joke with them that it cost them nothing to browse, but it was going to cost $25.00 for the museum tour before they could leave.
posted on December 30, 2003 08:13:41 PM new
A friend and I had a shop in a historical area for about 10 years. It was great! People stood in line at the counter to buy and sell. Then two antique malls opened near the interstate. Business died fast! We struggled for another year and then closed. Now the antique malls have been struggling for a couple of years and their dealers are complaining about Ebay hurting their business. I think price gouging hurt them more than Ebay. Greedy dealers just kept marking their merchandise higher and higher. With Ebay it is easier to shop around for a better price, you aren't at the local mall's mercy. I love it!
posted on December 30, 2003 11:16:02 PM new
There was a really good article in a Colletible Newsletter I found at the library last month.
The guy who does the show on HGTV where he goes to peoples houses and looks at their stuff (collector inspector?)
I will try to find it again...but he said, essentially, that people's collecting habits have changed over the generations, that "get all variations and build and addition" types are not as prevalent as the "three will look great on the wall" kind of collectors.
I confess that I look at Antique magazine with pain, because some of the paintings that come up for auction I will never see with my own eyes, before they settle on a second or third home (or 10th) of a Paul Allen-ish kind of collector.
~~~~~~~~~~~**~~~~~~~~~~~
All the monkeys aren't in the zoo,
Every day you meet quite a few,
So you see it's all up to you.
You can be better than you are,
You could be swingin' on a star
posted on December 31, 2003 12:24:15 AM new
I think ebay killed collectibles in general. Why collect if it's worth very little and instead of increasing in value you can watch your collection decrease in value? Not much of the once common boasting that my collectible is worth a fortune and in ten years it will be five times more than that. Some of the very rare collectibles are immune to that generalization but the run-of-the-mill collectible has lost a lot of it's desirability and much of that lost can be blamed on ebay.
-------------- sig file ----------- *There is no conclusive evidence that life is serious*
posted on December 31, 2003 02:36:09 AM new
I agree Ebay has had its impact. Where I am (Virginia) and up towards the eastern shore of Maryland, there are tons and tons of small antique and consignment shops. But they are struggling. You can easily tell stuff is not moving much.
posted on December 31, 2003 04:01:50 AM new
I have been in the business for 30 years, and have done shows, open shop, group shops, eBay, mail order. A number of things have affected the business over the years, and eBay has been a major change.
But whatever the cause, the biggest change I have seen is that when I started, retail customers (defined as non-dealers) bought things because they liked them. Now they will only buy things if they think they are worth more than they paid (i.e., they got a "deal". They will buy something they have no use for, and do not really like, because they think they can sell it for a profit (although they never actually go to the effort of selling it). But again, I think eBay has only contributed to this, and the rest is just changes in our society (remember a time when stores didn't have "the biggest sales event of the year" on a weekly basis?
posted on December 31, 2003 06:22:43 AM new
I don't know the B&M biz from the seller side but I have to say as a buyer..It's just not fun any more!! Used to be that you could dig around in a shop or mall and find dusty treasures but now everything is priced according to eBay prices and there are no more dusty treasures! I collect Bauer pottery and in the "good old days" around here (Minnesota) if it wasn't RedWing or Fiesta, it was cheap! Even postcards, stuck in a box without so much as a plastic sleeve for protection (and getting destroyed by all the grubby hands pawing through)are priced with eBay prices!!
I think it is the greed of the shop owners that's to blame - if they want eBay prices, then they should sell on eBay. If not, they should price items to sell in their market or face empty shops and slow moving (and in the case of postcards, deteriorating) merchandise! My two cents anyway.
posted on January 1, 2004 06:59:31 AM new
To change the subject just a little, speaking of plastic sleeves for postcards. Where can I buy some. I have a lot of postcards to sell, and baggies just don't seem professional. Thanks.. Comebuy
posted on January 1, 2004 08:03:33 AM new
There are still some here that do quite well. The shops in Millersburg are great but of course they have other tourism attractions (Amish country) that help to draw business. A favorite of mine, Suite Lorain's, has been struggling but it's still there. This place is great. Loads of retro items. It's a huge place with different vendors set up. There is also an upscale section in Shaker Heights that's doing good. Well, just about all of Shaker Heights is upscale. That's where my brother and his partner have their shop. You won't find anything under $100 in that shop. Even $100 is low-ball for them - most items go for thousands.
Things are probably different up here in northeast Ohio. There's not much to do in the winter and shopping is the one way to get out of the house if you don't ski or enjoy winter sports.
posted on January 1, 2004 08:22:25 AM new
eBay has changed the look of the collectible business. You can't go to a rummage sale and not hear "but this sold on eBay for" When I started out I had a mall space that make some good money but when I quit it I owed the mall money because people wanted to buy cheap and then they would turn around and try to sell it on eBay for lots. Now I think the sellers on eBay are turning the customer back to the malls and consignment stores. Buyers want to see and hold what they buy. No description needed at an antique mall. What you see is what you get.
posted on January 1, 2004 09:38:46 AM new
Just as in the ordinary "antique malls", most of of the "antique" merchandise is just run-of-the-mill "stuff". For this type of merchandise, live sales venues may be better in order to take advantage of impulse purchasing.
The problem with many of these sellers is that they are simply not knowledgeable about the field of antiques. You can see it in some of the questions that have come up on this board. Many, if not most, of these sellers hope to come across something in a box lot or at a yard sale "that will be worth something". Could you imagine running a grocery store this way? "Hey, this might be a pot roast, or it might be an old baseball glove. I'm not sure, but I want 8.99 to protect "my investment".
Face it, even in good times, it can take a lot of time and investment in order to sell good items at retail prices. And with the market for things showing a big lack of interest in the "average" stuff, dealers who can carefully select and present (merchandise) good items will do ok, junk dealers may do ok if they can get stuff real cheap, but don't count on getting a lot of business for the middling stuff.
I still don't think eBay is the sole reason for the shifts, but the wonders of techology have accelerated this outcome.
posted on January 1, 2004 10:56:52 AM new
No question that ebay has had an impact. What it has done is brought a realistic value to most items. Before ebay and the net, any antique dealer had a cornered market. Most buyers would travel short distances to the antique store and the seller could name his/her price without the fear of much competition as most buyers wouldn't travel hundreds if not thousands of miles for that "treasure". Now with the electronic world and ebay, we are finding out that the once so called "hard to find" item is not as rare as we were lead to believe. With items from all around the world within the reach of a keyboard, the collectors (buyers) are easily finding the items they wish to have without having to travel to find them. And this will drive prices down. The antique dealers as a rule have not kept up with this and still go by antique guides to value their items when the real value is being set on ebay and other online venues.
If you go to many estate sales, you will find a big difference in prices depending upon who is running the sale. If you go to a sale that is being run by a estate sale company, you will find prices more inclined to the ebay seller and they tend to do very well for their clients as far as selling the estate items without much left over at the end.
On the other hand, if you go to sales which are run by antique dealers, you will find that items will be priced according to the antique guides and they will not sell much and at the end of the sale, they tend to have very low sale percentages and end up leaving the families of the deceased fending for themselves to get rid of the items.
As far as antique dealers go, it is simply time to learn the ebay values or go by the wayside and die a quick but very painful death.
posted on January 1, 2004 01:25:22 PM new
Or slow but painful death as their oldtime regulars buyers slowly discover ebay and the internet and cease their once-regular visits.
posted on January 1, 2004 01:34:43 PM new
If you are still around comebuy616, the best deal I have found on rigid postcard sleeves is with benny-netusa1 ([email protected])on Ebay. You can get 100 of the 4 x 6 rigid sleeves for $15.99 plus 6.95 shipping. I like the rigid sleeves because then you can just slip it into a regular envelope or a small brown envelope and stick on a 60 cent stamp. I don't like the thin sleeves that are like a baggie. If I'm getting $6.00 and up for a postcard, I think I can part with the 23 cents for a professional rigid sleeve. I bought some from him recently and very pleased with them.
posted on January 1, 2004 01:56:27 PM new
Stone, I have to agree with you. The prices in the so-called guide books are way higher than what you see online. But many stores seem to try to stay somewhere near that (book) price range. I suppose they have overhead and rent to pay. I wish I could get what the price books say $$ for some stuff I've sold. Doesnt seem to be happening! lol
posted on January 1, 2004 02:30:18 PM new
Some items sell best on eBay.
Some items sell best at live auctions.
Some items sell best at antique shows.
Some items sell best in shops.
I know I have posted similar comments in the past, but here goes again. People who are not knowledgeable about antiques tend to lump all of them together without distinction.
Ebay will not be the end of antique shops (or shows, or live auctions). If you go into any good shop, I would guess that only five percent of the merchandise would be suitable for eBay selling (by that I mean getting a decent price for the item). Some are problematic in terms of judging condition or appearance, some are not easy to ship, etc.
The majority of antique purchasing is recreational. People like to go out and "poke through the shops". And only the most disciplined person can go out shopping for an antique and come home with something they set out for.
What has hurt the traditional antique business the most is that people who used to buy an antique for its decorative value or use in their home, are now able to buy interesting imported items, or decent reproductions more easily and inexpensively than in the past. So that leaves the collectors, who are willing to spend, but very particular about their items, or those looking for very decorative and/or unique items. I would not be sinking a lot of money into 1950's glass mixing bowls or 1940's reproduction Duncan Phyfe furniture such as is filling most of the "antique" malls.
. They will buy something they have no use for, and do not really like, because they think they can sell it for a profit (although they never actually go to the effort of selling it). But again, I think eBay has only contributed to this, and the rest is just changes in our society (remember a time when stores didn't have "the biggest sales event of the year" on a weekly basis?