posted on January 6, 2004 03:58:32 PM new
This is for all you people that hold a 9 to 5 job and then advertise in your local newspaper "ANTIQUES WANTED" and run home to sell them on ebay. Thanks to you the small mom and pop antique shops that been in business for 20 plus years are now struggling to get merchandise. I hope ebay continues to raise there fee's to a point that you cant afford to list. Just my opinion. Signed, Stressed Out.
posted on January 6, 2004 04:42:10 PM new
The antique market is just like any other. Business practices tht worked 100 years ago, or 50 or even 20 no longer apply.
Evolve or die. It's that simple. Yes, antique shops are closing. The smart antique shop owners are selling on eBay if that is the smart thing to do.
Ask the owners of the small book shops in your city. I'll bet there are fewer than half as many bookshops as there were only five years ago. Most of them now sell on Amazon or ABE.
Markets evolve, procedures change, businesses must adapt. I cannot think of many industries where you can learn a job and do the very same job from 20 years old until you retire without any retraining somewhere along the line, can you?
Evolve or die. It SHOULD be the #1 rule of business school.
-------------------
Replay Media
Games of all kinds!
posted on January 6, 2004 05:16:22 PM new
Hi Stressed Out,
I agree with replay media - It is evolve or die. Can you imagine a blacksmith in 1912 complaining, losing their businesses saying if only Henry Ford had not created the Model T, they would still be in business. The smart blacksmiths became auto mechanics...
This is similar. Besides antique shops, lots of other collectible stores (stamps, coins, sportscards) are almost all but gone. The unwise dealers are out of business, the ones that evolved have taken their knowledge, and applied it to the new environment.
Even with auctioning, I've evolved my business over the years. Originally, I had a list of bidders, attracting them through classified ads. I printed up an auction, mailed it out, and waited for bids to come in. I would be long gone if I did not evolve. Eventually, I started posting to internet newsgroups, but still required bids through mail. Then, I moved to the internet completely, no longer even accepting mail bids. Evolve or die....if antique shops go out of business, that doesn't mean people stop buying and selling antiques...
posted on January 6, 2004 06:25:04 PM new
All the antique stores around here have VERY high prices. Why? Because they buy cheap off ebay and sell high...
