posted on February 24, 2008 07:49:38 PM new
I just engaged in conversation with a few antique mall sellers who were bemoaning the fact that over 50 year olds were downsizing and no longer collecting and younger than 50 year olds were not collecting. They said their prices have dropped by more than 50%, which they say is not attributable to the internet. Is this true?
[ edited by pixiamom on Feb 24, 2008 07:50 PM ]
posted on February 24, 2008 08:22:54 PM new
Pretty general statement. We've seen the prices on "antiques" steadily drop since the popularity of eBay grew.
My mall sales are a mere trickle of what they used to be, but I lean more toward holding eBay responsible. Nobody knew how rare/common most items were till they showed up continually on the web.
posted on February 25, 2008 03:14:26 AM new
It is really hard to get a handle on this issue because no one is speaking the same language. Antique can mean anything from Chippendale chairs to Precious Moments Christmas ornaments. A 60 year old might not consider 1960's Corning Ware antique; a 20-something might consider it a museum piece.
And while yes, I am sure antique mall sales are down, I don't know whether that is the antique market or not. The formula their seems to be "rent a space - find some stuff - if the stuff fits in the space: It's Antique!
All the antique trade papers beat this same drum; the dealers complain sales are down and their are no new collectors. But they also complain they can't find good merchandise. So what, pray tell, would they be selling if they did have all these new customers?
The fact is (and I am assuming here) most of the merchandise from "antique mallers" is low end, quasi-collectible/vintage "stuff", that at low prices, people may have bought on a whim. But there are not (and never were) hordes of "collectors" (people putting off dental work in order to pay for another cast iron muffin pan) for most of this stuff. Ebay has simply allowed these sellers to hit the brick wall sooner, rather than later.
posted on February 25, 2008 06:34:17 AM new
I sell antiques and collectibles and I say they are not keeping up with the market.
The Internet has lower the price on some items that aren't really as rare as originally thought but there's still a lot of stuff out there to be sold at a nice profit.
posted on February 25, 2008 09:57:42 AM new
One problem with antiques is that dealers don't keep up with the trends. How many times have you seen a dealer give up b/c of a few slow months... yet they don't bother to renew their space. They hit the brick wall of everything is the same. Old stock is old stock and if you can't move it, you need to remove it and replace it with something else that someone may want. I've seen the same chair in my store for 4 months... Keep lowering the price, nobody wants it. It is time for it to leave and something new in its place. I'll pull it, and bring it back 6 months later, raise the price and probably sell it.
posted on February 25, 2008 10:05:54 AM new
Yes, it is amazing to me how few mall dealers notice what goes on in other retail storefronts.
Successful retail businesses change their window displays frequently to attract attention. Even bookstores have tables near the front door with themed merchandise: Oprah's book club, hot new business books, political bestsellers, whatever.
Too many mall dealers treat their space like a storage unit. It shows.
My husband jokes that the only customers an antique dealer sells to are other antique dealers and that a piece inevitably reaches a point of ultimate unsaleability. Then it goes into an antique mall.
posted on February 25, 2008 10:20:00 AM new
Barnes and Noble/ Borders have the privilege of returning those books if they dont sell after 2 weeks or even less,if they are sitting on the table by the entrance to make room for new arrival.
But most antique dealers cannot return their merchandise,and they are not that well capitalised to keep buying new antiques without selling what they have on hand first.
Some of the antiques in antique malls are not really antiques,they are just vintage or old stuff,some are just repros .
US Customes define antiques as over 100 years old and not everything over 100 years old is antique,dirt you dig up from your backyard can be a few thousand years old,is that antique?
posted on February 25, 2008 11:09:51 AM newBut most antique dealers cannot return their merchandise
Well, of course not! Got a flash for you: I can't return my merchandise, either.
Having actually been an antique dealer, I can tell you that the trade is full of people who will hold onto an object long after it becomes clear that they paid too much for it. Sensible dealers blow out stock that has been sitting too long so they can recover some of their capital and move on. That is true of eBay as well. It's just good business sense.
posted on February 25, 2008 01:59:58 PM new
the times, they are a-changing.
we've been selling (not lately) antiques from an inherited antique shop since 2000, ... and also had sold antiques on our own since 1996 before we came into the inheritance.
mostly online on ebay, and a selection of them, that we would 'rotate' in and out a lot, in an antique mall.
as my hubby and i predicted, the price we could get on eBay for a certain item in the mid to late 90's, such as $50 to 100 apiece, became trying to give same piece away at $3-to-5 by the early 2000's ... unreal.
the antique mall ... didn't do too badly, but was a lot of money out for a little money in on the balance sheet.
ebay was 'full time income' for us in its heyday. (antique mall more like 'hobby income' at the time.)
attending today's antique auctions at auction-houses and estate auctions have become dang near ridiculous. there's still old-timers there bidding stuff WAY UP too high!, that they'll never turn a profit on any of it. ...
presently, i do no antiqueing, but hubby still goes to antique auctions and only occasionally brings a few items home for me to list on ebay, usually antique furniture. it's certainly only 'hobby' now for him. (he had to go get a "real job" when eBay was tanking; LOL, but found a pretty darn good one) ... and me too, finding my own new self-employed niche thru a friend/mentor ... i'm gotshirtsohio.com ...
in earlier ebay days, 'collectors' of antiques and collectibles, over just a few years time, could often fill their collections to a complete phase. ... then the prices did a slow-motion plummet.
posted on February 25, 2008 03:06:47 PM new
The sales have tanked in antique malls because they are mostly filled with junk, and overpriced junk at that. The decent stuff is still selling, but I don't bother going to any multi-dealer locations to shop at all - they look like a cruddy garage sale with the prices WAY too high.
Yes, it is due to Ebay - and many dealers have not adjusted their prices, nor their merchandise, accordingly. I watch them bid at auction and pay double, sometimes triple, what it is worth or what you can purchase it on Ebay for. What price are they trying to get for it? No wonder they can't sell it!
I have to really hussle to find 'the good stuff' (as they say in Joe Dirt) and I have to offer it for less.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Caroline
posted on February 25, 2008 03:40:22 PM new
You can tell who the eBayers are at our local auctions. They never bid on anything too big for a priority mail carton. Sometimes I see something and make a mental note to check eBay later in the week. More often than not, there it is!
And yes, most of these people wouldn't know a real antique if it jumped up and bit them on the .....
posted on February 25, 2008 04:00:03 PM new
Christmas before last I did great with a truck losd of old Christmas stuff I sold for somebody. I can sell the old stuff on E-Bay as long as the person will except a reasonable figure. I myself do well with 78 records,but then I have always had good luck with records.
**********************************
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posted on February 25, 2008 04:09:05 PM new
If you have a good, unique piece, Ebay is still the place for collectibles, whether true antiques or not. My friend, who has been on Ebay longer than I have, but just lists an item when she feels like it, bought 3 items at an estate sale for $10 a piece. She has a good eye generally and thought she could sell them for 30-50 each. They sold for $650, $589 and $612. Never could she have sold them at an antique mall for that amount.
Even if Mr D doesn't like it, that is what makes Ebay great. It is a great big, big flea market / auction house. It reaches millions of people and if you find an item that people want, it can sell and it can sell for a nice price.
posted on February 25, 2008 04:31:05 PM new
caronline" Yes, it is due to Ebay - and many dealers have not adjusted their prices, nor their merchandise, accordingly. I watch them bid at auction and pay double, sometimes triple, what it is worth or what you can purchase it on Ebay for. What price are they trying to get for it? No wonder they can't sell it!
TRUE STATEMENT!!!
---
mah645: "I can sell the old stuff on E-Bay as long as the person will except a reasonable figure. I myself do well with 78 records,but then I have always had good luck with records."
Good for you! 'hobby income', i'm sure, though... right?! ... I only say that because I have local friend/antique-dealer-shop-owner who sells almost exclusively records, on ebay, and he does'nt make much on them, but there's always the "surprise" ones that big him nice bucks!
and by the way ... your sig-line is way to big/long. imho. no harm/no foul?.. could you shorten it? ... been wanting to say that for a long time.
posted on February 25, 2008 04:41:56 PM new
But what will eventually happens?
There are good reasons why the brick and mortar antique dealers charge higher price?
They have higher expenses.
If someday most of these dealers go under,we would not have the luxury of window shopping and picking up an item and study and learn what it is all about and having our questions answered in a timely manner like immediately and taking them home with us .
To them,selling antiques is a profession,it is a full time job,to the weekend warriors who sell on Ebay,it is a hobby.
Back in late 1990s,Rupert Murdoch made a statement on e-commerce,he said it hurts the retailers as the line between wholesalers and retailers are not clearly delineated,I know there are plenty of wholesalers and importers and distributors selling on Ebay or have their own site,how do you expect the retailers to make a living?
*
Lets all stop whining !
posted on February 25, 2008 04:45:09 PM newIf someday most of these dealers go under,we would not have the luxury of window shopping and picking up an item and study and learn what it is all about
Heh.
I'd like to pick up and examine a Roseville Sunflower #491 8 inch handled vase before I buy one.
posted on February 25, 2008 04:48:55 PM new
I'd like to pick up and examine a Roseville Sunflower #491 8 inch handled vase before I buy one.
Where can I go to see that in person?
/////////////////////////////////////////
No,if it is not available locally,you dont get to see it in person.
But there are still plenty to see in local antique stores.
*
Lets all stop whining !
posted on February 25, 2008 04:56:10 PM new
I know a retired antique dealer who is selling from her home,it is an accident waiting to happen,so she said she has an arrangement with the police station where by she can pick up her phone and punch in a number and the police will come,but it may just be too late!
Her house is packed with antiques and vintage items,you go from room to room and even the garage and bathrooms are loaded with vintage stuff,and the more expensive jewelry like 6 carats diamond ring,ruby,saphire etc are in bank but she will retrieve them for private viewing.
Can you imagine a 74 years old lady showing off her tray of precious stones in her living room with some strangers !
posted on February 25, 2008 09:04:14 PM newThey said their prices have dropped by more than 50%, which they say is not attributable to the internet. Is this true?
If they believe that, then they really need to get out from under the rock.
Absolutely it's because of the internet. Their once rare item isn't so rare anymore because the market place is now world wide where before they really did have the market, but it was regional.
Another way to think about it is once the rare items may have been the only one within 50 miles. Before the internet, this would be a real find. Now with the internet, that one of the kind is multiplied by the 50 mile areas around the world. The one now becomes thousands and with thousands available, the supply is now greater than the demand which will drive the prices down.
posted on February 25, 2008 09:44:13 PM new
I think that eBay has dramatically affected my market. Some postcards which would bring low values locally realize high prices in the international market. Others, which are priced high in useless price guides, are readily found in an eBay search quite reasonably. Still, my friends' observance that the antique and collector market is aging and downsizing rather than acquiring seems quite accurate. They attribute it to a a lack of history appreciation in the younger markets and swear when <40 year olds buy something, they do so for the decorative value. I honestly don't know,
posted on February 25, 2008 10:02:29 PM new
hwahwa, the only "private viewing" where I would show those jwewls would be in the bank. Even then she is at risk if her buyers know where she lives. Crooks think you might have more stuff at home & usually they are right.
I knew someone who had a huge & valuable, to die for, clown collection. Her home was broken into & many things stolen, but not the clowns.
The police came, dusted for prints & made a report, etc. One week her house was broken into again & her clown collection was taken.
To this day she is sure it was one of the cops. Probably was.
Hard to trust anyone anymore.
posted on February 26, 2008 03:17:59 AM new
...Even if Mr D doesn't like it, that is what makes Ebay great. It is a great big, big flea market / auction house. It reaches millions of people and if you find an item that people want, it can sell and it can sell for a nice price....
Who is Mr. D and why doesn't he like it?
I have had an antique shop for years, and also sell on eBay sporadically. Ebay is wonderful for certain items. In my last batch, an item I found at a rummage sale for .25 brought in over 200.00. Another item that attracted no interest in the shop at 165.00 sold for 384.00. But the days of loading up on run-of-the-mill c''p at yard sales and flea markets is over, and most of these mall "dealers" can't see this because they don't know anything else.
Brick and mortars will still be around for a number of reasons. For many categories of merchandise, whether clothing, books, shoes or yes, antiques, many people want to do it real time and hands-on. In spite of Amazon's success, our local Borders seems to always have customers, and at least, so far, not many people say "It's a nice weekend - let's take the laptop out to the country and shop for antiques on eBay."
[ edited by Damariscotta on Feb 26, 2008 03:20 AM ]
Caroline