When I was a child my dad used to take me hunting for quail. I'll never forget the excitement of having the ground suddenly come alive under my feet with the sound and flurry of a large cubby of quail rising higher and higher in their frenzied escape from sudden death. I say "escape" because I usually shot a whole box of shells by days end and had not one bird to show for it. My dad on the other hand, a game bird hunter of extraordinary ability, would always bag his limit. The difference he was fond of telling me was shooting at one bird at a time instead of just shooing into the fracas of flying targets.
The same is true of the antique and collectible trade. Pick one category out at a time and don't try to learn everything about everything. The industry is too large to learn it all even in two lifetimes. Find something you really enjoy and then learn as much as you can about it. I can't emphasize the importance of this principle enough. Once you feel that you have a grasp of an area you like, then move on and expand your knowledge to another of interest to you.
This was some of the best advice I received form the old timers and has proved itself time and time again. Try not to yield to the temptation of buying something you haven't researched first. Don't put yourself in the position of buying something from someone who knows more about the item than you do. It may seem like common sense to say this but when you think about it the whole antique and collectible trade is built on this situation. But if you think that is pathetic, wait until you see how many dealers don't know what their doing. Hardly a week goes by where I don't walk into an antique mall and find items I know something about either under priced or overpriced. If the discrepancy between the price they're asking and what I know it is worth is great enough in my favor, I'll offer to buy it cheaper (haggling is a favorite pastime of dealers) and usually they'll drop it another 10-20% more. "Why would they do that?" you ask? Because more often than not a dealer prices an item based on what they paid more than any other factor. And doubling the price for retail is also standard industry practice. They're almost always willing to drop it some. To put it another way, I've never bought a collectible without asking for a discount and I've never been told I couldn't have some price discount. In fact, the sticker price of 95% of all items for sale in antique malls takes into consideration some sort of discount. The industry standard is 10%. I've gotten and given myself as much as 30%. And everybody still made money. Amazing, huh?
In the antique and collectible business, knowledge truly is power. Those items I buy in antique malls, I usually bring straight home an put up for auction on eBay. I have yet to loose money on a single item sold through eBay. That's quite a statement I know, but it's absolutely true
This was some of the best advice I received form the old timers and has proved itself time and time again. Try not to yield to the temptation of buying something you haven't researched first. Don't put yourself in the position of buying something from someone who knows more about the item than you do. It may seem like common sense to say this but when you think about it the whole antique and collectible trade is built on this situation. But if you think that is pathetic, wait until you see how many dealers don't know what their doing. Hardly a week goes by where I don't walk into an antique mall and find items I know something about either under priced or overpriced. If the discrepancy between the price they're asking and what I know it is worth is great enough in my favor, I'll offer to buy it cheaper (haggling is a favorite pastime of dealers) and usually they'll drop it another 10-20% more. "Why would they do that?" you ask? Because more often than not a dealer prices an item based on what they paid more than any other factor. And doubling the price for retail is also standard industry practice. They're almost always willing to drop it some. To put it another way, I've never bought a collectible without asking for a discount and I've never been told I couldn't have some price discount. In fact, the sticker price of 95% of all items for sale in antique malls takes into consideration some sort of discount. The industry standard is 10%. I've gotten and given myself as much as 30%. And everybody still made money. Amazing, huh?
In the antique and collectible business, knowledge truly is power. Those items I buy in antique malls, I usually bring straight home an put up for auction on eBay. I have yet to loose money on a single item sold through eBay. That's quite a statement I know, but it's absolutely true
