Antique Overload

We are in the midst of an Antique Revolution. There are many reasons, when furniture shopping, to go with an antique purchase over a regular retail store. Here are what I believe to be the top 10!

10. An antique is an investment. While other furniture will wear out in a matter of years and quickly become firewood, antiques gain value with time. Not only does it serve a purpose in your home, but it will become a family heirloom.

9. It’s a guarantee that your piece will be original. You will never have the experience of a neighbor entering your home and saying, “Hey, we have that same furniture in our house!”

8. It’s nice to have things that are older than you are in the house.

7. Antiques are great conversation starters. Not many people will be able to ‘one-up’ the fact that you have a European antique sitting in your living room.

6. They look nicer than the furniture you have now.

5. Sometimes antiques are haunted. This is good if you’re in to that sort of thing.

4. Quality construction. Nothing beats the craftsmanship of an experienced carpenter. Not even a machine. Why settle for mass produced, machine made furniture when yours can be beautiful and hand crafted?

3. Antiques make you cultured… or at least appear cultured.

2. We can obtain them cheaper than most retailers sell them for. Honestly, why would you spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars on a piece of furniture from a retailer when you could buy a high quality, original, imported piece for equal or oft’ times, less money?

1. Antiques have withstood generations and generations of children… they can withstand yours.

If these reasons aren’t enough to convince you that antiques are amazing, I don’t know what will!

As I have worked in the antique industry, I have come to realize that there are many different ways to distinguish the age and authenticity of an antique. Since my goal with this blog is to educate anyone interested in antiques, I figured now would be as good a time as any to share some tidbits of knowledge that could help you understand exactly what you’re purchasing, and what time period your piece is from.

A great way to distinguish the age of an antique is by examining what holds it together. There are different types of nails, screws and dowels that can help you judge the age of a piece. If your furniture is held together with ‘rose-head’ nails, you can bet that it is a piece dating before the 19th century. ‘Rose-head’ nails were very common up until the late 1700’s. This type of nail is easily distinguished by their rose-like appearance, as the name clearly states.

After around 1790, the ‘rose-head’ nails were slowly replaced by square-head nails. These nails were normally machine cut nails. After the nails were cut, a blacksmith would square the heads to prepare them for the craftsmen. These nails were popular up until the early 1830’s.

Square head nails were quickly overtaken by nails that required even less man power. These nails were strictly machine cut and didn’t require a blacksmith to add any finishing touches. They were very similar to the square-head nails. These newer, machine cut nails were headless and were shaped like tapered rectangles.

The nails that we use today (‘brad’ and ‘penny’) were introduced at the end of the 19th century. These nails are the nails that have been commonly used up until the present. They are distinguished by a thin, straight neck and a flat head.

Screws were not common in antique furniture, however, they have been used from time to time since the early 1800’s. You can tell that a screw is older by looking at the construction. If it has had the help of a blacksmith, you will notice that the heads of the screws will not be very symmetrical, and the slots will be thin and slightly off center.

I hope that this information can prove useful for you as you attempt to put your finger on the time period your antique is from. It’s amazing that even the nails that hold your piece together can hold value and tell a story. The most exciting thing about antique furniture is looking closely at each piece, and recognizing its worth and understanding that it’s the small things that add to the overall beauty and value of every individual piece.

I have been selling antique furniture on eBay for some time now. Over the years, the amount of antique dealers with an online presence has grown, yet in my extensive research of sales strategies I have found that there are really only two general approaches to listing on eBay that lead to a livable profit margin. In the following thread, I will attempt to break down the pros and cons to both strategies and how to adapt to an ever changing eBay environment.

The first, and oldest strategy is completely based on generating customer interest and excitement. The basic plan is based on listing nearly every item on your store as an auction starting at $1 without a reserve. This may seem like an insane strategy and a sure way to lose money and run yourself out of business. However, many eBay businesses such as Antique Furniture Depot and European Estate Sellers, have proven that( in most cases) this tactic can generate enough excitement with the general public that most of your items will be bid on repeatedly and end up putting money into your account. Let me now list some of the advantages and disadvantages (pros and cons) to this strategy.

Pros

• Listing items at $1 without a reserve generates excitement and the “I’m going to get a great deal” mindset that most eBayers are looking for.

• Most people either search for items on eBay either by “Time: Ending Soonest” or “Price: Lowest First”. Most antique and furniture items are priced fairly high. If your prices have a low starting bid, it guarantees that most of your products that would otherwise go unseen, will receive bids and generate cash for you.

• This strategy is particularly useful for those who have a large inventory. If you can sell a large volume of items at a small profit, you can be just as successful, or even more so than your competitors who sell very few items, but at a large profit.

Cons

• Selling items at $1 without a reserve will generate excitement, yes, but it does not guarantee that each item will sell for a profit (or sell at all for that matter). Sometimes you will have to take a hit and give an item away.

• By selling items for such a low price, you attract a lot of bargain hunters. Granted, this is the purpose of eBay. It offers a sales channel for people to find some screamin’ deals on items that are hard to come by. Some eBay customers, however, will do anything to save a buck. These are the people that are more difficult to deal with. They’ll win an item worth maybe a couple hundred dollars for a fraction of the cost, and then complain about the overzealous shipping costs (with auctions that start at such a low price, the customer should ALWAYS be paying for shipping. Be sure to include that in your auctions if you are planning on using this tactic.) These antagonistic types of bargain hunters are no fun to deal with, because all they do is repeatedly milk you dry.

In a nutshell, $1 no reserve auctions create more bids, but also set you up to give away a few items.

The other sales strategy (which is more commonly used) is that of listing a wide variety of “Buy It Now” items, priced to guarantee a hefty profit. Stores such as Shrivenham Antiques Furniture, and McNairs Antique Dining Furniture use this strategy. It is smart to use the “Or Best Offer” option along with the “Buy It Now” feature to help those who may question whether they want an item or not to test the water, and hopefully take the plunge into a great purchase (for both parties involved). Now, the Pros and Cons for the “Buy It Now” (BIN).

Pros

• Every sale is for a profit

• You attract more of the money crowd. Most of these people aren’t looking for loopholes in your company.

• You develop different type of reputation from that of the $1 no reserve, deal provider crowd.

Cons

• You may make a profit on every item you sell, but you may only sell 3% of your items in any given sale cycle.

• Listing costs are much more expensive for items listed at a higher price. On top of that, if you only sell a small number of items, that means you may be investing (over time) hundreds of dollars in re-listing fees on any given item, not to mention the final value fees.

In summary, the BIN listings will guarantee a profit on every sale, but require a lot more patience and will not generate anywhere near the attention as the $1 no reserve auctions. There is one other feature involved with the BIN’s that can be advantageous. You can list items as a BIN on your eBay store for a fraction of the cost of a regular BIN. Store items remain listed for 30 days or until sold (whichever comes first). The disadvantage is that your store items do not appear in the main search results lists. Also, they do not appear with pictures in search results.

I hope that this post can help some of you out there to determine what direction to take with your eBay listings. Hopefully, you can find a way to combine the two strategies and create a successful sales channel for your business. I recommend that you avoid, if possible, making eBay your only source of sales. Be sure to diversify. The internet is a big world full of a lot of opportunity. Feel free to ask me any questions regarding eBay or internet sales. I’m happy to help.