Hello everyone! I wanted to let you know that Wisdom Lane Antiques has a new podcast, and it is called Pick For Profit!
At Pick For Profit, you will get tips about everything from setting up an antique booth to where you can find inventory that you can sell.
You can find the Pick For Profit podcast here. Head on over and check it out!
When it comes to taking some photos of an item that is going to be for sale, there will be some things that you will do to make sure the photos come out alright.
You will make sure that the item is well lit in the photos, any damage will be photographed, and you will even put a prop with the item to give a size comparison to. But what about the background?
If you think about it, the background will often get ignored when you take some photographs. The background will play as big of a roll as the rest of the photograph. Look at the two photos and compare them to each other—do you notice the difference?
The most glaring thing about the two photographs is the background. More importantly, the color of the background. It makes the pair of Murano candleholders look completely different, almost like they are two completely different sets.
The best piece of advice that I can give you when it comes to the background is that you need something that doesn’t overpower what the star of the show should be. One of the things I do is to go with a lighter color than the item that I am photographing.
Another thing I do is I might stage the photograph and make it place that they are designed for, like on a kitchen table. You can even go so far and put a plate and some silverware between you and the candleholders so you can show the potential buyer what it might look like in their home.
These are just a few tips that you can use when you take your photographs for the items you are going to list for sale. What are some of the tips and tricks that you have come up with?
So you have decided to sell some items online, and have even decided on a few things to list right now. What are some tips that you need to remember when you start to sell some of your items online?
You will get offers on the items for sale that will be WAY to low for you to sell it at. It’s ok to turn them down or even send the potential buyer a slightly higher price so you can turn a profit on the item.
When you first start, it pays to list on sites like eBay or Etsy that already have tons of traffic. This way, your items that are for sale have a good start in getting noticed and potentially be sold.
When you do sell an item, you can always have the post office to stop by where you are and pick the item up when they drop off your mail. This way, you don’t have to worry about if you can make it to the post office or not.
These are just a few tips to remember when it comes to selling online. What are some of the tips that you have run across?
You have attended a local auction and even have gone to some antique shops and even thrift stores that are near you. So what is the next thing that you want to go to? An estate sale!
Now that you have decided to take the plunge and attend an estate sale, what are some do’s and don’ts to keep in mind when you attend one?
The first thing to remember is that the company holding the sale may be limited to space in the house. If they are, the company will limit the amount of people inside the house at one time to help with overcrowding. The sale company will let in a certain amount at by doing something like handing out numbers to help with this.
Another thing to remember is not call or email ahead of time to get the price of an item you are interested in. I have seen this happen several times when I am at a sale, and I have never seen the company give the price out. This takes time away from the sale company from either running the sale or setting it up.
The next thing to remember is to respect others at the sale. Cutting in line either waiting to get into the sale or to pay is one way to anger fellow customers. Another way is to grab things out of another person’s hands that they are interested in and walk away with it. These are a few of the jerk things that I have seen happen at sales that shouldn’t go on. The thing to remember is to treat people the way you want to be treated.
This is just a small handful of do’s and don’ts when it comes to attending an estate sale. What do you do when you attend a sale?
One of the more common questions that I am asked is how I find items to sell online. Some of the more common places to find items are estate sales, auctions and even flea markets are common, and you can even find items at local thrift stores.
So where are some other places that that I find items to sell online?
Did you know that you can even find items in junkyards? The obvious items to be found there are car parts. I have seen other items like enamel signs, wire baskets and even gas pumps hanging out in junkyards.
I have also found items to sell on the curb of my own neighborhood that my neighbors set out at the curb for free.
The clearance isle of a store is a good possibility of finding items as well.
These are just a few ways to find items to sell. How have you found the items you sell?
You have shopped on websites like eBay and Etsy, now you have decided to take the plunge and sell some stuff on one of those sites.
What are some tips to keep in mind when you do?
The first thing to remember is sell something that you have around the house, you don’t have to make a special purchase when you dive into selling.
The next thing to remember is the selling sites will take a percentage of the sale to cover any fee that will occur when you sell an item. I would check to see what the fee is before I listed the item.
Another thing to remember is to consider the time it takes to sell an item. I have seen a wide variety of how long it takes to sell an item after it is listed—there have been items that sell within seconds after listing it and there have been another take two months to sell.
This is a small handful of tips when you start to sell online. What tips help you out?
The first thing that pops into my mind when you talk about selling items online is, well, the sale itself. What are some tips that will help generate some sales?
All three tips deal with the online listing itself, and the first tip is to take good photos of what you are listing. I can’t begin to count how many online listings I have walked away from because the photo is blurry, or the photo is a part of the item to where I can’t make out what is being sold.
The second tip that has helped me with sales is to have a really good description of the item. Not only do I try to give as much information as I can about the item, I also try to use full sentences. I do this so the potential buyer doesn’t get confused with what I am trying to say and how I am trying to describe the item.
The third tip that I do is to try and keep shipping costs low. Not only that, I try to ship as fast as possible–I do this in hopes that the customer remembers how fast they got the item and comes back to purchase another item because of the shipping speed.
These are just a few tips that I do to help generate sales. What kinds of tips have you heard?
Many years ago, I attended an auction that sold a huge collection of both coins and stamps. While I was watching the stamps sell, I heard many different vocabulary words that applies to the stamp collection world, and one of the words was dummy stamp.
So, what exactly is a dummy stamp?
A dummy stamp is an officially produced imitation stamp that is used to train employees. It can also test automatic machines that dispense stamps. This type of stamp is usually blank or carry special inscriptions or other distinguishing ornamentation.
In the United States, the Dummy Stamp term relates to test and training stamps. You will see the term used in the United Kingdom more widely to include the promotional and even sample stamps that are produced by the printers.
Dummy stamps are not intended to be collected, but they do reach the hands of collectors by the postal employees that have access to them.
Have you ever run across a dummy stamp?
Whenever I look on the internet or a reference book that I have to look for information on an item that I am about to sell, I will run across really interesting tidbits about what happened during a certain year.
It could be the debut of a product, something that aired on the radio or television or even something that was captivating and held everyone’s interest for a portion of that particular year.
So, what happened during the year of 1932?
May 25—Goofy makes his appearance in the Disney cartoon titled Mickey’s Revue.
August 8—American Gridiron football was a demonstration sport of the Summer Olympics in Los Angles.
October 1—Game 3 of the World Series saw Babe Ruth hit a home run over the center field wall in the fifth inning. This became to be known as the famous called shot by Babe Ruth.
November 7 saw the debut of the first science fiction show on radio. It was called Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.
This is just a handful of all the things that happened during the year 1932. What are some of the things that you heard of?
When you dive into the world of collecting, you will quickly find that there are a TON of terms that you will hear. There could be anything from a service set to cheese dishes.
Here are some of the terms that you will run across when it comes to tableware:
Breakfast set—this set features both a sugar bowl and a creamer that match.
Frog—this is an element that has multiple holes in it that hold flowers upright. This will be in a vase or console bowl, and they range from small to large in size. They are also in any color from clear pieces to colorful Depression glass and even carnival glass.
Tumbler—this is an everyday drinking glass. They have been seen both footed and unfooted, and they also run the gambit in color from clear to every color under the rainbow.
Spooner—this item can be mistaken for a sugar bowl since they are similar. Spooners do not have lids and are taller than sugar bowls since they are designed to hold spoons.
This is a small portion of the terms that you will run across for tableware. What terms have you heard?
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