Times are hard and getting harder. Job layoffs, a dismal real estate market in the majority of the country, and a growing sense of fear about what the near-term future holds have fueled peoples’ interest in antiques and collectibles. For some, they want to convert their collections to cash - soon. For others, they are looking for buying opportunities in their favorite collectibles. The first group needs the money and worries that the market is becoming flooded, pushing prices down. The latter group worries that they won’t have enough cash to buy all the goodies they believe will be littering the streets soon.

Both groups can relax. While there are many kinds of collectibles are piling up, unsold, in their owners’ garages and basements (think Precious Moments and almost anything from Franklin Mint, Bradford Exchange and other “thing-of-the-month” peddlers), quality collectibles by definition are holding value and buyers are still willing to pay fair prices. I read a very good article this morning by Mark Roeder in the Antique Trader that sums up the situation nicely.

Check out Mark’s article at the Antique Trader’s website for some good information on the state of the antiques and collectibles world.

If you sell antiques and/or collectibles online, and you’ve geared your business toward the quality end of the spectrum, having top-notch photos and detailed descriptions is mandatory for serious buyers to look at your listings. The items need to look as though they were professionally photographed, and you need to show buyers every angle and every flaw up close and personal. They can’t pick it up and hold it, examine it, put a black light on it, smell it, or any of the other things a savvy collector would do, so you need to do it for them.

A good return policy is very helpful for high-end items. This takes an element of trust from both buyer and seller - seller’s don’t want to start selling things “on approval” and buyers want to know that they won’t be stuck with a fake antique or collectible. Promote your reputation, whether through feedback, third party escrow or dispute resolution services, membership in the online BBB - there are a lot of ways you can make buyers feel more secure.

If you won’t accept returns, then you need to make sure the buyer knows EVERYTHING - and I mean every little thing - about that item, even if you’re not sure what it is. If you notice something, it may or may not be a flaw, but your buyer will want to see it anyway. Buyers don’t fear the flaws they know about before buying.

Selling in a tough economic environment is challenging, whether online or in a brick & mortar store. But it also presents opportunities to showcase your best stuff, knowing that dedicated collectors will scrape up the money somehow, so that you’re ready when they come calling.

Well, the Great Estates blog is finally up and running! I want to thank Shane, Ben, & Melissa at Niche Store Market for all the work on the website and blog design and functionality. This is a site that is a combination of niche store, information site, and blog. I wanted a integrated site where the pieces weren’t tripping over each other, and it had to look good but simple. You can click on the link to Great Estates LLC site and see the rest of their work. They did a great job and I send them a big THANK YOU!

This site is the basis of my “making a living on the internet” venture. Some months ago I started niche marketing through Build A Niche Store (BANS). I had looked at a lot of different affiliate programs, and most of them didn’t appeal because they relied on improbably optimistic get-rich-quick gimmicky things that mostly seemed to involved luring people into getting on a mailing list and buying something for $97. I don’t know what the secret behind the $97 price tag is, but it’s very popular even among legitimate products.

Anyway, none of those programs focused on affiliate niche marketing on eBay, which is what I was looking for. I’ve spent over 10 years buying and selling on eBay, and knew the huge untapped potential in the millions of products sold there. By accident, I stumbled on BANS, which focuses exclusively on eBay. The package is simple to install and use, the help from fellow BANS members is superb, and you don’t need to be a computer programming expert to use and profit from it. I give it 2 thumbs up!

Since I make my living on the internet, a lot of the posts in this blog are going to be about those efforts. I am learning daily what it takes to successfully sell products on the internet, and this blog is part of the journey. For those of you who are getting interested in this area and no longer qualify for the Spring Chicken Brigade, there may be some tips you can use to make it a bit easier.

However, I do want to say that making a living on the internet is not a get-rich-quick program. There is simply no such thing. You’ll get out of it what you put into it, but it won’t happen overnight. The rules that the non-electronic business and economic worlds follow are no different just because it’s The Internet. You still have to develop a winning idea (or two, or three), you still have to figure out how to deliver the goods, you need to work better and smarter than your competitors, and you have to learn how to be brutally honest with yourself about the progress you’re making, or not making. Just like in the real world!

Well, enough for now. I need to put up some links to my website and to some tools I’ve found useful, and you might as well.

A bit like detective work, appraising older estate items can be fun as well as challenging. Sometimes research is needed to determine just what the story is on an item, and estate jewelry is no exception. Generally appraisers consider the following to determine the market value of a piece:

Age: Is it a specimen of a particular era or time, like Art Deco, Modern, Victorian? What is the market like for items of this period?

Complexity: how complex is the watch movement? Does it have any specialty features such as a repeater, chronograph, dual time zone, alarm, etc.?

Designer: Is there a famous name attached to the item, such as Cartier or Tiffany? With watches, some names are worth a lot of money: Swiss makers such as Audemars Piguet, Patek Philippe or Rolex watches command higher prices than others. Again, is that designer currently popular? Is the piece authentic or a fake? There are LOTS of reproductions around.

Materials: What is the item made of, gold or platinum? Metals carry different values. Are the gemstones precious like diamonds or semi-precious such as citrine? These too go in cycles, with different things being in vogue at different times, therefore selling for higher prices.

Provenance: Did the item belong to a famous or well-known individual? Can the provenance be proven? It is amazing the number of items that are reputed to have belonged to a Founding Father, President, or other historical figure. Family lore comes down through the generations with no supporting documentation, which is needed for an item to be considered as genuinely coming from a famous person. And forgeries in this area are common, even fooling experts who live and breathe these items on a daily basis.

Quality: This refers to the difference between fine materials and commercial grade materials. In addition, other factors are critical, such as are the gemstones lively and bright? Are the diamonds white? Are the sapphires medium blue vs. inky blue? In an item having numerous gemstones, how well matched are the colors? This question also applies to pearls. Is the strand well matched for color, shape, luster and surface? A qualified gemologist is needed to make this assessment, using special equipment. This is not a job for an amateur with a loupe.

Rarity: In a material sense, is there an uncommon gemstone type or size (for example a 10.00 carat diamond)?

Size: Is the diamond, gemstone or pearl larger than usual? An example would be a South Sea cultured pearl vs. a seed pearl. Is the pocket watch a standard or common size? Is it over-sized or is it extremely thin such as a tuxedo watch?

Uniqueness: Is the item one-of-a-kind or is it mass-produced?

Supply & demand: Is it scarce, or commonly found? If a piece is old but there’s a lot of them, the value will not be as high as a rare piece.

In the en
d, an item is only worth what someone will pay you for it. A high appraised value might get you all excited about a piece, but you are unlikely to realize that value in the marketplace. Appraisals always tend to be on the high side, a “feel-good appraisal” if you will, and smart buyers insist on (and usually get) substantial discounts to “book” value.