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You Selling Yours To Me

One of my hopes is that by being in a bricks and mortar shop I will get more people offering to sell me stuff. And I do. People bring me stuff with increasing frequency. But the disappointment is that much (nearly all) of it is what one might politely term 'unsuitable', But I don't leave people in the lurch, and so I find that I'm trotting out the same “sell yours " advice day after day.
   So for your delectation, here's my jaundiced take on your selling options; part 1

So where do you start?

   Ahh, I know. The local antiques dealer. He'll love it! Based on my experience, I think that is likely to be the exception rather than the rule. But this is a blog so let's run it through the keyboard for a moment.
   If, like me, you're in a village your choices may be limited, but if you have more options do think them through. A dealer in 19thC Oils won't want Granny's old 1950's utility furniture nor the amateur watercolour of Sidcup high street on a rainy Thursday. Try to match the shop with your items.
   Perhaps then a more general dealer like me is the first stop. But the same advice applies. Do you see acres of Brown Utility Furniture in there? And if you do, what's the price tag? Can he afford to sell at those prices and pay you what you want? If you see signs saying 'House Clearances' then they MAY be interested, but not at anything much above rock bottom prices. House Clearance is the entry point of stock in the hierarchy of antiques and is thus about the lowest price point there is.
   And don't lug boxes of stuff about. If you've got more than a couple of smallish items, try taking a few photos and printing them out (don't rely on your phone, please not your phone) so that the dealer can head you off before you clutter up their space with stuff they simply can't sell. If they are interested they'll ask you to bring it in. Don't ask for value yet, either. Let them see it and handle it first. Condition is absolutely everything. And if they are busy come back another time. Buying and selling are hard work and the easier it looks the better the dealer is at their job. Someone barging in with their unwanted stuff is less important than someone who may be about to buy something. Please respect that and pick your moment. Or email. I like emails. My email is all over my website. You did know I had a website, didn't you? Or you could even telephone and ask. I believe smartphones still make calls.
   Most of all, be prepared for a brush off. Don't be upset or offended. We see an incredible amount of stuff and tend to know whether we can sell it. It is no reflection. Or we're trying to be polite.
   But let's not be defeatist. Let's assume you have bought in good things and you've got to the rarely seen “I'm interested” stage. What next? They will probably say something akin to “So, what do you want for it?”. If I had a quid for every time I've asked someone that and so I've made an offer only for them to say, “oh no, I was hoping for £x”, I'd have enough for a luxury holiday somewhere exotic (now you're talking). If you really don't know, say so, but if you have spent hours trawling through eBay and so on and have developed some unrealistic price expectation at least have the courtesy to tell the dealer where your expectations are. It saves time, and exasperation. I know why you do it, because you are hoping the dealer will offer you twice as much as you know it's really worth. I don't really need to comment on that, do I? Decide what you're happy with, and never forget, you actually don't want this thing anymore.
   I also get asked to sell things on commission. I don't like doing that. No antique shop could survive on commission-only items, so probably best not to even suggest that. At least, not to me. So there we are. You found the right shop, you emailed your pictures in, they asked to see it, they may even have bought some of it, but in the end you still have items to get rid of.

What's next?

For that dear reader, come back this way soon and we'll tear the “internet auction site” to shreds. I'm looking forward to it already

 

PS: SHOP CLOSED - DON'T GO,  I'M/IT'S NOT THERE!

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