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Engaging customers on TV
Believe it or not, I do sometimes engage customers in conversation. And more often than I think is acceptable for seemingly rational humans, it turns, at their behest I can assure you, to the telly. Once we've agreed Versailles is poor, and none of us watch soaps, they move onto th...
19/06/2016
Posted by Paul Hardy
What a Charlie
Why? On Sunday next I officially get the keys to my new (to me) shop. And you may well ask why.It's my second go at a shop. The last one I had was in a sleepy lane way back behind the back of beyond. Its issues had issues. The neighbours were tricky, trading as they did based on stock scavenged...
20/02/2020
Posted by Paul Hardy
Coming Clean
OK, so I did it. I swallowed my resistance and let the ART come and film me, and my tummy. If you've read the previous entries on here I've been a bit scathing. I've also been on the periphery of this very programme before. Boy, but it was different in those days. This time it was all very...
30/07/2020
Posted by Paul Hardy
If anyone is to blame it is Charles
Welcome to the very first blog on this site I've been thinking about what to start with, and I have come to the conclusion that I ought to explain myself. I hope you are the patient type because I'm probably going to take the long way round. After all, why waste a few ...
08/04/2016
Posted by Paul Hardy
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...
23/04/2016
Posted by Paul Hardy
William Morris knew a thing or two
I was asked the other day "what should I be buying?" And wow, that's a knotty one! I'm got out of it by deploying the William Morris side-step. As old Bill said, "have nothing in your home that you do not know to be useful and believe to be beautiful" (my underline - the two are li...
07/05/2016
Posted by Paul Hardy
Eff Ebay
With apologies for the interruptions, I'm back on the subject of how to sell your stuff (this is part 2, I guess) and that means looking at the dreaded and sadly ubiquitous eBay. Other things you might want to consider are Gumtree and Facebook. Both are free to list and sav...
12/05/2016
Posted by Paul Hardy
My way eBay
OK, decision made. You're going to flog some bits on eBay. Grab a coffee, settle in and get ready for the longest short blog post in the world. Because here are a few (few? Ha!) of my thoughts based on lots of experience. I've sold a lot on eBay: house clearances, which I did for a...
14/05/2016
Posted by Paul Hardy
One of those days
There's a meme (is that too old-fashioned a phrase?) doing the rounds on Twitter and Facebook along the lines of "I find it, clean it, research it, mend it, insure it, collect it....etc"...it goes on a bit, but ends up "...and you want me to take how much?!" It came to mi...
09/05/2016
Posted by Paul Hardy
Get your hands on a fine chest
Onward with Part 2 of buying at auction. If you missed it, Part 1 is here and includes four of the lessons I’ve learned in many years of auction buying.THE FOUR IN FORWARD We got to the point where you have viewed your chest, ooer missus, and decided as chests go, it is the on...
20/05/2016
Posted by Paul Hardy
You want me to take how much
You have an expectation of your antiques dealer. Quite right too. We should know our stock, its condition and so on, and be able to tell you about it too. In other words, we should be professional about our trade, especially when we're offering items for sale to you. But why should we b...
23/05/2016
Posted by Paul Hardy
Selling at auction A beginners guide
This is the third in the loose series 'where to sell your stuff'. You tried the local dealers and had no luck with them. You've looked at the idea of eBay and the other internet options and chosen not to go down that route (don't blame you!). So what's left? Its time to look at yo...
26/05/2016
Posted by Paul Hardy
Wither the trade
Last week's conversations seemed to be about the trade and its future. It was raised by my next door neighbour, one of my customers and on twitter (@HardyAntiques). None of them talked to the other, so I suppose somehow it must be me guiding the convo, but it felt totally random. First ...
03/06/2016
Posted by Paul Hardy
More selling at auction
Picture the scene: an auctioneer's receptionist is on the phone to a client:"Yes, Geoff, I know that you owe us £125.""....."Yes, I agree, but the bookcase didn't sell at the reserve""....""I know, but the charge for returning it was more than they sold for""....." It's a ...
30/05/2016
Posted by Paul Hardy
There may be Life On Mars
Mars Bars. One way to diabetes (type 2). But also a way to measure the change in the antiques furniture market since 1968. Its actually a proper thing published by Antique Collecting magazine each year, and I think for propriety and to see it graphically you should go somewhere the...
11/06/2016
Posted by Paul Hardy
I hope I can Reclaim my dignity
So there I was quietly minding my own business (literally, the shop was empty) and an email pings in: can we use a pic of one of your items in our mag. Hell yes. And can we 'interview' you for our mag. Hell no. But she sent the questions anyway. And of course old nosey here couldn't help but read th...
16/06/2016
Posted by Paul Hardy
Be Aware
Just a short note: today I saw an auctioneers commission statement that was that they charge 29.75% on the hammer price, plus VAT. I tweeted this and got responses that show in general auctioneers charges vary between 15% and 26%. Actually, I know of more than one that only charges 5% up to £...
22/06/2016
Posted by Paul Hardy
in Which I Examine The Damage of TV
A post or several ago (here) I waffled on about the TV shows that loosely base themselves around Antiques. I said then that the question I'm often asked is have they damaged trade. And my answer is usually "yes, they have, but probably not in the way you think I think". If you see what I mean ...
03/07/2016
Posted by Paul Hardy
Hindsight says I should have gone away in May
What is it they say? Sell in May, and go away? Wish I had. To a beach somewhere, anywhere. I've just spent two days watching a 1400 lot auction and noted every price (pop in to the shop and I'll show you the catalogue). I was interested because I had four items in the ...
29/07/2016
Posted by Paul Hardy
Haggle me equal
A shopping day loomed before me. With the van going in the garage for a service and a free park and ride ticket on offer, it would have been churlish not to. Into town we go. I'm not too bad at shopping, as in I'm not one of these grumpy men who stands by the door drumming t...
24/01/2017
Posted by Paul
A tear for the past
I'm in the process of finally clearing out my little shop. I started there in November 2015, traded through 2016 and then, in the autumn of that year added a few fairs back into the mix. My plan had been to do some of both. The footfall in the village is minescule, almost immeasurable, s...
14/07/2017
Posted by Paul Hardy
Does the right terminology matter
Secessionist. That's the word of the day. Well, today, anyway. Why? Because I saw a picture on Instagram of an item of British china and it had been given a hashtag* 'Secessionist'. My little cogs whirred and I thought "That's not right", and "isn't s...
22/10/2017
Posted by Paul Hardy
Its like Deja Vu all over again
I had a rough experience with an auction house recently. They have taken things in, sold them and not sent any reports without chasing. They've attributed things to my account that are nothing to do with me, and approx half the items I put in have gone unaccountably missing. The whole ...
25/01/2018
Posted by Paul Hardy
If you ring me you might not like the answer
It's no good asking, because I just won't do it. And yes, I have been asked. When I go to an auction I prowl the room and decide what I want to buy based on whether I think I can sell it. I decide how much I will pay, taking into account the (now exorbitant) auctioneers fee...
28/02/2018
Posted by Paul Hardy
La Belle Brocante
I'm off to France again on Saturday. That's the third time in three months. And goodness me its an expensive business, just getting there. So you'd be quite within your rights to ask why?! And I'm not entirely sure I can give you the most logical answer, if we are being strictly business...
08/08/2018
Posted by Paul Hardy
Brocantlish or French antiquing for the newbie
I recently wrote (here) about France and why I travel all the way from Devon to buy there. My plan for that piece had been to talk about the different opportunities for buying over there, hence the title 'La Belle Brocante' which has nothing to do with an impecunious, if pret...
15/08/2018
Posted by Paul Hardy
Unfaired out
So that's me done with fairs for a bit. Cancelled any and everything for the next two months, perhaps for longer. In fact, I have no actual bookings in place, so any I go to will be ad-hoc. And while I'm going to keep one eye on the political situation (which I hold accountable), I'm g...
05/08/2019
Posted by Paul Hardy
All Change
The speed has bemused even me. There I was at a fair seeing myself as a dealer who loaded and unloaded his stock into his (very un)trusty old van several times a month and hit the road. Just like I did only last weekend. And now here I am a dealer who doesn...
08/08/2019
Posted by Paul Hardy
Its that lockdown post
I feel the pressure. I wish I could say I feel the popular demand, but my reader has not been inundating me with postcards (have you Mrs Trellis?) so I can't claim that. But I do see that nearly everyone is posting about Lockdown and its my turn. I am notorious for following a trend lon...
28/04/2020
Posted by Paul Hardy
Coming ready or not
Ummmm. Ahhhh. Should I or not? Write this? -o0O0o- I'm nervous of the end of lockdown. It feels as if it is being pushed through by the media, mainly print, but all outlets, because their ad revenue is markedly down and they are struggling. So they want to put the world back six weeks and te...
08/05/2020
Posted by Paul Hardy
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