Selling Antiques
Consignment
Sales / Broker
/ Outright Purchase
We are full time antique dealers and our full time jobs are dealing in and selling
antiques. 
Our
website is very visible on the internet and well indexed with various
search engines. You found us and so do 500 some other unique
visitors each day.
We have sold a lot of good merchandise for
consignors during the 8 plus years we have had this internet based antique website. We are
not weekend warriors or part time hacks who dabble in it to supplement
their income, or create a write-off come tax time. If you have
something good to sell we can help you sell it or your whole collection of
antiques.
We sell antiques
and collections of antiques in three ways:
-
Consignment sales for sellers of antiques
and collections
In this scenario the
typical adversarial conflict between antique sellers and buyers is not a factor. We work with you, the seller to find the
right buyer at an agreed upon price. We are
working together to each other's benefit to maximize the return for both
parties.
A consigner / seller's
antiques will be researched, photographed, listed for sale, marketed, and sold from the sales pages of this site
www.Patented-Antiques.com and / or on our sister site
www.Antiqbuyer.com
for a reasonable commission. Or, after consultation
and agreement on a price, sold privately to a collector within our network of buyers on a
commission or fee basis.
This approach has many benefits
with one major drawback, time, for the seller that must be considered and
weighed. On the upside the consignor can (within reason)
control the price that his antique(s) are offered for and can realize a larger
profit upon sale than through an outright sale to most antique dealers or
through auction. The downside is the consignor may have to wait for a sale and receives
no payment until the sale is fully consummated.
By selling your antique(s) on
consignment we are able to work with you, and on a lower markup, having minimal
financial risk and minimal carrying costs. We invest our time,
expertise, labor
and knowledge and this venue to provide the best sales and marketing service to
facilitate a sale, and only upon sale do we collect the agreed upon
percentage. A Win-Win situation for all parties involved.
We are most agreeable to this option for upper
end, out of the ordinary or exceptional antiques, and for entire collections
and estates of antiques related to our interests.
Consignment sales are generally not a feasible option for insignificant and lower
end items. For example, 20% of a $20 item listed for sale would never be
worthwhile at $4.00 commission in my pocket. Even 20% of a $50.00 antique @ $10.00 is barely worth the effort
unless part of a larger package if you think about it.
-
Broker / Consultations / and Auctions
Another option in certain situations we use to sell antiques is to utilize internet auction sites such as eBay on
a commission basis. This approach works best if your antique is currently
selling well there, and / or you want a quick sale. For a reasonable
commission your item(s) will be properly presented, well photographed, and
accurately described to enhance the chances for a higher auction result. We
have over 2000 positive feedbacks there and understand the system unlike
many of the local listing servives who sell on eBay.
In
this scenerio, eBay fees generally amount to 10-20 % or so depending on
the listing format used, reserves, featured item, and so forth, and we still
charge our standard 20% fee in most circumstances.
We will also consult with,
and advise potential sellers on the best alternative auction houses should
the seller want to go that route and not use eBay. In general this
approach is used for very special items and in special circumstances.
Great pieces do great in the right auction. Most everything else
sells wholesale to dealers to be marked up and resold later. The end
result can go either way at the usual auction house.
-
Outright purchase of
your antique(s)
This is the simplest,
cleanest, most often used method to sell or acquire antiques if the seller
knows what he wants for his antique. This
approach
insures that the seller is paid immediately exactly what he wants. The seller has no
concerns with future marketing, repairs, discounts, theft,
loss, bad checks, rip-offs, returns or other problems with
the end
buyers.
Simply agree on a price, collect your money, and you
are done. Clean and simple.
The main obstacles are agreeing on
a price and the adversarial position most sellers create saying they have
no idea what they want for their antique when in fact they do.
Typical buyers of
antiques create their own problems with
their approach to this aspect of continually asking what do you want for
it and never making fair offers. It can be exhausting for both parties.
Researching Your Antiques Value
FREE
Antique Appraisals
If you are not looking to sell your
antique, or pay for an antique appraisal, Online ap
praisals
or valuations are available for many categories of property or antiques at different internet sites. Some sites charge a nominal sum for this
service. Others imply
they will do it for free if you give them something first or otherwise meet their requirements. I believe
though that the caveat about you get what you pay for applies and
hopefully you have lots of spare time and like receiving spam emails if you
choose to go that route.
Seriously though, the best approach to
get information concerning the value or history of your individual antique
is to run searchs on Google or some other good internet search engine and to
check eBay to see what information you can gather there. This is what I routinely do
and most times this approach gives good current results for the value of
different antiques and collectibles.
Please Note: Finding my name and
website in a Google search
when looking for info on your antique and
then firing off an email asking me about the
history of, and what your antique is worth without looking at the page is not the
type of research I
am talking about.
Below are some links to get you started with your
endeavor and past that approach.
Run a search with Google
or another search engine on your antique to learn about it an
d its value. Start
with general terms and get very specific. Find a similar piece on my
pages, or in the Sales
Archives on my site and then price yours accordingly. Here is the button to get
you to my Site Search Page.
We offer antique sellers many free resources on this site to help you determine the age
(see Patent Date
Chart) and value of a given
antique, and we encourage you to use them. Our
Sales Archives pages are a wealth of
information for giving you a sense of the categories of antiques we are
most interested in, the quality of merchandise we sell,
and the level of our experience and scope of our knowledge.
If you are looking for free appraisals look
at these sites from a
Google
Search for free antique appraisals and
see what you can find.
If you are looking for a
paid appraisal look at these sites from a
Google
Search for paid antique appraisals or go to a local appraiser
you find in the Yellow pages.
Making Offers
on Your Antiques
If you feel you need me to make an
offer on your antique I will in certain circumstances.
I cannot make offers on
things I have not SEEN or hazard guesses as to the value of your antique
without seeing it. Please see the
FAQ page
for details concerning this.
PAID Antique
Appraisals
I do offer a paid appraisal service. Please see the
FAQ page
for details concerning this.
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We Sell Antiques!
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We want to Help you Sell Your quality Antiques
