We primarily help antique sellers, be they collectors, their heirs,
or others, sell antiques and collections of antiques on a
consignment basis.
We also buy antiques for resale, at reasonable
prices, and we help antique collectors and other
antique buyers
buy antiques through this website or other means.
I discuss values of antiques and collectibles and collections with
potential consignors with no obligation or fee as part of the consignment
sales service that we offer. I am not the free information
booth for general questions about history or value of antiques that
are not being offered to me.
We offer a paid appraisal / valuation service, for a fee, for folks
with antiques or collectibles that are not for sale, are going to be
offered for sale elsewhere, or just are
curious about the value of their antiques.
Please Note: I do not respond to some appraisal or
valuation requests. To get a sense of why, which type, and to take a look at
a few examples of the numerous requests for free information / appraisals
we receive on a daily basis please see
this page.
4. Why should I
consign my antiques to you instead of selling them myself, locally,
through auction, or on eBay?
There are many reasons. This could be a long answer, but I
will try and keep it short.
1. We are Honest, visible, and well known as honest and forthright
antique dealers. Buyers, sellers and consignors all benefit from
our services and
are treated fairly and equally.
We have had this site for over 10 years, and have bought, sold and
traded in antiques for 30 some years. We are full time antique
dealers with the expertise, knowledge and desire to help you.
2. Our Website's Rankings in search engines like
Google is great!
Our sites appears in all major search results, usually on the first
page when using relevant keyword searches for the types of antiques
we sell.
3. Our Website Traffic Count is close to 1500 visits per day
for our 2 sites. You found our website, and some 1500 other
people a day do as well. Some 80% of those are new visitors.
Each Day. We have over 5,000 page views per day on this site
alone.
Each Day. Those 1500 visitors / day are targeted, motivated,
and serious.
4. We Sell a lot of antiques for consignors. Look at
our sales archive pages at our sister site
www.AntiqueBuyer.com to get a sense of what we sell and for how much.
Our customer base is worldwide and so are our sales.
5. We Work for the Seller. When we sell on
consignment we work for you the seller
as if the antique was our own. It is a win - win situation
where we try to maximize the sales price result for you, instead of the
typical adversarial antique dealer / seller arrangement with the
dealer trying to buy your antique for pennies on the dollar to
maximize just his end.
6. We Work with the Buyer. When we list things
we do not use phrases like "good for its age", "buyer beware",
"no returns", "no guarantee", etc. We do not tell our buyers
they are responsible for shipping damage etc. We offer a no-questions
asked return policy, guarantee the authenticity of what we sell,
and stand behind the merchandise.
7. As for eBay, it can be great for some things, and
a disaster for most pieces. We routinely sell antiques on
this site for more than they bring on eBay. EBay works well
in certain limited circumstances, and we sell certain things there,
but would advise against it for most pieces. When used it
needs to be done correctly. We sell there under the ID
TheAntiqueMerchant.
EBay is known as the world's largest wholesale market for good
reason. It is. Most things sell there for a fraction of their true
potential value. It is a "dumping ground" that you have to wade
through millions of new and reproduced things to find anything meaningful.
With its new format of Buy It Now is a giant time waster as you
have to wade through page after page of overpriced unsalable
garbage offered for prices never seen in the past, qand will
never be relevant in the future. And Meg Whitman is proud. The simple truth is the best buyers in most categories
of antiques never go there or pay no attention to it at all.
EBay is frightening to many buyers and rightfully so. The
rules and caveats many sellers there demand are scary. When
I read most people's ads on eBay I wonder why anyone would buy anything
from those sellers. Rip-offs and frauds abound and it rightfully
has that reputation. Beware and be careful!!
8. The Local Auction can be much the same story as eBay and
sometimes worse for any number of reasons.
9. Do It Yourself Method For those who want to travel
this road, my advice is to start with the lesser pieces to get a
sense of how it is going to go. Learn how to host and post
your own pictures, and write up as nice an ad as you can. If you
don't know which are your lesser pieces or get confused /
bored w/ eBay you probably shouldn't be doing it yourself.
Contact Us
5. What are your commission
rates for consignment sales?
We use a sliding scale and it depends on the individual piece, its
value, and the mode or method we employ to help you sell your antique(s).
For certain pieces and situations we charge as little as a 10% commission for sales.
That is not very often or the standard amount.
In most cases we charge a 20%-30% commission rate for selling
antiques listed on, or promoted through our website with a
value of $100 and up. .
Our commission rate goes up to 50% for pieces with values under
$100. We do not actively solicit antiques or collectibles that
sell for under $100 for our page, and would prefer not to handle
them, but every collection has them and
it takes as much time & effort, if not more, to sell a $10 piece as a $1000
piece.
For antiques and collectibles listed on eBay we charge the
same commission plus eBay's fees, which now run close to 15 % given eBay's
" Paypal only policy" and sellers are now responsible for
insurance requirements. The % can go up for auctions that
are "featured", reserved, or auctions utilizing the other
fee-based bells and whistles eBay offers. That % can become
very high when your low value piece bombs and you. used those bells
and whistles unwisely.
6. How do I consign
or sell antiques to you?
Simple!! Contact us with as much information as
possible about your antique(s) telling us what you want to do, and we
will get back to you ASAP. Pics are usually required to fully
discuss what you have. If your antique is something
of interest we will discuss the options, value, and go from there.
Contact Us
7. Do You Make Offers
on Antiques?
Yes, we do make offers on antiques in certain circumstances.
1. We make offers on antiques or collectibles that we are
interested in buying, have seen, and that are physically in front
of us.
2. If you simply write and say "What will you offer me
for my "_______?" , with or without a picture or any real info or
indication it is really for sale, I am not going to be
very helpful and usually just hit the delete. It is a time
thing.
3. If you want me to make an offer for your antique, after we have
determined I have an interest we will arrange for you to send me
your piece, and after I examine its condition and research it I
will make you a reasonable offer. If you are not
happy with that offer I will box it up and return it at my cost.
Or I will help you sell it on consignment for an
agreed upon amount that you already had in mind but did not
previously reveal given you declined my offer. If
you do not accept the offer all you will be out is some time and
shipping in one direction. Fair enough.
8. But I want to
sell my antique now!!
If the price is reasonable
we can do that right now. Send me a pic and tell me
what you want for it. If it is a price we can both be happy
with I will buy it now. If you can not name a price, get back
to me when you can. I do not guess what you are asking in these situations.
9. How do I receive
payment for antiques that I sell you or you sell for me?
Your choice. We can pay by check, MO, credit card, through
Paypal, or another service if you are set up for that. Which ever
way you prefer. Cash is an option as well if we can meet.
10. How long does
it take to get paid?
We pay you promptly upon receipt of the item for outright purchases
or promptly upon sale of your consignment item.
11. I just need
general info (FREE) about my antique. Can you help?
In general I am not going to be able to help you beyond the information
you found on my site already. If you did not look at my
past
sales archives at our sister site, you should. If you found something similar on
my page in all likelihood the information there is all I have about
that piece.
In order to help you with dating your antique I have provided you
with a quick and easy Patent Date Reference
Chart to help you determine the earliest date that your piece could
have been made if it has a patent number somewhere on it.
In almost all instances I have to do research to determine details
and values for individual antiques I am selling for consignors, and
regretfully I do not have the time to do free research on pieces that
are not mine, are not for sale, or are not going to be sold from my
site on consignment.
12. I sent
you an email and never heard back from you---why?
If you contacted me with something we clearly would not be interested
in we will not respond to save both of us time and space in our mailboxes.
I do not buy ancient artifacts or rugs from Pakistan or Iran, nor do I buy "antique"
Speed Queen washers, 60's era ranges or electric ironing mangles, water heaters,
furnaces and other such things that were left in the basement or
garage of the
house you just bought. I usually do not respond to
general questions about things I have not seen or have any
information about. For example, "I have an XXX, what is it
worth?" with no other info.
As a courtesy I try to respond to all sincere and
appropriate offers, even if I can not afford the piece or am not interested
in it. I simply hit DELETE for others.
13. When can I expect
delivery of the item I ordered?
In general we ship ASAP after payment is made. Depending
on the time of year and our buying / selling trip / show schedule we
ship at different times. When we are at home we have near daily
UPS pick-up. We get to the Post Office a couple times a week.
When we are on the road or on a buying trip next day shipping may not
be possible and there may be a delay, but we will always let you know
that at the time you place your order, and in some situations it may
be possible for us to ship to you from the road.
14. Where do you
get your antiques?
Over the last few years most of our better antiques have been obtained
through the internet or from contacts and house calls developed from
this website. That would be you the reader.
Used to be you could pick good stuff off the side of the road, or
even at the dump. I did it, and did well, but those days ended
20-30 years ago for me! From the look of things in most "antique"
shops these days it seems some people still find this approach
viable. Those days are long gone though for anything early, rare,
significant or meaningful.
Some "good stuff" still comes out of garage sales and flea markets,
but it is such a rare occurrence anymore, around here anyway, that we
rarely use this approach. We live over an hour away from anything
that might be called a city, and hate driving 100 miles to look at baby
clothes, Tupperware, and Wal-Mart discards on Friday or Saturday mornings.
We do still go out most Sundays to see what we can find at the local
Flea.
We used to have a network of pickers and dealers that we visited
across the country who routinely sold us some great stuff, but for various
reasons revolving around the internet, those days are pretty much over. We are redeveloping that
sort of network today utilizing the internet with a new group of people
/ consignors and the results are encouraging although not quite as exciting
as going out and hunting up or "finding" antiques.
Occasionally we still buy at auction, or eBay, but that approach
has drawbacks, especially when absentee bidding. The risks of
getting burned with the sellers neglecting to actually describe their
merchandise, either through ignorance or intentionally, is enormous.
When I do use eBay I use a snipe program and so should you.
Here is a link to the one I use:
Win
every eBay bid!
You get three free snipes when you sign up, and so
do I. Another win-win situation for all.
We still go to antique shows as often as possible and buy a lot of
stuff from other dealers both at shows and privately, but this is getting
tougher and tougher as dealer attendance and the quality of the merchandise
at shows steadily goes down. Not what it use to be by any means!
So that leaves this approach and you, the new reader
/ owner of an antique or collection of antiques, as our primary source
for quality antiques. If you have a great antique to sell, or
a houseful, or collection of quality antiques or collectible pieces,
please contact us---we would love to hear from you!
Contact Us
15.
Do you make a lot of money doing this?
No, but I do enjoy it and it keeps me very busy!
**** We Sell Antiques!
****
We want
to Help you Sell Your quality Antiques
If you have a single antique, or a collection of antiques to sell
please contact us at LCM@patented-antiques.com
giving us your PHONE NUMBER
and other contact info
and we will get back to you ASAP.
To view examples of the types of antiques and collectibles we have previously
sold and are always interested in helping you sell please visit our
Past
Sales Archive Pages at our sister website
www.AntiqBuyer.com.
Please see our
FAQ page, the
Appraisal / Selling Page and the
Selling Your Collection Pages
for further info.
Thanks!!
Larry & Carole
