Buying & selling antiques and collectibles on eBay

328 Pages·2004·6.11 MB·English

by  Pamela Y. Wiggins

Buying & Selling
Antiques and
Collectibles on
eBay
®
Pamela Y. Wiggins
© 2004 by Pamela Y. Wiggins. All rights reserved. No part of SVP, Thomson Course
this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by Technology PTR:
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and may not be used without written permission. Marketing Manager:
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Information contained in this book has been obtained by Kristin Eisenzopf and
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Kate Shoup Welsh
PTR, or others, the Publisher does not guarantee the accuracy,
adequacy, or completeness of any information and is not Technical Reviewer:
responsible for any errors or omissions or the results obtained Judith Katz-Schwartz
from use of such information. Readers should be particularly
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ISBN: 1-59200-499-7
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To my loving husband, Bob,
and my inspiring mother, Eva Paschal
Acknowledgments
I’ve often said that writing this book has been an arduous albeit rewarding
process, and every word of that statement is true. I’ve leaned on more than a few
people for support along the way, and they’ve all come through for me with
more encouragement than I could have ever hoped for. From my husband, Bob,
who taught me the Internet ropes so many years ago and encouraged me to write
in the first place, to my friends and other family members who spurred me on
with their excitement for the project and, most importantly, with their love and
friendship. This includes my mother, Eva Paschal, who let me tag along with her
going to flea markets and garage sales when I was a just a wide-eyed kid, teach-
ing me so much about buying and selling antiques along the way.
I couldn’t have asked for a better crew to work with than the folks at Thomson
Course Technology either. Kate Shoup Welsh, editor extraordinaire, pointed
me in the right direction over and over again to produce a great book to share
with other antiquers, and Judith Katz-Schwartz shared her time and expertise
on the topic of eBay and the antiques business as my technical editor to make
my work even stronger. A big thanks to Megan Belanger, too, for being a great
cheerleader as well as the superb acquisitions editor who approached me about
putting this book together in the first place.
And lastly, but certainly not least, a big thanks to Barb Doyen, my agent, for
helping me to navigate uncharted waters as a first-time author and providing
words of encouragement when I really needed them.
About the Author
PAMELAY. WIGGINShas been a collector since childhood when she first learned
about antiques and collectibles in her mother’s shop. Her personal collections
include vintage costume jewelry, Depression glass, vintage Barbie dolls, vintage
Halloween and Santa postcards, Texas Centennial collectibles, and a host of
other interesting odds and ends.
As the antiques guide for About.com, Pamela has shared her knowledge of the
Internet and collecting with her users since 1999. Her feature articles and
columns on antiques-related topics have appeared in magazines and newspapers
nationwide, including Antiques & Collecting Magazine. Pamela has also been
seen and heard on a number of radio and television broadcasts as an antiques
expert. She has completed the International Society of Appraisers core courses
in appraisal studies, and holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism with magazine
specialization from the University of Texas at Austin.
Pamela sells antiques and collectibles at the Austin Antique Mall in Austin,
Texas, on her Web site Chic Antiques (http://www.chicantiques.com) established
in 1995, and on eBay as www.chicantiques since 1996. She has also been
known to set up at shows when time permits, including the legendary City Wide
Garage Sale in Austin.
In her “free” time, when she’s not surfing eBay, maintaining Web sites, writing
about antiques, or doing public-relations work for a non-profit organization
(her day job), Pamela coordinates the Austin Vintage Jewelry Club for area col-
lectors. She also participates in VFCJ, a national organization for costume jewelry
collectors, and encourages others to hook up with similar organizations relating
to their personal collecting interests.
Originally from Houston, Pamela now resides in Round Rock, Texas, with her
husband, Bob, and one very spoiled dog named Robin who keeps her company
while she’s writing.
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Contents at a Glance
Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
PART I An Introduction to eBay for Buyers and Sellers . . . 1
Chapter 1 Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Chapter 2 Research: Don’t Buy or Sell Without It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
PART II Buying Antiques and Collectibles on eBay . . . . . . 45
Chapter 3 Finding Antiques and Collectibles on eBay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Chapter 4 Buyer Be Aware: What to Know Before You Bid . . . . . . . . . . 65
Chapter 5 Bidding Strategies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Chapter 6 I Won an Auction! Now What?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Chapter 7 Working Through the Bad Buy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
PART III Selling Antiques and Collectibles on eBay. . . . . . 153
Chapter 8 Setting Up Shop on eBay: Getting Started Selling . . . . . . . . . 155
Chapter 9 Titles, Descriptions, Photos, and More . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Chapter 10 Setting Your Starting Price, Understanding
eBay’s Fees, and Creating a Basic Listing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Chapter 11 Managing and Completing the Sale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
Chapter 12 Standing Out in a Competitive Market:
Building a Good Reputation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
PART IV Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
Appendix A More Helpful Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
PART I An Introduction to eBay
for Buyers and Sellers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Chapter 1 Getting Started. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Life before eBay. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
eBay Today. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Live versus eBay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Registering with eBay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Setting Up a PayPal Account . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Adding a Credit or Debit Card to Your PayPal Account. . . . . . . . . . 19
Associating a Bank Account with Your PayPal Account . . . . . . . . . 20
Transferring Funds to Your PayPal Account. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Chapter 2 Research: Don’t Buy or Sell Without It. . . . . . . . . . 27
What Exactly Is an Antique?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
How Does an Antique Differ from a Collectible? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Making Informed Buying Decisions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Don’t Miss the Mark (Other Important Research Tips). . . . . . . . . . . 32
Detecting Reproductions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Condition Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Developing an Eye for Quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Online Resources for Researching Antiques. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
PART II Buying Antiques and
Collectibles on eBay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Chapter 3 Finding Antiques and Collectibles on eBay . . . . . . 47
Browsing eBay by Category . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Bookmarking Categories on eBay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
ix
Contents
Running a Category Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Browsing the New Today and Ending First Listings . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Making the Most of eBay’s Search Features. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
eBay’s Search Feature. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
eBay’s Additional Search Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Assessing eBay’s Search Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Searching by Seller, Searching by Bidder. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Saving a Search. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Chapter 4 Buyer Be Aware: What to Know Before You Bid. . 65
Do Your Research before You Bid. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Assessing a Listing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Deciphering Listing Descriptions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Freeze Frame: Assessing Photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Questions, Questions, and Yet More Questions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Conducting Completed Listings Searches:
Is It Really a Bargain on eBay?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Assessing the Seller. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Using Feedback to Gauge a Seller’s Integrity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Viewing the Seller’s ID History. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Chapter 5 Bidding Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Using the Watch List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Placing the Traditional Proxy Bid. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Reserve-Price Auctions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Dutch Auctions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
To Snipe or Not to Snipe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Manual Sniping at No Cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Using a Sniping Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Retracting a Bid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Shopping with Buy It Now . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Enjoying eBay Live Auctions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Tracking Your Auctions with the My eBay Page. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106