Selling Antiques on EBay- turn a hobby into an income earner
Selling antiques on EBay is one of the largest markets world wide. On Ebay world wide in the past 90 days there were over 3.5 million listings for “antique”, on Ebay AU alone there were nearly 100,000 listing, selling at 42% with nearly 600 seller per day!
Now most of these listings are by “amateur” ebay sellers selling old items second hand who really don’t know what they are doing. This is one of those very popular markets where you can really dominate and make good money if you sell smarter.
Just by putting the word “antique” in your listing will ensure a high view rate. But then if you use good selling techniques and know your niche can help improve your sell through rate as well as your sale prices.
A good quality picture or multiple pictures will let buyers see and know exactly what you are selling. If a seller has more confidence in what it is they are bidding on they will be willing to spend more.
Using all your item title full of key words will ensure your listing shows up in more searches. Don’t waste word space. State what the item is using as many key words as possible, state the brand and age if known, and comment on condition.
To ensure excellent feed back as you build you eBay reputation put A LOT of attention into packaging. If you have spent $100 on a good quality item, then sold it for $300 and it is damaged in shipping, not only will you have lost $300, but you will get negative feed back. You feed back is as important as your profit. If you get negative feed back buyer will be less likely to want to buy from you effecting your sell through rates and your sale prices!
Tips for packaging:
- Bubble wrap is cheap! You can buy it in bulk, but also save it from items you buy to get some extra packing material for free
- Larger or brittle items must be shipping in a box. If it is a heavier item that may move in a packing box, use a box in a box with packing material between each box as well as around the item.
- Don’t use newsprint as this can leave marks on items, and will compact down during shipping and won’t work as well.
- Use shipping with a tracking number. If it is lost in transit, the buyer can’t claim you never sent it if you can provide a tracking number. Typically shipping companies will provide some form of insurance if they loose an item.
- Charge insurance for expensive or brittle items. Again this protects you from loss and bad feed back if the shipping company damages your well packed item, or worse looses it.
While some people sell “new antiques” these items do not get the same price as a good quality “old antique”. This is where the hard working hobbyist can really start to make some money if they are willing to put in the leg work.
If you are able to get a steady flow of items from a certain era or in a certain niche you can build a web store around this market and start building a reputation. Once seller see you sell a lot of excellent items they will come back to see what YOU are selling, as well having more confidence they will get good value for their money. They will see this from you feed back page, about me pages, and the fact you have an eBay store dedicated to this market.
There are a number of great ways to find your products for this niche, and with an aging population in most parts of the world the amount of potential stock is going to increase.
- Go to garage sells in affluent areas with older age groups. These areas are likely to have better quality, older, more valuable items. They are also likely to be down sizing, or maybe even clearing a house after a family death. The key is to know which areas to shop in, where the garage sales are going to be, and get there early to get the best items and the best prices!
- This one can seem a bit harsher, but retire homes can be a similar source of quality items. Get to know the administrators of local retirement villages and find out when somebody is either shifting in, or “shifting out”. Make contact with the families and offer to help them clear items they don’t wish to keep that you could sell for a profit.
- Developing a relationship with pawn shops can also be a good source, particularly for antique jewellery. If a pawn shop owner knows you may be interested in an item they just acquired you could be the first person they contact and get a good price still so the business owner get a fast turn around
- Frequenting second shops and again developing a relationship with people running them can also net you some good items. Sometimes you can find excellent items buy checking out a rural second hand or antique shop.
- Weekend markets can be just as good as garage sales. Again you have to get there early.
Buying items “off line” and selling them in a highly exposed environment like ebay can be a real money spinner. There are people who make a full time living selling antiques on eBay. If antiques and checking out garage sales and second hand/antique shops is something you enjoy, you could turn that interest into a really good money spinner!
