Comments on: Auction House vs. eBay http://www.antique-hq.com/auction-house-vs-ebay-363/ Antiques, Collectibles and Auctions resources Sat, 12 May 2012 08:24:16 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Important Antique Questions | The Country & Victorian Register http://www.antique-hq.com/auction-house-vs-ebay-363/#comment-600 Important Antique Questions | The Country & Victorian Register Sat, 05 Jun 2010 16:11:05 +0000 http://www.antique-hq.com/?p=363#comment-600 [...] [...] [...] [...]

]]> By: MLee http://www.antique-hq.com/auction-house-vs-ebay-363/#comment-599 MLee Sat, 27 Mar 2010 01:32:47 +0000 http://www.antique-hq.com/?p=363#comment-599 I have been selling antiques on eBay as well as through local auction house in Cambridge for the past couple of months as a full time profession and am dead keen on the pros and cons of the two. The bulk of my stocks consist of small items such as 18-19th century porcelains, little oils/wc paintings, decorative objects that on average, cost just under £100 apiece. Occasionally I do take in specialist items such as antique Chinese paintings and Islamic miniatures if opportunity arises. It has been my aim to rake in a net profit margin of at least 30% of the actual purchase cost for every single item I sell (e.g. £100 purchase price, resell for £160. After deducting eBay listing + commission + paypal fees of £20; the net profit is £40 or thereabout). To date, 85% of my eBay customers are of foreign origin. The three main issues that I find most frustrating with selling on eBay are: 1. Lost/damaged items from overseas delivery. 5% of my stocks delivered outside the UK went missing despite “International Sign-For” or “Registered post”. Once an item is damaged/disappeared/impounded by foreign custom, one is most unlikely to recover the full actual losses as Royal Mail /Parcel Force/DHL insurance schemes do not extend to the price range of the items I normally deal with. Asking buyers to subsidise the insurance premium will only put off many potential bargain hunters or end up with lousy score on “postage and handling costs” on one’s eBay feedback board. In short, the losses now not only include the purchase cost but also eBay, paypal and postage fees - like it or otherwise. 2. Dodgy buyers that make forced return using “item as not described” as excuse. I even had two buyers that (I suspect) chipped/smashed my vases on purpose to demand a 100% refund. Again, the losses now extend from actual purchase cost to eBay, paypal as well as postage fees. One is under the threat of receiving a negative feedback from the disgruntled customer too if one does not oblige immediately. 3. The frustrating amount of time one has to spend on computer communicating/explaining to buyers on problems and issues that in most instances ignored or misunderstood. In my experience, selling through my local auction house is much more relaxing and trouble free so long as fixed reserves are put on one’s stocks. Since shifting to auction house, I have (much, much) more time on stock-hunting and looking for “sleepers” as well as enjoying life, basically. There are, however, occasions where eBay is clearly superior to local auction house, here is an example: 1. I have the good fortune of scooping a collection of unique Oriental paintings which, unfortunately, received no interests from bidders in my local auction house. When the same stock was put up for sale on eBay under the right section, the collection was sold for over 5000% of my original purchase cost. The buyer, needless to say, was an Oriental eBayer/ collector. The profit actually cushioned my overhead and expenses for the following three months. In short, eBay could be much more efficient in "targeting" and thus allow a killing to be made IF one has a stock that is so desired by a rich collector at the other corner of the earth. I have been selling antiques on eBay as well as through local auction house in Cambridge for the past couple of months as a full time profession and am dead keen on the pros and cons of the two. The bulk of my stocks consist of small items such as 18-19th century porcelains, little oils/wc paintings, decorative objects that on average, cost just under £100 apiece. Occasionally I do take in specialist items such as antique Chinese paintings and Islamic miniatures if opportunity arises. It has been my aim to rake in a net profit margin of at least 30% of the actual purchase cost for every single item I sell (e.g. £100 purchase price, resell for £160. After deducting eBay listing + commission + paypal fees of £20; the net profit is £40 or thereabout). To date, 85% of my eBay customers are of foreign origin.
The three main issues that I find most frustrating with selling on eBay are:
1. Lost/damaged items from overseas delivery. 5% of my stocks delivered outside the UK went missing despite “International Sign-For” or “Registered post”. Once an item is damaged/disappeared/impounded by foreign custom, one is most unlikely to recover the full actual losses as Royal Mail /Parcel Force/DHL insurance schemes do not extend to the price range of the items I normally deal with. Asking buyers to subsidise the insurance premium will only put off many potential bargain hunters or end up with lousy score on “postage and handling costs” on one’s eBay feedback board. In short, the losses now not only include the purchase cost but also eBay, paypal and postage fees – like it or otherwise.
2. Dodgy buyers that make forced return using “item as not described” as excuse. I even had two buyers that (I suspect) chipped/smashed my vases on purpose to demand a 100% refund. Again, the losses now extend from actual purchase cost to eBay, paypal as well as postage fees. One is under the threat of receiving a negative feedback from the disgruntled customer too if one does not oblige immediately.
3. The frustrating amount of time one has to spend on computer communicating/explaining to buyers on problems and issues that in most instances ignored or misunderstood.

In my experience, selling through my local auction house is much more relaxing and trouble free so long as fixed reserves are put on one’s stocks. Since shifting to auction house, I have (much, much) more time on stock-hunting and looking for “sleepers” as well as enjoying life, basically.

There are, however, occasions where eBay is clearly superior to local auction house, here is an example:

1. I have the good fortune of scooping a collection of unique Oriental paintings which, unfortunately, received no interests from bidders in my local auction house. When the same stock was put up for sale on eBay under the right section, the collection was sold for over 5000% of my original purchase cost. The buyer, needless to say, was an Oriental eBayer/ collector. The profit actually cushioned my overhead and expenses for the following three months. In short, eBay could be much more efficient in “targeting” and thus allow a killing to be made IF one has a stock that is so desired by a rich collector at the other corner of the earth.

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