Despite all the gloomy predictions for the antiques trade, this is the place to be says columnist Wayne Jordan. He explains why now is the time to open a brick and mortar antiques shop: Shop owners benefit from low rents, high gas prices and more flexibility than “big box” retailers. Read More +
Tag Archives: behind the gavel
Why half your new customers can’t find your antiques retail website: It’s not showing up on their smartphones
With one half of local Internet searches done on a smartphone, it’s time for dealers to check if their shop’s website is mobile compatible. Columnist Wayne Jordan says that luckily, the cost to optimize your site is far less than you paid to create it in the first place. Read More +
Small business advice gathered over 90 years helps antiques dealers
Columnist Wayne Jordan recently had a nice chat with Chip Averwater, author of “Retail Truths, The Unconventional Wisdom of Retailing.” A retail “truth” is something that can only be discovered through experience. You can’t learn these truths in business school. Here are 10 of Jordan’s favorite retail “truths” and how they might help you improve your antiques business. Read More +
Buy lower, sell higher with proper online auction/live auction bidding strategy
You can always win an auction if you must. All you have to do is outbid the competition. But, winning doesn’t always mean paying a higher price. Outbidding the competition is as much about strategy as it is about price. Read More +
Want your antiques inventory to sell itself? Share the story behind your business
What makes some antiques so valuable? It’s the quality of the story attached to the object. Collectors love to tell stories about the items they have collected.
The better the story, the higher the items value to a collector. Stories create value (don’t confuse value with price; value is a personal issue; price is the intersection of supply and demand). Consistently and enthusiastically shared stories will help your business. Read More +
How using Google Places can get your antiques business listed in local Internet searches
“I’ve never been lost,” said Daniel Boone; “But I was once perplexed for a few days.” It’s said that Boone was a master at staying found. Making his way through the wilderness with nothing more than an incomplete map, a compass, and his own sensibilities, he blazed a trail that thousands would follow from Virginia to Kentucky.
10 tips on how to succeed as an estate executor
Personal property is the "800 pound gorilla" of an estate. Dealing with personal property issues consumes most of an executor’s time and causes most of the aggravation. These 10 tips on how to sort through an estate’s personal property can turn a stressful undertaking into a manageable process.
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How antiques and vintage dealers can use Facebook to build trust without alienating customers
What consumers want is to trust the person they will be buying from. How then, can an antiques dealer use social media to build relationships with new customers? A social media strategist offers vintage sellers five tips.
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How eBay’s fraud protection plan boosts your sales (even if you don’t sell on eBay)
Columnist Wayne Jordan says eBay’s Fraud Protection Program is a response to the atmosphere of distrust – distrust that has existed in the art and antiques market for decades. Without trust, a loyal user base cannot be established, and without loyal customers a company cannot grow. He gives credit to eBay for making an effort to sort all of this out and claims the company’s efforts to control fraud help all online sellers. Read More +
Why don’t antiques dealers just cut prices and move old merch? Because we don’t like losing something once we own it
Wayne Jordan looks at the true cost of holding on to inventory too long and why it’s very common in the antiques trade: "Even when faced with compelling financial data (like inventory turns and profits) dealers still hold on to their beloved inventory. The essence of loss aversion is that simply owning something increases its value (to us). We don’t like losing something once we own it. Antiques dealers are also collectors, and they tend to get attached to the items the buy" Read More +