Rinker on Collectibles

I Cannot Find Affordable New Inventory -
A Traditional Dealer's Lament

Times are always tough in the antiques and collectibles field, only some times are tougher than other times. This is one of those very tough times.

The antiques and collectibles field is struggling. Many traditional collecting categories are losing their collector base. Established dealers are having trouble identifying merchandise that will attract new, younger, and, most importantly, repeat customers. Change is the order of the day. Adapting is never easy. At the moment, it is extremely difficult.

The current American economic climate also is a deterrent. Most individuals have limited discretionary income, and they are being very careful how they spend it. The impact is hardest felt in the middle and low-end of the collectibles sector, the portion of the market focusing primarily on post-1945 material.

The Internet has enabled everyone to become a potential seller. While only a small percentage of the population, my guess is less than two percent, takes advantage of this opportunity, it has been more than enough to exponentially increase the number of individuals involved in the secondary market sale of collectibles. Currently, the secondary sales market for collectibles is seller rich and buyer poor.

Sellers have become far more sophisticated. Thanks to the Internet, today’s sellers have ready access to the secondary market auction value of items they wish to sell. As a result, their asking price has risen. In fact, it has risen to the point where there often is little to no profitability left for individuals who are seeking merchandise for resale in the traditional collectibles sales venues—antiques malls, shops, and shows, flea markets, and the Internet.

I recently received an e-mail from a seller who lamented that he can no longer find merchandise at garage sales at reasonable prices to buy for resale. In support of his point, he noted that he now regular encounters printouts of final eBay sales listings attached to garage sale items. Further, the garage sale seller is either asking the same amount for his item or has it discounted ten or twenty percent. No reseller can survive on this small margin.

When I first read the e-mail, I was furious. “Just who do these garage sale sellers think they are” was my initial reaction. “How dare they expect these same results?”

I took several weeks to calm down before writing this column. Had I written it when I first received the e-mail, its tone most certainly would have been far different.

Every seller wants to obtain the best, usually equated with maximum, price for any item he is selling. It is human nature. We all understand.

However, what is not understood is that “best price” differs from marketplace to marketplace. The best price in one marketplace is not the same as the best price in another.

The garage sale marketplace is a pennies to dime or two on the dollar environment. It most definitely is not the equivalent to the Internet/eBay resale venue.

A garage sale is essentially a recycling sale, a venue where reusable items no longer of value to the seller find a new home with someone who will use them. It is not the sales venue in which antiques and collectibles should be sold.

Antiques and collectibles are sold in the garage sale venue because the seller has chosen not to pursue a more appropriate venue. Pickers and some dealers haunt garage sales looking for sellers’ mistakes, i.e., an older item with a garage sale price that commands significantly more on another secondary sales market. The hunt is exhausting. The pickings are slim. It is not something I do on a regular basis.

When I do attend a garage sale, I am looking primarily for toys and other things I can give to my grandchildren. In fact, my most pleasant garage sale experiences occur when I take one of my grandchildren with me. I give them five dollars (okay, if you are a regular reader of my column, you know how cheap I am) to spend as they will.

Garage sales also provide me with an ample supply of recently manufactured items at significantly below retail prices that I can add to my stash of potential “future” collectibles. My plan is to have them available for use as illustrations in future articles and books or for show-and-tell during appearances or teaching.

Asking eBay prices at a garage sale is unrealistic. Look at the total number of bidders for the object sold on eBay. Note that I did not say total number of bids. The same individual may have bid more than once. An eBay auction with ten or more bidders is unusual. Most auctions have less than ten bidders. Many have less than five. Given this small bidder base, it is unreasonable to expect someone willing to pay the eBay selling price will walk into one’s garage sale. EBay has a global bidding audience. A garage sale has one of the smallest buying audiences in the antiques and collectibles trade.

EBay prices have stabilized. Supply is now constant. If an individual wanted an object and was willing to pay eBay prices, all they have to do is go on eBay. They may have to track sales for a few weeks, but the chance of them finding what they want at the price they are willing to pay is extremely high. Such buyers have absolutely no incentive to go to a garage sale and pay eBay prices.

I have not encountered the eBay printout sales approach at any garage sales I have attended. However, if I did, I would leave based on the simple assumption that the seller’s greed for top dollar has gotten the better of him or her.

I have encountered the eBay printout sales approach at flea markets and antiques malls. I react the same way I would if I experienced it at a garage sale. I walk away from the case or booth and take my business elsewhere.

Box lots at auction have traditionally supplied low-end dealers with fresh merchandise. Long gone are the days when a box lot sold for a dime or quarter. In fact, the era of the five dollar box lot appears to have ended as well. EBay sellers learned early in the game that box lots can contain a wealth of eBay treasures, provided you are willing to invest the time sorting, listing, and closing the sale. Alas, as the number of competitors has increased and the price of box lots has continued to advance, the chances of a viable profit margin decreases.

Historically, antiques and collectibles dealers have relied on house calls to obtain quality merchandise at bargain basement prices. This is the traditional “get it as it is coming out” buying venue. Once again, homeowners today are much more knowledgeable about the secondary market value of their objects than their historic counterparts, thanks to the print media and the Internet. Further, dealers no longer find themselves in a position to buy things they do not need to get at the items they feel they can sell. Unless they can cherry-pick an offering, they tend to walk away.

Given the above, it is easy to understand why today’s antiques and collectibles dealers are concerned that they cannot find enough affordable new inventory. Further, prices in all but the high end have capped. There is little to no room for price increases. If anything, prices have to continue to decrease before the general buying public is enticed to return to the antiques and collectibles marketplace.

I believe that all problems are solvable, albeit sometimes the solution is painful. In this instance, I question if the most obvious solutions—a major reduction in the number of sellers, walking away from buying opportunities that are unprofitable, and becoming suppliers of decorating rather than collectible items—are possible. E-mail me your thoughts at harrylrinker@aol.com.

Rinker Enterprises and Harry L. Rinker are on the Internet. Check out www.harryrinker.com.

You can listen and participate in WHATCHA GOT?, Harry’s antiques and collectibles radio call-in show, on Sunday mornings between 8:00 AM and 10:00 AM Eastern Time. If you cannot find it on a station in your area, WHATCHA GOT? streams live on the Internet at www.goldenbroadcasters.com.

SELL, KEEP OR TOSS?: HOW TO DOWNSIZE A HOME, SETTLE AND ESTATE, AND APPRAISE PERSONAL PROPERTY (House of Collectibles, an imprint of the Random House Information Group,$16.95), Harry’s latest book, is available at your favorite bookstore and via www.harryrinker.com.

back to columns page