Posted by Chris under Furniture Resources on March 19, 2011
This is a question that we get fairly often. Selling furniture—and especially antiques—can be a very simple process, provided that you know what you're doing and you have the resources to do it. If not, then what is often a pleasant learning experience can turn into a frustrating push to dump unwanted furniture. To help, we've put together a few useful tips that should help avoid this problem.
1. Know the value of your piece. Luckily, we've already written an article on just this subject: How to Determine the Value of Your Antique Furniture.
2. Be patient. We have 15,000 square feet and it's absolutely full of furniture: we can afford to wait if it means getting a fair price on our antiques. Individuals, however, usually don't have the luxury of constantly moving furniture in and out, so it can sometimes feel like an eternity. Depending on the uniqueness, beauty, and price of your piece, it could take several months to sell it...which brings me to my next point.
3. Value and price are never the same thing. For one thing, value is relative: before the recent market crash, antiques were selling at slightly higher prices than they do now, because people expect a deal when times are tough. So even if you do all of the right things and get your antique(s) appraised, you probably won't sell them at the maximum possible value. This is why market research is so important to the selling process: if your piece is just a few hundred dollars lower than the average, you are substantially increasing your odds of selling the piece in a reasonable period of time. But since you determine what is "reasonable," that means striking a balance between how long you want to wait and how much money you want for your piece.
4. Take great pictures and write a great description. In our experience, pictures make a huge impact on whether someone decides to buy or not—especially over the Internet, where a picture is often the only thing the customer has to go on. Likewise, a detailed description of the piece—including, if applicable, history, wear, special features, etc.—can go a long way towards telling the customer that you care about the sale and you know what you're talking about. This is another reason why research is so important, and it's also another of countless examples of the old adage, "Practice makes perfect."
5. Diversify! This is a lot like saying, "Location, location, location." List your piece in as many places as possible: Ebay, Craigslist, GoAntiques, whatever it takes. Of course, dealers have a much wider range of venues to sell their furniture, but that shouldn't keep you from occupying enough marketplaces to make the sale happen. Many of these venues and platforms require listing fees, so this is another example of balance: if you expect to get a lot of money for your antique(s), then you might not mind at all whether you're paying $10/month to maintain your listings. If your piece is cheap, though, you may want to consider minimizing where possible so that you don't wind up selling at a loss.
6. Think about shipping: this is always a big plus, as it opens up new markets. You may not be able to ship yourself, but you can always call blanket wrap delivery companies—which, although expensive, still provide essential services. Ever see a gorgeous antique on Ebay that sells for $150 and doesn't have shipping? That's why. Again, this is one of those issues of balance, but on average, you will fetch a higher price for your piece if you can make it available to the most people possible.
7. Enjoy yourself! Selling furniture is definitely a learning process, but the world of antiques—especially online—is constantly evolving and there is always more to do and more to sell. Good luck out there!
Tags: selling, tips, online furniture
1 comment.
Posted by Chris under Furniture Commentary on March 01, 2011
Every morning that I come into the office, I sit down and read through our emails with a cup of hot, black coffee. This morning, I opened an email containing what looked like a photograph of avant-garde artwork. When you work in or run an online business, this is the sort of non sequitor that you come to expect when you look through your inbox. Business as usual. But what looked like an impressionist masterpiece was really just an exceptionally blurry secretary in a dim room.
Now, there are all kinds of photography tutorials out there that could amend this problem. However, there are a few additional things that you need to know before sending pictures to a dealer.
1. Ask yourself: what do I want the dealer to see? Is what I want them to see evident in the photograph? Honesty and clarity should be your rule of thumb.
2. Many people send emails containing pictures of items that they'd like to sell. However, even if you send detailed pictures, it is very unlikely that a dealer will be able to assess the value of your piece(s) without seeing them in person. They may be interested in purchasing your item(s) (if they're the type of dealer that buys from unsolicited offers), but they won't really know the value of your furniture until they see it in person. There are all kinds of details that you simply can't assess without physically inspecting every inch of the piece (what types of screws it has, whether it has dovetails, what the insides of the drawers look like, whether there is a maker's mark, etc.).
3. Be courteous. Practice the golden rule by being upfront about your intentions, and don't send what may be an unwanted email. Save yourself potentially wasted time and effort by checking to see if the dealer actually buys from customers, or if they provide appraisal services (which should cost hundreds of dollars in most cases). If they don't have any information on their website, try giving them a call, or send an email asking if they would be interested in helping you out before you send pictures. Also, consider that viruses frequently spread through emails and attachments, so many dealers simply won't read your email or look at your attachment out of security concerns; businesses are pretty big targets for malicious jerks, so help dealers and yourself by giving them a head's up! This level of courtesy may actually trigger a more sympathetic response in the dealer, prompting them to help you more than they otherwise would.
We hope that we've answered some of your potential concerns, but as always, feel free to leave any questions in the comments section below!
Tags: tips, online furniture
0 comments.
Posted by Chris under Furniture Commentary on February 22, 2011
When buying furniture online, there are many aspects of the research and buying process to take into account. We've decided to put together a list of the 5 most important things to look for when buying your furniture from an online dealer.
1. Primarily, the quality of the furniture. Depending on how serious you are about this, you may want to do some research (i.e. the difference between solid wood and veneers, how significant dovetails are, different types of finishes and wood types, different furniture traditions like American vs. English). If you could find a retailer who gets their supply from the U.S. or England, I would recommend doing that.
2. The quality of the website. If it is an out-dated or poorly designed site, then chances are, the business isn't very serious about selling online. They probably don't have an updated online inventory and in all likelihood lack property security measures in the code that runs their site.
3. The quality of the photos. If they're beautiful and plentiful, you can probably ask the retailer to take more pictures for you, which can be very helpful when you're trying to make the right decision.
4. The responsiveness of the dealer. If they're polite and have good etiquette and passable grammar, chances are they're a professional who knows what they're doing. Ask them plenty of questions about the piece(s) that you are interested in. If applicable, ask about the wood type, the finish, the manufacturing process, the period (Victorian, Georgian, etc.), the origin (England, China, etc.), and anything else you can think of. The more you know about furniture, the more productive these questions will be, because you may be able to catch a dishonest or ignorant dealer before they get your money. However, I would add that most serious dealers are for the most part honest about their product, because it is difficult to run a successful business by treating your customers badly.
5. Their online reputation. If you found the website at the top of a search engine results page, then they have probably devoted an incredible amount of time and resources to getting there, which means they are serious. Also, check if the dealer is on Ebay, Amazon, GoAntiques, or any other furniture outlet. Sometimes you can even get a better price this way. You may even want to see if they have a Facebook or Twitter account, just to see how involved they are in the business. Taking that extra step towards social media can mean the difference between a lazy dealer and a zealous merchant who is dedicated to their business.
Tags: tips, online furniture
0 comments.
