Do people still buy/sell collectables?

[imjustme]

This may seem like an odd question. Maybe 15 years ago when I first started buying on eBay, I remember there was a vibrant community of antiques and collectables buyers and sellers. I don't see that anymore today. Is it just that they moved elsewhere away from eBay? If so, where to?

Or is it just that people don't collect things anymore. Or am I completely wrong?

[GreenBean]

The times are a'changing.

It is nothing like it was years back.

These days there is a difference between antiques and collectibles.

Etsy has its followers. Artfire to a degree.

Saturation of the Chinese with phake antiques has not done much either for ebay.

[imjustme]

I did notice there's a bit on Etsy, especially vintage clothing. But otherwise their main following seems to be handmade things. Some of which can obviously be collectables as well.

I've been following ArtFire for the past few years but their design just makes me want to puke instead of buying or selling.

[GreenBean]

Sounds right.

[Sandy D]

Collectibles still sell well. Probably 80-90% of my business.

Certain categories have huge followings and even large collector clubs.

For instance, Carnival Glass. They have a huge group of clubs that meet 2 times a year.

Cookie jar collectors meet in Nashville Tn once a year and it is huge.

Pez collectors, another huge one.

Vintage toys, several clubs and many toy only shows across the country.

Vintage clothing is hot on etsy but I sell lots of 1950s, 60s and a ton of 1970s ugly green and yellow items.

LOL Anyone remember those cat clocks? Kit Kat....
They are being reproduced now but you can easily spot the old from the new, I sold several on etsy.

Things are changing for me because most of the older people who used to bid me up at auctions are now gone, retired or stopped showing up leaving a new younger crowd who dont seem to have the money to bid people up.

Also, here in the USA average age is growing older and with that many items in houses are coming up for sale.

I have bought more large estates this year then in all past years combined.

Antique malls started dropping like flies 5 years ago and now I see them coming back to life with new ones opening and those that survived the slow down are growing again.

[mobilecontractsuk]

When you now visit ebay, you are bombarded with featured items and adverts of big brands. It seems to like the listings of private sellers are being pushed down. I used to sell collectables but profitability was not good for me.

[jeffweico]

When eBay first came into existence, there were very limited ways to sell antiques and collectibles. There really was no way to put your item in front of thousands of buyers on a national, or international level. Most options were local.

There was a HUGE pent-up demand that eBay unleashed. Word quickly spread that you could list items online at eBay and have several interested potential buyers and get a good price for your stuff. And the auction aspect of it was a lot of fun at first. That has faded quite a bit.

Etsy has taken some of that business. And some of the market simply no longer exists. eBay was the right idea at the right time and it took off like wildfire. But there is no going back.

Having said all that, there will ALWAYS be a market for antiques and collectibles. It is just that these days you need to work harder to get the attention of buyers and you probably won't see huge prices for most of these items, unless they are truly desirable and rare.

Remember Beanie Babies? Comic Books? Sports Cards?

Back in the 1980's, comic books were, HOT, HOT, HOT! Every comic went up in price every year. Marvel and DC regularly put out new first issues, collector's editions, and similar items all of them rapidly increasing in value. The problem is, none of these were actually RARE since they were mass produced and a lot of people were buying them only so they could later re-sell them at a profit. A classic bubble. Today, most of those comics are worthless, or close to worthless. Truly RARE comics, like Superman #1, still sell for a fortune but they are relatively few in number.

Same thing with sports cards and beanie babies and ANYTHING else, really.

[imjustme]

Thank you for all your replies I'm glad to see that the antiques and collectables niche is still going strong. Maybe I've been focusing on eBay too much, which seems to have lost it's once strongest category. I do wish ArtFire was a bit more attractive. Even the fonts on that website are awfully hard to read.

And I agree that I used to see lots of flea markets a decade ago and they have now almost all vanished. Sad, kind of. Maybe we will see a revival soon.

[TGMT²]

Originally Posted by imjustme

I remember there was a vibrant community of antiques and collectables buyers and sellers. I don't see that anymore today.

My view on the situation: Is that a big majority of the collectables have been already listed and sold and are now being kept in personal collections.

[GreenBean]

Some of the purchases I made from ebay back in the 'day' are sitting in their cabinets.
They get dusted from time to time and are cherished.

I managed to buy ( over about 6 months) 15 pieces of Matt Jonansson crystal sculptures.

Breath taking to say the least.

[rsot]

I sell specialized collectibles from time to time and yes, there is the 'keeping phenomena' in effect - the people who can afford collectibles simply buy to keep, not really flip. Shift of population age is definitely contributing as is the state of economy.

[Sandy D]

Originally Posted by rsot

I sell specialized collectibles from time to time and yes, there is the 'keeping phenomena' in effect - the people who can afford collectibles simply buy to keep, not really flip. Shift of population age is definitely contributing as is the state of economy.

What type of collectibles do you buy?

Antique stuff, artsy stuff, art deco, toys?

What time period of items do you buy?

Do you ever attend auctions or how do you find your collectibles?

Are there antique malls in Ca?

[imjustme]

Originally Posted by rsot

I sell specialized collectibles from time to time and yes, there is the 'keeping phenomena' in effect - the people who can afford collectibles simply buy to keep, not really flip. Shift of population age is definitely contributing as is the state of economy.

At the risk of sounding like an @$$, sooner or later those collections will be back on the market when people die.

[jeffweico]

Originally Posted by GreenBean™

Some of the purchases I made from ebay back in the 'day' are sitting in their cabinets.
They get dusted from time to time and are cherished.

I managed to buy ( over about 6 months) 15 pieces of Matt Jonansson crystal sculptures.

Breath taking to say the least.

You have good taste!

[imjustme]

What shocks me a bit is that the best places to buy/sell besides eBay are ArtFire, Rubyland and TIAS.com - all of which look absolutely horrible in terms of design.

[eBayMafia]

Originally Posted by jeffweico

When eBay first came into existence, there were very limited ways to sell antiques and collectibles. There really was no way to put your item in front of thousands of buyers on a national, or international level. Most options were local.

There was a HUGE pent-up demand that eBay unleashed. Word quickly spread that you could list items online at eBay and have several interested potential buyers and get a good price for your stuff. And the auction aspect of it was a lot of fun at first. That has faded quite a bit.

Etsy has taken some of that business. And some of the market simply no longer exists. eBay was the right idea at the right time and it took off like wildfire. But there is no going back.

Having said all that, there will ALWAYS be a market for antiques and collectibles. It is just that these days you need to work harder to get the attention of buyers and you probably won't see huge prices for most of these items, unless they are truly desirable and rare.

Remember Beanie Babies? Comic Books? Sports Cards?

Back in the 1980's, comic books were, HOT, HOT, HOT! Every comic went up in price every year. Marvel and DC regularly put out new first issues, collector's editions, and similar items all of them rapidly increasing in value. The problem is, none of these were actually RARE since they were mass produced and a lot of people were buying them only so they could later re-sell them at a profit. A classic bubble. Today, most of those comics are worthless, or close to worthless. Truly RARE comics, like Superman #1, still sell for a fortune but they are relatively few in number.

Same thing with sports cards and beanie babies and ANYTHING else, really.

I just bought 16,000 comics for $1400, and to be honest, I overpaid but I do like comics and I collect them to own them rather than for their value.

It just seems like things people used to collect 10+ years ago on eBay have just disappeared.

I hit up garage sales like a crack addict looking for crack, and I love storage auctions, estate auctions, police auctions, pretty much anything auctioned. I used to buy a early 90's plastic for 50 cents, spend maybe $4.00 on shipping, a couple bucks on fees, and I would sell it for $18.00 with ease. Now these things won't sell for peanuts.
warning ebay link
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from..._dmd=1&_ipg=50

Also, on the topic of eBay changing... does anyone see how bad eBay's traffic has got recently that auction based listings don't sell? It used to be that eBay listings would sell for maybe 10% less than the BIN's, or roughly the same price on weekends. Now, you are lucking if your auction sells for 70% of the lowest BIN price of the same item. I've actually been buying key issues of comic books at auction, and throwing them up as the lowest priced BIN and making an easy $30 or so (after fees and all overhead) within a couple days after I get the comic in the mail.
warning ebay link
For example:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-MUTANTS-...torefresh=true

Just sold for $74, you can resell that as a BIN at $124.99 which makes you the cheapest BIN seller for this item, and in my experience, it will be resold for within 48 hours after posting it, and according to salecalc your profit is about $30.00

I'm currently doing this just for the hell of it and making a decent profit actually to prove a little bit of my theory that someone Could do this for a small part time income if they wanted.

[jeffweico]

I do that with books. You can do it with anything - just look for items that are undervalued and purchase for resale. You just have to know the market and that your item will sell.

[newjerseymax]

Most of my auctions for the summer are at buy it now prices that I feel comfortable. Sometimes falling even below 10th on lowest price. However I am still getting about 12 sales a day at my price. I still throw in some heavier items at auction just to keep cashflow.

You must always be active at this game as things are constantly changing.

[Sandy D]

Originally Posted by imjustme

What shocks me a bit is that the best places to buy/sell besides eBay are ArtFire, Rubyland and TIAS.com - all of which look absolutely horrible in terms of design.

I used to sell on Ruby Lane and Tias both. Slow traffic over the past several years but 5-6 years ago they were amazing.

Both have boring websites and hard on the eyes to search anything.

[Sandy D]

Originally Posted by imjustme

At the risk of sounding like an @$$, sooner or later those collections will be back on the market when people die.

It is the truth and you dont sound like that at all.

This is what I posted above.

As someone who does buy and sell antiques and collectibles almost every day of the week and have since I was 14 years old I can tell you things are changing quickly.

Actually for the good I believe. The slow down period I believe is over. Other then many younger kids here in the USA going after more usable and not so much collecting for the value to climb later. Older folks bought because they liked it and knew the value would climb if they purchase good items that were as mint as you can find.



Things are changing for me because most of the older people who used to bid me up at auctions are now gone, retired or stopped showing up leaving a new younger crowd who dont seem to have the money to bid people up.

Also, here in the USA average age is growing older and with that many items in houses are coming up for sale.

[bigboddie]

Collectibles are gang busters for me, you have to know how to buy and ssell them online to rake it in. A couple recent sales for me from last month to back that up.

marvel comics Wolverine 102.5 mail=away special wich was a reprint of the comic puzzle from the Wolverine trading cards. $250.00 cost to me $5.00

G.C.E. Vetrex 3-D goggles mint in box. $850.00 cost to me from local junk shop $10.00

G1 transformers weird wolf mint in open box complete $457.00 cost me at yard sale $3.00

None of this is isolated/once in a blue moon it's a common daily thing for me buying and selling.

Last year I sold a box of General mills fruit brute cereal unopened for $4000.00(cereal boxes from 70s'-80's bring good coin!) check out a forum called cereal bits to see how rabid cereal box collectors can be.

[GreenBean]

Originally Posted by jeffweico

You have good taste!

I got started young.

Through family circumstances I spent a long time living with an Aunty who was into antiques.

Her passion was 'pretty glass' as I first called it. When she realised I had a rapport with this 'pretty glass' she took time to show me what it really was.

It ended up that I was allowed to dust and clean her 'pretty glass' because I could look after it as carefully as her.

Gradually her pieces became mine.