DEALERS NOT WELCOME

Now, if you are a dealer, note that before you get upset, keep reading! 

I always have to shake my head when I see ads for estate sales, garage sales, etc that read "NO DEALERS".

I think: What, are you INSANE? You WANT dealers there! THEY are the REAL buyers!

If you want a successful sale, and have loads of merchandise leaving, and piles of cash in your pocket, your ad should start with:

 "DEALERS WELCOME - FREE COFFEE & BEER!"

Well, ok, maybe not quite that whole phrase, but you get my drift....maybe leave out Coffee.

Thing is, I am a picker, dealer, wholesaler, collector, researcher, history buff, treasure hunter, artist, craftsman, restorer.....and these terms are only part of a long list.

I go on house calls, I have a shop, I go to auctions, I go on cold calls when I am picking, I attend estate sales, garage sales, flea markets, etc, etc...I will even "trash pick" if I spot something I can make a buck on. So add trash-picker/bin-diver/scrapper to the list...

oh, "writer" is another...

whoops, "blogger" better make its way on the list, also....
 
When people try to pigeon hole you into a "category" it tends to never quite fit. I love picking, it is what I started doing to finance my love of treasure hunting, and have never stopped...But, along the way I opened a shop, because the dealers I wholesaled to never bought it "all"..and, frankly, there was things they didn't want that I KNEW there was a market for.

When eBay came along, it provided me with solid proof that I did know what I was doing. Many dealers I sold to had a narrow view of the collecting world....their attitudes were like "You can't tell me that computer, those snowmobile suits and that cereal box are all collectible! Not a chance! You're crazy to buy that junk."

Turned out there were collectors out there paying good money for pretty much ALL the various things that other dealers had said were not of any value. Many of those same dealers then started to watch very carefully what I was buying....much to my chagrin.

I suppose I could just consider it a compliment...

The market has changed dramatically in the last 15 years, however. There are so many things that I do not buy anymore, or, when I do buy those items, they need to be dirt cheap, as the values have dropped dramatically. Other things I can pay more for than I have in the past.

Collecting habits change with various things....from the age of the collector, to events (like 9/11) that cause people to re-evaluate what is important in their lives. Things like recessions cause "collecting" to be the last thing people are spending money on.

The reasons go on and on. They are as varied as categories of collecting, though there are a few reasons that form the bulk of why people change (or eliminate) their collecting habits.

Reality TV has latched on to the "junk biz" as a vehicle to make some money.  But I have to wonder if that is really helping the business, in the current form the programs are taking?

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