I Will No Longer Make Referrals To Craigslist To Sell Items

The other day I was trying to post a few items to craigslist and as soon as I would get them posted they would get "flagged" taken off of the list. This continued, even after I changed wording, read all of the TOS, Terms of Use, etc.

I ran this through their forum and after being treated rather rudely, I started looking at some of the listing and noted that the same people tend to have numerous listings on the craisglist site.

There is no policing of who is flagged and who isn't. If your post is flagged it is removed... no questioned asked and it is the user's that do the flagging.

For many years I have recommended this as a site to sell your antiques, collectibles and memorabilia items but no longer. I do not recomment using this forum, it has a Gestapo feel and I think that the time has come for it to dissappear.

I am in the process of creating a venue for people to sell antiques, collectibles and memorabilia for a very small fee. I will be the only "monitor" and it will be a fair and respectable place to do business.

I expect to have it up and running in a couple of weeks.

My online antique shop site shoots craps during the holiday season

I am so upset over the fact that my website is not fully functioning at the busiest time of year.

It started out 5 months ago as a simple redesign of the website and has turned into a complete mess that I am being billed for.

My side menu is gone... where, I don't know but I cannot get it to reappear. I have not been able to add new inventory for all these months either.

So if you happen to need something for the holidays please email me and I will see if I have it in stock.

I apologize for any inconvenience this has caused any of my regular customers.

What Is Up With the Postal Rate Increase?

I realize that prices go up. I mean we are paying almost $4.00 for a gallon of gas. Thank goodness I work from home and a tank of gas will last me about a month.

But this Post Office rate increase is horrible if you ship packages. They are doing what UPS, Fed Ex and DHL have always done, charge by volume instead of weight. But they have gone overboard with it. A package that used to cost me $7.00 to ship through USPS now is double that amount plus insurance. At least with the other guys they cover you for $100 in insurance.

I raised the rates on my website when the postage rates went up but I think I am going to lower them back to the old rate and ship through DHL instead. I will also implement free shipping with a certain dollar amount purchase, I have not decided yet what that will be. It isn't fair to my customer's to have to pay such a HUGE shipping cost.

It will be interesting to see if the Post Office looses any shipping business or if they will increase their services.

Seven experts say objects not genuine antiquities - News

Seven experts say objects not genuine antiquities

This is in reference to the Tseng Family Collection of Chinese Antiquities in the Oviatt Library at California State University, Northridge.

What a shame, who got scammed was it the family who owned these items or the library? This just goes to show you must do your research before you make a large purchase.

What Is An Antique Dealer To Do?

Where does my responsibility as an online antique dealer end and the responsibility of the customer begin?

I have been selling through my own online shop for 7 years, prior to that I had an antique store and sold on eBay. I loved the customer interaction with the store life got in the way and we had to close it. Selling on eBay became a huge problem just because of the way eBay is going.

I have learned many lessons selling through my own website but for the most part the customer's have been amazing and I have had very few problems.

When I first started the website I automatically tacked on the cost for insurance, this was a carry-over from my eBay days, but I had quite a few complaints from customer's so I made purchasing insurance an option. On occasion if I was shipping something really fragile I would go ahead and pay for the insurance out of my pocket just to be on the safe side and there were a few times where this was a good thing.

UPS owes me a few hundred dollars for items I insured that got demolished in transit and they did not make good on the insurance I purchased but that is just their way.

But what do I do if someone makes a substantial purchase on a non-fragile item and then says it has not been delivered to them, yet the Post Office shows that the item was delivered? What is my responsibility in this situation? They opted to not purchase insurance on the item and I have proof of delivery.

If you live in a neighborhood where packages are apt to get stolen from your doorstep then I recommend you purchase insurance on purchases. As a seller I cannot know what your neighborhood is like. Or do like many of my customer's and have the packaged delivered to you at work.

I really need some help on this because I do not know what to do. Am I being scammed? It has happened to me before. I appreciate all input on this situation.

Create an inventory of your antiques, collectibles and memorabilia FREE

It is very important to catalog your antiques, collectibles and memorabilia. As well as anything that you own of value or items that, in the event of a disaster, you might be called upon to itemize.

Believe me, in the heat of the moment, it is difficult to remember what you owned much less how much you paid for it.

You can now use this free program on my antique shop site to catalog you items room by room. You can then either print it out or store it on your computer and as you acquire new items you can upload the list to this program and add to it.

This was provided by an insurance group who is no longer around and I have been looking for this software for quite sometime.

So please feel free to visit this page on my shop site and start getting your items listed.

There are no strings attached, I promise but feel free to shop after you get your goods listed.

Create an inventory of your antiques, collectibles and memorabilia FREE"

Good Auction Season is Here

There are auctions year-round but the warm weather brings out the terrific auctions. I'm talking about the all day, stand in the sun out in a field, pee behind a bush auction. NO BUYER'S PREMIUM auctions.

I find some of my best items at auctions that last all day, if it is raining the deals are even better.

We also take more buying trips during the warm weather and you never know what you are going to stumble upon when you are out and about.

You might consider just taking a short day trip to some town near you and pick up a local paper to see if there are any auctions or sales that sound promising. It might prove to be well worth you time and effort.

I always come back more relaxed and ready to tackle the chores that are waiting at home for me.