Started our sale today

I gave notice last Friday that we'd be moving from Cornerstone at the end of December. Deb took it well.

Today I made up a sign announcing "50% off on everything - furniture 20% off". I put the sign up and a lady was there at that moment. She bought about $20.00 worth of stuff at much more than 50%. I just don't want to bring a bunch of stuff home and was glad she bought what she did.

No, it's not sad yet. Just work to be gotten through. I hope we sell enough the rest of this month and December to pay the rent.

Working at Myra's Antiques & Collectibles

Helping Deb and Matt get a start at their new enterprise, I "volunteered" to work at Cornerstone Annex on Saturday nights during August in exchange for rent at Cornerstone proper.

I also worked Friday this week. Now, that's another 9-plus hours I spent in Myra's (aka Cornerstone Annex) after saying I'd never work there again after we pulled out of there at the end of June. There's something to be said for "never say never", because you end up feeling slightly foolish when you do the same thing again.

The Myra's that is the post-Cuba Myra's is cleaner and fuller, as Larry had his two girls put a lot of Mrs. Powell's things in there. Cuba's off to her new ventures down towards Connelly Springs. I wish her well; I heard the shop she's in now has had three failed businesses in there in the last few years. What town has not around western NC?

Business both nights was slow, slow, slow. Friday night had its usual amount of lookers - the car show brings people downtown. But they weren't in the mood to buy. Saturday was slow, with a trickle of people coming over from Myra's Italian restaurant.

There were bright spots - Eugene, the chihuahua, visited twice. Christine and Albert were next door. I got to drink Diet Mountain Dew. Leo was, as usual, an angel in disguise - showing up just when I needed him.

Off to read the Charlotte Observer.

First full month on Etsy

Our first full month on Etsy was a resounding success to my way of thinking. We earned more than either of us expected. One thing that really help is the lower final value fee. We keep so much more of what we take in.

Patti's been expanding her knowledge of the advertising and marketing that needs to be done. Both of us have started blogging more, joining things like Entrecard to get our blogs noticed, and generally trying to step it up a notch.

We are both happy with the community on Etsy and the warm responses (generally) in the forums and chat.

So, on to an even better August! Thanks to all who hearted us and all buyers ... and to those great sellers who helped us with questions.

Buying and selling a grandfather clock

Okay, so you get some meatier content when you come to my blog. I can share a few experiences with buying and selling antiques.

The first is our grandfather clock. In August 2006 we bought a grandfather clock made from a kit at an auction for $225. I thought it was a good price. Hopefully, the resale would be about double that amount.

We had opened our first shop in that month on main street in Valdese. We took the clock to the shop and put $450 on the tag. The clock had worked at the auction, but quit when we put in in the shop. We were selling it "as is". It didn't sell.

We quickly realized the shop was a loser - costing more for rent and utilities than we were taking in - a lot more! So we closed the shop and put the clock in our living room.

In June 2007 we bought a house and moved the clock to our living room. It looked beautiful. Stately, elegant, but not over the top! Still, it didn't work and didn't get us any cash back.

In April 2008, we put the clock into our booth at Cornerstone Antiques: http://cornerstoneantiques.blogspot.com/. It started working right away! Loud, beautiful quarter hour strikes. The timing was perfect. A lovely clock.

And it sold for around $300. We had lowered the price feeling it was "shopworn", which it really wasn't. But with the economy the way it's been - and hoping to get some cash out of it - well, it's gone now.

What did I learn? Maybe that $225 was too much to pay for the clock in the beginning. To my credit, that was the first auction I've ever been at for the purpose of buying inventory.

Someone in Morganton, N. C., has a beautiful grandfather clock.

The Unpaid Item Dispute Questions

Sometimes you wonder why you bother! We sold a card at auction for $.99 plus s/h of $1.25 - $2.24 total. The person who bought it did so willingly. He deliberately bid on it and confirmed that he was responsible for buying the item.

That was mid June! The 10th! We sent him an invoice that day and a payment reminded on the 20th when he had not paid. He responded with an email saying he was having PayPal problems and would send a money order. Weeks pass. Finally in mid July, on the 10th, we filed a Unpaid Item Dispute and received our Final Value Fee back.

Now, eBay tried to contact him that whole week to let him know that there was a dispute. He had an additional week to pay. So from June 10th until July 17th - almost five weeks - he had plenty of time to pay.

So, finally, on July 17th he sends us another email - he is irate that we filed an Unpaid Item Dispute for $.99! How dare we! WE never contacted him (not true) and he thought he'd paid already ... wah, wah, wah!

Then he sent another email - please send our address again and he'll send a money order right away. He's having all these problems with PayPal. (same old story!)

Well, what we did was this: We cancelled the UID and ate the final value fee, then blocked him from further auctions and blocked his email from our email.

Is this the right way to handle it? I don't know anymore. On the one hand, he cost us the FVF and we got nothing in return. We'll just relist the item and hope it sells again.

On the other hand, a really lousy customer is out there most likely going to do the same thing to other sellers. Maybe a few of them will have the guts to follow through with the Dispute process and he'll be blocked for good.

All this said, I like eBay and will stay on it. One bad apple doesn't spoil the whole crop.

Selling, Selling, Selling

Leo and I have been trying hard to promote our online stores this week. So check out some links to the right.

Also, we've boosted our Cornerstone Antiques sales by moving out of Myra's. We hated to leave in some ways, but it was time. Profits took a nosedive.

So, we have a new booth at Cornerstone Antiques, 100 Main Street West, Valdese, NC. Stop by and enjoy your shopping experience in person!