How the season is shaping up

PLEASE: no liquids near the keyboard.

We've had 2 sales this holiday season. One transaction was with a gentleman in Belgium for a Wedgwood Jasperware item on the website. Despite daily (and sometime, hourly) attempts on both our ends, we were both unable to make the eCrater e-commerce work to our mutual benefit. It took over four weeks of back-and-forth emails, some good faith, and more than a little bit of "so THIS is why the global economy is messed up" on both sides before the transaction was SUCCESSFULLY completed. AND the customer, despite initiating the business in the first week of November, was able to take receipt of the item before Christmas. It was a real nail biter!

The second sale, not so exciting, is also not so successful. Seven soup bowls of Queensware, again shipped and taken receipt before Christmas. Only the customer ordered the incorrect variation of the design (one has a smooth edge - what I've got and shipped him; the other has a ruffled or scalloped edge, which is what they wanted, but I haven't any of). So that sale is coming back for a full refund.

No matter how many photos you take, or how careful the wording is in a description, people will see what they want to see and read what they want to read. Especially when Christmas is 10 days away.

Wedgwood - where it's now made

It's confusing. Wedgwood was sold, became part of a conglomerate, smushed together with Waterford crystal and Royal Doulton. You go into a good department store, and yes, you can still buy newly produced items. They are *lovely*. They say "Wedgwood - England" on them. And NO, they are NOT made in England. Virtually all but premium manufacturing was outsourced (that must be one of the ghastliest modern terms coined) to Indonesia in 2009.

Quality is as good as anything produced in Barlaston. And yet - to mark these goods with the country name "England" is misleading.

To be clear: "Made In England" backstamped on items means the Wedgwood piece was made in England. "Wedgwood - England" is amorphous and is not an indication that it was made in the UK. For the record, Time Travelers deals only with the former, and passes on the latter. We do so primarily due to the age of the items we buy and sell. We also do it, though, in solidarity with the spirit with which the original company was founded.

Here's a link to the Wedgwood family blog, and their views on the state of what eventually befell the family business:

http://wedgwoodfamily.blogspot.com/2009/05/production-has-no-wedgwood-family.html

The photo of the lilac Jasperware 3-part tea set dates to 1959, when this delightful color was produced in limited quantities. The date stamp on the "Brewster" shape teapot is clearly marked, and makes this a desirable and unusual find. So often pale colors (in my opinion) used in Jasperware don't do the bas reliefs justice; but this is not the case with this lovely set.

November's show schedule

In keeping with the disappearing act that local outdoor antique shows have been doing, we opted out completely of the local indoor show at the Coliseum. The promoter had sold it to someone else, it dropped suddenly in its prominence amongst long-standing dealers of repute, and we decided that the angst - the sheer angst that we have gone through each time we've participated, virtually chewing our fingernails as we wonder if the expense and effort has been worth it - is not for us.

Nothing scheduled for the rest of this month. (I'm busy restocking the jewelry cases and still trying to sort out the inventory boxes, a hangover from my agenda of the past summer.)

November will start out with our local community garage sale. Scheduled for November 5th, it's an opportunity for us to get that Last Gasp, as I refer to it, from the items that don't come up to scratch in my book as acceptable items for inventory. NOT BECAUSE of quality, but because we don't consider them to collectible (hello!) nor antique. The people who shop the garage sales seem pretty happy with what we have. We are (again) happy to find the right home for the items. What is left is taken to the only local charity that I regularly donate to, CASA (Community Action Stops Abuse). This year we have the added interest, we're hoping, of some select furniture items left over from the downsizing that the in-laws went through in their move across state earlier this year. Anybody want a CD rack? Or 3?

Antique Alley's fall show, in Bellair Bluffs, is scheduled for November 13th. It can be a very popular show, and has been in the past. Since I obviously don't know how shows "go" these days, I am going to try to be ready for what is demanded of us. If we need a $5 table, then we'll whip one up. I have experimented with bargain tables in the past, and perhaps their time had not yet come. On the other hand, I don't want to rely on that particular setup if this show remains a genuine Antique show. (Up to and including the show in Dunedin, bargain tables and sale tables have been not only frowned upon, but disallowed by show organizers. Like I said, I had thought being in the loop had something to do with careful review of our contract, but I guess I was wrong last time out!)

And now, time for a photo. It's been too long since I posted any here: this necklace is from Senegal, Africa. It's made of Murano glass slubs and fashioned into a bridal necklace with the addition of brass elements. We found this treasure on our trip to Sante Fe, NM. Talk about a Statement piece of jewelry - this is a substantial necklace, weighing heavily and drawing everyone's attention the moment it's slipped over your head. (The earrings shown, silver and lapis, sold at an earlier show.)

About that Dunedin show

I'm going to say it.

It was a bad show for us. Nobody told us it had turned into a flea market. If they had, we would have brought the correct merchandise at the garage-sale prices that other vendors (I refuse to call them dealers, despite having seen some of them at other, indoor, higher-end shows in the past) had on offer. There were $1 tables, $5 tables, teapots without lids, lids without whatever they were supposed to go to, tables so heavily laden with cheap, plastic necklaces at a buck a pop that I wondered where on earth someone could find so much jewelry that clearly didn't belong at something called an ANTIQUE show.

It took us 4 1/2 hours to make enough money to cover the rent. The next 2 hours we made enough to cover lunch and the cost of fuel. Oh, our *time* is free. Apparently. The show turned from an absolute failure into barely scraping into "pass" category only as we started to pack up. We waited until the end of the show to pack - we wanted this to work. Someone came back to buy a necklace half an hour later than they said they would. Someone else bought a lamp right out of the padding and the box it was packed into. Those 2 purchases were the only things that saved the show. Too close!

As to the subject of inventory type and pricing... there apparently is an informational LOOP that we are unaware of. Such as when a regularly well attended regional antique show flips and flops and becomes a trash-to-treasures show. Frankly, we did a lot better at our community's annual garage sale, without the hassle of waking up at 4:45AM, setting up tables, coverings, bookcases and displays, than we did at this show. Although we do not calculate our weekend hours into the cost of doing business, this is only because we don't want to see the naked truth. Which is - this is a great way to become poor.

Fall 2011 season start

I wish I could drum up the requisite enthusiasm for this... we'll be setting up at the Dunedin Fall Antiques Fair on Saturday, October 15th, for the day-long show. I'll put it this way: summer was a snooze-fest, to the point of us deciding not to acquire any new inventory.

We had an amazing vacation in Paris recently, with the exception of the much-anticipated trip to les Puces. Bob had been there 8 years ago - admittedly, a long time ago. The website and tourism information looked encouraging. And then, we showed up at one of the biggest (I'm not even going to name it) flea markets established. And found it almost empty of dealers. Welcome, my dears, to the global economy. What sucks here also sucks in Paris. I understand (from doing some after-the-fact research) that this one particular market suffered from mismanagement and disputes between investors in the massive property and the dealer tenants, during which, the customers' needs were not served. But this I would compare to the colony collapse of a beehive. Gone.

We have a lot of work to do to prepare for this upcoming show. I want to be ready for the customers should they arrive and be prepared to shop with us. We are ready to do serious commerce! I mostly want to have my business radar on and do some serious listening to what the customers have to say. I know what we are doing in our own household: keeping a much tighter rein on the expenses and being less generous with where the dollars go. I hope a policy of meeting the consumers partway, with an adjusted view of our pricing, will help to encourage the continued success of Time Travelers.

Missed an entire month?!

August came and went.

(That was almost going to be my entire blog post.) I've been working like a fiend listing and selling compact discs since my in-laws radically downsized into their apartment. Their collection has been moved to a digital format, and the originals have no place in their smaller digs. It's been a brisk business going to the post office almost every day, as CD's are sent hither and yon. (I've always wanted to use that expression.) I take great delight in discovering just where the deliveries go.

There's a new camera on its way to us to replace the stalwart Olympus PowerShot I've been using all this time. (Thanks, HiltonHonors!) After years of service and calling upon it to do heavy duty in taking pics for Time Travelers' website, it was apparent that it was no longer up to the job. Sniff. Too many close up shots coming out not-so-great in my very controlled studio environment was a sure clue that something was amiss.

Kind of my roundabout way of saying that nothing has been happening. I sure haven't been taking any action in order to provoke it. (Bad month for me.) zzzzzz

And a brief departure while we tidy up in the corner

Wait a sec, wasn't I working on the website? Wasn't that going pretty smoothly? And then, SMACK! Let's throw a couple of obstacles in the path just for funsies.

OK, then. Having spent the last month intermittently listing about 200 CD's out of the 600 that have come into our home as a result of our in-laws moving into an independent living facility down the road, I find that I'm packing and taking said packages to the post office just about every day lately. Quite the impressive collection - and quite the range in price that I've found as I've explored as I went through the listing process on Amazon, where I'm an established seller.

It amazes me that I can take what is a hobby/business, and become extremely distraught with it. One day this week I had a customer on Amazon who had placed the order for a CD box set, and then sent a message that he was leaving the country by the end of the week and needed to upgrade the shipping to overnight the item. The hoops - the incredible hoops - of having to cancel the transaction yet noting the conditions concerning the cancellation so I wouldn't be "dinged" as a seller, upgrading the shipping, then relisting the product and notifying the customer to go ahead and make the transaction again, was aggravating. Not the least of which was the realization that the credit given by Amazon for the overnight shipping charge fell far short of the actual cost. Couple this situation with another on the same day where a customer received a CD which was by the artist they wanted, but it was the WRONG album. (That was a refund. Shake my head and thank my help for the - help.)

I was rather rattled by having both of these events happen in the same day. Lost money on both transactions. Did a lot of running around in trying to salvage my "seller" game face, particularly with the incorrect order - that stuff burns me!! How could I have not looked at the order more carefully?! (Beats own head against wall.) One saving grace is that my reactions in both instances rewarded me with very good feedback by both customers - believe it or not, I really think that's worth something.

So you may have noticed reading earlier that I've got 400 CD's that I was unable to list for sale. That's not saying I didn't go through the process of researching and discovering that they were not sellable. Each album was looked up, the price found (and found to be pennies) and put aside as "what do I do with this one now"?

I miss my garage.

Anyways, I took a small selection of the non-listed CD's to a local trade/swap/sell music store. The owner was impressed with the musical quality of the discs I brought. And then offered me $3 for 2 of them. So this is going to be harder work than I had hoped it would be. At this point, I'm thinking: "library donation". I am pretty worn down by this aspect by now.

And where the heck did all the energy that I'd been devoting to my website go? Pffft.