The Right Price?

Is there a right price for an antique? Of course there is. The right price for an antique is the price for which an antique sells quickly and which puts more money in your pocket than the cost of the item and overhead combined. Seems obvious, no? Well, selling an antique is actually a little more complicated than that.

There are five rights that must converge to get that sale. Price is only one of them. The five rights that must be met to sell an antique are:

1) The right item
2) The right price
3) The right place
4) The right time
5) The right person

The right item is an item that someone wants. This can be a tricky thing at times, because rarity, condition, color can be correct, but if any of the other four rights are wrong it becomes the wrong item. We'll explore this a little later.

The right price is a range. Starting at free, it ranges up to a point where only one person in the world (in his/her right mind or not) is willing to pay for the item. In some (not so rare) instances, to get rid of an item, you may find that free is actually not the lowest price you can get for an item, but you may have to pay to get rid of the item. We will assume that all items discussed here have some value, so free is the lowest price we will consider.

The right place is a little more difficult to define. "Carrying coals to Newcastle" is something we need to keep in mind. An antique sold in an area of abundance has a lower value than if it were in an area of scarcity. While the Internet has changed the concept a little by making rare things common and common things rare, it has its own risks and rewards. For this, we will consider the Internet to be a place as real as, say, Philadelphia or Denver. Sometimes, though, Newcastle may be just the place we want to bring the coal.

The right time refers to fads and fashions. Selling Depression Glass in the 1970's was a different experience than selling in the 1980's or the 1990's or for that matter the 2000's

The right person - remember in the right price where we had some nut willing to pay almost anything for an item? Well, that person doesn't come along very often. But s/he does come along every once in a while. Most often that person has a budget of some sort.

Getting an antique sold is a balancing act where all five rights must be applied in the correct proportions. How do we do this? Let's consider this for a while and then come back to discuss more fully.

Jon Boi

By the way, if you are in the trade and would like to get your 2 cent piece in on the discussion - if you have an expertise in marketing or business practices and would like to share with other dealers - drop me a line and I will do what it takes to get your voice heard.