Question
I just added Old and Sold to Blanche's post but got to wondering why this site is not better known or promoted. It's a fantastic site and has been around for a few years, at least. I used to have a store there and sold a fair number of items, but left when other committments necessitated cutting back. Now that I'm getting back into the swing of things, I took the time to take another look. I still like what I see there even though there is not a lot listed, but I can't figure out why it is not better known and promoted by the owners. It's a lovely site, easy to use, and has a great store feature.
http://www.oldandsold.com
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In all honesty, this is the first time I have heard of it.
Total Number Of Auctions: 2594
Of that 405 items are in the "Books and Ephemera" category - one of the very few categories that could be described as cumbersome, because it would be beneficial just to break that into two seperate categories - as it stands, the ephemera is lost amongst the books, and loses my interest as a buyer (unless I choose to actively bargain hunt).
Actually the format for browsing categories through the link I just posted, is quite confusing: It has been sorted alphabetically, thus "China Pottery and Porcelain - General" is nowhere near "Majolica Pottery" or "Wedgewood Pottery" meaning that buyers may miss the fact that there are more pertinent sub-categories covering what they are looking for. The same happens with the glass categories. I don't like this format at all, as a buyer who goes to Glass or China alphabetically will just miss a heap of relevant categories that are scattered across the page, but "connected" to the obvious category.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Who determines the minimum or starting bid?
The seller (the person who posted the item) decides what he or she wants the bidding to begin at. Usually this is (and should be) just below the lowest price acceptable for the item. If you bid, the system will ask you to bid the starting price PLUS the Bid Increment. Sellers are encouraged to start items at a reasonable amount. Buyers like the auction process because it allows bargain shopping. If an item is priced right, people recognize the bargain and bid on it.
Huh? What sort of convoluted idea is this? Why not just let the seller list the item at their lowest acceptable price, and let the bidder bid at the starting price if they choose to?
Or am I misunderstanding the meaning of this?
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Shanne,
I have bookmarked the site, but if it "has been around for a few years", then I don't feel that it is likely to change those things that don't work for me personally. Hopefully it works for you and others.
Quote: "I can't figure out why it is not better known and promoted by the owners."
It appears, also from the FAQ page, that it is entirely free. I assume it is not worth the investment of time and money into promotion, if there is absolutely no return from it.
Kind Regards, Kevin
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entirely free cannot work
I also have not noticed it, I won't say not heard of it, because I think someone mentiond it a long long time ago, maybe when it started up...
they gotta charge something to afford to advertise, unless they are independently wealthy
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Dunno if it matters for anyone else, but I do go back a few years, to AW pre-CC registration requirements there, to a major online hoo-ha, the supposed Van Gogh "Yellow Roses" painting investigation. I'm fairly certain that was the site listing the painting with associated prominent placement and typical online spamming like "Have you seen this new site Old and Sold? Looks nice and has this wonderful painting ..." Left a rather odd taste in my mouth about the people running that site, any ongoing sellers there who came on "supportive" of the one seller and his claims of a supposedly very valuable painting being offered. Left me thinking of the site and its participants as overall clannish and misguided, rather than professional and expert and rationally critical. The site might well have evolved from that earlier manifestation, but I doubt that enough not to want to bother to look around there now.
I know somebody here has listed a URL for archived postings on the unfolding discussion and investigation, I think within the last year or so.
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Originally Posted by Python
Dunno if it matters for anyone else, but I do go back a few years, to AW pre-CC registration requirements there, to a major online hoo-ha, the supposed Van Gogh "Yellow Roses" painting investigation. I'm fairly certain that was the site listing the painting with associated prominent placement and typical online spamming like "Have you seen this new site Old and Sold? Looks nice and has this wonderful painting ..." Left a rather odd taste in my mouth about the people running that site, any ongoing sellers there who came on "supportive" of the one seller and his claims of a supposedly very valuable painting being offered. Left me thinking of the site and its participants as overall clannish and misguided, rather than professional and expert and rationally critical. The site might well have evolved from that earlier manifestation, but I doubt that enough not to want to bother to look around there now.
I know somebody here has listed a URL for archived postings on the unfolding discussion and investigation, I think within the last year or so.
I knew there was something sticking in my throat about OldandSold...
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I think the old AW thread is at:
http://www.vendio.com/mesg/read.html...6140&id=246140
Take a trip down memory lane.
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Greetings,
Just noticed this message about Old And Sold... Thought I would comment.
- Yes, the times of the Van Gogh painting were misguided.
- We have been online since 1999 or so.
- We have a small but good following. Certain sellers do very well. However, it is not a high turnover type site. Things can be posted for sometime before selling.
- We do not and have not charged any fees for selling.
- We do advertise through Google Adwords under many keywords related to antiques. However, being a free site our budget is limited. We also have ads on high profile antique sites such as the Maine Antiques Digest (check front page).
- We do offer thousands of articles related to antiques and many other subjects. You will be hard pressed to find a site that has as much information about antiques. We have approximately 18,000 articles online. About 2500-3000 are related to antiques (furniture, pottery, porcelian, silver, etc...).
- We do not plan on going out of business any time soon. We have lasted five years and have only plans for improving the site. A few weeks ago, we posted a message in our chat area for suggestions on how we should improve the site. Please let me know any suggestions you have.
- On the above note of improvements - We will be adding a complete guide to pottery and porcelain marks. This will be a great resource.
Hope everyone will stop by and take a look around.
Thanks,
Old And Sold
PS: Feel free to write us at info*oldandsold.com.
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Hi OldAndSold. Thanks for all the info. Will you be going through the Notice Of Affiliation Procedures (top of the forum) so you can stick around and talk about OldandSold?
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Thanks for stopping in Old and Sold. I have nothing but good things to say about your site. I loved my store - it was so easy to set up and I actually sold quite a few pieces while I was there. I did a lot of marketing on my own at that time, as I was quite active on several sites (including Carnegie - which had a lot of traffic and potential when it first started) but my favorite auction site of all was always, hands down, Old and Sold. The 'painting epsisode' caused quite a stir and it's too bad it turned people against the site. But the time does come to move on from bad experiences. I'm hoping to go back to O&S in the near future as quite frankly, I think it is a great site. (And you do have exceptional resources there - a goldmine for both collectors and sellers, actually!)
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that's where I heard of it....
and probably why I avoided it, timing was wrong, image was wrong
and one never has a second chance to make a first impression.