A dilemma! – the fine line between collecting and trading

[bobbyball]

Hi everyone,

Have meant to do a posting for some time but just been too busy.

As some of you know already, I have been an avid collector of all things AAF/USAAF related and always try to get to the War & Peace Show and other local militaria fairs.

Well, for sometime now I have helped out on a friend's pitch at Beltring and sold a few of my bits. Nothing grand, but it has given me an outlet that I prefer using rather than time-consuming Ebay and their ever increasing fees.

One of my main passions is military timepieces (mainly wristwatches) and I have sold/traded any spares or double-ups. This year, I gave out my mobile number to a few buyers as a back-up just in case anything went wrong with the watches I sold. Thankfully none of the watches have had any problems but I have been inundated with enquiries and offers to purchase watches and/or to sell others that are in my collection (I do take certain things down to the shows if someone has not seen a particular watch as I love talking to fellow enthusiasts). This is obviously a GOOD thing but I firmly keep my 'collecting hat' on in terms of buying/selling/trading as I am well aware that there are some dodgy and unscrupulous dealers out there. The problem I am now having is to judge what is a fair price for things to fellow collectors and what other dealers try to sell their stuff for.

I know many of us sell on the forum but I have never been very good at photographing stuff and I always feel a little uneasy when it comes to negotiating. Whilst I am really happy that I can now fund my collection in a positive and less expensive way, I am slightly concerned that people may begin to think I am just another one of 'those' dealers! And yes, they are hounding me as well. I feel maybe I'm treading on their turf a bit.

Any thoughts?

 

[Roughwear]

Re: A dilemma! – the fine line between collecting and tradin

Bob your experiences are not unique. Buying and selling whether on Ebay and at fairs will certainly get you noticed by collectors and dealers. I know you are a really enthusiastic collector and quite rightly, like many of us here, sell stuff to up-grade or to fund the next item for your collection. Giving out your mobile number does have a downside as you say but could also lead you to new exciting purchases as people can contact you easily. Keep up the good work!

 

[a2jacketpatches]

Re: A dilemma! – the fine line between collecting and tradin

You can do a search of completed listings in Ebay and go by the average sold prices without the fees, a good way to find out the going rate for items. Even knock off 20% like myself when selling directly to another collector. I sell all branches of service and all types of items so there's always a mystery about price, so this works well for me.

Recently after moving, I had to get a bundle package for internet and a land line phone at one price without the choice of no phone, so I use that phone# for ads and that kind of thing. First land line in years, but I got a phone system with an answering machine. Of course, Anything priority still gets my mobile#

 

[havocpaul]

Re: A dilemma! – the fine line between collecting and tradin

I previously bought a cheap "no thrills" pay-as-you-go phone for any selling I was doing that way no one could intrude or misuse my main contact phone used for family and friends, worked well as it had answer/message too.