manylittle

I know this is off topic, but I want to share my senior moment with you. I packaged some marbles that sold yesterday and took off the 18 miles to mail the packages and take care of some other stuff. I got all the way to the Post Office to realize that I had left the bag with my packages in them, on the table, next to the door in my house !!! I had to go all the way back home and all the way back to the Post Office and managed to get there the last time with 5 minutes to spare before they closed !!!! With the price of gas these days I was not happy with myself !!! lol Anyway, the buyers will get their marbles and I really hope that they enjoy them as much as I did !!! They all went for money that was higher Gthan what I had expected except for the package of 80 mixed peltier rainbos. I had hoped that they would go for a bit more....well, a lot more,.....but I really had my hopes up. One of my bricks, that I had recently offered to sell to someone for $25 because it was not in good condition, went for $71. That made my day !!! gonnq go list a popeye hybrid now...I wonder how much the economy and all the other influences will effect its selling price.....any guesses?

Those colors on those chinas are outa site!!! You hardly ever see them so bright !!! They must have been in that bag and away from the fading properties of sunlight for absolutely decades !!!! What a find!!! and the designs are neat, also. By the way, I'm an optimist...and I think that as long as we, the people who care about marbles, do what we can to educate the public and to keep marble collecting in the public eye, chances are that we can attract new collectors. Every time someone finds something special like these last marbles in someone's attic, take advantage of that and write up a little press release with some educational stuff about marble collecting in general and submit it with pics to your local newspaper. I think if we all did similar things, it would help the industry. What do you guys think? I'm always trying to come up with ways to get another free article in my local paper that can .....unintentionally, of course, lol......lead people to my shop. We can use the same techniques to bring attention to marbles and marble collecting !!!!

$60 might have been a fair price for most bricks, but this one was very special. Even so, had the guy acted differently, I think we could have ended up close to that. It was the fact that he expected me to keep coming down while he was not willing to come up at all that made me stop trying to deal with him. The bargaining game has to be played by both sides. Its not any fun, when the one side won't move at all. Sort of like what the Dems are going through with the Reps right now. lol Hey...thanks, Andrea.

That brick, I think, is an exception. The colors are so defined. My walk-in, bricks and mortar store is in downtown Osseo, Wi. It has not been open much this year as I have had health problems and I had to fire my only employee for being dishonest. It was a hard summer for me. I had always thought that I did not need internet access at home. Having it at the store, I thought, was enough and at home, I could feel like I was on vacation....but then when I got sick this summer and had to fire my employee at a time when I was at my worst, I lost my online store at Ruby Lane where I had over 4,600 items listed. I did not have internet at home and there was a four week period where I was practically bed-ridden so I lost out on some orders...they paid and I did not know it, could not have gotten over the 18 mile one way trip to work at packaging them, had I known but at least I could have communicated with them. Once they found out what had happened they all withdrew their complaints and even asked Ruby Lane to re=enstate my store. My Dr gave them a statement that I was better, and I had gotten internet at home so that the problem would never repeat itself. I had been in the top 20's out of all of their stores in several categories for years....I had hoped they would give me a second chance but not only would they not do that, they would not even give me time to copy my inventory and transfer it over to another company...so I am starting from scratch at TIAS. Oh well, it will be a lot of hard work, and will take a lot of time, but I'll make it back. I have my walk in store up for sale and then I will have more time to go find stuff and more time to put things on the internet. I'll also have more time to develop relationships from friends I am making on some of the dating sites...lol I hope they like marbles....lol

I wish I could send you a picture of the $140 brick but that was quite a while ago and I later sold the marble to a dealer for $120 when he came into my store. I'm not sure if I had a picture of it or not. If I did , it is on a DVD somewhere, but I would have no idea, which one. I'll see what I can do but no promises. Vicki ps. My beat up Christianson Brick is over $52 on ebay with just a few more hours to go and because the quality of the other brick was so much better and the colors were very comparable, I would say that if it were put on ebay today, it would go for way over $100, even maybe over $150. It was a spectacular marble. http://www.ebay.com/itm/121266390324?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649 I offered this to a guy from this forum for $25. He thought I was way too high, mentioned that he would be wanting to pay in the $8 or $9 area at the most. A couple other mibs he was interested in are selling for more than what I offered them to him for. I have not listed all of what he wanted, but it will be interesting to compare things once I get everything done and sold. I had not tried to sell anything on ebay yet and was not ready to wholesale them out for cheep until I had tried the ebay route as I'm not hurting for $. So many people, dealers especially come into my store and tell me how cheep they can buy my stuff at thrift sales, etc...and expect me to give them the same deals....na-uh... I don't mind giving good discounts, I do it all the time but I draw the line at giving thrift sale prices. If they want to pay the thrift sale prices, they can go to 30 or 40 thrift sales and they might find what they wanted me to sell to them....then again, it might take many more sales to find that special item, if they ever do again....

Interesting marble...is it contemporary? It sort of looks like a guy in a hoodie from the back side. sort of from the dark side if you know what I mean. What sort of picture do you see in it?

I know that honey always works the best. Maybe you should say something like ....'I was here a few months ago and made you an offer on that marble and I see that it is still here. I offered you $60 at that time and you said 'no'. Is there a price that you would sell it for that is somewhere in the middle between the $60 and the $90?.....as close to the $60 as you would go..?' You never know, it might work. Sometimes the words we use, even though to us, they seem perfectly fine, don't set well on the other person. It might be our tone, our body language, or just something that the other person is going through on that day. One thing I have learned over the years is that even though most of us speak English, we all still, every one of us, speak a different language. We can say the same words or sentence and mean something entirely different than what the other person hears. Why? Because we listen in the language with which we, ourselves speak, not the language that the person is speaking in. That language is influenced by many things.....how we are feeling that day...what happened to us yesterday....our upbringing and experiences we had as children....and many other unknown influences...... I think, that when we deal with other people, we all have to step back and take a breath and really listen with our hearts and minds in the spirit of brotherly love, instead of our immediate reactions. Ever play a game of 'telephone' ? Each time the same sentence gets repeated in someone elses ear, and then he or she had to repeat it to the next person, it changes...Why? because of that language difference. I see that happening on this site all the time. People read a message and mis-interpret what is being said and react to it...and other people get hurt, angry, or discouraged, and fire back and the war starts..... when if the first person had taken a few moments to re-read whatever had set him or her off, they might have not reacted in the same way.... Please now...no one re-act to this....lol.....I'm not referring to anyone or anything in particular....I am just speaking in general terms in order to make a point....that is....if this newbie is allowed....lol I tried to load this message a few minutes ago and got a message, that it was too short.!!!! lol

You never know what was going on that day. Perhaps you caught him on a bad day where everything in his world was going on and he had just had a slew of people wanting him to go down on a bunch of $5 items. That is one of my pet pieves and if it happens often enough, it puts me in a bad mood too. When you pass the savings on to the customers by pricing a $10 item for $5 just because you got it in a dollar box with a bunch of other inexpensive but still sellable items....and then, someone comes along and wants you to sell it to him for $3. I, and a bunch of other dealers feel the same way so we got together and made up signs that say 'please don't ask for a discount on items priced under $10, unless you are buying lots of them.'

All that I have is my 'S' oxblood. But I did have an oxblood once that had a really neat bird's head with an open beak. It was all top knotty, sort of like Woody Woodpecker!!!!

Here is another one of his. This one reminds me of a map of the US after global warming makes florida go under water. It even shows the continental shelf as black because the water levels will be lower and you'll be more able to see it from outer space !!!!! This marble is prophetic !!! lol http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-MARBLE-5-8-PELTIER-NLR-Galaxy-SUPERMAN-Superboy-AVENTURINE-Green-/360835709859?hash=item54037bfba3 By the way, I have to give dues where they are earned. Galen, your site on ebay has long been marked as one of my favorites. Not necessarily because you have great marbles...that is only part of it.....it is because of the tremendous variety of the other great stuff that you are selling !!!! I have always loved bottles !!!! Primitives and old tools are something that I drool over. The guys get so angry at me at auctions because they know they will no longer be getting the good primitive vintage tools without a fight !!! lol Friends, this guy has great stuff and if you have never been to his sales site on ebay, go check it out !!!! http://www.ebay.com/sch/sdmad33/m.html?item=371000653075&pt=Marbles&hash=item56615cb513&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562

Here's another one of his that has some of the most awesome 'eyes' that I have ever seen !!! Come on guys...is this the only person here who has marbles with faces or pictures in them? I just know that there are more out there !!!! http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-MARBLE-5-8-ALLEY-AGATE-Evil-Angel-Eyes-BLUE-OXBLOOD-Clear-YELLOW-Flames-/371000653075?pt=Marbles&hash=item56615cb513

Hey Andrea, if you really want to plug your stuff, why not post a link it your sales? I'd like to see what you got. !!!!

I think that prices have stabilized a bit and in some categories they are rising. Antiques and Collectibles....the market....will always have its ups and downs....the public will change what they are passionate about collecting. It is just the way things work. I too love to sell at flea markets and I like to do shows too. When I rented booths, I would pay $125 for 100 square feet or so. I never did not make my rent and usually averaged 4 to 8 times my rent with some months being over $1,000. Booth renters have to do 4 times their rent before they are really making a profit if you figure in their expenses and the cost of replacing what they sold. And no, Duffy, I don't believe that if I pay $2.50 for something that it is automatically worth $10. That is not how it works. When I go to an auction, I mark down in my inventory book, what I paid for the entire auction and sometimes break it down by box lots. Then I start researching, listing and pricing what I have bought. I price my items based on my own knowledge of the market and by researching to see what that item or similar items are bringing on the net. I do look to see if the item is in my price guide but that does not mean I accept those prices as gospel. That is why they are called guides, not bibles. I use mu own judgement. When I get done marking everything from the auction, I add the prices up to see how the total compares to what I paid for the auction. I have never once been lower than 4 times my cost. That is just how things worked out. It was never a plan, I had no secret formula. Some prices will be double what I paid for it, and others will be 10 times what I paid for it. It all averages out. Also, just because I might start with all of items on the shelf from that auction being priced at an average of 4 times what I paid for the auction, does not mean that I will end up profiting 4 times my money. Some items from that auction might never sell in a retail situation because there is simply no one who is collecting it right now...those items get lumped together at a certain time and sent to a local auctioneer to add to one of his consignment auctions....Some items end up getting put on sale before they will sell....and other items go the route of the negotiation with me discounting the item from 10% to as much as 50 - 60% on occasion... Thank God true negotiating buyers won't push you too far below that 50% mark as they are knowledgeable enough to know you have to make some sort of a profit in order to stay in business and they want you to stick around. When the buyer comes in who is interested in the item, usually they want a better price. I usually offer at first somewhere between 10 and 20% off. That satisfies most people who just want to say they got a discount. Then there are those who are hard core bargainers. I think that I have won if they walk out with the item, happy, but I have still doubled my money. If my gross profit is lower than that, then I tell myself, I have to quit being such a wimp.!!! lol... The important thing was that a sale was made. Almost all of the times, once a negotiation starts in that give and take that can be so fun to people who understand it, it results in a sale. However, every once in a while, you run into someone who comes in and lets say, sees a Christianson brick with nice lines of blue in it. Its 11/16, in near mint plus condition, and I've got it marked at $139. He comes in and offers $15 including tax....I counter by saying that it is an exceptional marble, I had marked it very reasonably to begin with, and I would be happy to come down to $100 even plus tax.....he says no and won't budge from $15 and the negotiation stalls. It is my philosophy that if the other won't come up, I won't come down any more.....he has to want to play too and if he does not....then he really did not want to deal.....he just wanted something for nothing.....and is not a true bargainer to begin with but is the type of low baller that I despise. He has no inkling that I am running a business, that I have to make a reasonable profit and is only interested in his own self aggrandizement. That type of deal never ends in a sale because I, very politely apologize, say something like, I'm sorry, but at this time, I can see that we are miles apart and that we won't be able to come together to a place where we both will be happy and to have a nice day and feel free to ask any other questions about items in the store. He leaves and I go on with my day, mentally hitting my head on my desk, and wondering what makes people like that tick. lol

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-MARBLE-5-8-Peltier-PEERLESS-PATCH-Rare-Colors-DEEP-YELLOW-on-Lime-Green-/360826801713?pt=Marbles&hash=item5402f40e31 Thanks so much !!!! You have no idea how frustrated I've been over a seemingly simple little thing like copying and pasteing !!!! lol.

Its gonna be a fun topic...don't ya think?

Tried that too. Won't work. I have had a terrible time. IN the last week I only got a link to work once and have not been able to get a url pasted in for over a month. I don't know what is wrong. I can copy and paste it into a word document because I tried that. but even copying it from the word document to paste here does not work. I'm so frustrated. !!!!

Gosh, if everyone did what you say, there would be no malls, and no antique stores. That is not the way. I know that you are frustrated, but they are not all like that and if you think that the clerk is just pretending, ....I always ask if he or she minds if she hands me the phone so that I can speak person to person with the owner. Harry Rinker, a famous antiques columnist says that especially if you own your own bricks and mortar antique store, you have to make a 75% mark up from your cost or you won't be able to pay your over head, replace the item and make a profit. In other words. If you pay $2.50 for an item, you are supposed to get $10 for it. Then you can replace the item for $2.50...pay your overhead for $2.50...grow your store and pay yourself something with the other 50%. I've tested that out with my accountant and she agrees. I don't end up with that formula when I buy from private people.....many just want too much for themselves and are married to the old adage that a dealer only has to double their money...so they want 50 % of retail. I do end up with that formula when I go to auctions. I don't deliberately start out to do that....it is just how it ends up and sometimes,depending on which other dealers are at the auction, I can do much better. The very first auction I went to, I spent $12.50 for the contents of a gentleman's junque drawer. I ended up marking items that totaled $195 that day. That is the best ratio I ever did for an auction. That was how I bagan my business....from that first $12.50 purchase, I kept re-investing. It was a fun and an exciting time. If I knew then what I know now, I would have always stayed a booth renter. When you buy a building, you get tied to it until it sells. In this economy, in my town, commercial buildings are not in high demand. Marking up from $25 to $100 is not bad...its just the simple mathematics that is needed to make ends meet in these times. Please don't begrudge us our justly earned profits. We do work hard for them....at the store and at home. I don't remember how many nights I took antique and or marble price guides to bed with me instead of men !!!!! lol I do love to dicker and have signs in my store that I do negotiate. Many times I have ended up giving 30- 40% or more discounts. I have each price tag marked with a code so that I immediately know what I paid for the item. That way, I know how much wiggle room I have to play with. !!! It is a good system.

Darn, I can't win for loosing. I found the peerless patch marble that looks like the silhouette of a man with a pointy chin. It is yellow on a green base and belongs to sdmad33 and so I clicked on the link button here, and copy and pasted the URL into the box and hit OK. I think that is what worked the last time. This time I've tried four times and I can't get the little 'link' box to close so that I can post the message !!!! Help !!!!!

That makes sense.

Those are special marbles.

You've also got a cat in there with your penguin. I can see his tail....or maybe its a monkey? lol

You are so right, Chuck. and thanks for bidding on some of my marble auctions.

For example, right now, there is a superman online that looks like a map of the US. I have seen a perrless patch that looked like the silhouette of a man. You could see the nose, the eyes, the mouth and the hair line as separate from the face. I don't know if I can remember where they are, but I'll go look for them. Can you remember, or do you know of others? This might be fun !!!! There is a word for this....Its like looking up at the clouds and seeing different items. I'll come up with it at 3 in the morning...lol.

why were the prices in the auction down so much. Did people run out of money? Or did they think they had to budget so that they could buy more stuff. Time is not as much as restraint in online auctions like they are in real live auctions. That might be why they feel that they can add in more marbles in the online auctions.

For example, even 7 years ago, I was still selling plain old yellow and red popeyes for $25 each for near mint plus examples, and I was getting $45 or so for the purple and yellow ones. . Now I can't get anywhere near that for a mint one!!!!