Killing Time
Due to circumstances I won't bore any of you with, today has been a "hanging around" day. There has been loads of stuff which needs doing, but none of it can be done until people I have no control over have forfilled their alloted tasks.
I should probably have either got on with transcribing The Diary or done some work on my third book, which is currently languishing unattended in my computer.
What I did instead was indulge in some brain rotting Day Time Television.
This is not something I normally do, but on occasions, like today, when I just can't be asked to do real life, there is something deliciously decadent about a small wallow.
I adore sneering at "Bargain Hunt". For a few years I traded in antiques, buying privately and at auction and then selling at fairs or from an antiques centre.
Nothing is quite as much fun as watching these people buying retail and then trying to sell it wholesale. Do none of them realise the reason they have got such a "good" buy is because the dealer made a big mistake when he bought it and has been looking for a sucker like you for months.
When they do make a "profit", its usually because the commission hasn't been taken into account. When I was dealing between 10 and 12% was added to the hammer price, plus VAT.
I would love to see this in reverse, let the punters view an auction with their "expert", bid for three items with out blowing their budget and then sell the result.
Perhaps they would have the luck I had sometimes, like the beautiful Wedgewood Parian Ware bust of a lady I bought for £25 at a small country auction and was valued at £350 by big London House.
She would have been pure profit if I'd sold her, but she is so beautiful I couldn't part with her, so she lives on the shelf in front of me, were I can enjoy looking at her every day.
This post has been sheer indulgence as well. I will try to be more interesting next time.
I should probably have either got on with transcribing The Diary or done some work on my third book, which is currently languishing unattended in my computer.
What I did instead was indulge in some brain rotting Day Time Television.
This is not something I normally do, but on occasions, like today, when I just can't be asked to do real life, there is something deliciously decadent about a small wallow.
I adore sneering at "Bargain Hunt". For a few years I traded in antiques, buying privately and at auction and then selling at fairs or from an antiques centre.
Nothing is quite as much fun as watching these people buying retail and then trying to sell it wholesale. Do none of them realise the reason they have got such a "good" buy is because the dealer made a big mistake when he bought it and has been looking for a sucker like you for months.
When they do make a "profit", its usually because the commission hasn't been taken into account. When I was dealing between 10 and 12% was added to the hammer price, plus VAT.
I would love to see this in reverse, let the punters view an auction with their "expert", bid for three items with out blowing their budget and then sell the result.
Perhaps they would have the luck I had sometimes, like the beautiful Wedgewood Parian Ware bust of a lady I bought for £25 at a small country auction and was valued at £350 by big London House.
She would have been pure profit if I'd sold her, but she is so beautiful I couldn't part with her, so she lives on the shelf in front of me, were I can enjoy looking at her every day.
This post has been sheer indulgence as well. I will try to be more interesting next time.
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message 1:
by
Tina
(new)
Sep 01, 2012 09:19AM
Yes, I've never seen the point of buying from dealers and selling at auction, when everyone knows it only works the other way round...or of Cash in the Attic, where people sell treasured possessions often for a 'family day out'... ah well. You can see I watch it too..
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There are days when we should all veg. As to people buying and trying to sell wholesale - uh, duh. The average bargain hunter pays more than they think for those items. Just pull back a sticker sometimes and see.
