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Swim Yellow Duck E-News!
Selling Vintage and Antique: eBay photography, marketing, sales, and shipping
Far away and in a parallel universe, my husband, Darrell, and I started selling antique dolls on eBay under the Buyer ID of swimyellowduck. We were challenged with selling bisque German and French dolls by his mother, Lillian Wiskur, a longtime UFDC member, who wanted to pass her dolls along to collectors.
Since no market for antique dolls exist where we live in Harrison, Ark., we turned to the Internet to sell Lillian's collection. I sell more than buy on eBay, so my newsletter will be slanted towards my experiences as a seller.
Selling on eBay is complex, and I couldn’t have maintained my sanity and enjoyed success through my efforts alone. Darrell photographs every item I list and he researches and sets pricing for most everything, particularly valued antiques. Although Darrell plays an integral role in my eBay efforts, he prefers anonymity, so I take credit for his work and mine and write in the first person.
The saga continues today with our selling estates from collectors who are shedding and not collecting. As one said, “If it doesn’t fit in my suitcase, I don’t want it.”
Happy travels,
Patricia for SwimYellowDuck
View photos from the UFDC National Convention in Chicago, 2010  |
New Listings |
Shipping |
It's always fun to hold in your hand what you have only seen in books, and that was my experience with these half dolls. We have about 20 charming half dolls or pin cushion dolls from the collection of Freeda Pattinson. She had a fondness for them, and designed a pin cushion around one, which we have currently listed on eBay.
Darrell has been taking photos. After we complete our research, we will begin listing these treasured ladies.
These two are from Germany. Each of Freeda's half dolls are unique. Some are from Germany, but others are unmarked and will take further research.
Elegant half doll holding a pink posey.
I've always thought these porcelain half dolls with the cap and spit curls had an exuberant style. |
Shipping, the eBay Elephant in the Room
We shipped a 4-foot folding wash stand from Arkansas to Michigan!
Originally, we listed this Folding Bench by American Wringer Co. for sale as a “pick-up” only item because my husband had no desire whatsoever to crate it for shipping.
It wasn't long, however, before we received e-mails asking us to ship it, and it became clear to Darrell that he had no choice but to box it up.
He went to work with his Stanley measure and carpet knife and built a box. To weigh it, he jumped on the bathroom scale holding the box up to his chin while I got down on my knees to read the scale.
We were selling this wash bench for a neighbor who had bought it in the Ozarks because he thought it a nifty historical item. We found the perfect customer and shipped it. It arrived safely, and the buyer sent great Feedback.
The packaged weight of the wash stand was 30 lbs., and the box measured 42”x21”x13.” Can you top this shipping story? Have you shipped something that took finesse in order for it to arrive safe and sound? Send me an e-mail if you can beat this shipping feat!
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Etsy Shop
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I’ve had an Etsy shop for some time. I've sold very little but I have listed very little. I love the Etsy community, and I’ve made a resolution to list more items for sale.
Etsy shops sell art, crafts, papier, supplies for arts and craft, and all things vintage.
Check out my Pazazz shop, Swim Yellow Duck, on Etsy!
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Media |
Puppen Magazine article by Gabo Ricter, Germany
The doll on the right in the brown wool vest and red plaid skirt is from Lillian's collection. |
SwimYellowDuck began as an effort to sell antique dolls for Lillian Wiskur, and we have a page on the website devoted to her to honor her talents as a collector. Her dolls have been sold to collectors around the world.
One of her dolls, a Russian folk doll, was bought by author Gabo Richter, who writes for Puppenmagazine in Germany. She wrote an article about her dolls and the Russian Folk doll she bought from Lillian for the print version of Puppen Magazine.
Lillian's biography appears on the last page of the article. Click to view the entire article. Thanks, Gabo, for honoring Lillian in this way!
 The article is in German, but I am hoping to have it translated to English!
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Photography |
Feedback |
Darrell has a particular way of composing a photo for eBay: He's an existing light photographer. He sets up a table with reflectors, diffusers and backgrounds in front of a south-facing window. He doesn't use a flash or a tripod because they get in his way. He positions his subject to catch the light reflections and at the same time he zooms in for a composition that suits him.
He shoots with a Nikon D300. He takes the most accurate photo he can of our items so that we can give prospective buyers high-quality images that reveal the quality of our antiques.
He imports his digital files into Lightroom. Sometimes when he's bored, he tweaks the photos to give an arty look for his personal enjoyment.
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Teenage Jill by Vogue, copyright 1957
Ginny's big sister
10 ½” tall, wearing high heels
A 7-piece, hard plastic,
bent-knee walker
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It’s great to receive Feedback on eBay, even if it’s just a few words because it finalizes the sale for me.
As a Seller, I leave Feedback for Buyers AFTER they either e-mail that they have received the item and are pleased or after they leave Feedback for me. That’s a change for me.
I used to extol the Buyer being so great as soon as he paid, but sometimes something crazy would happen.
After experiencing some unexpected transactions, I changed my tune. The Buyer plays a very important role in the sale.
To me a sale is not complete until the Buyer receives the item and lets me know that it arrived safely and that he’s pleased with the item.
My job as a seller is to provide accurate information on the item and to ship it safely to the buyer. Until that is done, the sale is not complete.
Feedback is a mutual thing. It's like the Buyer and Seller exchanging thank-you notes.
We go to a great deal of effort to photograph and write an ad; then to wrap and ship. However, sometimes we make errors, and it's up to the buyer to give Feedback that may require a generous spirit. Or not. We never retaliate with Neutral or Negative Feedback. It's our duty to please the customer, and we accept the Buyer's Feedback graciously.
We received Neutral Feedback from the Buyer of this Willets Beleek tankard. We were shocked. We assumed the Buyer would dance a jig when he opened it.
However, I forgot to measure the tankard for my ad, and the Buyer forgot to ask how tall it was. He was anticipating a larger tankard, so he gave me Neutral Feedback because I hadn't included the size in my ad.
How tall do you think it is?
You were right if you guessed 5 inches.
"Tankard" describes the form, and tankards come in different sizes. My buyer considered this a mini-tankard although I took the description straight out of a book.
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On Sept. 3, 2011, our granddaughter asked us to take photos at her wedding. She had a professional photographer, but she also wanted some behind the scenes photos to capture her wedding day. Darrell had fun colorizing this photo of her posing for the photographer. |
Felonious eBay Scam
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Collectors |
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A recent enterprising trouble maker sent me this e-mail:
“This is not the item I requested!!!!!!! PLEASE REFUND MY MONEY AS I WILL OPEN A CASE and will give negative feedback ASAP!!!!!!!
“yawko2006”
We are eBay “Top Rated Power Sellers.” We take our integrity and customer service seriously, so I hit the ground running when I opened that e-mail message.
First thought: Now what? This month alone, we mailed two watches on the same day and we had switched the addresses. The Buyers were gracious and made the switch out with me paying mail forwarding costs. Also, we sold an item we have in storage, and haven’t located it - to this day. We had to cancel that sale. And, we mailed a vintage Topsy-Turvy doll that had two small holes in the dress that we overlooked and failed to mention in our ad. The Buyer returned the doll confessing she felt misled that we didn’t describe the imperfections in the ad. That was embarrassing. Also, we mailed a beautiful, French, bisque doll that had an ever so slight nose rub, which we didn’t detect. We had to look through our file of photos and enlarge them to see the nose rub the Buyer saw. It simply went unnoticed by us, but the Buyer wanted a discount, which was deserved and we gave it. Lastly, we had an international Buyer send photos of a Nikon camera we had mailed, and it arrived in Great Britain with the front ripped off. The package had been vandalized!
Selling on eBay is like riding a roller coaster. Continuing my ride that day, like a dummy, I clicked the link from the e-mail to log onto eBay to see what the item was and to see what the buyer was referencing. The “eBay” login looked a little slimmed down on the graphics: the “eBay Buyer Protection” logo and the graphic on the right side were missing. Still, I entered my User ID and Password and clicked “continue,” only to get a response message that I had logged out.
Oh, no. In that instant I realized I had been scammed and had entered my User ID and Password into some bogus website.
I quickly examined the e-mail. It had “eBay” as the sender, but it was sent to an “undisclosed-recipients” list. Immediately, I knew positively I had been scammed, and that the message was not from eBay.
I rushed to log onto eBay from the Internet and changed my password. Further, I confirmed that the message was spurious because I went to my eBay message screen and the message wasn’t there. Finally, I checked out the User ID used in the message, and though there are multiple eBay members with that User ID, none that had been members since Jan. 12, 2010, per the message.
As a follow up to protect my eBay ID, I called eBay and forwarded the e-mail to spoof@ebay.com.
We had just had a great day on eBay, and we were riding high before I read the message. This scam was just one of those sudden dips on the ups and downs of selling on eBay and the wide-wide-world of the Internet that I love so much. |
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"Looking West from Ethan Allen Tower"
Burlington, Vermont
Postcard returns home
We sold this vintage "Burlington" postcard to a buyer who lives in Burlington, VT. It's always fun to find customers who collect regional items from their hometown.
We bought the postcard not in Vermont but in Missouri from a shop of antiques that had been in storage after closing years earlier. It's a small world. |
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