Where do you find stuff?

Hi readers the title says it all and I can verify it is one of the most common questions I get asked so common in fact its a daily thing now and often pops up when I have posted pictures to groups and other media avenues and as I’m seen to have a large collection its a very valid question that in most part I do not mind disclosing, however I do have a couple of contacts I have met and become friends with they would like to not be known and without there assistance, I would not have at least two thirds of what is in the collection now.

Ok what I can tell you is I started out on Ebay as I had no other places in mind to look and continued ploughing money into this site till I annoyed the wife so much she banned me from using it at all for anything and it was justified in her doing so as I was starting to get the Ebay habit and was spending way to much money on pieces that now I realise were somewhat of a waste if for investing.

I moved onwards to two other sites I still use and that’s etsy and ruby lane both online shops within a shop like Ebay but I noticed you get treated better by the sellers with their lovely friendly emails willingness to help and not just look at the picture it forms part of the description type of answer you get with other sites and I have even known sellers from both sites to help with duty fees your end and I think these are just some of the reasons I use ruby lane and etsy.com.

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For the more experienced and I would always advise READ UP AND DO YOUR RESEARCH first there are the larger online auctions where once registered, you can bid from the comfort of your arm chair anywhere in the world to nearly any auction in the world its great and can save hundreds of pounds that sellers on other sites treble or more for the highest profits and this can be seen on the sites I have named when a piece just sits there and just gets relisted so much so you feel sorry for it.

So to get these alerts register with auction hosting sites type in what your looking for and if anything at all pops up world wide you get an email, giving you all the details and most auction houses give plenty of notice on which dates the hammer will be falling.

I cannot speak for auction prices worldwide but here in England you pay the bid price to the seller and on top is added VAT value added tax that’s twenty percent of the bid price and twelve to fifteen percent to the auction house as their fee.

This does sound expensive but the differences can be amazing and a great example is a English bulldog silver pin cushion I won a few months ago, now I have seen these up for sale for over one thousand in pounds euros and dollars but I won mine for fifty pounds I paid ten pounds in vat tax and about seven to ten pounds commission, so say seventy pounds in total and I’m not saying the pieces are not worth some of the prices asked, I’m just saying how I do it to save money but getting into the swing of online auction buying takes time and some auctioneers still only sell to selected clients, but this is fast dying out.

For starters for now I would advise to use live auctioneers.com and the other is called in valuable all one word and once you have registered for your own account you can use key words to find anything that’s popping up anywhere in the world which reminds me most auction houses no matter worldwide deal in dollars but if you do find an off shore auction house using different currency you can find a bargain as the pound is usually stronger than most other currencies.

Taking you away from the interwebs, are lots of ideas that mean your not always staring at a screen and get to go out looking and over here in England there are lots of places in which to search, there are week end boot sales tat shops charity shops antique shops and annual large fairs and shows like the south of England show fare and doggy shows like the famous loved Crufts but I’m sure if you research you will find doggy shows happening all over the country but maybe not as big.

This readers is my last and most important tip which coincides with the start of this blog, CONTACTS if you can find people out there in the know, willing to help and have a willingness to share their wisdom advise and the occasional tip, if you network well enough you will meet others like myself and just like I have when meeting Mrs Deirdre Ashdown no relation on facebook and I myself have learned a lot since meeting this lady.

All the above work but just with different degrees of success its easy to log on to your laptop and buying a piece on line for say £150 or you can just maybe find the same piece somewhere else for a fraction of the price.

As stated please get in touch if assistance is required don’t worry I’m free to hire.