Antiques dealers again

[plasticpigeon]

An item was for sale on ebay from a dealer for £85. I found their website and asked if they would sell for a better price off ebay (makes sense, ebay have 10% commission), and now the price on ebay has changed to £260! Anybody understand the strange inner workings of the antiques industry? Obviously I'm not interetsed in the item at the new price as it has been unsold for many months at the old price!!!!

 

[Kearn]

Haha!! You might remember the desk I was asking for opinions on recently on here, I spoke to a dealer with similarly aged pieces in his shop, which were fairly but appropriately priced.

Cue many noises and murmuring, sucking of teeth, head scratching and some comments about its size being a challenge?!?
Then a clear show of interest, but concern that he would only be able to get about £250 selling it!! I couldn't help retort that in that case I would have to see what other fantastic bargains he was selling!

Suffice to say I didn't bother following up, now knowing it was worth about 3x more. Happily sold on eBay to a writer who had just restored a listed barn and will certainly use it. No fees, £600 cash.

They're consistently variable!

 

[plasticpigeon]

Sounds like it worked out well for you!

I understand now what the dealer was doing! I phoned the chap, and he would be happy to sell it for less outside ebay, but he had sold it already!! He cannot remove it from ebay if not sold on ebay, so he has jacked the price up to an annattractive level and will wait for the listing to end. How weird, but it makes sense. I've heard from other dealers that once an item is on ebay it is difficult to sell it elsewhere without ebay getting suspicious and making a fuss. I have just agreed to buy a chair from a dealer. It is coming after Christmas so let's see if the item and service I receive can restore my faith in antiques dealers.