Tuesday, July 11, 2006
I love the accordion! It makes me happy to play it. I also love to dance to Cajun, Zydeco and swing music and play volleyball.
The pictures below are views of items available on our website. Try looking in our listings or do a search for a particular treasure. You will enjoy exploring our selection of very unusual vintage merchandise including 14K gold, silver and costume jewelry, watches; Rockwell, Hummel plates; Beatles, Elvis Presley, Rolling Stones LP vinyl records; die-cast model cars, antique postcards, etc. Contact us if you have any problems navigating our online stores.
Rachman Cantrell, Owner
Bothell Jewelers & Collectibles
Phone 425-487-2900
mail to: bothellj.wa@verizon.net
Or visit our web site below:
http://www.tias.com/stores/bothellj/
Friday, June 03, 2005
Assorted Rhinestone Pins and Brooches.
Rhinestone Dancers Brooch. View many others on our site. Click headline above to see.
Sample items from our websites.
The pictures below and above are views of items available in our websites. Try clicking on the heading above the picture to go to that category of items and please feel free to explore the amazing treasures on our site.
Vintage Playboy magazines from the 1950's
Rare 1950's Vintage Playboy magazines. This one shows Marilyn Monroe riding a pink elephant. Click the headline for more views.
Unusual Medallions and Fraternal items.
Pope John Paul Medallion 1983-84. Click headline for more.
Costume Necklaces, Crosses and Pendants.
Vintage Rhinestone Cross. Click the headline for additional pieces.
Thursday, June 02, 2005
Rare Antique Leather Postcards
Vintage Leather Postcard from 1906. Several others available on our site. Click on the headline for more selections.
Unusual Vintage Belt Buckles.
Check out our belt buckle collection including this Native American belt buckle. Click on the headline to view.
Hummel and Goebel Plates.
Hummel and Goebel Collector Plates! Click headline for more!
Men's automatic and mechanical wind watches.
Vintage Croton automatic watch plus many others at our web site. Click on the headline for additional watches and views.
14K Gold Pendants and Necklaces.
14K Gold Dragon Pendant. Click headline for many more fine jewelry items.
Wednesday, June 01, 2005
Vintage Photographs.
That is me in the front row with the plaid shirt around 1950! It is hard to believe but now I am part of my own vintage photo! Click the headline to see more vintage antique pictures.
Collectibles Online Selling - The Time Element
If you are considering selling vintage collectibles and estate items online there are a few things you should know.
Bothell, WA (OPENPRESS) May31, 2005 - The following is a new perspective regarding selling online in the antique and collectibles business from a shop owner and online seller, Rachman Cantrell, owner of 'Bothell Jewelers & Collectibles', a very unique antique, jewelry and collectible store in a small town just outside of Seattle, Washington. He currently has an online shop, www.tias.com/stores/bothellj/ at the Tias antique and collectible mall. Mr. Cantrell has been in the retail jewelry and collectible business for most of his life but only selling online for about eight years. He does not consider himself an expert in that realm but he does have an interesting viewpoint on how to determine profitability in this field and believes his experience is a good example of what a normal person goes through when trying to sell online, "I don't have the secret key to making huge amounts of money through the Internet and I am very leery of anyone who would make that kind of claim. It is a hard business, if that is what you are hoping to make of it, and very time consuming."
There are plenty of collectibles and antiques to be sold, but what about the actual process of putting something online and selling it? First and formost, one must consider the time element in thinking of online selling as a business. What does one get in return for the time put in? Most people don't seem to consider time in the equation, and even some well established sellers ignore that part of the online selling picture. The fact is that time is the key element to measuring success in this kind of work. Consider the actual amount of time involved in finding an item, taking pictures of it, writing a description and getting it put onto a web or auction site. Then also consider if that item does sell, the additional time required to verify payment, respond to the buyer, collect the money and pack and ship the merchandise.
Mr. Cantrell says that an hour for each item that is sold and a half hour for each item listed, whether it is sold or not, is a fair estimate of the real time required. If one considers this as a business and has a reasonable expectation of some sort of hourly wage, say $10.00 per hour for example, there has to be a minimum selling price for each item to reach a break-even point, and an even higher amount to actually make a profit!
For example, if a person has a figurine that was bought at a garage sale for a dollar and sells it online for five dollars one would assume there is a $4.00 profit. Add time to the equation and that person has already lost money because the most he can gain from the sale is four dollars for an hour of work. It is actually worse than that though because in order to sell one item he usually has to list at least ten! So now we are talking about nine items at thirty minutes each plus an hour for the item that sells which breaks down to five and a half hours of time to sell one $5.00 item, and that does not even take into effect other costs such as Paypal and credit card processing fees, advertising, utilities, interest, insurance, packing materials, storage costs, web hosting and auction fees, etc. Even if the per item price is up to around $20.00 it still works out to be less than minimum wage. The process starts making more sense when the items hit the $40.00 to $50.00 mark and profitability starts showing its' lovely head. Higher prices bring more profits but as prices rise the likelihood of selling an item decreases. Higher priced items do sell on occasion, but it is a rare one. The larger orders do help to bring up the average price though, even if there is a long wait between sales.
The bottom line in all of this from Mr. Cantrell's perspective is that one should not expect big profits from an online collectibles business. If a person loves this kind of work and does not mind putting in the time, it is a fun hobby that can make a little money. For most though, regarding it as a profit making enterprise takes a great stretch of the imagination.
Bothell, WA (OPENPRESS) May31, 2005 - The following is a new perspective regarding selling online in the antique and collectibles business from a shop owner and online seller, Rachman Cantrell, owner of 'Bothell Jewelers & Collectibles', a very unique antique, jewelry and collectible store in a small town just outside of Seattle, Washington. He currently has an online shop, www.tias.com/stores/bothellj/ at the Tias antique and collectible mall. Mr. Cantrell has been in the retail jewelry and collectible business for most of his life but only selling online for about eight years. He does not consider himself an expert in that realm but he does have an interesting viewpoint on how to determine profitability in this field and believes his experience is a good example of what a normal person goes through when trying to sell online, "I don't have the secret key to making huge amounts of money through the Internet and I am very leery of anyone who would make that kind of claim. It is a hard business, if that is what you are hoping to make of it, and very time consuming."
There are plenty of collectibles and antiques to be sold, but what about the actual process of putting something online and selling it? First and formost, one must consider the time element in thinking of online selling as a business. What does one get in return for the time put in? Most people don't seem to consider time in the equation, and even some well established sellers ignore that part of the online selling picture. The fact is that time is the key element to measuring success in this kind of work. Consider the actual amount of time involved in finding an item, taking pictures of it, writing a description and getting it put onto a web or auction site. Then also consider if that item does sell, the additional time required to verify payment, respond to the buyer, collect the money and pack and ship the merchandise.
Mr. Cantrell says that an hour for each item that is sold and a half hour for each item listed, whether it is sold or not, is a fair estimate of the real time required. If one considers this as a business and has a reasonable expectation of some sort of hourly wage, say $10.00 per hour for example, there has to be a minimum selling price for each item to reach a break-even point, and an even higher amount to actually make a profit!
For example, if a person has a figurine that was bought at a garage sale for a dollar and sells it online for five dollars one would assume there is a $4.00 profit. Add time to the equation and that person has already lost money because the most he can gain from the sale is four dollars for an hour of work. It is actually worse than that though because in order to sell one item he usually has to list at least ten! So now we are talking about nine items at thirty minutes each plus an hour for the item that sells which breaks down to five and a half hours of time to sell one $5.00 item, and that does not even take into effect other costs such as Paypal and credit card processing fees, advertising, utilities, interest, insurance, packing materials, storage costs, web hosting and auction fees, etc. Even if the per item price is up to around $20.00 it still works out to be less than minimum wage. The process starts making more sense when the items hit the $40.00 to $50.00 mark and profitability starts showing its' lovely head. Higher prices bring more profits but as prices rise the likelihood of selling an item decreases. Higher priced items do sell on occasion, but it is a rare one. The larger orders do help to bring up the average price though, even if there is a long wait between sales.
The bottom line in all of this from Mr. Cantrell's perspective is that one should not expect big profits from an online collectibles business. If a person loves this kind of work and does not mind putting in the time, it is a fun hobby that can make a little money. For most though, regarding it as a profit making enterprise takes a great stretch of the imagination.
Check out this store!
'Bothell Jewelers & Collectibles' is a very unique store with a large selection of 14k gold jewelry, diamonds, gems, pearls, sterling silver, and vintage costume jewelry, including rings, bracelets, pendants, necklaces, pins, brooches, and men's and lady's wrist watches. We also have a large stock of collectibles, including Bradex, Rockwell collector plates, souvenir spoons, Precious Moments, Hummel and other figurines, antique postcards from the early 1900's, stereo views, trading cards, rare books on Subud, 1954 thru 1959 Vintage Playboy magazines, Beatles, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan lp vinyl records, die-cast cars, Star Wars toys, vintage cameras, breweriana, etc. We stock more items than we have time to list on our web site, so if you are looking for a particular item just ask! There is a good chance that we might have it in our brick and mortar store!
Place an order? Browse and pick out your items at our web site http://www.tias.com/stores/bothellj/ and order using our secure servers.
We accept most credit cards, checks, money orders, and 'Paypal' as forms of payment for merchandise. Shipping charges are usually included in the item descriptions. If paying with a personal check please allow an extra ten days for the check to clear our bank. To place an order you may also contact us via e-mail at bothellj.wa@verizon.net or call us at 425-487-2900 and give your credit card information over the phone, or write to us at:
Bothell Jewelers and Collectibles
10130 Main St.
Bothell, Wa. 98011.
Thank you for your interest!
Rachman Cantrell, Owner
Bothell Jewelers & Collectibles
