Even though the Internet has been around for many years and actually the concept was being worked on back in the 1960s and the project was called ARPANET, many people today think only about eBay when it comes to the antiques and collectibles market on the Internet. eBay is certainly a great resource for buying and selling items as well as a place to conduct research but it is not the only place as there are numerous other resources like collector’s clubs, online malls that specialize in items you are interested in, and antique and collectibles shops as many items are already identified and valued and a description of age and purpose can usually be found right on the item’s tag or label. Also, eBay is indeed a great place to sell your items but as you keep reading you will see that there are also many other options for selling your treasures too!
Identifying what you have
For many the first step to selling an item is figuring out what the heck it is. Is it a figurine or something that looks like it should be in a kitchen, or a piece of furniture? Perhaps it is a book or a collection of ephemera. What if it could possibly be some tools – but are they for a garage or kitchen? What if you have clothing, handbags, or jewelry? Yes, identifying the item is the very first step!
Step 1. How to identify what your have:
The first thing I do when I have a new item in my hand is to look on the bottom for any possible identifying makers marks, patent numbers, country where item was made stamp, tags or labels, and then I also look the item over to see if there are any signatures. Also, this is the time to check the item condition for damage, repairs, chips, cracks, crazing, dings, flea bites, tears, rips, holes, stains, smells, discoloration, etc….
If your item has any of the above identifiers then you are in some luck as you can now take the information and proceed with researching it. But, if your item has none of the above ways to identify it, then you will need to do even more research in the hopes of identifying it.
