Postcard, Letter, Document Sellers: Please add surnames and place names mentioned on your items.

[alibaba40she]

To the sellers of postcards, letters, documents or anything else that is pertinent,

Please add in your titles whatever surnames and place names that are mentioned in your items. There are a gazillion (yes, an accurate number) of people interested in genealogy who have saved searches of surnames and place names. Your items are probably being missed by these (read me and the gazillion minus one other) hunter buyers.

Thanks! 

[argon38]

I totally understand your viewpoint, but I suspect a lot of sellers feel there are privacy issues at stake when selling items that belonged to ordinary people (as opposed to famous individuals). With really old material it hardly matters, but a lot of stuff does come from estate sales, etc. where the person is only recently deceased.

[melda58]

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@argon38 wrote:

I totally understand your viewpoint, but I suspect a lot of sellers feel there are privacy issues at stake when selling items that belonged to ordinary people (as opposed to famous individuals). With really old material it hardly matters, but a lot of stuff does come from estate sales, etc. where the person is only recently deceased.

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Agree that item titles for more recent diaries, letters, vital records, and so forth should not disclose names, but places would be ok in most cases and would help sell the item.  For more recent items, common surnames putting the surname only in the title might be ok too, but not the first name.  I often have had to grapple with decisions weighing consideration for privacy versus desire to sell an item, and I generally decide in favor of protecting privacy, including with regard to photos and descriptions.  I would appreciate the same consideration were it an item of mine or my family's.

Rita

[sonomabarn67]

Privacy should be respected, however, what if the person is famous and still alive? And it is worth $$ (the whole point of ebay)? I would think the dollar value would win out over the other. At minimum it would raise a discussion between the dualistic voices on the seller's shoulders (angel/devil).

[maxine*j]

Interesting discussion.

I never dealt in any sort of personal ephemera, but if I did I think I'd take the attitude that if I were able to buy it, there were no privacy concerns. If the letters, postcards, documents, whatever, were available for me to buy, either the family had no privacy concerns or there was no immediate family to have such concerns.  Since there would be no general market / interest in most such stuff if the person were not famous or infamous, I'd assume it would be the geneology crowd who'd be the buyers -- so, yes, I'd include any and all names in describing the items.

[18704d]

A friend of ours put a few picture postcards showing a family on eBay.

They were from the 1930s, or so.

Of course the friend named the small city on the listing and also the family name, for the same geneological reasons.

Then she got a few angry messages from that family's descendants, stating their great uncle (or someone) stole those pictures from the great, grandmother, and they were supposed to go to their great aunt instead, or something.

Our friend pulled the listing and vowed to never eBay anything with a family name on it again.

jmtcw,

Lynn

[maxine*j]

Well, there's always a horror story when it comes to selling on eBay, that's for sure.  Persoanlly, I would just have ignored such email.  But maybe it was more than low profitability that kept me away from such personal ephemera;  maybe it was survival instinct.  

[sonomabarn67]

By chance, was the family name Hatfield or McCoy?

[c*me*4*lefton*info]

This suggestion crops up once in a while on ebay boards. There are pros and cons to each side. So trying to convince any person that one way or the other is better is an exercise in futility I think. Better to explain the way I manage that dilemma I am hoping.

My opinion on this dilemma (to post or not post personal info online) is largely influenced by my privacy concerns with modern computers. Computers are great, but never forget whatever you put on the Internet ends up in some archive permanently.

My concern boils down to this. Computer collect enough info from me by my choice, by me choosing what I click on and what info I provide online. I think everyone has that choice to make, it's a personal decision and choice. Computers have no right (other than the User Agreements) to collect personal info about my ancestors (especially from strangers) without those ancestors permission (in my opinion). And I would not provide access to that personal info and will not provide it for or about others....Says the privacy nut. My 3 cents worth.

[argon38]

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@maxine*j wrote:

so, yes, I'd include any and all names in describing the items.

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You must have sold plenty of books, though, with non-famous signatures, addresses etc. Did you include these personal details in your searchable listings?

[maxine*j]

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@argon38 wrote:

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@maxine*j wrote:

so, yes, I'd include any and all names in describing the items.

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You must have sold plenty of books, though, with non-famous signatures, addresses etc. Did you include these personal details in your searchable listings?

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As a matter of fact, I did.  When I answered this, I wasn't thinking of books as "personal ephemera" but they are in a way, aren't they?  Anyhow, I never had anything negative come of it.  And to the best of my recollection, I made only two sales because of it. 

[figtree3]

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@18704d wrote:

A friend of ours put a few picture postcards showing a family on eBay.

They were from the 1930s, or so.

Of course the friend named the small city on the listing and also the family name, for the same geneological reasons.

Then she got a few angry messages from that family's descendants, stating their great uncle (or someone) stole those pictures from the great, grandmother, and they were supposed to go to their great aunt instead, or something.

Our friend pulled the listing and vowed to never eBay anything with a family name on it again.

jmtcw,

Lynn

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What did your friend do with the postcards after that? Figure out which angry relative should get the postcards and give them to that person? Donate them to a historical society in the area where they were photographed? Keep them indefinitely, not knowing what else to do with them? Throw them in the garbage? Sell them in a brick and mortar store? Sell them elsewhere online but not mention the name?

So many options there...

This is an interesting discussion. I missed it because I don't come here very often any more...

By the way, I collect photos taken by particular photography studios and always appreciate those who list studio names and locations of photography studios. They are probably not seen as so personal, but in a way they are.

[sonomabarn67]

"I I don't come here often  anymore... because...?"

[figtree3]

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@sonomabarn67 wrote:

"I I don't come here often  anymore... because...?"

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I'm more involved in other online forums and social networking sites, including Facebook, etc. This has been going on for five years now. Obviously I still come here at least once a week, so it's not surprising that you didn't know. I used to spend hours here on eBay, many days per week.

[sonomabarn67]

Yes, I remember you. I just thought you had cracked some secret code of greatness that we are still searching for here!