I'm starting to notice a lot of "Dealers" around me are in fact hoarders.

It was a bit of a wake up call when I watched the show "Hoarders" and saw how many either used to be, or currently are, eBay sellers.

Now like any "reality TV" I'm sure some stuff was exaggerated, but I do know one of the guys on the show, and it's real people in real situations (hoarding).

But it's interesting to go to live auctions and seeing these "antique dealers" spending $1,000+ every single week, and if you go into antique stores around you, you will start figuring out what booth belongs to what dealer.

However, if you visit the same store once a month roughly, and make a mental note of certain booths, or I often take picture (if they allow it), you will notice the same exact stuff sitting for over two years or even longer. Some things I found had sat so long, the ink had faded off the price tags.

Then I started realizing, if it takes you a couple years to sell MOST things, and other items sit for even more amount of time, you aren't a "dealer" or a "seller", but in fact a hoarder.

I knew one of them, that not only had a few booths in various antique malls, but had (not making this up) 13 storage sheds jammed full of stuff.

Just keeps buying and buying. But he can convince anyone he's an "antique dealer".

quadcitypickers

6135 View listings

Posted 1 year ago·Last reply 1 year ago

31 comments

bashort

·1 year ago

11885 View listings

@quadcitypickers wrote:
It was a bit of a wake up call when I watched the show "Hoarders" and saw how many either used to be, or currently are, eBay sellers.

Now like any "reality TV" I'm sure some stuff was exaggerated, but I do know one of the guys on the show, and it's real people in real situations (hoarding).

But it's interesting to go to live auctions and seeing these "antique dealers" spending $1,000+ every single week, and if you go into antique stores around you, you will start figuring out what booth belongs to what dealer.

However, if you visit the same store once a month roughly, and make a mental note of certain booths, or I often take picture (if they allow it), you will notice the same exact stuff sitting for over two years or even longer. Some things I found had sat so long, the ink had faded off the price tags.

Then I started realizing, if it takes you a couple years to sell MOST things, and other items sit for even more amount of time, you aren't a "dealer" or a "seller", but in fact a hoarder.

I knew one of them, that not only had a few booths in various antique malls, but had (not making this up) 13 storage sheds jammed full of stuff.

Just keeps buying and buying. But he can convince anyone he's an "antique dealer".

In my opinion a true hoarder is not interested in selling on ebay or anywhere else, I have came across a few of these and from what I have seen they will not sell anything, there will be something laying outside in open view that draws considerable interest and when asked they will never consider selling and would rather have it rust to the ground.

kensgiftshop

·1 year ago

389 View listings

My Daughter keeps telling me I'm a hoarder because I won't get rid of anything if I think I can use it sometime or sell it.

I tell her when I'm gone, this will all be hers.

She tells me when she sticks me in the rest home, it's all going in the dumpster.

a_c_green

·1 year ago

4132 View listings

@kensgiftshop wrote:
My Daughter keeps telling me I'm a hoarder because I won't get rid of anything if I think I can use it sometime or sell it.
I tell her when I'm gone, this will all be hers.
She tells me when she sticks me in the rest home, it's all going in the dumpster.

I would hope she at least drops it all off at Goodwill or someplace like that. We don't need more landfill.

That aside, it sounds like she really wants to motivate you into getting moving on a clearout. I've been forcing myself to do much the same thing in my own basement, strategy being to just pick a starting spot and then deal with everything I pick up: Handle It Once. Donate, sell or trash. It's slow going, but at least with that system I know that the quantity has nowhere to go but down, and I have a little visual reward in seeing an open space in the basement that slowly gets bigger and bigger.

It helps that I can't even remember what the heck is in any given box, so there is a little entertainment or surprise in opening each one. I have old commercial signs and clocks that I want to transfer out of old opaque (and musty) cardboard boxes and into translucent storage tubs for better storage, plus the ability to quickly view each container without opening it.

I also (re)discovered that I had been saving assorted big boxes "just in case" (such as for when I sold a big sign on eBay and it was time to ship), so when I discover that in fact they are empty (except for a musty smell and spider webs), they can go in the recycling bin without any further decision-making needed about contents that weren't inside anyway. It's a quick way to regain space (I didn't store them flat because it made quick size comparisons a pain) and a nice incentive to keep going and check the next box as well.

sin-n-dex

·1 year ago

12196 View listings

@a_c_green wrote:
@kensgiftshop wrote:
My Daughter keeps telling me I'm a hoarder because I won't get rid of anything if I think I can use it sometime or sell it.
I tell her when I'm gone, this will all be hers.
She tells me when she sticks me in the rest home, it's all going in the dumpster.
I would hope she at least drops it all off at Goodwill or someplace like that. We don't need more landfill.

That aside, it sounds like she really wants to motivate you into getting moving on a clearout. I've been forcing myself to do much the same thing in my own basement, strategy being to just pick a starting spot and then deal with everything I pick up: Handle It Once. Donate, sell or trash. It's slow going, but at least with that system I know that the quantity has nowhere to go but down, and I have a little visual reward in seeing an open space in the basement that slowly gets bigger and bigger.

It helps that I can't even remember what the heck is in any given box, so there is a little entertainment or surprise in opening each one. I have old commercial signs and clocks that I want to transfer out of old opaque (and musty) cardboard boxes and into translucent storage tubs for better storage, plus the ability to quickly view each container without opening it.

I also (re)discovered that I had been saving assorted big boxes "just in case" (such as for when I sold a big sign on eBay and it was time to ship), so when I discover that in fact they are empty (except for a musty smell and spider webs), they can go in the recycling bin without any further decision-making needed about contents that weren't inside anyway. It's a quick way to regain space (I didn't store them flat because it made quick size comparisons a pain) and a nice incentive to keep going and check the next box as well.

I'm doing a clean out as well (watching Hoarders has motivated me to get rid of stuff). Been going through books, movies, music, clothing... put together boxes of stuff to sell or donate. I've been going through my inventory too to bring some stuff back to the B&M store (and some stuff is mine that they'll sell for me, gets it out of my house pretty much permanently).

Some stuff I haven't gotten to, the clothing is going to take a long time since fit (or potential fit if I lose a bit of weight) will determine if I keep it or not, and then if it goes to a consignment shop or is just donated will depend on condition, how much I wore it, and whether or not it was expensive to buy in the first place. I've invited my partner over for a fashion show to help me decide on clothes (but he wants to wait until I have my surgery since weight loss is likely in that case).

I did go through packing supplies and did a massive clean out getting rid of a lot of priority mailers and priority boxes. Stallion Express (my shipper) took back anything that was still packaged, and anything not packaged I have to use if I need it, or have given it away to someone who will use it. I have boxes of regular bubble mailers to sort out and reorganize my shipping shelves in the basement. (Probably a good plan, I bought ziplock bags in a box of 1000 and found 300 left from my last order when I started organizing, feel like I wasted some money, it will take a long time to use 300 bags at that size).

While my house doesn't look like a hoarder lives here, I definitely have hoarder tendencies to buy things I think I'll use later and then misplace them and buy them again and again. I found no less than 8 empty notebooks for taking notes because I keep buying nice looking notebooks. The way I manage stuff now I don't use notebooks as much anymore, that was my old way of managing inventory. Now I don't know what to do with the notebooks, they're too nice to not keep.

a_c_green

·1 year ago

4132 View listings

@sin-n-dex wrote:
(Probably a good plan, I bought ziplock bags in a box of 1000 and found 300 left from my last order when I started organizing, feel like I wasted some money, it will take a long time to use 300 bags at that size).

Oh, I forgot that part, about my own storage: Anything that was small enough to fit in a ZipLok bag did go into one. I have boxes of random old bike parts and hardware in the basement, but they're not out in the open (exposed to humidity, especially in the summer); they each got their own bag, into which they went after cleaning and/or repair first.

So I would not call that "hoarding" per se because they were at least clean and in good order before they went into a sealed bag for the time being. When bagged up, they were actually at the stage where I would be photographing them for listing, so as far as those parts are concerned, I am more likely to prod myself into getting their listings done, not just donating them someplace (and being that they're clean and in good order, I cannot trash them).

luckythewinner

·1 year ago

1159 View listings

Then I started realizing, if it takes you a couple years to sell MOST things, and other items sit for even more amount of time, you aren't a "dealer" or a "seller", but in fact a hoarder.

What would you call someone who visits the same stores month after month taking pictures of dealer booths and comparing them to pictures from the previous month?

gurlcat

·1 year ago

1969 View listings

ðŸ¤£How did none of us think to ask ^THIS^ yet????
Who knows, maybe the OP is a state or city tax auditor and the current money laundering sting is antique dealers?

sin-n-dex

·1 year ago

12196 View listings

@luckythewinner wrote:

Then I started realizing, if it takes you a couple years to sell MOST things, and other items sit for even more amount of time, you aren't a "dealer" or a "seller", but in fact a hoarder.

What would you call someone who visits the same stores month after month taking pictures of dealer booths and comparing them to pictures from the previous month?

A nosy busybody?

At the B&M store where I work, one of the guys has a cubicle sized desk and shelving area. He told me the shelves are always jam packed with stuff falling off, but suggested to me if I were to take a picture every week and compare it, I'd see that stuff is being processed and new stuff keeps showing up.

Every so often I do major reorganization of my inventory (I'll end up with a bunch of half full boxes of stuff, so I'll combine things into a single box, but that involves giving things new lot numbers sometimes since the lot is for the location of the item, and I want to start a new box, not add stuff to the boxes that are there... lot numbers are how I know how long stuff has been sitting.

bonanza125

·1 year ago

8834 View listings

Hoarders make purchases and don't sell anything. Sellers on Ebay have an inventory which sell or at least are listed which have a potential to move eventually. Sellers organize inventory in a spot. Hoarders have stuff laying around collecting dust. So when you watch a show like Hoarders on tv don't believe everything you listen to on those shows. Those people tell you they sell on Ebay but they are really just buying stuff and not moving stuff at all. Keep in mind stuff can be sitting for 5+ years even 15 years and still considered inventory and not hoarding situation.

lux.ra_14

·1 year ago

0 View listings

@quadcitypickers wrote:
Then I started realizing, if it takes you a couple years to sell MOST things, and other items sit for even more amount of time, you aren't a "dealer" or a "seller", but in fact a hoarder.

Or just someone who chronically overprices.

I used to visit an antique store that was always having a 50 percent off sale. Unfortunately, half off meant only that the prices were reduced from outrageous to absurd.

silverstatetreasureboxes

·1 year ago

888 View listings

@lux.ra_14

@lux.ra_14 wrote:
@quadcitypickers wrote:

I used to visit an antique store that was always having a 50 percent off sale. Unfortunately, half off meant only that the prices were reduced from outrageous to absurd.

I remember a antique store that was once a beautiful old home in the town of St George Utah. She always had a sign the stated Closing going out of business.
She was a true horder, junk dealer and that place was a disaster. You couldn't walk down any pathway or rooms as they were completely full top to bottom of old dirty stuff with no prices. If you interested in something you would have to bring it to her as she was obese and couldn't walk.
Funny thing is that I actually found a doll there on the floor buried in other stuff ( I had this same doll as a child) and she did sell it to me for $17 (after I heard her give me the " it's valuable " speech).
She's long gone now probably shut down by the fire Marshall's, what a scary place that was!

gurlcat

·1 year ago

1969 View listings

I cannot stand places where nothing is priced. There's a convenience store near me like that, and the attendant has to physically scan items to find the price. So I don't even buy their gas despite it being the cheapest in the neighborhood. Pretty sure their whole business model is to make up for that with sky-high prices on everything else, which you can't even know until after you've waited in line behind other customers. They don't even have a price sign for fountain/coffee bar!

But it's even worse when it's a privately-owned antique/second-hand store or garage sale. Then it's not only inconvenient to walk each thing to the seller piecemeal -there's also the sense that it all depends on their mood at the moment, or worse, YOU'RE being priced on the fly, like whether they like the looks of your or how much you look like you'll pay, and who-knows-what mental calculations and prejudices.

sin-n-dex

·1 year ago

12196 View listings

@silverstatetreasureboxes wrote:
@lux.ra_14
@lux.ra_14 wrote:
@quadcitypickers wrote:

I used to visit an antique store that was always having a 50 percent off sale. Unfortunately, half off meant only that the prices were reduced from outrageous to absurd.

I remember a antique store that was once a beautiful old home in the town of St George Utah. She always had a sign the stated Closing going out of business.
She was a true horder, junk dealer and that place was a disaster. You couldn't walk down any pathway or rooms as they were completely full top to bottom of old dirty stuff with no prices. If you interested in something you would have to bring it to her as she was obese and couldn't walk.
Funny thing is that I actually found a doll there on the floor buried in other stuff ( I had this same doll as a child) and she did sell it to me for $17 (after I heard her give me the " it's valuable " speech).
She's long gone now probably shut down by the fire Marshall's, what a scary place that was!

There's a coin and stamp shop in a city I used to live in (in Ontario Canada) that had to clean up because of the fire marshall's orders. He had a big pile of junk 6 feet high in the middle of his store that you had to walk around, stuff was piled up and falling over when you walked by. I used to go there for stamp pages. Never bought stamps because the thought his inventory was worth millions and he was going to be rich one day if he hung on to it. Not sure if he's still there now, haven't been by his shop since COVID times. Now he was a hoarder.

gurlcat

·1 year ago

1969 View listings

If their inventory is in booths as opposed to their bedrooms or hallways, then it is causing them no dysfunction, which would be a legitimate diagnostic of real hoarding. More to the point, if their stuff is PRICED and available to take away immediately, they are not hoarders; you just can't afford their stuff. As for the things that take years to sell, well apparently they can afford to wait or they wouldn't get to keep the booths.

What the smartest and best-positioned antique dealers do is have some of their most beautiful items priced even higher than they think anyone will pay, because holding onto them isn't hoarding; it's having showcase items that people come over to gawk at, maybe take photos to show their friends and post on social media, and then take a look around at the other items, which then seem much more "reasonably" priced to buy than if there hadn't been the showcase items there, manipulating perspective.

It may not work on sellers like us, but we're not who they want as customers anyway. They want "end users" -collectors, gift-buyers, wealth-flaunters ..... the same customers we want.

broto_64

·1 year ago

0 View listings

Some of us acquire stuff at rock bottom prices and even free, but you are right... I have found it very challenging to get from acquiring to actually selling. Now personally I don't care if it sits, you do but I don't because the store has 300+ slots for items and I only have 145 filled. As well if it sells too fast I priced it too low, and last but not least it's always a bit hit and miss, find a good item that actually sells pretty good and it's not long before the copy thieves reduce the demand for you too.

That said I really don't need to acquire any more.
I have at least 100 items to list.
At least.

onlinecentral

·1 year ago

15305 View listings

Your Seller Hub page displays Impressions, Listing Views, Click-Through Rate and Sales Conversion Rate.

It does not tell you the most important thing. The percentage of your inventory you have sold in a period of time.

simba6

·1 year ago

2307 View listings

Some just like playing store and don't really want to sell items. Or they start out as sellers and become attached to the merchandise. Then those TV shows often give a very false idea of the value of items. People keep waiting and hoping it will sell for that much.

But you are right, lots of hoarders claim to be dealers.

roccotacodad54

·1 year ago

427 View listings

Yea. Antiques road show and others kind of ruined getting good deals on stuff people have in old barns, attics and whatnot. Nowdays I notice alot of sellers think if it's old they have "struck gold" or something and then wonder why no one is buying. I'll always pay a fair price but.... .... ... .. .

nh_sales_lv

·1 year ago

1813 View listings

71NdV1vsb3L._AC_SL1000_.jpg

I buy these and store all my items here so nobody can call me a hoarder. I'm looking into getting my 3rd one right now. They are invaluable and nobody can call you a hoarder. If the items are outside your not a hoarder. If you sleep with your items your a hoarder.

roccotacodad54

·1 year ago

427 View listings

LOL LOL LOL

meme6253

·1 year ago

3964 View listings

I don't know about the whole if it's outside your not a hoarder thing, How many homes will you keep building for your items?

adamcartwright

·1 year ago

46 View listings

@quadcitypickers

You make a good point. I love going to antique malls, but I rarely buy because the prices are always about twice what I want to spend. I always feel like if they lowered their prices 50%, they would be turning the inventory over. Instead it sits there and gets stale, while they pay rent. You don't see many people actually buying in those malls, unless it's a crew from Replacements that sweeps through and probably negotiates a sweet deal.

sin-n-dex

·1 year ago

12196 View listings

@adamcartwright wrote:
@quadcitypickers
You make a good point. I love going to antique malls, but I rarely buy because the prices are always about twice what I want to spend. I always feel like if they lowered their prices 50%, they would be turning the inventory over. Instead it sits there and gets stale, while they pay rent. You don't see many people actually buying in those malls, unless it's a crew from Replacements that sweeps through and probably negotiates a sweet deal.

The reason the prices are double, is because mall rent is super steep. I've known people who paid 10K for a month in a mall near Christmas time. If the mall rent wasn't so steep, they could probably afford to lower prices.

One reason I sell here, is because I don't pay rent, and I pay fees when the item sells (except for store fee which is about $85 per month).

adamcartwright

·1 year ago

46 View listings

@sin-n-dex

WOW -- $10k for a stall is crazy. Must be a very busy mall. Do you know what the sales figures were for that month?

sin-n-dex

·1 year ago

12196 View listings

@adamcartwright wrote:
@sin-n-dex
WOW -- $10k for a stall is crazy. Must be a very busy mall. Do you know what the sales figures were for that month?

No idea, this was almost 20 years ago, I met them at a craft show and they told me they tried a shopping mall around Christmas the year before and paid 10K in rent (Greater Toronto area, so that's 10K CAD, but the rate was close to par at the time). When I found out mall rents were that steep, I knew the price I was paying for stuff was going to pay their rent, so I opted to buy from someone who had less overhead.

soh.maryl

·1 year ago

110 View listings

Don't understand the issue exactly. Dealers buy things they hope they will be able to sell.

Hoarders buy things they want to keep. They keep buying with no plans to get rid of what they buy.

Those are the actual hoarders.

keziak

·1 year ago

25559 View listings

Good distinction. I consider myself to have hoarder-like tendencies since covid. Before then I bought but kept up with the listing so that stuff went right into inventory. Since covid I am insecure about whether I'll find more inventory though obviously I do.

gurlcat

·1 year ago

1969 View listings

@soh.maryl wrote:
Don't understand the issue exactly. Dealers buy things they hope they will be able to sell.
Hoarders buy things they want to keep. They keep buying with no plans to get rid of what they buy.
Those are the actual hoarders.

There definitely are some sufferers on the tv show who talk about how much their stuff is "worth" and may even claim they intend to sell someday .... but there's no way they can remember what's at the bottom of mounds piled 8+ feet high for 10+ years. It's really sad and it's possibly the #1 "There but for the grace of God go I" mental illness in existence, to me. I can so easily understand how it could happen -maybe not the "keepsake/family heirloom" hoarders, animal hoarders, and certainly not TRASH hoarders, but the ones with dreams of selling but the lack of organizational skills and/or physical health .....oy. Too near the bone. (I'll watch the heck out of that show though ðŸ¤£)

But I agree with you about this post. Antique dealers are antique dealers.

a_c_green

·1 year ago

4132 View listings

Interesting topic... I would say that I saw signs of myself becoming a hoarder, in that I would go to estate sales, score some item(s) and think of future eBay listings. But I was buying at a faster rate than listing, and stuff that hadn't sold was filling up the basement, so I made myself stop going to those sales, cold turkey. Instead I got into buying (mostly on-line) and refurbishing smaller items that were easier to store and sell, mainly vintage bicycle parts and accessories, and that has kept things under control.

The earlier stuff involved whole new categories that I would have to educate myself about in order to list accurately, plus I'd have to invent a safe way of shipping the items, and some of them (e.g. vintage advertising clocks and signs) were huge and risky to ship. I no longer deal with oversize shipments, and I really didn't have any disasters back then either, but in hindsight, I think I must have been out of my mind. (To be fair, shipping rates on larger boxes were a lot less punitive back then.)

So I think I have found a happy medium now, with a niche selling category and items that are safe and inexpensive to ship, and I've been going for years that way.

sin-n-dex

·1 year ago

12196 View listings

@quadcitypickers wrote:
It was a bit of a wake up call when I watched the show "Hoarders" and saw how many either used to be, or currently are, eBay sellers.

Now like any "reality TV" I'm sure some stuff was exaggerated, but I do know one of the guys on the show, and it's real people in real situations (hoarding).

But it's interesting to go to live auctions and seeing these "antique dealers" spending $1,000+ every single week, and if you go into antique stores around you, you will start figuring out what booth belongs to what dealer.

However, if you visit the same store once a month roughly, and make a mental note of certain booths, or I often take picture (if they allow it), you will notice the same exact stuff sitting for over two years or even longer. Some things I found had sat so long, the ink had faded off the price tags.

Then I started realizing, if it takes you a couple years to sell MOST things, and other items sit for even more amount of time, you aren't a "dealer" or a "seller", but in fact a hoarder.

I knew one of them, that not only had a few booths in various antique malls, but had (not making this up) 13 storage sheds jammed full of stuff.

Just keeps buying and buying. But he can convince anyone he's an "antique dealer".

@quadcitypickers

I started a thread a week or so ago asking if sourcing items felt like hoarding, I made mention of the show hoarders (and I do know it's real because there's information about some of the hoarders on the show on Google if you dig around).

By definition hoarders pile up stuff they don't need and have trouble letting things go. I would say if you're an eBay seller and accumulating more and more things, you are failing in your occupation, not necessarily becoming a hoarder.

Anyway it's an interesting topic and I was interested to see that you noticed there's some degree in hoarding involved with dealing (although I think if you're trying to sell it and failing, you're not a hoarder, just an ineffective seller).

ladyindecadence

·1 year ago

8577 View listings

It depends on your business model. In the antique business you either have to flip items quickly at small profits and try to do large volume or you go for the long haul and sell items at large profits when the right buyer finally comes along. The quick flip method usually involves having very little standing inventory and the long haul usually involves having a large standing inventory. Both are legitimate business models. And as long as your business is making a profit then you are doing things right.