Sometimes Selling Turns A Fun Hobby into a JOB

Came across this postcard in my eBay surfing. The seller didn't include any info, and since the seller has had items before from my local area, I held a small hope that it was a Lima Ohio business. I googled Kahn's Sons Daily Market, which was all the photo told me. But that was more than enough.


I very quickly found a wikipedia page telling me Kahn's was a Cincinnati meat company started in 1883.


If the ebay seller had included that info, would the postcard have sold for more money? I don't know. I know some sellers are successful, and pleased with their sales without spending much time on research, with ease and speed of getting a greater quantity of listings up making up for lost bids that research may have furthered. But it just seems to me that having a card like that, and not spending the minute it took to find out more info, is a sad waste in other ways, not just that the info might help find a higher-bidder.


Historically, most antiques dealers start out as collectors. For me, a huge part of the fun of the hobby is learning new things, and real photo postcards are especially educational. And these days with so much info available onlline, it's easier than ever to do a little research.


I understand, though, that with the good comes the bad, meaning in this case the ease of using the internet allows us to sell, but becoming sellers takes away some/lots of the hobby-ness, and turns it into work, where turn-and-burn becomes the way things get done. Sigh...


About E. KAHN'S SONS DAILY MARKET (via http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kahn's)

Originally from Alberschweiler in Bavaria, Germany, 45 year old Elias Kahn immigrated to Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, in 1880 with his wife and nine children.

Cincinnati, also known as "Porkopolis", had previously peaked as a leader in pork-packing. Once a dominant industry from the pre-Civil War era, the half-million hogs that were corraled through the city's streets had faded by the mid 19th century.

Nevertheless, pork was still a big industry in Cincinnati when the E. Kahn's Sons Company was started in 1883. The original location for the meat market was on the city's Central Avenue.

When Elias Kahn died in 1899, his four sons (Albert, Eugene, Louis, Nathan) and daughter (Matilda) took over the family business where it continued to expand.

Kahn's quality and mildly seasoned meats resulted in regional demand, as the business continued to thrive for over 80 years.

When the last of the Kahn brothers died in 1948, Matilda's son, Milton Schloss, became the company's president.

In 1966, the company was sold to Consolidated Foods Corporation, which became Sara Lee.

TROTS: Looking For Sellers In All The Wrong Places - Part 2

Yesterday I posted about a flaky sales pitch I received (you can read that post here.)

Today Bob emailed with an apology. I will post part of it below. I am only posting part because I don't want you, dear readers, to think I am suggesting that you try his selling site. That decision is on you.

I would like to remind us all of the old adages "You only get one chance to make a first impression.", and, as I wrote, "Honesty is the best policy".

Conveniently, today's blog post by the wise and sage Seth Godin* is titled THE HONEST BROKER. has the perfect quote:

"Earning the position of the honest broker is time-consuming and expensive. Losing it takes just a moment."

____________________________________

Bob the pitchman writes:

Marianne,

I am very sorry that this email created the ire in you that it did.  Truly, I apologize and agree with you.  Below I'll tell you what Ubokia is and what we do - which of course we believe has great value to people like you, but first a bit of explanation.

We have had real difficulty getting our message out because, as you likely know, eBay and others have made it nearly impossible to get personally communicate with their sellers, as obviously, they want their sellers selling on their site only.  We don't blame them, but it is not terribly fair to the sellers, who simply want to sell on line.  Thus, we have tried different things to get sellers attention.  Obviously, this was the wrong message for you, and again, my apologies.  However, since you were kind enough to take the time to respond, let me tell you what Ubokia is - not that I'm likely to change your mind.  If you went to the site, you will find that we are a "Want centric" model as opposed to the pure sell centric model.

In general, people are loving our WANT model.  It just makes so much sense.

(He goes on to explain some of how his site works.)
_______________________________________________


Now, really, if people were "loving" his "want model" so darn much already, why didn't he lead with that instead of trying to suck me in with some smarmy lie about having clients who need antiques and could I help him out with that?

As the kids text,  FTW and SMH (translation: bleep_the_what and shaking_my_head).

So, as Paul Harvey used to say, now you know "The Rest Of The Story" (TROTS).

THE END.

More words to describe Seth Godin:

	astute, aware, careful, clever, contemplative, cunning, discerning, educated, enlightened, experienced, foresighted, informed, insightful, intelligent, intuitive, judicious, knowing, knowledgeable, learned, perceptive, reflective, sagacious, sapient, scholarly, sensible, sharp, shrewd, smart, sound, thoughtful, understanding

Ms. Dow Antiques Blog 'Tique Talk is published by msdowantiques.com

Looking For Sellers - In All The Wrong Places

So -- I get this email tonight -- which I will post, with my reply below. Anyone else getting this same pitch? It bugged me so much I couldn't just delete it, figured I'd just put it out there.

Here's "The Pitch" Email:

On Fri, Jan 27, 2012 at 9:30 PM, <bob.currie@ubokia.com> wrote:

 From: bob.currie@ubokia.com

Hi Marianne,

My name is Bob, with Ubokia.com.

I am looking for a seller to partner with. I have a bunch of buyers looking for antiques and I need someone who can sell to them. Is that something you could help us with?

Thanks,

Bob
925.380.6140 office
925-360-8000 cell
bob.currie@ubokia.com

 Please visit our web site at: http://www.everyplaceisell.com/

 Thank you for using Every Place I Sell

My response:

 

To 'Bob with Ubokia' --

Your pitch is very transparent: you're looking for vendors to sign up with ubokia. Why not just be upfront and say you are trying to get a new site going and looking for vintage dealers. Honesty is the best policy. Then tell me why you're a better solution than the dozens of others out there.


Why do you have a signature link to the Everyplaceisell home page? Are you connected with the Steiners and auctionbytes.com? if not, I doubt they will appreciate your inference of such.

Besides, that link doesn't take me to anything about ubokia. You should simply link to ubokia.com or to your actual everyplaceisell profile page -- if you have one -- It's all very fishy + snaky = spammy.

If you'd actually read my blog you'd see that I have my own websites for selling.

This is NOT the way to get my business.

-------------------

(signed) Marianne Dow

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