Ebay: The Death of Antique Stores?

[SavageTaker]

Last week in my marketing class my teacher showed us a video about Ebay in the UK and how popular using Ebay has become over there. People who had lost their jobs (it wasn’t only people who had lost their jobs but the majority of the people featured did) turned to Ebay and started selling items on it and a lot of them actually became pretty successful doing that. Ebay basically became their only source of income. Anyways, I noticed that a lot of the items they sold weren’t just any items. A lot of them were actually antique items which lead to the narrator asking a question which I thought was pretty interesting and as a result I decided to make a thread about it and see your thoughts.

The question was, Is Ebay the death of antique stores?

I thought it was an interesting question but I really don’t think that it will kill the antique stores. A lot of people still don’t use the internet so if they want to buy something that is considered antique then they’ll probably go to an actual store. Also, there is still a lot of people that still don’t trust Ebay because of whatever their reasons may be, so they too would probably just go to an actual store.

If Ebay does anything to Antique stores, it’s probably just decrease their profits since on Ebay people can find basically anything (Someone actually sold their loyalty to the Yankees a couple of years ago and the winning bid would choose what team they liked, someone actually ended up paying, can you believe that!?) that is antique and at times those items are much cheaper than actual antique stores.

So, I don’t think Ebay is the death of antique stores because there are still people without internet and because some of the ones that do might not trust Ebay.

What are your thoughts? Is Ebay the death of Antique Stores or Not?

 

[FromTheSouth]

Ebay has been a blessing for antique stores. Where do you think people get their merchandise? They take a trip to the antique store, gather up some inventory that they know is valuable, picture and post it. All of a sudden, you have a business.

I have a friend who makes six figures every year on eBay. So does her mother. They raid antique stores and Goodwill stores, find things in new condition that are underpriced and their very loyal clientele eats it up.

I don't understand how eBay could be the death of antique stores. I think that eBay sellers and antique stores work pretty well together. It takes the store's inventory and opens it up to a world wide base of customers instead of only local buyers. If no one in town wants that cuckoo clock, maybe someone is Amsterdam will.