I sell everything eventually and the beauty of what I sell is, it isn’t perishable. If I don’t sell it in a week, it won’t go bad or out of style- it’s already 50 to 200 years old. It just gets more antiquey (is that a word?).

Sometimes, if the item has a good easily searched for name or description (Tiffany, gold, diamond, etc.), I’ll post it on eBay. It has to be findable because of all the millions of items on eBay. Otherwise, it’ll just get lost.

eBay offers a service where they’ll notify you if something gets posted for sale. It’s a great service. You don’t have to be searching constantly, they’ll send you an email notifying you.

I recently listed a pair of Sheffield tureens made by a well-known manufacturer in the early 1800’s. So, anyone wanting a pair of tureens will get an email in a few hours of the posting. I bought them at the Goodwill for $13 for the pair (how they ended up here in Somerville is a mystery to me).

I’ll start the items on eBay as an auction. If it doesn’t sell after a 5-day auction, I’ll relist it as a buy it now with a 10% discount and a make-me-an-offer listing. If I get no offers, I send it to auction at Everything But The House. If it is a karat gold item, I usually send it off to the refiner and be done with it. Sometimes if it doesn’t pass muster at eBay, I’ll send stuff off to a consignment shop. It all depends on the item.

I don’t do this one at a time, I’ll wait until I get a few boxes of stuff before I bring them to auction or consignment. So, I sell about 50% of the things I originally list on eBay, which charges the least (13%) of any auction, but you have to do all the work. Consignment is 50%, eBay is 40%. If it’s too beat-up for me to sell, I’ll donate it to a local second-hand chain (Savers) where I get a 30% coupon to buy more stuff with. It’s a wicked circle.

Bob Adams has been in Somerville 27 years but was a frequent visitor prior to moving here. He worked as a jeweler in a few shops in his younger years, owned his own shop for a bit, sold real estate for 10 years and is always hunting for his next treasure. He has been an antique and collectibles dealer for 30 years. He can be reached at 27winter@gmail.com. Visit his website at www.Somerville.com.