It used to be that you could only buy and sell antiques in specialist locations, putting potential sellers at a distinct disadvantage if their items didn’t reach the right audience. With the rise of online antique selling platforms, sellers can reach potential buyers who would have previously been out of their reach.
As with all online platforms, it’s important to recognise that there are some excellent antique selling platforms and others that don’t afford sellers the same benefits or provide a safe buying experience for customers. The Decorative Collective and The Hoarde have worked hard to become marketplace leaders, proving time and again that global digital selling is the future for antiques.
With that in mind, here are 5 reasons why you should sell antiques online.
1. Going Global
For an antiques business that might previously have existed in a specific location, going online can open up a literal world of opportunities. If you’re looking for reasons to sell antiques online, start with the fact that your antiques will reach a global audience 24 hours a day and 365 days of the year. While you might have been restricted both geographically and by the impossibility of selling 24/7 in person, antique selling platforms remove those restrictions and leave you with a global range of buyers and antiques lovers.
2. Inexpensive Entry
One of the major antique marketplace benefits often cited by small antiques dealers is that the act of setting up online on one of the antiques marketplaces is comparatively cheap and therefore offers economical entry into the industry. If you’re a small business looking to expand or you have new products which you want to test with a global audience, it doesn’t cost too much to get into view of buyers who may be interested. For example, while antique marketplace memberships come with either a membership fee or commission fee on sales, these are low costs in comparison to the overheads associated with running antiques premises and customer-facing shops.
3. Step into the Digital Age
Quite simply, if your antiques business doesn’t move into the digital age, it’s going to get left behind. While many antiques businesses are traditionally bricks and mortar shops, more and more dealers are recognising antique marketplace benefits and working to put at least some of their collections online. Dealers currently have the opportunity to get ahead of some competitors by taking steps to enter the digital age and sell antiques online via a safe and secure platform.
4. Digital Skills Development
An issue that some business owners raise is that they simply don’t know how to sell antique items online. Many dealers understand the benefits of selling online but the prospect of dealing with website designs and payment platforms fills them with dread. After all, they do what they do for the love of antiques and not the opportunity to be frustrated by computers every day. Antique selling platforms remove any need for initial digital skills because they’re already established and provide a straightforward platform for dealers to use. At the same time, however, the dealer is learning new digital marketing skills from the very act of using the online marketplace such as creating attractive product listings that include content and photography. Figuring how what works when selling online and what doesn’t garner the same results is excellent experience for future sales prospects.
5. Increase Sales Channels
Think of online antique marketplaces as the ultimate new sales channel for your antiques business. Antique marketplace memberships will help to diversify your sales across another channel and will reduce your reliance on other channels your business may have such as shops, market stalls and your own website. In the long term, this represents an excellent strategy and moving to antique selling platforms online now will stand you in good stead later down the line.
Why you should list your antiques on our marketplace?
Selling with The Hoarde is designed to be as simple and straightforward as possible. Instead of charging commission on sales, we offer antique marketplace memberships which ensure dealers have fair access to the platform whilst ensuring that buyers are purchasing from reliable and honest sellers.
All members have 24-hour access to manage their section of The Hoarde website personally. This not only allows each member to demonstrate their individual style to come through on their page, but it also ensures they can access the site when it suits them. For business owners running a bricks and mortar site during the day, this is often invaluable. The process works simply by uploading images and details of items and handling any enquiries sent via the site’s in-built forms. Members are also able to post their own blogs on the site to drive traffic to their business.
If you’ve been pondering how to sell antique items online, The Hoarde is the right place for you!
