- Buy artifacts you like too much to sell. Choose quality over quantity.
- Write detailed descriptions and take great photos of your finds. Price them realistically.
- Forget old style local auctions and sell multi-channel yourself: Ebay, Kijiji, Etsy, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram, etc.
- Become a shipping guru, build you own shipping rate list. Someone in Mongolia is ready to kill for your Art deco lamp.
- Keep your inventory tight. A small rusty part can fire up a $20 000 muscle car again.
- Hunt for new finds everywhere and don't be shy to become friends with scrap dealers and garbage men. They are often as knowledgeable as your local antiques dealer.
- Keep a high quality 5% of everything you salvage. When it doesn't fit in a room anymore, start selling that collection and begin another one.
- Don't accumulate, you'll always find cooler treasures. Work hard on finding the right buyers to preserve them.
- Share each treasure you find with your kids and show them how they work. It helps develop their taste and skills.
- One day, your very resourceful teen will try #1 without asking. Don't we love entrepreneurship?
Jean A Sarrazin, Professional Picker and President of Veteris Collection Inc.