A Touch Of The Flu

Well folks, once again I've been bit by the flu bug and have not been able to do much since a day before Christmas. I am just now getting to the point where I can sit down at the computer long enough to try and catch up with things. As far as I know I didn't miss any Christmas deadlines. but for a few of you who may have experienced shipping delays, my deepest apologies. I have been very fortunate that this is a very rare experience for me and I am extremely sympathetic to those who seem to go through this every year. I should be back up to speed in a day or two, so please bear with me.

Thanks for listening.

Has It Really Been a Year!!!

Has it really been a year since we closed our last Brick and Mortar storefront. I guess it's really true. December 24 was actually our last day of business at the store. I'd be lying to you if I said that I didn't miss it, but the truth is that it was no longer economically feasible to keep going. I miss the neighborhood and the customers. I don't miss the constant and usually futile struggle to pay the bills. I have spent this entire year just trying to get life back on an even keel. Thanks to the support of my family and friends both on and off line it has been a tough but good year. I certainly want to thank all of you who have helped by purchasing my "Quality Junk" during the past year. Especially those where I made mistakes, for being understanding and allowing me to correct them. I have learned from all of you and hopefully will continue to do so. If at any time you feel I am ignoring your legitimate needs as a buyer please do not hesitate to let me know.

It is my fervent hope to continue the wonderful relationships that I have found through my participation in on line sales and to make many new ones in the coming years. As I tie up more of the loose ends from my previous business ventures, I hope to be able to bring you lots of additional "Quality Junk". I want to assure you that my objective is to create Win-Win situations in every case. A fair profit for me and a great deal for you.

Again I thank all of you for being there this year and I welcome those who visit in the future. Feel free to comment or criticize. Here's wishing you a great Holiday Season and a Happy and Prosperous New Year.

Thanks for listening.

Content updated 06/09.

Condition Codes - The Theory of Relativity

Somewhere in every store and auction listing is a word that supposedly gives the buyer an idea of the condition of the merchandise being sold. This one little word often makes or breaks the sale in the eyes of the buyer. There are three major problems with regard to this single word description that I feel warrant a little clarification. Once you realize what you are looking at you may want to look a little further into the auction before you make a decision on whether the item is worth bidding on.


The most important issue here is that all of these words are pure speculation and quite honestly Sales sites would do well to drop this code from the submission forms entirely. Having been a stamp collector and also dealt for years with trading cards, I have seen some real knock down battles over the difference between good, very good and excellent. The same goes for a lot of other speculative and subjective adjectives. Also entering into this arena of confusion is the fact that many older pieces in every category can be said to be in excellent condition(considering age and what's available on the market), if they were newer you might call them poor.

You are probably asking yourselves about now - What is this guy talking about? My point here is to encourage you to ignore the almost inevitably confusing condition code and look carefully at the picture, read the sellers description and above all when in doubt about something please ask. If you don't get an answer, pass it by. LET THE BUYER BEWARE!!!

Thanks for listening.

(Updated for relevance 06/09)

Does Time Really Fly?

Where oh where does the time go? Despite my best intentions I have not been able to get back here this weekend. I finally had to breakdown and take care of some personal issues. Like my own Christmas shopping. Now you would think that would be fairly simple for a guy who has a warehouse full of "Quality Junk". WRONG!!! My family knows what I have and if there is anything there that they wanted they would have confiscated it a long time ago. So I have to do what all the rest of you human beings have to do. SHOP. I will admit I started early for me. It isn't even Christmas eve yet. I have bought all of three things so I am way ahead of the game.
Thanks for listening. the old guy

On the Subject of Bottles

(Updated Info 06/09) Most of the info in this post are still valid. The same 15 cases of bottles are still sitting on my back patio waiting for me to do something with them. LOL

I was on my back patio today and found myself staring at 15 cases of bottles that I had acquired in a trade with another dealer about two years ago. There are well over 1000 bottles in those cases. They are mostly food, medicinal and cosmetic bottles that came out of a Los Angeles area dump years ago and had been in storage in a Hollywood garage. (The bottles in the picture are not mine). I don't have time to try and catalog them so I pull out a few interesting ones every now and then, clean them up and put them on auction. In addition to these I have about 100 soda, beer and liquor bottles left that I will also slowly introduce to the auction circuit. I have very few dairy bottles left from a large lot that I purchased several years ago, but I am keeping my eyes open for more of these at a price I can afford to buy.

During the time that I had my own brick and mortar store, I learned that bottle collectors, regardless of what type of bottles they collect, fall into three groups. There are those who are only interested in bottles from their own local area. There is another group who collect a specific type, for example dairy, liquor,etc,etc. Finally there is a small but dedicated group who collect for the shapes and designs that the mineral deposits, heat and pressure from being underground or underwater leave on the bottles. I have seen some astonishingly beautiful collections in this later category.

I have a fairly wide selection of bottles in storage from all of these areas and gradually intend to put them into my auction mix. I have a very limited knowledge of value, primarily based only on sales experience. When these bottles are posted and you happen to be interested in one or more of them, do not hesitate to email me with an offer if you think I am being ridiculous. I am not here to make anybody mad. I am here to make you happy. Also I appreciate being educated, so I don't mind trading negotiated discounts for expanding my knowledge base. Just a few thoughts to chew on.

Thanks for listening.

Poetry 101 - Circles of Life

I warned you that I would make some personal posts here from time to time. I am an occasional poet (I'll let you decide how good). This is a poem I wrote a few years ago for a friend whose cancer had just came back out of remission. She's still around and as far as I know doing OK. I just have an urge to share it with you. If you find some meaning that you enjoy feel free to copy it or share it with someone who it might help feel better.

Circles Of Life

Around each of us a circle flows.
It touches others as it grows.
All around its border line
Other circles try to dine.

Some join us in some little way
Others we see every day.
Some we never let inside
From a few we try to hide.

Constantly the circles spin
Some roll out and others in.
As life goes on some circles bust
Becoming ashes in the dust.

With a few we coincide
Then with others we collide.
Parts of our circle sacred are
In others rest some hidden scar.

Each circle must stand well alone
In order to another clone.
To want another circle”s fine
To need it though's a shaky line.

No circle should another chain
The more you touch the less you drain.
Some circles seem to come to you
Others you may need pursue.

Lose a few, win one or two
Always some will cling to you.
In every one does wisdom ride
Take what is good cast rest aside.

Fear not the day that you may die
For parts of you in others lie.

The Old Guy
23 Mar 2001

Thanks for listening.

Shipping Facts

One of the most discouraging issues for both buyers and sellers on line are Shipping and Handling charges. Since each dealer has a personal system for dealing with these charges, I am only going to tell you about my system.

I deal in relatively inexpensive items that I have priced low in hopes of selling them before the next millennium arrives. This means that many of my items cost more to ship than to buy. This is a turnoff to many buyers and I can understand it. I ask you to make your buy - no buy decisions by looking at the total price (bid amount + shipping & handling charges). This is really the price of the item to you. Unit shipping cost are integrated into your order by the Atomic Mall software, but if you are ordering either multiple units of the same listing or more than one listing at the same time please email me before paying and I will quote you a combined shipping cost that will probably save you a great deal of money. (For example, one dinner plate in most cases will cost a maximum of $8.70 to ship, but 3-4 can be shipped in a flat rate box for one low price ($10.35).)

Shipping costs depend on three factors - weight, dimensions and distance between buyer & seller. There is no way to know cost until you know these three facts. So what does the shipping cost you see in a listing really represent? It is usually the distance to the farthest shipping zone from the seller + the maximum estimated packaged weight + some percentage for a fudge factor. If you live in Maine and I live in California this works out pretty well, but if you live in Los Angeles and I live in San Diego ..... well I think you get the point. Another factor here is combined shipping. Less than 20% of my sales are single item shipments and when you bid on multiple quantities or more than one listing, no one can determine the cost until everything is packaged.

Those charges are Priority Mail postage and handling. I self insure and pay for delivery confirmation and packaging materials. In order to help you with shipping issues I have included a link to USPS here and in my links in the sidebar.

Please bear in mind that I am here to make friends not enemies. If there is a problem I will make every attempt to resolve it to your satisfaction. Any questions please comment here or drop me an e-mail. Thanks for listening.

Pick a Card, Any Card

A little background info about how I acquired all these trading cards. First of all, I should tell you that I have very few Sports cards. I never had much interest in them and at the time that I was going through my "Card Phase", there were a hundred Sports card dealers for every dealer offering non-sports. (Of course they were all making more money than I was, but I wanted to stand out from the crowd.)
As I recall the "Card Phase" started right after the "Tin Sign Phase" ended. I was searching for something new to sell at our local swap meet and I became friends with several sports cards dealers who were selling there. They had wholesale access to non-sports because of the huge volumes of sports cards they were buying. One of them agreed to buy the non-sports for me , but in return I had to agree to buy all of the non-sports that he acquired in bulk trades and buys on the secondary market. This turned out to be a win-win for both of us and I was off and running.

For about a year, I continued buying non-sports cards and on occasion selling them at the swap meet. When I "retired" from swap meeting and moved into the antique mall, I simply "folded" my cards and put most of them in storage, like so many other things that I tried to get rich on over the years.

I still have many sets and chase cards (mostly from the 1990's) that I am slowly putting on sale as I find the time. I should mention that I also have some tobacco cards which I will eventually be adding to the "Quality Junk" that I have in my Atomic Mall Store.
Like most of my merchandise, I offer these trading cards well below current retail guesstimated prices. While I am no longer on top of pricing on these cards, I'm a fairly certain that I am offering some very good deals. Any questions feel free to email me.

Bears,Bears,Bears and their Friends

Holy Cow, where did all those bears come from? This story goes all the way back to my days as a swap meet addict. One day at the swap meet here in San Diego I set up close to the biggest seller of used bears and other animals I had ever seen. We started setting up next to each other and later when I stopped swap meeting and went into a large Antique Mall with my merchandise I would put her bears in the mall during the week and she would take them out to the meet on weekends. Eventually I opened a small store close to the Mall for the bears. At some point I decided to start buying new bears to complement her secondary market inventory. They didn't sell very well but I just kept buying them anyway. For about three years I bought everything "stuffed" that Russ Berrie, Ganz, and Dakin/Applause had to offer. I still have many of these and in general they are all like new. I am trying to reduce my inventory without giving them away and on average I sell them for about 65% of original retail. Most of these are no longer on the market and are definitely collectible.

GET 'EM WHILE THEY'RE HERE FOLKS!!

WHEN THEY'RE GONE THEY'RE GONE!!

Stuffed Animals at Quality Junk in the Atomic Mall

A Word About Dinnerware

A quick cruise through My listings will show that one of areas that I am really heavy in is Dinnerware, pottery in particular. Originally, I acquired 90% of what you are currently seeing when a replacement china dealer here in San Diego went into retirement and I purchased his inventory. I still have the much of that purchase and have been slowly adding pieces to my listings. We have to thank Atomic Mall for not charging listing fees or I would not be able to offer most of these pieces to you.

I have added a link to Replacements, Ltd in my sidebar. I have found them to be the best source for finding patterns and reference prices for most dinnerware. In general, I offer my dinnerware at around 65% of their prices, but they of course have a much larger selection. I commend them for the excellent job they are doing.

If you have questions, I recommend you email your question to me. My address is stepteddy1@sbcglobal.net

Begin at the Beginning!!

GENERAL INFO

Just a few words about me and my auctions. I am a retired U.S. Navy Master Chief Petty Officer. After serving 30 years on active duty I retired in 1988. Since then I have been involved in all sorts of things related to the Antique and Collectible business. For about ten years I was a professional swap meet dealer. During that period I sold everything from silk flowers to trading cards. After losing money for all that time (but still having fun), I decided to take a booth in a large antique mall. After about two years of this. I opened my own store in downtown San Diego and for a couple of years I had the largest selection of new and used stuffed animals in town. About this time the owners of the Antique Mall approached me and asked me to accept a position as the assistant manager of the mall. I closed my store and moved back into the mall as a dealer employee. I eventually became the manager for about a year prior to the mall closing due to development around us. When the Mall closed I bought out many of the dealers and opened my own store in another Antique district. After about two years of trying to fight off the wolves and make a go of it, I closed the doors. Since then I have been selling exclusively on line. I started on Yahoo Auctions, moved to Blujay when they closed and finally landed on Atomic Mall. (I hope this will be a permanent home as I find it to be the best site I have ever seen for my purposes.) Since my retirement I have accumulated a large inventory spanning a wide variety of merchandise and am now trying to sell it off a little at a time.

MY POLICIES -

• I try deal with each customer individually
  
  
• I try to describe each item accurately
  
  
• I never give negative feedback and I try to resolve all problems in the buyers favor
  
  
• I am building a network of customers and friends.
  
  
  

Just a test folks

I just want to see if this thing even works. I'm certainly having a lot of problems getting started. I intend to use this blog as a means of letting the good folks who buy from me know what's going on. If I can ever figure it out it will also become a means of getting feedback from all of you that may improve my service to you.