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Movie Profiles & Premiums
Volume 4, Number 1. January 15, 2006
This time around the Guide is for a grouping of Theatre programs from the early 1920's that I'll actually be placing on eBay at auction for the first time today...so they will all still be available for sale by the time that you read this. I approached this guide slightly differently, as I thought even more important than showing images of all of the programs (which there are) was detailing which movies would be showing on a day by day basis at this particular theatre (The Colonial Theatre in Monrovia, CA). I think it provides an interesting picture back to this time in the early 1920's, especially since many of the programs directly follow each other week to week. These are for the most part higher-grade and will be available at auction on eBay beginning tonight, January 16 around 10 pm EST running for for one week until next Monday, January 23. Go here to view all eBay Auctions I made the decision to bring back this newsletter on a regular basis after I was doing some work on the things-and-other-stuff.com site about a month and a half ago and lo and behold discovered that there was no Mary Pickford profile on the site. Impossible, I thought, what a colossal oversight, especially when we have some of the more obscure and lesser known silent stars included here. Then I looked a little deeper, and holy cow, there was no Greta Garbo either! This really surprised me as well, as things-and-other-stuff.com includes just over 100 different movie profiles right now featuring stars from the earliest days of the silents through the 1950's with Mary Pickford becoming number 102 last month (by my quick count taken just now--I could be one or two off). This doesn't even include related articles and reviews, just the straight profiles. Well now, Greta Garbo becomes number 103 this month, and I had noted a few other notables who were MIA which we hope to cover in the coming months. If you have a favorite who's missing from the site, feel free to write me at things@things-and-other-stuff.com and I'll put in a request to one of our regular writers if I think it sounds like a good fit. Here is what's new on the site, basically the meat of this issue available for consumption on the things-and-other-stuff.com site:
Greta Garbo in The Silent
Collection by Tammy Stone I've also worked some more on Cliff's DVD List deleting some of the pages and turning it into Cliff's Classic DVD List. The list now only includes those movies that I own on DVD issued through the year 1959. In my mind it's pretty messy right now, which means I'll be obsessively updating it in the coming months, especially fine-tuning my comments and observations as well as the lay-outs (I have a plan!). Don't be alarmed if there's a significant change to the things-and-other-stuff.com home page sometime in the next few weeks. I've been floating a few ideas in my head and have pretty much committed myself to a make-over, I just haven't decided exactly how I'd like it to appear. In buying and selling news, Auctionbytes reported this week that the oldest eBay drop-off store in Danbury CT had closed. I have to say this does not surprise me at all, basically for the exact reasons that Auctionbytes gives in their article. I've always been suspicious in a way of actual collectibles shops, as having dealt for a long time I have never been able to see how you can comfortably cover rent from your profits and then go on buying and selling plus making enough money to live reasonably. The drop-off store struck me as a terrible idea the first time I saw one for the same reason, only magnified. How do you live on the profits after you pay your rent (and employees) when now you're only receiving a commission and not even the full profit on your goods? You can't and I'm surprised they've lasted this long. The entire point of the drop-off store concept requires an actual storefront, so my prediction is that the only drop-off stores to survive the next couple of years will be those conducted in pre-existing storefronts operated by small businesses. Auctionbytes notes that drop-off store AuctionDrop does something like this in a national deal with UPS. Obviously I don't know the particulars of this deal and am really not in a qualified position to comment on this at all, but I have my doubts about its overall potential. I would assume UPS wants to see enough of a cut to make this an uncomfortable relationship. If not, then great for all parties, it could work. The same article mentions a lot about venture capitalism and some of the more well-known drop-off stores, which sounds a lot like smoke and mirrors before an eventual flame-up to me. I just really don't see there being enough money to be made to include any kind of middle man in a resale/consignment business, including one as simple as a landlord. If you take in consignments from a pre-existing antiques shop or booth, that had already been getting by, then great, that's an extra source of income that will work out fine for you. Anything else, well, I think is doomed. Just my opinion. If you follow my blog, then you read last week about my trying out a somewhat new eBay tool called eBay File Exchange. I used it in my scramble to upgrade my shipping fees due to the recent USPS hike in fees, but the File Exchange tool can also be used to upgrade just about any setting on your eBay listings in bulk. I'd give it a qualified B+ as I used it quite a bit in a 72-hour window and my only reservations would be the lack of in-depth knowledge that eBay Support has, but then again this is understandable since it is new. (I had a half hour chat session that went nowhere in the end because they did not have answers for me). If you do use eBay File Exchange I want to warn you that you should try your updates on one or two test listings first before trying to change hundreds at a time (which you can do!). I had to tinker with some things and get a little creative to get the exact changes that I wanted, but in the end it helped me bulk update my shipping fees in the eBay checkout area although I've been changing the body of my listings one at a time through Turbo Lister. I do think you can access the body of your listing with File Exchange, but that was a little too daring and daunting for me to attempt. I believe that if you know what you're doing an individual could create his own custom bulk-listing tool from eBay File Exchange, and do so with a minimal amount of technical knowledge. Even if you could care less about my magazine collecting web site, I do want to alert you that I'll be updating the Photoplay Magazine Checklist sometime this week because that page definitely has crossover appeal. What I'm trying to do is list every issue from 1912 through 1959 with whoever is pictured on the cover. Big gaps in the beginning, but month by month it's filling itself in. If I can get that project close to complete I may try and work on another early movie magazine afterwards. Please remember that even though my eBay Store is now mostly vintage magazines that I do still have a Movie Collectibles category set aside which I am trying to bulk up a little each week. If you'd like timely posts on what I'm listing for sale, site updates, and other notes please check out the blog. I've gotten in the habit of posting over there with every move I make. RSS feeds are available for the blog and eBay store listings. Just save the addresses to your Blog Reader. If you don't have a reader the one that I'm using is BlogExpress, which is a free download. Thanks a lot, I hope that enjoyed our regular
return with this issue. The next issue is scheduled for February 15, 'til
then, take care!
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