Difference between an antique picker and an antique dealer?

As a fan of the show American Pickers I've always been a little confused on the difference between pickers and dealers since Mike and Frank both source their items and own a retail shop(s) to sell their finds.

I found the below video on YouTube that seems to explain the difference pretty well.



With the rise of eBay it seems that the two roles have kind of merged together with more pickers now selling their acquisitions themselves instead of turning to a retail dealer with a storefront to sell them for them.

Seems that the market has gotten more efficient in this regard and the barriers to entry into the antique marketplace have gotten far lower. Lots of connections with retail dealers and auctioneers, while still important, are no longer the be all, end all for those in this profession.

Any thoughts?

 

I liked him and it as his info seems pretty straightforward to me.

 

Used to be a Picker would find things and sell them to a Dealer cheap so that a Dealer could make some money too. Pickers would go house to farm looking for things. I used to be a Picker in the 60's and 70's. I also sold my items for a good profit for myself.

 

The lines have blurred. I agree with fenton's traditional definition above. Pickers traditionally were out beating the bushes so that the dealers didn't have to as much. Relationships were cultivated and there was always some room left for the dealer to make a profit. For many, the picking is the fun part and you no longer need to have the dealer connections to sell things fairly quickly.

Many pickers have become dealers. My long time picker connection has delved into the retail market. This is something he said he would never do but the downward shift in the market has meant that there is less room for profit these days. He has needed to sell retail to maintain his margins. Also, dealers stopped coming to him as they needed to begin to source things cheaper to maintain their profit margins as well.

I used to pay a lot of money for good quality antiques that I had ready buyers for at higher prices. I bought from pickers but also bought a lot from other dealers in retail settings. These days, I hardly pay much for anything and rarely buy quality antiques. The retail buyers/collectors just are not there any more to support this business model for me any longer.

 

I used to be a collector/buyer ...now I have too much stuff I used to be a "dealer"/seller.(Ebay) ..but there seems to be no more collectors/buyers

So now..what am I ? a stupid person with very crowded rooms

 

Though here's a fence around my two main storage units.........
I still get through to bring in more.

 

There are still just pickers and just dealers.
Dealers do go to the auctions though.

Im dealer and a semi-picker. I LOOOOOVE to pick. Getting dirty, climbing through things... I just dont have good resources yet and am still learning the art of haggling (but then again, Im notoriously cheap )
"Oh, $50? Lets try $5"
Ha, jk, not that cheap. Okay, well, maybe at auction

There are some people who are the best pickers out there, but when it comes to switching hats to dealer they just cant seem to do it.
Ive seen the same thing with dealers trying to be pickers.

I love and enjoy all aspects of this world

 

Well said all!

 

IMO it seems that today there are more dealers that are willing to go out there at the auction, flea market, or yard sale and get dirty. The probably have to do this to keep their business model relevant.

I don't understand why pickers today would sell to a dealer at wholesale level, leaving a lot of meat on the bone, when they could sell closer to retail online through eBay or other venues.

 

Fast nickel vs, slow dime !
If you're a true picker......you don't keep the stuff to sell to the public....you turn it over quick to your dealers....and off you go to get some more !

 

But for experienced pickers is this arrangement really economically viable anymore? If the picker knows what it is and what is worth and where they could potentially sell the item; why would he/she allow a third party (dealer) to take most of the profit when the picker did most of the work? I'm a coin collector and I visit a lot of brick and mortar coin shops and see people selling their collections to dealers, most of the time they leave so much money on the table that they can only be doing it out of ignorance.

 

why would he/she allow a third party (dealer) to take most of the profit when the picker did most of the work?

That statement suggests that the dealer does very little work for most of the profit, and the picker doesn't make enough money on his sale to make it worth his while.

I find that to be erroneous ...

 

Just saying it how I see it, eBay and other online platforms have changed the calculus of the entire antiques and collectables market.

Another rant of mine: Auction houses that charge 40+ percent commission (sellers fees & buyers premiums) for realized prices that aren't much better than eBay (13% commission) and Craigslist (0% commission). Sure alternatives to auction houses may be a bit more work for the seller but the increased margins seem to be well worth it.

 

Why?

What's changed in the past 10+ years?

 

A lot of pickers I know don't want to have to resell individually due to time or boredom.
They like the find and haggle to buy, not sell.

Dealers do a lot of work. I know I do.
I have to move things, clean things, fix things, stage my booth, advertise for customers..
Dealers have more customer relations to deal with than pickers.
Some people don't like that aspect.

Selling online is not easy peasy either. You have to clean it, take pictures, take measurements, create item descriptions, figure shipping, pack and ship.. or meet up with possible weird people.

Bringing it straight auction you might do a little clean up and staging, but then you sit back and let the company bring in the customers and sell it for you, then pick up your check and go back picking.

 

I do understand that dealers do work hard for their $$$$ and there is some value added for expert marketing of the items. However in my mind the person who plucked the quality antique or collectable from the auction, estate sale, yard sale, flea market, or other venue is creating most of the value and should get the largest cut of the profit. That is not the case in my (albeit limited) experience in antiques. In coin collecting it is widely accepted on collector forums that it is best to bypass the retailer (dealer) if you want to get a fair price.

 

Coin collecting and a few other niches are a different beast.

 

Many dealers end up with huge stocks and lousy cash flow. People who move Stuff quickly, for a decent profit, have far better cash flow. Holding massive stocks of sometimes overvalued items isn't good business.

 

I am not entirely sure. The trend is toward de-cluttering and for things to have purpose. Having a collection of 20-30--100 things that need dusting and clutter up the house is not as desirable as it one was. There are a lot of reproductions and things ready made to look old these days. Why buy something old when you can buys something with the look and more ready made curated charm for less money? The look has become more important than the provenance. People also may not have as much disposable income as they once had. Buying a cheaper old looking shabby painted used furniture piece becomes more economically feasible than a $600.00 nice piece of furniture.

A lot of this gets spoon-fed to consumers. Often, they are following trends and buying what their neighbor wants and purports to like. For whatever reason, the powers that be in the decorating world have decreed that buying real antiques is not important. They are dependent on creating demand for new consumable goods. There is little in it for them to promote something that supports small businesses selling second hand merchandise. Promoting new merchandise vendors to the mass market via TV shows and glossy magazines is much more profitable.

Looking back over this, maybe I do know what has happened after all.

 

Brad's words... "The look has become more important than the provenance."

Agree, agree, agree.