I had someone tell me the other day that they had already called their unusually generous mother-in-law and told her to expect just one present this year.  I told her that if it she was only going to give one gift and she wanted to spend less money than at the mall, she might visit an antique and collectible mall instead of the traditional malls that are usually packed around this time of year.

Here are a few good reasons for shopping at antique and collectible malls instead of traditional malls this year:

One person recently wrote me about how EBay “suspended” their selling account because their DSR rating was low.  I did some research and DSR stands for Detailed Seller Rating, in which the buyer rates the seller on; item as described, communication, shipping and handling fees and shipping time.  If any of your averages in one of those categories falls under 4.3 EBay within a 30 day period, EBay will not allow you to sell on their site.  If you don’t have sales within the past 30 days, they revert back to the average of the past twelve months.  This means that if one buyer is vindictive they can ruin your chances to sell for at least a one month period, which is what happened to the person writing.

The seller had been in good standing for over seven years and very positive reviews for shipping and handling.  Which would be understandable since this year, the seller had been offering products with free shipping.  However, one vindictive buyer thought that shipping took a little too long and therefore scored the seller so low that their DSR for shipping time plummeted to 3.9. The seller now cannot list anything on EBay until the DSR improves.  The question then becomes, how can a seller improve their DSR if they cannot sell on EBay?  The answer is they can’t.

Like a hangover, the only thing that will cure a bad DSR average is time.  The seller has to wait until their average goes over 4.3 for a given 12 month period.  EBay however says that this is not a suspension of the seller’s account and in a way they are correct.  They are not suspending the seller from buying on their site; they are just taking away their right to sell.  This of course is good for EBay but bad for the seller.  Many long time EBay sellers, especially power sellers frustrated with the increasing fees and ridiculous policies have been jumping ship and going with alternative selling sites or opening their own websites.

Dumb Mikey 2008

It’s late at night and Mikey and his girlfriend are driving home from a party with a couple of open Budweisers when they spot a police road block.  “It’s a police road block,” says his buddy but Mikey is quick thinking.  He stops the car and tells his buddy, “quickly, finish up your beer, then peel off the label and place on your forehead.”  “What for?” says his buddy and Mikey tells him to be quite and just let him do the talking.  They finished their beers and continued driving up to the checkpoint.  The officer leans in the window and looks at Mikey and the label that’s plastered on his forehead and asks, “You guys been drinking tonight?”  To which Mikey proudly answers, “No siree, we’re on the patch.”

Honus Wagner Baseball Card Auction

This past week a rare T206 Honus Wagner baseball card sold for a record price of$791,000 at a Philip Weiss Auction.  The card, which is only one of handful that have survived, was released in the early 1900’s by the American Tobacco Company and had been in with the same family since it had been purchased originally.  These Honus Wagner baseball cards caused a bit of a controversy when they were released between 1909 and 1911 because Wagner was a non-smoker.