One interesting tip was that everyone needed to get the word out that antiques and collectibles were much more affordable than going to Ikea. Several people said that younger people seem to have the idea that antiques/collectibles are too expensive, when in reality these items can be much more affordable than buying new..

There was some very animated discussion as to whether eBay or anyone in the antiques industry needed to even focus on younger buyers. There are lots of 40-60 year olds in the market and some people felt it would be better to focus on that group. .

There was also an animated discussion on exactly what was an antique and since one of those attending was an antique dealer from England, it quickly became apparent that there was no one definition that could make everyone happy..

Several people wondered if there was some way eBay could help drive buyers to areas of antiques and collectibles to which no keywords might be associated. Between 80 and 85 percent of eBay users search by keyword. But, if you are selling an oak chair with no name associated with it, how many people would think to search for “oak chair?” Several people thought perhaps marketing various types of antiques/collectibles on eBay’s homepage might drive traffic. .

The number of fakes and reproductions being sold on eBay was also discussed, although it was pointed out that brick and mortar antique shops have their fair share of bogus items. The antiques category manager encouraged everyone who saw a fake on eBay to report it using the “report” feature on the listing site. Several people expressed their unhappiness with how the report feature worked as they felt that many complaints fell through the cracks or that users just came back with the same item under a different user name. There were a few reports however of instances in which users had successfully gotten unscrupulous users off the site. .

If you have thoughts or ideas on these issues, please feel free to post them here!