Yesterday there was an auction in southern Minnesota that had several things I was interested in. My plan was to leave early Thursday morning and spend the day visiting some antique shops on the way down, spend the night, go to the auction, and drive back that night.

One of the stops on my agenda for Thursday was a new antique shop that had recently opened that a friend had told me had a lot of paper items and magazines. The shop was located in an old four story brick building in the middle of downtown in a town of about 7,000 people.

When I walked it was as though I’d just walked into a Hallmark store. The entire shop was filled greeting cards and the latest “collectible” from Enesco, Hallmark, and similar companies. I was greeted by a woman behind the counter and she asked if she could help me. I said I was looking for the new antique shop in town, but that I must be in the wrong building. She replied that I was in the right place, that all the antiques were in the basement and on the third floor. and asked if I was looking for anything special. The following conversation ensued:

Customer (Me): “I’m looking primarily for old paper items - catalogs, magazines, advertising brochures, pamphlets, and other paper stuff.”

Owner (Her): “That would be on the third floor.”

Customer: “Thank you, how do I get up there?”

Owner: “You can’t go up there right now. You’ll have to wait until my assistant returns.”

Customer: “Can I go up and look?”

Owner: “No. I don’t allow anyone upstairs or in the basement unless one of us goes with to watch them.”

So I wait about twenty minutes until her trusty assistant returns. She escorts me to the third floor and follows me around looking over my shoulder. Most of what’s on the third floor is glass of all kinds, but scattered amongst the glass are piles of paper items. By the time I’ve worked my way half way around the room I have about a dozen items I’m going to buy and my escort was carrying another four or five that I was interested in, but weren’t priced. When I asked about the price on the first unpriced brochure I wanted, I was told we’d have to take it downstairs and get a price from the owner.

Now I come to roughly two dozen cardboard boxes filled with magazines and each one is marked with what magazine are inside. I quickly flip through two boxes of Saturday Evening Posts and three of Time magazine but they are fairly recent issues and contain nothing of interest. The next box is all smaller magazines and marked “Workbasket, Crisis, Minnesota Volunteer” on one end.

Next two things happen at the same time. “Crisis” is a magazine flash point and I start flipping through the magazines in the box; and my escorts cell phone rings. She starts talking on the phone and I work my way through the Workbaskets. I hear her say, “He’s still looking.” “Yes he is.” Then, just as I come to the first Crisis magazine and pull it out, she says “We’ll be right down” and turns off her phone. I’m looking at a near pristine issue of Crisis magazine from 1911 with a price of $3.50 penciled on the front cover.

As I pull out the next issue, in the same condition and with the same price on the cover, my escort says, “I have to run an errand for her, so I’m afraid you’ll have to cut it short.” I say, “Are you serious?” She was. I quickly grab the rest of the Crisis magazines, she turns out the lights, and we return to the main floor as I ask how long she expects to be gone. “Two to three hours” she responds.

She sets the few unpriced items she has on the counter, telling the owner, “These things aren’t priced. I place everything I’m carrying, except for the issues of Crisis, on the counter and the owner starts going through them and filling out a sales slip. While she does this, I look through the rest of the Crisis magazines and discover I have a full run of the second, third, and fourth years of the magazine. All in beautiful condition. Three of them have a price of $3.50 on the cover. The rest aren’t priced.

When she finishes with the priced items I put the stack of magazine on the counter and say “Three of these are priced $3.50. The rest aren’t priced, but I’m guessing they are the same.” She flips through the magazines checking for prices on each and then sets the unpriced ones to one side and says, “These aren’t priced. I can’t sell them to you. I can only sell you these three.” The conversation continues:

Customer: They are all the same magazine, from the same time frame, in the same condition, wouldn’t they be the same?”

Owner: “They aren’t priced, so I can’t sell them.”

Customer: “Could you put a price on them? I’d really like to buy them all.”

Owner: “No. I can’t sell them to you.”

Customer: “If they belong to someone else, I’d appreciate it if you’d try and contact them by phone and get a price from them. If it’s long distance, you’re welcome to use my cell phone. I’d really like them all since they are consecutive issues.”

Owner: “No, they are mine, but I’m too busy to do it right now.”

Customer: “If I came back in an hour or two, could you have a figure for me? I’d really appreciate it if you could give me a price for them all. I’d be happy to pay a reasonable price, if I could buy them all.”

Owner: “Are you deaf? You can have the three that are priced, but you can’t have the unpriced ones.”

From there the conversation deteriorated somewhat and then continued when she asked if the few things my escort had placed on the counter were unpriced also. I said yes, and she told me I couldn’t buy them either. The conversation ended with the following exchange:

Customer: “How much do I owe you?”

Owner (adding in the three priced magazines and totaling everything up): “$437.50″

Customer (as I pulled five hundred dollar bills out of my wallet and placed them on the counter): “Well then, you’ve just screwed yourself out of a $437.50 plus sale, because I’ll pass on it all.”

I picked up the five hundred dollar bills, put them back in my wallet, turned, and walked out of the store.

There are a few lessons about how to treat first time customers for anyone serious about building a business on eBay here. If you want to turn first time customers into repeat customers:

• Don’t let your terms of service make a customer feel as though you don’t trust them
• When someone is spending money to buy your product, don’t shut them off, and turn them away
• Never make a customer feel as though they aren’t important to you
• Always treat customers, both first time and repeat, with respect
• Never make a customer feel you are too busy to respond to their requests
• If you are unable to comply with a special request from a customer, take the time to explain why you can’t or won’t
• Go out of your way to make all customers feel as if they are important to you

And lastly, one more lesson. Whether you are dealing with a customer or a supplier, always keep a level head. I could have bought just the three magazines that were priced. They would have each sold for between $50 to $80 or more on eBay. And then there were the other things I left behind.

NOTE: Crisis magazine is published by the National Association For The Advancement Of Colored People. It is still published today, and early issues are eagerly sought after by collectors of Black Americana.

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