Jared Says for March

I want to thank the many people who have visited my web site, especially those who made inquiries into my sale items. This begins my second month, but unfortunately I have few new items to sell at present,  as buying is still slow here in the northeast.

In this month's column I will discuss some of my buying experiences outside of flea markets and yard sales.

I attend a weekly "country" auction where box lots sometimes reveal treasures. For paper items I make contact with the people who clean out houses as they usually do not want to handle paper.

Advertising has given limited success. Regular daily newspaper ads have been useless,  while ads in the free weekly papers have led to surprising results. I ran one of these for a two week period after the holidays and received 37 calls, half of which resulted in nice buys. Unfortunately, that newspaper has gone out of business and I have not found one as good, yet.

Persistence is probably one of the best buying methods. Remind your friends and acquaintances about what you do in hope that they will make the referral to you when they hear of a house being cleaned out. Always carry business cards or a want list of preferred items. I have not gone to the extreme of ringing doorbells yet, but I do know of people who do with some success.

Additional avenues to buying opportunities include contacting estate lawyers, volunteering at book sales or fairs to make yourself and your services known.

There is no doubt that finding quality paper and memorabilia is a modern day treasure hunt.