First and foremost I would like to say hello to the OG community. I have been a member of the site for a couple weeks now, and i am really enjoying it. Thank you for putting such an awesome site together!!
I am writing this letter to enlighten everyone on who I am and how my business operates. As many of you may know, i have recently popped up in the petroliana advertising business not too long ago. At this time i would like to share with you how i got started in all of this and the long road i have been down to get where i am today. Hopefully in this letter i will have the answers to many of the controversial issues that people have with me and earn the respect from those who have been against me.
My name is Anthony. I am 22 years old and have a bachelors degree in international business. About a year ago I started buying and selling antiques because i was always a fan of the TV shows and i thought it was a cool hobby and a way to make a few bucks. Also i had the same lightbulb thought that most people in this business had "Hey if these guys can do it, then so can I". I was also motivated in wanting to do something on my own because i was tired of making other people money. Believe it or not i started my business with $250 and with a lot of mistakes, wins, losses, stress, time, and hard work i have made it to where i am now.
I bought my first sign in August of 2012. Something clicked, and i fell in love and developed a passion for the advertising part of the antique market. I was buying sign after sign. Il admit that its an addiction, and i think most of you will agree with me that its a slight high when you get your hands on a sign you really want... Fast forward the year. I registered as a business, bought and sold hundreds of signs, and most importantly gained an education that is priceless.
I do about 80% of sales online and 20% in person. I have been told from many collectors that i have great stuff. I want to say thank you. I have seen plenty of collections that put my stuff to shame though. One of the biggest and most relentless issues i have been facing recently is the fact that my stuff is priced very high. Let me take this time to address my reasons why i price stuff the way i do....Unlike a lot of other dealers who sell at petro shows in cash and who dont have to deal with the same overhead costs that e-commerce dealers have to deal with then please continue reading.
Lets start from the top...I put most of my items up for best offer. Now just because i put it up for a designated number does not mean that i am looking or expecting to get anywhere near that asking price. I accept most offers that are decently fair and in the ballpark so i encourage people to make their offers. The reason i ask high prices is because i get so many lowball offers everyday that i try to only focus on serious buyers. I have my website in development currently, and all my signs will be listed for a set "buy it now" price and you will see the significant difference in prices when you compare them to eBay.
The initial cost of buying inventory. Almost every well known dealer in this business will vouch that i pay very fair prices for my signs. I have receipts to prove it. I live in the tri-state area where prices are not the same as the middle of kansas (no offense). So people who think i get this stuff for cheap of next to free are just plain ignorant for the most part. Secondly need i mention the eBay & Paypal fees. I believe im paying somewhere around %12 between the two. I will not give a general number what i owe ebay every month but what i can tell you is that its always well into the 4 figures...Now lets get into packing materials and supplies. No, I dont scrounge to get free Tide Bleach or Bounty paper towel boxes at the local dollar general. I spend about $200 a week on double wall cardboard boxes from uhaul, tape, shrink wrap, bubble wrap, packing paper, and 1/4" thick plywood. Most of the signs i ship get shrink-wrap to a plywood board that costs $7 and then goes in a flatescreen TV box that costs $6. So as you can see the expenses are quickly adding up. Keep in mind that some of these signs can take a couple hours to pack, especially if you have to build a wood box frame for it. Also im one of the few dealers who offer to ship larger signs across the country and international, so with that convenience comes a higher asking price... Now we ship. Most of the time i will actually undercharge for shipping and lose money... I have employees, which is the highest expense in any company. Gasoline isnt cheap and when i go picking i rent a truck. I pay rent to store my inventory since i dont own a warehouse or home. I also pay for business insurance. Theres a lot more expenses but i cant think of them all rite now, but when all is said and done i still have to pay a slew of taxes on all the profits at the end of the year. Its not what you make, its what you walk away with. So people who think im doubling, and tripling are out of their minds. Yes i do good in gross sales but what profit i walk away with is about %25 after all expenses. So for the people who say im ripping others off or im trying to get rich off this stuff are dead wrong. I put in about 60 hours a week running this business for not a whole lot of money but i love it and its enough to support myself for the time being.
My businesses mission statement is "to provide a service for people by hunting down the best signs i can find to buy and resell wether they are starter signs for someone looking to get into the hobby, or top collector pieces that are very rare".
Another issue i would like to address is the negative comments when not only myself, but other members post something for sale on this site and then be ridiculed like where some kind of bandits. At the end of the day its none of your business to know what people pay for their stuff or what they want to sell it for. Their price is their price, and it should be respected either way. Im tired of members commenting by making unnecessary jokes and witty remarks that make them look jealous and immature. If you have interest in buying it then PM them. Even if you dont want it, I think any petro enthusiast appreciates a good thread of comments. I for one find it enlightening because thats how we all learn something new everyday. So if you have no interest in buying or adding some insight to the discussion then please keep your comments to yourself and stop hiding behind your keyboard.
The last thing i would like to address is the ongoing issue of the repro signs from india and argentina. I have only been buying and selling signs for about a year now and i learned a lot so far. I have made plenty of mistakes and learned from them. Although i am not an expert or as knowledgeable in this business as i would someday like to be i know that many people were getting on me for selling a handful of repro's claiming they were original. Look, im sure we have all been burned once or twice before when buying. I bought out a private collection in March and in the mix there were several questionable signs that i was told were original, so obviously i tried selling them as originals because i didnt know better at the time. As time went on some people said they were fake and others said they were real. What i did was pull every sign listing that was questionable and disposed of it because i didnt want it on the market anymore so nobody else got burned. I already made a thread on OG and said that if theres any sign that i am selling that is questionable then please bring it to my attention because i will pull it in a heartbeat. I would like to apologize for selling the questionable signs because i was ignorant to the fact of their origin, and i want to thank the people who called me out on it because you actually helped me. I literally do about 3 hours of research a night learning the history of these signs more and more so that i can be an expert one day like some of you. I think that that these foreign signs are literally destroying the fun and integrity of this hobby and i want do do my part in helping prevent these signs from being imported into the country.
Over the past year i have met so many good hearted people along the way in this hobby. I understand how small of a community it is and how quickly your reputation can be developed weather its good or bad. I wanted to address these issues in a professional manner and lay my cards on the table because if im going to be in this business for the long haul i would like to clear the air and tell people where im coming from at least.
In closing, i joined this site not only to step up to the plate to defend myself while also educating myself, but also to become more personable with the petro community. If i am selling anything that you have interest in I encourage you to contact me personally via call, email, or text. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Anthony Koban-862-220-2440
RedHotRelics LLC
Owner
Email- sales@redhotrelics.com
redhotrelics.com
