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Movie Profiles & Premiums Newsletter Vol.4 #1
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Cliff Aliperti
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Jan 16, 2006 05:51 PST
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Movie Profiles & Premiums Volume 4, Number 1. January 15, 2006
Brought to you by things-and-other-stuff.com
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This is the plain text version of the newsletter. Read this online in
html format and loaded with pictures of movie collectibles at:
http://www.things-and-other-stuff.com/issues/movie-newsletter-04-01.htm
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Welcome back to our 50th official issue, Volume 4 #1 of The Movie
Profiles and Premiums Newsletter. This issue will include links to a
brand new profile and slide show on Greta Garbo and a new Photo ID
Guide.
This time around the Guide is for a grouping of Theatre programs from
the early 1920's that I'll actually be placing on eBay at auction for
the first time today...so they will all still be available for sale by
the time that you read this. I approached this guide slightly
differently, as I thought even more important than showing images of all
of the programs (which there are) was detailing which movies would be
showing on a day by day basis at this particular theatre (The Colonial
Theatre in Monrovia, CA). I think it provides an interesting picture
back to this time in the early 1920's, especially since many of the
programs directly follow each other week to week. These are for the
most part higher-grade and will be available at auction on eBay
beginning tonight, January 16 around 10 pm EST running for for one week
until next Monday, January 23.
Go here to view all eBay Auctions:
http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQfgtpZ1QQfrppZ25QQsascsZ1QQsassZthingsQ2dandQ2dotherQ2dstuff
I made the decision to bring back this newsletter on a regular basis
after I was doing some work on the things-and-other-stuff.com site about
a month and a half ago and lo and behold discovered that there was no
Mary Pickford profile on the site. Impossible, I thought, what a
colossal oversight, especially when we have some of the more obscure and
lesser known silent stars included here. Then I looked a little deeper,
and holy cow, there was no Greta Garbo either! This really surprised me
as well, as things-and-other-stuff.com includes just over 100 different
movie profiles right now featuring stars from the earliest days of the
silents through the 1950's with Mary Pickford becoming number 102 last
month (by my quick count taken just now--I could be one or two off).
This doesn't even include related articles and reviews, just the
straight profiles. Well now, Greta Garbo becomes number 103 this month,
and I had noted a few other notables who were MIA which we hope to cover
in the coming months. If you have a favorite who's missing from the
site, feel free to write me at thi-@things-and-other-stuff.com and
I'll put in a request to one of our regular writers if I think it sounds
like a good fit.
Here is what's new on the site, basically the meat of this issue
available for consumption on the things-and-other-stuff.com site:
Greta Garbo in The Silent Collection by Tammy Stone:
http://www.things-and-other-stuff.com/movies/profiles/greta-garbo.htm
Greta Garbo Movie Collectible Slide Show:
http://www.things-and-other-stuff.com/collectibles-slide-shows/greta-garbo.htm
Photo ID Guide: 1923-24 Movie Theatre Programs from the Colonial
Theatre:
http://www.things-and-other-stuff.com/movies/ephemera/1923-24-programs.htm
I've also worked some more on Cliff's DVD List deleting some of the
pages and turning it into Cliff's Classic DVD List. The list now only
includes those movies that I own on DVD issued through the year 1959.
In my mind it's pretty messy right now, which means I'll be obsessively
updating it in the coming months, especially fine-tuning my comments and
observations as well as the lay-outs (I have a plan!).
http://www.things-and-other-stuff.com/cliffs-dvd-list.htm
Don't be alarmed if there's a significant change to the
things-and-other-stuff.com home page sometime in the next few weeks.
I've been floating a few ideas in my head and have pretty much committed
myself to a make-over, I just haven't decided exactly how I'd like it to
appear.
In buying and selling news, Auctionbytes reported this week that the
oldest eBay drop-off store in Danbury CT had closed. I have to say this
does not surprise me at all, basically for the exact reasons that
Auctionbytes gives in their article. I've always been suspicious in a
way of actual collectibles shops, as having dealt for a long time I have
never been able to see how you can comfortably cover rent from your
profits and then go on buying and selling plus making enough money to
live reasonably. The drop-off store struck me as a terrible idea the
first time I saw one for the same reason, only magnified. How do you
live on the profits after you pay your rent (and employees) when now
you're only receiving a commission and not even the full profit on your
goods? You can't and I'm surprised they've lasted this long. The
entire point of the drop-off store concept requires an actual
storefront, so my prediction is that the only drop-off stores to survive
the next couple of years will be those conducted in pre-existing
storefronts operated by small businesses. Auctionbytes notes that
drop-off store AuctionDrop does something like this in a national deal
with UPS. Obviously I don't know the particulars of this deal and am
really not in a qualified position to comment on this at all, but I have
my doubts about its overall potential. I would assume UPS wants to see
enough of a cut to make this an uncomfortable relationship. If not,
then great for all parties, it could work. The same article mentions a
lot about venture capitalism and some of the more well-known drop-off
stores, which sounds a lot like smoke and mirrors before an eventual
flame-up to me. I just really don't see there being enough money to be
made to include any kind of middle man in a resale/consignment business,
including one as simple as a landlord. If you take in consignments from
a pre-existing antiques shop or booth, that had already been getting by,
then great, that's an extra source of income that will work out fine for
you. Anything else, well, I think is doomed. Just my opinion.
http://www.auctionbytes.com/
http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y06/m01/i13/s01
If you follow my blog, then you read last week about my trying out a
somewhat new eBay tool called eBay File Exchange. I used it in my
scramble to upgrade my shipping fees due to the recent USPS hike in
fees, but the File Exchange tool can also be used to upgrade just about
any setting on your eBay listings in bulk. I'd give it a qualified B+
as I used it quite a bit in a 72-hour window and my only reservations
would be the lack of in-depth knowledge that eBay Support has, but then
again this is understandable since it is new. (I had a half hour chat
session that went nowhere in the end because they did not have answers
for me). If you do use eBay File Exchange I want to warn you that you
should try your updates on one or two test listings first before trying
to change hundreds at a time (which you can do!). I had to tinker with
some things and get a little creative to get the exact changes that I
wanted, but in the end it helped me bulk update my shipping fees in the
eBay checkout area although I've been changing the body of my listings
one at a time through Turbo Lister. I do think you can access the body
of your listing with File Exchange, but that was a little too daring and
daunting for me to attempt.
http://blog.things-and-other-stuff.com/?p=105
I believe that if you know what you're doing an individual could create
his own custom bulk-listing tool from eBay File Exchange, and do so with
a minimal amount of technical knowledge.
Even if you could care less about my magazine collecting web site, I do
want to alert you that I'll be updating the Photoplay Magazine Checklist
sometime this week because that page definitely has crossover appeal.
What I'm trying to do is list every issue from 1912 through 1959 with
whoever is pictured on the cover. Big gaps in the beginning, but month
by month it's filling itself in. If I can get that project close to
complete I may try and work on another early movie magazine afterwards.
http://www.collecting-old-magazines.com/photoplay-magazine-checklist.html
Please remember that even though my eBay Store is now mostly vintage
magazines that I do still have a Movie Collectibles category set aside
which I am trying to bulk up a little each week.
http://stores.ebay.com/Collecting-Old-Magazines_Movie-Collectibles?refid=store
If you'd like timely posts on what I'm listing for sale, site updates,
and other notes please check out the blog. I've gotten in the habit of
posting over there with every move I make.
http://blog.things-and-other-stuff.com/
RSS feeds are available for the blog and eBay store listings. Just save
the addresses to your Blog Reader. If you don't have a reader the one
that I'm using is BlogExpress, which is a free download.
http://blog.things-and-other-stuff.com/?feed=rss2
http://rss.api.ebay.com/ws/rssapi?FeedName=StoreItems&UserId=15227644&siteId=0&language=en-US&output=RSS20&storeId=15227644
http://www.usablelabs.com/productBlogExpress.html
Thanks a lot, I hope that enjoyed our regular return with this issue.
The next issue is scheduled for February 15, 'til then, take care!
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