neglus
|
posted on May 19, 2007 11:27:21 AM new
Just got the following in my messages:
First one:
Your postcard of XXXXX was written by my grandfathers brother to his other brother John who served in WWI, I need to ask you if you have any other photos or postcards that you may have gotten with this postcard.- Thanks a lot.
Second one:
I know what your doing with that XXXX post card, and you should be ashamed of yourself. The satisfaction of getting an item like that back to the family should have of been enough, but your just plain greedy.
Here is my response:
I did get some other XXXX postcards with the one of the grain elevator. I have one of the Lutheran church listed but there is no writing on it. I have 3 more that I haven't listed yet - two of them are addressed to John XXXXX, Bagley MN but have no other writing on it. (THey are the Old Mill Dam and the Norman Church). There is one more early folding postcard of the town with no writing on it.
I don't know what you mean by "you know what I am doing.." - I offered the postcard at auction at a reasonable price and anything that happens after that point is out of my control. I assure you that I have nothing to do with the price the card is currently selling at. The person who is high bidder is also bidding on another of my North Dakota postcards so he/she must have interest in the region as well. A quick check of his feedback indicates that he is buying other postcards. Real Photo postcards from small towns in North Dakota are highly collectible and often bring better prices than the mass produced printed postcards.
I am not "greedy" but I am in the business of selling postcards and while I would be happy to have the card returned to the family (who by the way must have let it go at some point) this is my livelihood and I depend on some postcards selling for more than I expected because I have so many that do not sell at all. I hope you can understand my perspective. Regards
-------------------------------------
http://stores.ebay.com/Moody-Mommys-Marvelous-Postcards?refid=store
|
amber
|
posted on May 19, 2007 11:46:56 AM new
Good answer Neglus. I really think some buyers think that we sellers bid on our own items to put the price up, either that, or they don't see what the starting price was. A few years ago I had a buyer that was outbid on a vintage craft book I was selling. It had damage which I clearly stated. The losing bidder wrote and asked how I dare sell a damaged book at such a high price. I pointed out that I set the price at $2.99, it was she and other bidders who raised it to the amount it sold for.
|
deur1
|
posted on May 19, 2007 01:27:34 PM new
Neglus, that was a proper and well worded reply.
If it is sentimentally valuable to this emailer she/he can bid and win.
It sounds as if the party may want you to give it to them and ALSO other ones you may have.
If they want what is on auction they should try to buy it. Their approach is to try to intimate by insulted you.
You must have purchased these, they are yours to sell or do whatever you like.
If they want them they should try to buy them instead of insulting the seller.
Neglus you are neither greedy or gullible.
[ edited by deur1 on May 19, 2007 01:29 PM ]
|
zippy2dah
|
posted on May 19, 2007 01:44:41 PM new
"The satisfaction of getting an item like that back to the family should have of been enough"
They let it go and now it's your fault?
|
ewora
|
posted on May 19, 2007 02:02:28 PM new
Sometimes the certain members of the family have no control over the distribution or disposal of things.
My father's mother went to visit my aunt for several weeks and upon her return discovered the entire contents of her house had been stolen. Someone just drove a moving van up to her house and completely cleaned her out. She was in her mid-90's. A lifetime...wiped out.
My other grandmother died about 6 years after my mother. My uncle just up and cleaned out her house...I imagine he had a big sale. My other cousins ended up with some sentimental items from Grandma's but not my brother and sister and I. I imagine we were somehow forgotten as my mother was no longer alive.
There were several items from either of those Grandmothers that I would love to have now.
|
zippy2dah
|
posted on May 19, 2007 02:14:47 PM new
This is true, we don't always have control over other people's actions but it is still not the fault of Neglus that this card ended up on the market.
I'm sure that if this were a case of stolen or purloined property, the rude family member would have mentioned that fact.
You have no reason to feel guilty, Neglus.
|
vintageads4u
|
posted on May 19, 2007 03:52:31 PM new
You are not greedy. I often get emails from folks who point out that Uncle Clem or Aunt Maud is in the ad I am selling. Or that Krispy Tires was the old family business. I had a person in the Midwest give me heck because I was selling Trixie Friganza booking ads and that was her cousin. I couldn't sell Trixie! Well, yes I can.
I answer similarly to you. Now, what I can do (since its ads, not one of a kind postcards) is tell them that I will look for another ad that features the fam biz. Then I list it on Vendio for them.
Another thing I have done in the past is offer a zerox copy of the ad for their family records. I just charge them shipping and handling.
Good luck with this one!
Beth
VintageAds4U
http://stores.ebay.com/vintageads4uonline?refid=store
|
neglus
|
posted on May 19, 2007 04:52:57 PM new
Thanks all - I just checked and the listing went up another $10 after my email with the family member still being outbid. I am not having a good feeling about this  I knew when I saw the card that it would have competitive bids but didn't imagine that it would involve a family member. I am pretty sure the only way he found it was because I put the last name in the description. Heck - I sold one postcard of a bridge in that same area of ND for $400 a couple of years ago. Thanks for the idea to offer to send a photocopy of the postcard but somehow I guess it isn't the same.
On a side note, Pixiamom found a real photo postcard from our hometown in Nebraska from the 1950's with our father (now deceased) pictured standing in the back row. I placed a bid on the card for the most I was willing to spend ($20) and got outbid by someone who evidently collects that type of postcard. No hard feelings - if I had wanted to pay more I would have bid more. Maybe if Dad had been in the front row I'd have bid more (the guys were wearing Fezzes and pantaloons and none of us could remember him in pantaloons). I'd pay a couple of hundred for one of him driving one of those midget Shriner cars in a parade!
-------------------------------------
http://stores.ebay.com/Moody-Mommys-Marvelous-Postcards?refid=store
|
zippy2dah
|
posted on May 19, 2007 05:53:47 PM new
I love the Shriner midget car guys!
|
pixiamom
|
posted on May 19, 2007 07:07:08 PM new
I have at least 3 identical aerial views (not real photos) of a small farm in the midwest. It was distributed as advertisement for a farm machinery distributor. Every time I list one, I get g-kzats of emails from looney cousins - all wanting to know how/where did I get this card? I have no idea - the only thing I know for sure is that they came from a quarter bin. (I don't tell them that). Still haven't had a cousin cough up $7 for the old homestead.
|
Landotters
|
posted on May 19, 2007 07:11:07 PM new
No you are not greedy. I have recently sold a lot of year books and did not hesitate to put the name of the person that at one time owned the book in the auctions. I paid for them, so for what ever reason they got rid of them, if they wanted them back, they could bid on them.
|
irked
|
posted on May 19, 2007 08:43:26 PM new
Maybe they are not real relatives and just want the card and not pay for it. People make things up all the time.
**************
 I married my wife for her looks, but Not the one she gives me lately!
$$$$$$$$$$$$$
 Check it out
And Feebay stuff at This link
|
pixiamom
|
posted on May 19, 2007 08:45:06 PM new
I might have added: I was generous in taking the time to add the sender and addressee names in the listing. Most listings don't include them. Now I'm not sure it's worth the grief.
Edited to add: Or, If you want to get tough: Although I would like to see this card go home, any more insinuations - I will remove all doubt entirely and prevent you from bidding on my auctions.
[ edited by pixiamom on May 19, 2007 08:59 PM ]
|
neglus
|
posted on May 19, 2007 09:38:47 PM new
Oh goody! I just found a postcard addressed to the same person that I listed and didn't sell - if the guy is nostalgic about having a card addressed to the guy then the view shouldn't matter, right?
-------------------------------------
http://stores.ebay.com/Moody-Mommys-Marvelous-Postcards?refid=store
|
neglus
|
posted on May 19, 2007 10:04:05 PM new
I bought these cards as a lot on ebay. I just checked the sellers feedback and saw that he sold off several items from an estate - one lot was 116 family photos. He just took photos of the lot but I recognized the family name written on one of the photos. Do you think I should send the Item number to my "friend" so he can try to track those down?
-------------------------------------
http://stores.ebay.com/Moody-Mommys-Marvelous-Postcards?refid=store
|
cblev65252
|
posted on May 20, 2007 07:47:56 AM new
It's shame when stuff like that gets separated from the family, but I think you did the right thing. No one knows the circumstances of the sale. Perhaps there wasn't a Will and probate ordered the items be sold. I once had a very old photo up for auction. The person's great-great-granddaughter emailed me to let me know it was her g-g-grandfather and that she was going to bid on it. She did just that and won despite the bidding war going on for the photo. When I sent the photo to her, I sent a couple others I had of the same family for no charge. Had I gotten an email from her like the one sent to you, I wouldn't have sent the extra photos!! I would have been inclined to block her.
Cheryl
|
rutabaga
|
posted on May 20, 2007 11:52:29 AM new
Hi Neglus - I just had to jump in here as I plan to put a number of old paper items (non-postcards, non-ads) on eBay. In thinking it through I realized I might be the recipient of some nasty emails from "family" members..."How dare I, etc." And I already decided that I'm not under any obligation to explain (or feel bad) other than to send a polite "canned" message in response, such as, "I greatly appreciate your interest in this item and am glad that I have been given the opportunity to reunite it with a family member. Please stay tuned as many new items are being added to the inventory."
BTW, one of my male ancestors, b. 1790, is estimated to have over 30,000+ living descendants (not unusual). Which family member gets the item?
Ruta
|
cta
|
posted on May 20, 2007 12:28:08 PM new
My grandmother and grandfather (Bob wasn't actually my grandfather I'm happy to say, but actually Nana's 4th husband) were antique dealers from way back when. Nana passed away 12 years ago at the age of 86. My uncle who was also an antique dealer was cruising around a flea market a few months after my grandmother died and found Bob selling our lost family photo albums to perfect strangers. Now that WAS greed! We had been searching for those albums for months and Bob knew it. Several albums had already been sold, but my uncle simply grabbed the remaining albums off Bob's table and gave them back to family members.
All Bob saw was $$$ signs, what you're doing neglus is far different. No need feel one bit guilty in my opinion.
|
pixiamom
|
posted on May 20, 2007 02:27:21 PM new
The guy is an exception. Most buyers are so thankful that postcard sellers rescued a card and made it available and searchable.
|
fluffythewondercat
|
posted on May 20, 2007 08:29:20 PM new
Neglus, if you ever get any postcards that formerly belonged to my ancestors I give you full permission to make as much money as you can selling them.
I never have understood the greed that accompanies a death in the family and I never will.
There's a house two doors down from us; every weekend for the last two months some relatives of the elderly owner pull up and spend the weekend loading their vehicles with stuff. (Never the same vehicles twice. Weird.) Come to find out she just passed away last week. They've been stripping her house all this time, ever since she was moved to a care facility. Apparently there is a lot left since we just drove by there and yet another set of relatives was stocking up. Yeesh. She was widely known as a ruthless domineering sort of person, so maybe the "early withdrawals" are their revenge. Beats me. Her son, of whom it is said she bullied mercilessly all this life, showed up a few days ago in a brand-new Jaguar Vanden Plas. That's about $65,000 worth of car the last time I looked. Quite a step up from the PT Cruiser.
fLufF
--
|
irked
|
posted on May 21, 2007 12:34:29 AM new
ha ha ha Fluff, that was a good story.
My wife's grand father died in 1992 at age of 89, he was married to another woman not her real grandmother that had 6 kids, this other woman died in 2000 at age of 88, her kids took everything! If my wife's father had outlived his father and stepmother then ALL HE// would have broke loose with that situation but alas he had died 2 years before his father and my wife got to see all the greed going on in that family and said it was a sad situation for sure and that one day they would all get theirs. My wife and I both took care--( even her stepgrandmother until her death) of both the grandparents as we lived in same town and all her kids and grandkids didn't and what did my wife get? NADA Only thing she did get when her grandfather died was some old family pictures of her grandfathers relatives and that was when he died and not a thing that belonged to her grandfather after his wife's death. She said she was glad their was not a lot to be had but you would have thought differently when the vultures had landed when the old woman had died when all her kids converged.
**************
I married my wife for her looks, but Not the one she gives me lately!
$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Check it out
And Feebay stuff at This link
|
cblev65252
|
posted on May 21, 2007 04:50:39 AM new
Irked - I can relate to your story! My grandmother's Will left all her belongings to my mother. She and my uncle, the executor, were on the outs when my grandmother died. My mother only got 1/2 of what she was supposed to get and didn't have the money to fight my uncle. My uncle gave a lot of the things to his children and his 2nd wife. My mother cried for days. Some of those things were family heirlooms. What pizzed me off is that his children rarely visited my grandmother. She was lucky to get flowers at Christmas from them. I walked into my uncle's home a couple of years ago and it was packed to the rafters with things that were my grandmother's and now my grandfather's. They were just hording the things. You couldn't move in the house. It was pathetic, really.
Of course, with my mother's Alzheimer's she no longer remembers the nasty incident.
Cheryl
|
neglus
|
posted on May 21, 2007 09:51:31 PM new
All's well that ends well. The family member won the postcard after all - and purchased another sent to his relative that I relisted for him at a lower price. He even apologized for accusing me of shill bidding!
-------------------------------------
http://stores.ebay.com/Moody-Mommys-Marvelous-Postcards?refid=store
|
pmelcher
|
posted on May 22, 2007 05:09:27 AM new
How nice it ended well. You were perfectly within your right to sell the card, don't let them put guilt on you. I go to a lot of auctions and most of the 'paper' items are dumped into a box or two and sold to the highest bidder so someone had the chance to keep it and did not.
|
dejapooh
|
posted on May 22, 2007 06:03:00 AM new
My parents will calls for an auction house (well several auction houses) to sell everything. If I want anything, I can buy it, pay the 10% and get 1/3rd of my money back when the estate is cleared. My brother is getting the family pictures and such. He has the biggest house and has room to hold all of that stuff.
|
