1) We have purchased a number of smaller items for our collection on eBay,
primarily books and postcards.  The convenience of purchasing online is one
of the reasons we choose to use auction sites.  A variety of objects can be
quickly and easily searched on a routine basis.  Often, the prices are
better as well.

2) The objects that we have found on eBay are often very difficult to find
otherwise.  Purchasing an out of print book on eBay is far easier than
locating a dealer with that book.  Often the book dealers have incomplete
lists of their holdings and are unable to tell you what they have over the
phone.  eBay also provides us with access to objects in other parts of the
country without expensive and time consuming travel.

3) Although I have not noticed a decline in donations due to eBay, I am
somewhat concerned due to the nature of our collectios, antique automobiles
and related artifacts.  I do not anticipate changes in the number of
automobiles donated but think that donations of the related artifacts,
often classified as automobilia, may decline.  Because automobilia is
highly collectible, museums like ours could be completing with collectors
with more money to spend if potential donors put their objects on eBay.  I
do receive frequent calls from individuals who have seen automobilia on
line and own something similar.  These auctions have peaked their interest
in selling their object and want to know what it is worth.

The highly collectible nature of automobilia and its popularity on eBay has
worked to our benefit as well.  Our Retail Manager has had great success
selling items from our store on eBay as well as items donated to the shop
by collectors for the purpose of resale.  These collectors were not
interested in the hassle of posting their objects on eBay so instead
donated them to us for fundraising.

Amy Friend
Curator
Museum of Transportation
Brookline, MA


At 04:37 PM 6/22/00 -0400, you wrote:
>Dear Colleagues:
>
>I am interested to know whether museum staff are using eBay or similar
>online auction sites to acquire objects for their collections. I'd like to
>hear museum professionals'  thoughts about these sites. I have listed a few
>specific questions below, but I welcome all comments relevant to the topic
>of how the Internet is affecting object acquisition in museums.
>
>Questions
>
>1) Are museums/historical societies purchasing through eBay and other
>auction sites? Why or why not?
>
>2) If so, are museum staff finding material they might otherwise never see?
>
>3) Are online auctions curbing donations from individuals to museums? Do
>curators fear that objects will leave the public domain because private
>collectors are buying them online?
>
>I appreciate your input.
>
>--Amanda Kraus
>Publications Department,
>American Association of Museums
>
>=========================================================
>Important Subscriber Information:
>
>The Museum-L FAQ file is located at
http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed
information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail
message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should
read "help" (without the quotes).
>
>If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to
[log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff
Museum-L" (without the quotes).
>
>

=========================================================
Important Subscriber Information:

The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).

If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).