Why AntiqueSpider.com / www.antiquespider.com - About The Founders

Eye-Opening Experience

Our 10 year experience on eBay has shown that only a very small percentage of their more than 100 million registered users browse the website for Art & Antiques. Furthermore, of those browsers interested in Art & Antiques, an even smaller fraction are looking to make high ticket purchases. Serious buyers have to wade through a myriad of inconsequential items to find something of real value because ‘rubber duckies’ and the like crowd the site.

In addition, eBay’s new policies have made it virtually impossible for fair and honest dealers to conduct a profitable business on their website. When we calculated the actual costs involved with running an eBay store it proved to be an increasingly unprofitable exercise. In conversations with colleagues who have listed on eBay we heard the same complaints.

The Last Straw

We are antique and decorative arts dealers who have been in the business for more than thirty years. We have never broken any laws regarding the sale of ivory. In fact, it is absolutely legal to trade in ivory in the United States if the pieces are pre-ban and not shipped overseas. Mammoth ivory is legal to be sold and shipped worldwide. Bone products hurt no one because the material is gathered from animals that have been slaughtered for food or that have died naturally.

Yet, in their infinite wisdom, eBay prohibited the sale of elephant ivory products on January 1, 2009. Some of us will agree that it was a noble gesture on their part to try and protect this magnificent species but in their zeal to create this new image, eBay saw fit to ban mammoth ivory as well. Mammoth fossil is the remains of a species that became extinct more than 25,000 years ago! In addition, eBay banned hippo tooth and animal bone products as well. eBay removed a legal mammoth ivory item we had listed and a member of their Trust and Safety department told us, "I don't care if it is bone, I say it's ivory." eBay suspended our account for a day and eliminated all of our listings, most of which were porcelains, clocks, bronzes, etc.

Blatant Hypocrisy

eBay claims that unscrupulous dealers will sell ivory products by saying they are bone or mammoth. "We can't tell the difference from the photos," another Trust and Safety ‘genius' informed us. The hypocrisy eBay has shown is monumental. They allow designer bags and faux ivory products to be sold. How are they able to tell the real from the fake through the photos? eBay’s thoughtless actions have caused innumerable third world families who plied a trade in these products to be deprived a living.

Well, we've had enough. We have decided to start this new site, AntiqueSpider, with more features than eBay offers and a return to a safe, equitable and hassle-free environment. Our mission is to direct our advertising budget towards buyers and sellers of better quality collectibles. We invite bargain hunters and encourage sellers to offer closeouts and items at all price ranges. However, our primary focus will be facilitating safe big ticket transactions.

Attention Disgusted Sellers On eBay’s Online Auction Website

Are you tired of being nickled and dimed to death by eBay’s excessive fees? Have you had enough of their arbitrary and destructive rules? Are you sick of their incompetent customer assistance staff? Have you dreamed about an online auction site that could generate traffic & cares about each individual seller?

If you answered ‘Yes' to any of the above questions, then welcome to AntiqueSpider, the new alternative to the leading online auction website!

AntiqueSpider is a father and son project created to serve sellers on eBay who have grown tired and frustrated by the incompetence of eBay’s staff and their punitive rules.

The new AntiqueSpider site is being constructed in an easy to use format with customer service as our first priority. Won't you help us build this online auction site, an alternative to the monolith that eBay has become?

We need your help to make this work. It cost a lot to develop the software and we will be spending even more money on advertising to draw both sellers and buyers to the site. We ask you to join us in this endeavor and we want to hear from you.

Tell us your needs and we will do everything in our power to fulfill them, as long as they are legal and don't step on anyone's shoes.

We are also relying on the honesty of the sellers in this environment to insure that any sales derived from AntiqueSpider will be consummated here and the earned commission paid. If sellers try to circumvent the fees this sight will disappear and the safe haven we envision will die.

If we gather enough support we can create that safe auction community we all long for. So, sign up today! Help AntiqueSpider become the place where both sellers and buyers are treated fairly and equitably!