I have noticed as a thimble collector that a lot of new sellers have entered this niche market. To be a reputable seller of thimbles and have satisfied repeat customers, it is important to follow the steps below to increase your sales and customer confidence. Provide the buyers with as much information as you can about the thimble you are listing.

Below are the critical components of a successful thimble listing that will maximize your profits, prevent you from having to answer many repetitive questions about the information not included in your listing and minimize your buyer’s frustration. Poor listings loose potential purchasers!

Successful thimble listings include the following information.

Picture Taking
Taking a picture of a thimble can be very challenging, but the quality of the picture frequently correlates to the price you get for the thimble. If you are going to sell thimbles and make the most money doing it, learn how to take good photographs of thimbles. Developing expertise in photographing thimbles is not in the scope of this article, but I will include one word of caution – never use the flash on your digital camera. Listings with poor photographs are often passed over (with the exception of some rare shapes that are recognizable by knowledgeable thimble collectors). Nothing is worse to a potential bidder than a blurry picture. It can convey that the seller does not care about quality of his or her listing and many potential thimble collectors will by-pass listings with poor photographs.

• Take pictures from the following angles (use your judgment if the pattern is the same all the way around one picture from the front will do; however, if the thimble is a landscape scene, take pictures from at least three positions, so the seller can see the whole scene. 
• Take a picture of the “under the apex” (the inside top of the thimble). Even if you are not an experienced seller or collector, those who are will recognize the maker’s hallmark. The maker’s mark conveys the identity of the maker. For example, a Simons thimble usually has an “S” in an old-fashion script inside of a shield.
• Take a picture of the apex (top of the thimble). Some thimbles can be identified as being made by a particular company based on the pattern used on the apex.
• Get pictures of any distinguishing markings. For instance, some thimbles have the word “sterling” and the size of the thimble on the outside, if your thimble has information or markings on the outside, include pictures of these markings in your pictures.
•  Take a picture from the bottom looking in so potential buyers can see if a thimble is in or out-of-round.
   

Include the following information:  

• Does the thimble have any pinholes? If so where? Try to include a photograph of the hole(s). A pinhole is not necessarily the kiss of death. Many collectors looking for a particular thimble will still purchase it and display it in such a way that the hole will not show. Thimbles with holes do frequently sell for as much as a thimble without holes.
• Is the thimble in-round? If you look up into the thimble, the bottom border should be perfectly round, if it is not, let your customers know. Some talented collectors will still purchase your thimble because they know how to fix “out-of-round” thimbles.
• Does the thimble you are listing have any dents or cracks? This can be determined by two methods. First, do a careful visual inspection of the thimble. Second insert your finger into the thimble and rotate the thimble around your finger to see if you feel any areas pressing against your finger (indication of a dent) or any sharp cracks.
• Provide the measurements of the thimble (height of thimble and width at bottom).
• Include any interesting information that you can share with your potential buyers.
   

After the sale – Packaging a Thimble for Safe Transport 

• Use only corrugated boxes.  Too many new sellers think they can just drop a thimble into a padded envelope. Wrong! Silver and gold thimbles are easily bent if not packaged carefully. Porcelain ones will break. Nothing is more irritating to a buyer than to open a package and find a damaged thimble as a result of incomplete information in the listing or poor packaging. If I am looking at a thimble I am interested in purchasing and the shipping is too low, I have to email the seller to find out how they ship it. If they tell me they just drop it into a padded envelope, I have a choice: I can choose not to bid on it or request that they ship it in a corrugated box – which usually leads to an increase in shipping cost and additional frustration on my part because I have had to educate yet another new thimble seller.
• If you want to have a professional reputation on eBay, you should not rely on your customers to train you in the basics of shipping (there is a lot of good shipping information available on eBay.
•  In reference to using a padded envelope the only one I received that I thought had the structural integrity to make it through our postal system was one I received in a very hard-shelled eyeglass case. Some individuals have told me they ship using old pill bottles, especially over the counter medications. The thimble can get stuck in these containers and some of these containers will not hold up as postal or shipping employees throw boxes around and sometimes-heavier boxes land on your box. A corrugated box with a minimum weight load of 75 pounds or more is recommended. The thimble can be wrapped in bubble wrap and put in a baggie and then surrounded by packaging peanuts or additional bubble wrap. I know seller’s worry about their shipping cost, but most buyers would rather pay an additional dollar than receive a damaged thimble that they had their heart set on adding to their collection.

To conclude, be honest and forthcoming with your customers. Tell them all of the information you would want to know if you were making the purchase. One of the challenges of purchasing on eBay is that the purchaser cannot see or touch the item ahead of time, which correlates to the fact that we have to depend on the seller to inform us of all the details. Don’t try to “hide” information because then you have a deceived purchaser that more than likely may ding your ratings and we all know how valuable good ratings are these days. Satisfied customers will continue to check out your listings frequently. Dissatisfied customers will never look at your listings again. Thimble collector’s talk to each other, bad experiences will be discussed and the potential for additional sales lost.

I hope this information is helpful and leads to higher bids, increased sales and satisfied customers!