When I first started this guide, I didn't realize it would become so encompassing.  Now that it has, I can't help but continue with it in order to create as much useful information I can think of to the beginner artifact dealer.  I hope these guides become a powerful and useful tool to them and sincerely hope they can prevent some costly mistakes along the way.

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Learn as you  GrOW!   When first entering the field of artifact selling, take your time and learn what you do not know.  NAME RECOGNITION is EVERYTHING.  The most successful artifact dealers in the country are known by their name and not some catchy screen name.  Name your store after yourself.  This gives your store a personal feeling and it tells the buyer YOU, PERSONALLY, are standing behind what you are selling.  For example, I use my last name, Snider - as in Snider Points, to list my store.  This name is recognized in the artifact community.  Other equally reconginezed names include  MuMaw Relics, a well know distributor in authentic artifacts and an eBay store, Gilbert Cooper also recognized for honest artifacts and eBay auctions, and McAbee's Relics who also auctions good quality artifacts just to name a few.  Virtually all the honest stores on eBay use the owner's name in some capacity.  Name backed stores are more effective and are more recognizable than one with a generic rocks-or-something-or-other listed store name.  When you list it, STAND BEHIND IT.  You will make a mistake from time to time.  We all have, but making a mistake good in a timely fashion goes a lot further than one who takes their time in doing so.  It removes the bitter experience from the mouth of the buyer.  Often when making a mistake good, I will send a couple of extra points back with the payment as a way of apology. Your name means everything in the collecting community.

Don't buy the best right off the bat.  Start with the more common arrowheads and work your way up to a better level.  In the meantime attend artifact shows and meetings in your area and talk to every experienced who will spare the time.  Most are happy to share thier knowledge and provide guidance in preventing you from making a costly mistake when they can. Knowledge is power and knowledge is everything in the artifact world.  Additionally, there are a lot of  other resources you can draw upon.  The best is always experience, both first hand and that of others: however, it takes a lot more to avoid costly mistakes.  Go to any bookstore and you will find a host of reference books on artifacts.  Hothem House has put out dozens of  books on every conceivable area of artifact collecting you can imagine.  Perino issued his own set of books and is a valuable reference guide.  Maury Meadows is said to be the foremost knowledgeable expert on stone artifacts and has a reference book out.  The Genuine Indian Relic Society as well as many of the state and regional archeological societies put out periodicals containing both photos and reference materials on artifacts.  Baldwin has put out several books on trade axes, pipe axes, and trade knives providing valuable insight into authentic touch marks and what to look for in these items.  All of these and more will provide you with informative articles and descriptions of what to look for in the way of reproductions and provide you with and easy reference as to what something should look like. 

The only books I would encourage a beginner to stay from are the so called price guides.   I say this because price guides to the novice beginner instill a false sense of actual worth of their item.  It allows the less than honest seller an easy means to convince the inexperienced they are not overpaying for an artifact.  They also tend to have lower quality photographs that are just above photo-copy grade.  It is nearly impossible to take a black and white, one dimensional photograph and apply it to something three dimensional.  Prices tend to be over-inflated in them and many of the artifacts in price guides are non-authenticated.  Not only is it impossible to see the quality or color of the material in the price guide; you can not determine how thick or thin the point is either.  Often, to sell another later edition, I suspect many of the same points are given new names and called sub-types based upon the area they were found in.  This is dishonest and only confuses the field further, making true identification and value even harder to establish. As a quick study guide as to identification, distribution of, and a description of a point type, these books may be as good as the rest; but again I use caution in their use.

Establish a reputable source for your artifacts.  This one item will nearly gurantee you a steady source of authentic relics for your auctions.  There are many honest dealers and middle-men out there who buy and sell collections nearly on a weekly basis, if not more.  In any collection there are always a good supply of common and better grades of points that can be purchased in bulk at a fair cost to you.  Many larger dealers are happy to move these on because their clientele are interested mainly in the high quality artifacts and not the field grade portion of it.  This is where the buyers will make their money.  Those who are in the position to buy mulitple collections do not have the time to chaff out the less valuable relics, and will be happy to provide you with all you can handel.  These people are well known and some even authenticate on the side and are well respected.  It never hurts to seek these people out at any show and introduce yourself.  This will help put you on the fast track to a good name, and establish you in the collecting community.  Be honest with these people, and they will be honest with you.  Of all hobbies, I firmly believe you will not find a better class of people anywhere.  They will also be some of the most honest.  The AACA is an excellent source for learning who the better sources are, and they also have a list of those who are not as reputable and perhaps should be avoided.

When buying;  a good common grade arrowhead will bring more bang for its investment than a really good reproduction.  Nearly everyone who buys a reproduction, probably at least suspects it is a reproduction.  I have to believe most people are not so dumb they can not know it after buying a few.  Sooner or later, someone is going to know the difference and tell them in no uncertain terms what they have in their hands.  This is the only reason I can see for so many fakes surviving on the internet.  This has to be true, because enough authenticated artifacts sell for much higher prices for even the most die-hard dummy to realize there has to be something wrong with the Dalton, Dovetails, Clovis Points, or Folsom he has been buying for chump change to be real.  Regardless, although a reproduction sells for about 30 dollars, the seller may not be making that much from each sale.  For this reason he really has to bust his buns to make up the difference; thus one of the reasons why you see his stuff on the net at all hours of the day and night.  I have seen these copies sell at un-regulated shows by the handfuls.  The average price will be between 20 and 30 dollars for a decent grade of reproductions.  This means with the cost of the ad and time spent, the seller may not be clearing more than 3 to 5 dollars on the average from each sale.  This is a very meager return that has to be supplemented by increased activity and effort on their part; making me wonder if all the energy to make a couple of dollars is worth the price they have to pay to their name and reputation?  Had they also stuck to authentic points, they probably would have a much higher percentage of  economic return without the stigma of "homofakyus" attached to them.

Many good common points can be bought in bulk, meaning lots of a hundred or more, for around $3.00 each.  It will cost about .90 cents to put one on eBay with a gallery photo.  Gallery photos are worth the extra expense because it immediately gets the buyers attention.  Often, auctions without photos will be ignored by a potential customer.  Setting your starting bid is dependent upon  artifact cost and auction cost.  Once you have determined your cost and the cost of the auction, you must build in a guarantee profit margin.  To simply start out at .99 cents is not always the best track to take.  In many cases, you will achieve a profit, but remember, you are starting out and can not afford to gamble with assets.  A good starting point would be $3.99 for this auction.  You have covered the cost of the point and the cost of the auction.  Anything above this will be net profit after final value fees.  Often many will  cover this fee by starting out at $4.50 to $4.99.  The lower the starting amount, the more bidders you are likely to attract; however until you know which works and which will not work in your favor, you might start half at the lower price and half at the higher price.  It is difficult to buy any one arrowhead for either price at any show, and most collectors realize this and won't mind paying the small difference.  This is where your combined shipping will pay an important role.  MAKE SURE YOU STATE IT IN BOLD LETTERS IN THE TEXT OF YOUR AD.  In so doing you will be more likely to get the same customer to strike twice at one or more of your auctions.

If this point sells for as little as one-dollar more than you bought it for, you have as much as a 25-33% return on your intial investment.  Counter this return, although money wise seems small to the $5.00 return on the reproduction and you will discover the fake dealer only had a 3-6% return on his investment.  Who made the most bang for their buck?  It sure isn't the reproduction salesman.  Even those who knapp their own arrowheads can not compete with a return like this.  Good Knapping material is often more than $10.00 a pound.  At best, the knapper might make 6 reproductions from this, and some of them will be broken.  Many will not achieve the $30.00 mark.  Knapping is dirty, it is dangerous to the health and damages not only the knappers lungs, but those who live with him from the dust and stone fragments they drag into the home, but they often end up with bandaged fingers from all the cuts received from making these points.  It doesn't sound like a fun way to make a buck to me...

Do your homework:  This is the tricky part of selling and will take the longest to learn.  I suggest for the first month prior to selling, a new store owner watch eBay. Watch the auctions.  Watch it several times a day, everyday and note the number of listings in three hour blocks when possible.  Write down the day of the week, the time of the day, and the number of listings of artifacts of the grade you will be selling.  Note how many sell and for what price.  If you can , write down the starting bid, and what it sold for.  Keep track of this each week.  You may have to enlist family members to help you if you do not have access to the internet at work or elsewhere.  Determine which weeks are the better weeks for selling and which days are the better days for selling.  You might be surprised to discover the first week of the month might be better or worse than the last or middle two weeks of the month.  A certain day of the week is better than others, and a certain time for each day better yet in all of them.  This is tedious, it is time consuming, and it is a boring pain in the backside, but necessary to help in the formulation of selling blocks and to maximize your return.  One month of homework could net you thousands more in sales each year.

Description:  Good advertising works well, but Great advertising works best.  The least expensive part of selling your artifact is giving it a great title.  Again, name recognition means everything.  To simply lead into an advertisement with something like "small arrowhead", will not get the attention of the potential buyer as well as a title like, "Outstanding Pinetree with EXCELLENT serration!" will.  Capitalizing on specific words give the words life and makes them JUMP from the page!  The use of BOLD or ITALICS also make them stand out.  You want to wake the potential buyer up, not put him to sleep right out the starting gate.  Keep your title factual.  Do not call a Calf Creek point a Pinetree because Pinetree's seem to be selling a little better at the time of listing.  Those who collect will know the difference and doing similar things will only cause you to lose face with them.  They will laugh you off the web and ignore your auctions.  Remember, YOU are BEHIND your ad, and not some fancy screen name that can disappear and reappear later as something else.

Do not limit your description, if you can avoid it.  A listing that reads, "small to middle point made of white flint found in blackberry bottomlands." is DULL!  You would be better served to do a little research, identify the point to the best of your ability, and then list it with more attractive features such as, "A middle to late ARCHAIC point dating to the 15,000 to 12,000 B.P.,  measuring 1-1/2 inches in length by 1 inches in width and made of a CREAMY white Burlington Chert"  will go much further iin selling your point than the listing previously described.  Don't be afraid to liven it up.  The second example has given the potential buyer more to go on and peaks his or her's interest.  Unlike the first example, they now know how large it is, and what the material it is made of.

 Instead of writing, "It sure has pretty notches." be far more descriptive and exciting.  Offer something like, "This WONDERFUL point has some of the finest notches I have seen in some time!  The flaking is superior to most examples, and the serration's are top of the line!"  Again use highlights on key words and italics when appropriate.  "Pretty notches," is personal opinion, and not much of a magnet to draw an educated conclusion from.  However, the addition of exciting, descriptive text lets the buyer know you at least took the time to examine the point, creates the impression you are something of expert in what you are selling, and you have seen many examples of its kind to compare it too.  It tells the buyer,  YOU ARE OFFERING THEM A ONE OF A KIND RELIC THAT IS MUCH BETTER THAN AVERAGE, AND IS THEREBY MUCH MORE DESIRABLE TO OWN. 

BE HONEST, AND DON'T LIE ABOUT THE POINT.  If it's a broken junker, then state it has defects.  If it is everything you believe it to be, then TALK IT UP!  You have to believe in what you are selling and have to state it with conviction, or you will not sell it.

more to follow...