Reinvigorate Heirloom Value Presale

People purchase merchandise for what it means as well as what it is. The meaning of some items is so significant and so lasting that they become what consumer psychologists call “sacred goods,” with owners valuing them in ways reminiscent of the valuing of religious relics. Family heirlooms are often considered sacred goods.
     If you obtain those items and then offer them to shoppers at an estate sale or pawn shop, let’s say, the heirloom value probably evaporates. Researchers at Université Lille in France and Bilkent University in Turkey recommend you rejuvenate the heirloom value so you can net more for the items.
     The methods for accomplishing this depend on you presenting the items in ways that relate the potential purchaser’s past, present, and future. Asking the person to talk about their own history as they hold the items can help. While doing this, your comments on the craftsmanship shown in the items add effectiveness. For some consumers and with appropriate items, an expert appraisal of an item’s worth instills heirloom value.
     Heighten the appeal with a backstory. Products sell better when each item comes with a tale to give it distinction. Retailers of antiques, art objects, and handmade crafts find that easier to do than those who sell toasters or toilet paper. Yet, if the toaster or toilet paper was previously considered an heirloom, an intriguing backstory about why could bring this value back to life.
     How you’ve stored the items makes a difference. If a pawn shop or self-storage business looks run down and lacking good security, shoppers might question how well you’ve treasured what you’re describing to them as treasures.
     Another perspective on increasing profits from the sale of heirloom items is to persuade sellers to reduce asking prices. Here you run into the endowment effect: People set a higher value on objects they own than on equivalent objects they do not.
     Findings from Boston University and University of Pittsburgh suggest you mobilize empathy to ease disagreements from the endowment effect. When you empathize with the consumer wanting to sell you an item, acknowledge the special value the item has to them, and promise you’ll find a good home for their sacred possession, you’ve set the groundwork for fruitful negotiations. Some researchers at University of Kansas, University of Georgia, and University of South Carolina propose you start by telling the owner what a wonderful family they have.

For your profitability: Sell Well: What Really Moves Your Shoppers

Click below for more: 
Squirrel Away Profits from Discard Reluctance
Cycle Through Advantages of Touching
Back the Appeal with a Backstory
Empathize to Ease the Endowment Effect
Appeal to Nostalgia