If you are or have been an antiques dealer, you likely have come across a customer at a market or show who has commented, It must be nice to just sit there and rake in the money! That would be nice, wouldnt it? As you sit there pondering that comment, the customer is not considering countless things. 1. The amount of time you have spent at all of the auctions and other various places you have been in order to curate your collection of merchandise (and the cost of said merchandise). 2. The time spent packing and loading the merchandise you purchased to get it home and the time youve spent researching all of those items (and the cost of the books you had to purchase to research and price all of that merchandise). 3. The time youve spent cleaning, repairing and pricing that merchandise. 4. The time spent packing and loading your merchandise to take it to market, then setting up and attractively displaying your merchandise, sitting there all of that time hoping you sell something, repacking and reloading your merchandise and driving it home and unloading it again, then starting the whole process over again, repeatedly. 5. Not to mention the cost to set up and market your merchandise, the cost of gas, wear and tear on your vehicle and insurance required to accomplish this. 6. The time required to keep accurate records and file tax returns. 7. The laws you must know so that you dont break them, ie: selling of stolen goods, selling ivory, Native American items, certain banned items, collecting sales taxes, licenses, liability, selling reproductions, etc. 8. And where do you store your merchandise? In your kitchen, bedroom, garage? Or do you pay for storage space? And who absorbs the loss for broken, chipped, damaged, lost or stolen merchandise, or that mistakenly purchased reproduction?You do! And now lets consider Ebay or some other similar venue for selling your merchandise. The same time and costs incurred to amass our collection of merchandise applies. The time spent listing, describing, posting and monitoring the sale of your merchandise, answering inquiries, packing and addressing the merchandise, shipping costs, delivering packages to the post office or other delivery venue (or delivering the packages yourself if you offer that option), and handling complaints and damages or lost merchandise. An auctioneer has to pay someone to do all of these things. Sound familar? But you are getting to sit at home and have fun this whole time, right? When you could (should) be spending your time working a traditional job that pays you so you can be making a living. Editor note: We always welcome readers articles on various subjects. Thank you to Marcia in Maryland for her thoughts on the trials of entering the trade and being an antiques dealer. Weve all met people who think it would be fun to turn their interests into a hobby business or start a business upon retirement from a 9 to 5 career, yet there are numerous challenges and market forces over time to confront.