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My family has been collecting typewriters for many years. My father owned and operated a small office supply and business machine company for 25 years. During that time I became more and more interested in old typewriters. My father's collection was quite large and he displayed many in his store. In 2000 he retired from the office supply business and gave me all of his typewriters, staplers, paperweights, adding machines and anything else he had collected over the years related to the office machine and supply industry. It was a truck load! After marrying in 2003, my wife and I decided to “downsize" some of the machines I had collected over the last 10+ years. I had one room (not including off site storage) that was lined with all makes and models of writing machines and boxes full of ribbon tins, ad's, etc..
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| As we started our family the need for more space increased and in the summer of 2004 I started to list machines for sale on ebay. I had noticed that most of what was offered was door stops and almost all state, “seems to work…maybe needs a little oil” or “Sold AS IS, AS FOUND..”. That might be fine if you just want something to look at that’s in fair cosmetic shape, but I found that many people wanted machines that they could use. I also noticed (and still do) that sellers were charging ridiculous shipping and handling fees. I once saw a 12 lb Corona Four listed as 20 lbs and the S&H was $39 flat ground service. Wow! What a profit! It was after studying the market place that I started offering machines in excellent or better cosmetic condition and perfect working condition. I started to clean and oil them, testing each machine before listing it and again before it was shipped. I found a wonderful supplier of ribbons and my typewriters then became "ready to use right out of the box!". In December of 2004 I offered free S&H for Christmas as a thank you to all of my customers. It was a great success! The “business” took off so well that I kept the free S&H and became a silver power seller by March 2005! I have sold well over 2000 vintage and antique typewriters and related items to people all over the world. I’ve shipped typewriters to 43 US states, Canada, Argentina, Mexico, Ireland, Germany, Taiwan, Belgium, Spain, Japan, Austria, Romania, China, Ukraine, Italy, UK, Thailand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea, Australia, Latvia, Brazil, Qatar, New Zealand and the Philippines. |
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Now I have decided to expand my availability to non ebay buyers in the form of this website. I have over 960 positive feedbacks on ebay and will work hard to continue the same service here.
I just want my customers to know that they are dealing with a knowledgeable, professional and honest seller. You can buy here with confidence.
I am always looking to add to my collection and will purchase entire collections or just one machine. Email your items and asking price to the email address listed on the "Contact us" page.
One more FYI on purchasing typewriters online: Condition is key! Cosmetic or mechanical damage severely decreases the value of most typewriters. Most sellers don’t know the true condition of the item. Beware of sellers claiming to have mint machines for sale and the pictures look like it’s in fair condition. These people are using “key words” to try to make as much as they can on the auction. If the item is hard to see, there is only one picture or the pictures are blurry, BE CAREFUL! I receive at least 2 emails per week from buyers that bought “mint, near mint or excellent” typewriters only to receive junk.
There are also "collectors" that like to dump their junk on ebay as well. I've purchased from several of them and received typewriters NOT as described as well as many that were damaged due to poor/improper packing. Just because someone is a known collector doesn't mean they care enough to pack the typewriter properly or that they are honest. That's why my feedback is so important as it let's everyone know that they are dealing with a professional and not an anonymous "dealer" on ebay.
Copyright © 2004 The Vintage Typewriter Shoppe Inc. All Rights Reserved |
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