Daryle Lambert: The most Hated Person in the Antiques and Fine Art business. Daryle lambert has a passion for educating people in the proper way to enter the Antique and Fine Art Markets and it doesn't please everyone. Daryle just wants to be a man of the people.
It all started several years ago when one of my best friends said ”Daryle, why do you feel that you must educate everyone?” I have thought about that question many times over the years and here is my answer.
There is a fair way to conduct business and everyone is entitled to make a profit from their efforts but then the question comes up, “What is fair?” Is “let the buyer and seller beware”, a fair method to do our business by? I don’t think so. I believe that we are the experts and it is our responsibility to be ethical.
Here is my standard and I can assure you that I sleep well at night. If a person asks me the value of any antique or painting I must give them an honest answer to the best of my ability. Then, it is perfectly okay for me to say that I can’t pay that for it because I still must make a profit when it is sold. So let’s assume that a painting is worth $10,000 retail. I feel that a $5000 offer is within the realm of reason but if you offered $500 for it I would take exception. I also always tell the person where they can check what I have shared with them pertaining to value, so that they aren’t totally dependent on me for the value. The only time I vary from this is if an item is already being offered to the world and I haven’t been asked about it. Under those circumstances I feel that I have the right to purchase it at the asking price.
Over the years I have been confronted by many people in this industry but I have the same answer for each of them. I have to be true to the people even if it is at my own cost. EBay was one of my first targets because they were being unfair to the average person. I had many individuals say “Why don’t you mind your own business” as eBay continued to escalate their prices to where they were often making more money than the seller. Not wanting to stop there they even bought their competition, PayPal and Pro Stores, so they could have a greater strangle hold on the market. But I warned that there has never been a market that wouldn’t adjust itself if it became too unfair. Meg Whitman must have realized that too because she left at the peak, leaving the hot potato in the lap of her replacement. I now say that, due to their past sins, their future is bleak if there aren’t major changes to their business plan.
Next it was to the Auction Houses . When I began going to auctions, the fee was 5% to the seller and nothing to the buyer. They considered themselves service companies but that has changed over the years. First it was 10% and then 15% but still this wasn’t enough
