Things that buyers can do to help small businesses in the collectables / comics / books / art market…

* buy more, but be patient on mail-order during this difficult time;

* buy quality books to donate to your favourite kids, to suitable libraries, to reviewers, or to offer as contest prizes;

* pay off any ‘get it and hold it for me’ orders you had in progress, and perhaps collect them in person to free up warehouse space;

* ask if there’s Skype + product flip-throughs on video, for people who want in-person purchase advice and the equivalent of in-store ‘pick up and flip it’;

* visit their website, and if they’re a small store or gallery with no website then ask if they can take orders via phone or Skype;

* build them a good website storefront, or help polish and refresh what they have already;

* share expertise, e.g. show them how to best set up an auto-relisting storefront on eBay;

* enjoy any virtual store and gallery tours they may have online, or encourage them to get a Steadycam (or good image-stabiliser software) and make some tours;

* purchase their gift certificates, to use later in 2020 or to give as Christmas presents in December;

* support them on Patreon or via crowdfunding campaigns;

* purchase online services from them, e.g. they may know how to produce a nice catalogue, so could you pay them to produce a nice illustrated bibliography for your favourite neglected author, during their downtime;

* sign up for their mailing-list, and also tell them what you’d like to see in future;

* subscribe to any side-projects they may have up and running, such as magazines;

* tell friends about their services, and that you’ve had good service from them.


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