Dear roll customers

Has the economy Still got you down?  Feeling Blue and saddened? Well don’t despair.  Place a few bids in the current roll auction and win some new music to cheer you up.  You will also help the economy by buying (new to you) music rolls. The consignors will get some money and will buy something. This in return will help out the economy get a kick start and get moving again and hope soon we will be back where we were before all this mess started.   Just remember a new to you player piano roll on your player piano will bring you cheer and happiness.  I know this last paragraph was in the last auction, but it still holds true!

 

Old Website Address: While the last time we tried to do a new website address, we found we opened up a can of worms, so disregard the new website address we had last time and use the same old website address of:  http://home.earthlink.net/~rollertunes   So much for trying out progress and learning new things.  The good news is that after 3 years, I finally figured out how to do the website from the new 3 year old computer and I finally figured out how to access my mailing list from the new 3 year old computer, so now I can get rid of my 6 year old obsolete PC.  Isn’t it fantastic that we can have 100 year old player pianos and other mechanical music machines and they still work great?.... if only the PC and software makers could learn these lessons, and build a computer that would last at least 20 years, I know there would not be so much waste in our landfills….  I guess it is greed and the thought that if they only sell us more each week!

 

Postal Rates: The post office is hurting with loss of business, probably due to emails and people paying other methods than using the mail system. But that is progress and I don’t think the pony express would work today….   I have noticed over the years since I started doing music roll auctions that when I started, I had to use a typewriter and hand type and correct all the pages of the auction and type out the address labels… I will say that the computer has made it better in the sense that it will correct mistakes before I print out the master copy and now with email, I contact about 90% of my customers that way instead of snail mailing them.  Also with Paypal, I can now take payments over the internet.  It is great, but I still use the post office to mail all the packages of music rolls.  I can live with 5 days of mail delivery, but I don’t want the post office to close…..

 

Paypal.  We started using paypal with the last auction and it is working out very well…..We now can accept paypal payments for your rolls.  We have two accounts available.  We have a personal account, which does not accept credit card payments and is just direct transfer of funds from your paypal account to our paypal account.

We also have a merchant paypal account which is via a different email address and can accept credit card and foreign exchange payments.  Since this one involves paying paypal about a 5% fee, we can accept your payment via this method with a 4% fee added to your total.  We have to ask for the fee as paypal charges us the fee and we don’t make money on roll sales anyway.  But, we offer this service to you as another service to make it easier for you to buy rolls.  Thanks!

 

A couple of new policy changes for the auctions

 

1. Please pay upfront for holding your single win roll. Sometimes a music roll customer is only lucky in winning one roll in an auction and with postal rates for the first roll pretty heavy, has asked if I would hold the roll until they win more rolls on the next roll auction, and I have always complied in holding the roll. Our new policy will be:  We will hold the roll, but you must remit the full amount of the roll and the full amount of the postage and we will hold the roll until you win more rolls in a future auction.

 

2. A service charge for late payment of rolls.  In the past all the music rolls in a roll auction were mine and if a person wanted to wait a few months to pay for their wins, it did not matter as I owned the rolls outright and it did not cost me anything to hold onto the rolls until they were paid for.  Currently about 80% of the rolls in my roll auction are from consignors and I have to pay the consignors immediately at the close of the auction for their roll consignments.  There are a few customers of rolls that have waited quite a few months before reemitting their funds for their rolls. Thus, I am paying for their winning rolls out of my pocket until they pay for them.  In this present economy, I still have to pay bills and I cannot afford to pay for someone’s rolls and wait until they pay me.  In addition I also loose interest if that money was in the bank.  I cannot afford that either.  Our new policy will be:  Beginning with this auction, we will allow up to three months after the close of the auction, for you to remit your funds for your wins on a music roll auction. After three months please add a 10% service fee for the first month and thereafter we will add a late fee comparable to the current credit card interest fees. Thanks for your understanding.  We will work with you if you are having difficulties, so that you do get your rolls.

 

What’s in the auction?

        We have some fantastic consignments this time, from West Virginia, Virginia, and California.  One of the collections that we received, the original owner of the rolls liked to put asterisks on the rolls that he liked.  Naturally he liked them all, so he added more asterisks.  I mentioned before that it is unwise to place stars, dots, or asterisks on your roll box labels as it detracts from the beauty of the roll box labels, so: NOTE 1:  Where the box labels have this asterisk I will place a note of  *LD* This means that the box labels have these asterisks on them.  They also wrote tempos on the leaders.

         

AMPICO ROLLS: We don’t have 300 this time, but we have some very choice rolls from all the above consignments. Many new recuts as well as some great original rolls.  I think you will be pleased with the selections. Some pretty rare items you don’t normally see in roll auctions.

 

Duo Arts: There are some really neat rolls in the auction.

 

Nickelodeon rolls:  None this time?            65 Note rolls: None this time.

 

88 note rolls.  We have received some very nice selections of rolls, including a number of ragtime and other greats

 

KLEZMEROLA      We only have 4 of the CD’s left, so order a copy today and save on postage if with roll shipments. Simply send me $18.00 for a copy and I will have a copy shipped to you. Or you can order the CD when you make your bids and I will include it with your shipment of wins.  The price includes shipping in the US. For foreign shipments it may be more unless shipped with a batch of rolls.  

 

REPAIR Parts and services:  We now have small Flanges and tubes in stock again. Pack of 10 pair of flanges for $4.00. We still offer ungummed replica box labels for 50 cents a pair.  On repairing rolls, we will furnish a new end tab and leader paper for $1.00 where the end tab and leader need replacing.  We will fix the leader and end tab for $3.00 on the roll if you don’t want to do it yourself.                                                                                                                                               

 

Don’t forget to order some repair tape.  The supplier of the mending tape has raised its price. It is now priced at $15.00 per roll. Or order two rolls for $28.00. To reduce my inventory, I am offering the same deal I offered at the AMICA convention in Cincinnati, and that is 10 rolls for $120.00. A big savings to you!  

 

Thanks again for looking over the list and best of luck in your bidding.