Four Tips for Getting Started in a Collectibles Business The ability to discern treasure from trash is only one aspect of succeeding in the antiques and nostalgia market.

Victorian-era furniture is so yesterday. The opulent sofas, sideboards and buffets once synonymous with the antiques market are old news, supplanted by the streamlined, function-over-form Danish modern aesthetic that characterized mid-20th century design. It's a shift symbolic of a larger evolution in the segment, with a new generation of buyers and sellers ignoring tradition and gravitating to the pop culture ephemera and baby-boomer nostalgia of the recent past.

"Everything is different now. So much is worth so much less than it used to be," says antiques expert Terry Kovel. "Styles and tastes have changed."

That transformation of the antiques and collectibles segment corresponds with an influx of new full-time and part-time sellers. Online marketplaces like eBay and Etsy offer established digital channels for fledgling dealers to reach customers across the globe. Antiques shows, flea markets and church bazaars present opportunities to interact with collectors up close without paying rent on a retail space.