Leading online antiques and collectibles mall Rubylane.com announced Thursday it is lowering its Maintenance Fees. Effective October 1, 2009, the Maintenance Fee for shops with more than 1,000 items is 1 cent per item over 1,000 items, down from 20 cents per item. Now Ruby Lane shopowners will pay a Maintenance Fee of 30 cents per item for the first 150 items, then 20 cents per item for the next 850 items, then 1 cent per item for the remaining 200 items over 1,000.

This allows shop owners to grow their inventory, offer a wider selection of items, and ultimately increase sales, according to Palmer Pekarek, Director of Communications and New Business Development, who said research shows that the more items shops offer for sale, the greater the sales success.

"Even in a down economy, antiques still attract avid collectors, and Ruby Lane has seen steady and slightly increasing sales this year," said Pekarek. "We are constantly looking for ways to help our sellers - sometimes it is through educational videos, other times through new tools like Google Analytics, and in this economy, we thought it important to reduce their overhead."