OCEANSIDE -- Like a preacher in a pulpit, some of what Paul McConnell had to say on Sunday wasn't what some people wanted to hear, especially after they'd paid $5 to have him voice his opinion.

McConnell, a certified antiques appraiser from Encinitas, looked over dozens of items brought to the seventh annual Antiques on Mission Outdoor Market by folks hoping to have found treasures long forgotten in attics and garages.

For $5 dollars per item, McConnell carefully examined collectibles and offered a retail and wholesale value.

"Most of what people bring here for an appraisal -- maybe 90 percent of it -- is pretty good stuff," McConnell said after looking over a flatware collection for a customer. "But there is about 10 percent of the people who don't really like what we have to tell them. Some of the stuff they bring to us just doesn't have much value, and when they hear that, they usually aren't too happy."

One of McConnell's happier customers on Sunday was Roxanne Knost, a Los Angeles-area resident who brought in a box of Dresden figurines.

"These figurines were from my grandmother's collection -- she got them from a man she worked for in England, and they were made in the late 1800s," said Knost, who also has a home in North County.

"I wanted to know what they were worth -- I didn't have any idea of their value -- so I brought them here to be appraised," she said. "I'm happy to know their value now."

McConnell brought along a dozen price guides for collectibles, art objects and antiques.

He said he uses them regularly but advises customers to check the Internet for the most current values of items deemed collectible.

"In my office I've got a library of books that list the value of just about anything, but I still go to the Web to find out what things are selling for," McConnell said. "The important thing for folks to remember, if they're trying to sell something, is that an item's value is what it's selling for, not what someone wants for the item at the retail level."

Ebay is one of the best sources to find out what collectibles are worth, he said.

But it's important to check the price an item has sold for, not what the seller is asking, McConnell said, because "there is usually a big difference between the two prices."

Online selling sites such as eBay are what drove Jane Knapp from her retail antiques shop three years ago.

"Antique dealers are dropping like flies, and it's largely because of eBay," said Knapp, who had a booth on Mission Avenue on Sunday, and for decades had a storefront in Carlsbad.

"Long gone are the days when you could afford to have a store open, where customers could come in and look around at what you had to offer," she said. "That's the beauty of being a retail store owner, and a retail customer: You can walk around and actually look at items, pick them up and feel them."

Not anymore, however.

"People get on their computer and look at a picture of something and just buy it -- it doesn't make sense to me," she said."I'm 85 years old, and I'm old-fashioned. I'm still here selling my things. That's why I still like to come to these kinds of antiques fairs -- you still get to meet and talk with people who want to buy from you â€- in person."