Am I doing ebay correctly?

[CourtneyJordan]

Hello everyone,
Although I am not new to browsing ebay, I am new to bidding and buying as of this past weekend. I have seen all the beautiful things that you ladies have gotten off of ebay and was wondering how much I should be willing to pay. Do you pay a lot for these pieces or do you just have luck with finding great things at low prices? I have been searching but I can't seem to allow myself to spend more than I would if the piece for in a store, in person. Do you think this is an okay tactic? Or will I miss the change of getting anything great if I don't spend, say, over 40 dollars per piece? I would just like a little input and advice! Thanks everyone.

I have managed to snag these http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...MEWN:IT&viewitem=&item=220057089848&rd=1&rd=1 and http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...MEWA:IT&viewitem=&item=150066928170&rd=1&rd=1 in the last few days though!

 

[pigeon toe]

I often don't win a lot of things because I'm a cheapie too! Recently I allowed myself to go crazy on this dress because it was just too cute for words.

All the other accessories I've gotten lately have been under $20 (some even under $10) and have been quite a steal in my opinion.

I don't think you're missing out on stuff because you're not spending big bucks. A lot of times I think people are crazy on shilling that much out for average vintage stuff. Most of the time the stuff that goes really high isn't even worth it anyway.

 

[Lady Day]

I agree with PT.

Most items are way overpriced. And a lot of sellers over price their shipping as well. When I skim eBay (RARELY BUY) I look at their shipping price and take that into account if I decide to make a bid.

"Um... $8 to ship a blouse?

LD

 

[CourtneyJordan]

Thanks both of you! Glad to know others are with me. I don't have much of a problem spending a good amount of money on vintage in person, but it worries me spending too much on ebay, where the item could possibly not even fit and would be such a waste of money!
Pigeon Toe, that dress is lovely!
Lady Day, I do the same thing. Some shipping, even in the same state, is over $13! It really can be insanely overpriced!

 

[Daisy Buchanan]

Hello everyone,
Although I am not new to browsing ebay, I am new to bidding and buying as of this past weekend. I have seen all the beautiful things that you ladies have gotten off of ebay and was wondering how much I should be willing to pay. Do you pay a lot for these pieces or do you just have luck with finding great things at low prices? I have been searching but I can't seem to allow myself to spend more than I would if the piece for in a store, in person. Do you think this is an okay tactic? Or will I miss the change of getting anything great if I don't spend, say, over 40 dollars per piece? I would just like a little input and advice! Thanks everyone.

I have managed to snag these http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...MEWN:IT&viewitem=&item=220057089848&rd=1&rd=1 and http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...MEWA:IT&viewitem=&item=150066928170&rd=1&rd=1 in the last few days though!

IMO, I think you did great with both of those purchases. I actually think that you got really good deals on them.

I really think that e-bay goes up and down with it's prices. It seems that this time of year their is a bigger selection and I think this makes the prices go down a bit. In the spring, after VLV is over there seems to be less on the bay and prices go up.
I think it's always good to have some sort of strategy when buying, but I also feel this strategy is driven by your own location. I live in Boston, we only have a few good vintage shoppes. Two of them are really great, but one of those two is incredibly over priced, I'm talking $300 day dresses. The owner, Bobby, he can get away with it because 1) he supplies to movies, so he'll always have business, a lot of the clothes he sells were in films and 2) he's aware that he is one of the few vintage dealers in the area. The other store that is really great actually has decent pricing, so I prefer to go to her. But, it's not like the west coast, where vintage seems to be easily accessible. Anyway, I have to rely on e-bay so I'm not often shocked by the prices. If you have great vintage shoppes near you with good pricing then I say stick with them. You can try the clothes on and really know what you are getting.
Now don't get me wrong, I do set limits lol I did go a little nuts a few weeks ago and swept up a bunch of vintage just because it was my size and really well priced. But if I see something and I know I won't see anything like it ever again, I expect that I'll have to pay for it. I guess I just don't get sticker shock anymore. I understand that if I want to dress vintage, sometimes I have to put in a higher max bid than expected.

A little thing I do before I plan on buying from e-bay, check out the seller. Read their feedback, and like other ladies have mentioned, check out their shipping charges. I've actually questioned sellers before buying about high shipping charges. Some have responded nicely, saying that the shipping charge they had down was a mistake (yeah right) and it would be fixed. Others have outright ignored my question. Those are the sellers I stay away from.

Anyway, it looks like you're doing great so far. Those pants are not only cute, but I think they are pretty hard to come by, at least I rarely see them online, and have never seen them in a shoppe near me. The ones I have seen up for auction have gone for more than double what you paid. A pair of repros costs 4X that amount. The tap pants are beautiful too, and I think you got a great deal on them. I just saw a pair very similar go for $56! A lot of people think that because we are buying "used" clothes it should be less expensive. But, we can't think that way. We are buying a lifestyle. Beautifully made and well cared for (for the most part) clothes that can't easily be found. Sometimes you're just gonna have to pay for that. You really can't set a generalized limit, because each piece varies so much. This is just my opinion, and maybe I'm bad at e-bay, but more often than not dresses and such will go for over $40, I rarely see them going for less. If anybody does, please tell me where they are!!!

 

[ohairas]

What I will pay for something just depends on how much I like the item, or how rare I think it might be. Plus, am I looking for something specific, or am I just jonesing for something new, ect.

Don't be afraid to ask them about an unusually high shipping charge, they may knock it down. However, I hear the postal rates are going up again,

When I first starting buying years ago, I went rather crazy. Now I'm much more picky about what I buy. For instance, I used to buy something just because it was cheap and vintage.. but not *that* great of a garment. If I had just saved my money on those that I wasn't so crazy about, I could've spent the money on a more exspensive fabulous frock, ya know!

It's all a game of luck, lol.. one of my favorite vintage day dresses was old store stock with the tags on it, never worn, got it for $2.99!!

Best wishes, it's wonderful and addicting.

Nikki

 

[CourtneyJordan]

Thanks for the compliments on my pieces! I do agree that I got those for very good deals.
Daisy Buchanan, I totally understand what you say. I agree. Here in Los Angeles, the GOOD vintage is limited but there are a few places that have great stuff and are reasonable in price. I am acutally suprised that there are so few good vintage places in Boston! Yes...I definitely am prepared to pay more for a piece that I simply must have or one that is more unusual and hard to come by. I have developed a rule that if I keep coming back to something and am not completely sure, I take it off my watch list and do not bid. I want to be completely in love with something if I am going to bid on it. Good advice with checking the sellers and asking about shipping prices; it seems like things can get a little shady in that department...You are very right, it is not great to set a generalized limit, although I have been watching some great pieces that are ending fairly soon and have yet to break the $10 mark!
Ohairas, it seems like we have similar ebaying tactics. That is a shame that the postal rates are going up though. I know exactly what you are talking about ! Over the years I have collected a lot of great pieces but also a lot of not so great, but cheap, pieces. I actually plan to sell them (on ebay) very soon, and hopefully make some good money off of them to go towards more beautiful pieces. That is lucky to get something you love for a price so cheap!

Thanks!!!

 

[RetroModelSari]

I made the rule of only putting things in the observing-list that I have to think over. I have spend loads of money observing things from the start and getting really obsessed with them. Now I just check every morning if there is something I like that isn´t bid to an enormous price and ending soon. There are a few exeptions where I have an eye on from the start and put in my auctionstealer. Since than I saved a loooot of money!

How much I´m willing to pay depends on the condition, how much I like the outfit and how often something similar is likely to pop up again.

 

[Liz]

I don't think I've ever bid more than $30 on vintage clothes on Ebay (now records on Ebay...that's another story!). As you said, I worry that I could spend a whole lot of money on something and then have it not even fit. There are good deals to be found on Ebay, but I still prefer to buy vintage clothing in person whenever possible. At least that way I don't have to worry about shipping!

 

[Faye Valentine]

Great tip in yellow =] in my opinion

I agree with the ladies in here. I think it really depends on how rare you think the item is. But at the same time, while I'm watching an item, I try to search for it on different sites to compare prices and to see if it truly is rare. I've made mistakes by buying vintage cosmetology books on eBay AND on different sites. I thought this one book was rare and wanted to buy it as soon as possible and now there are many of them for less than $5 on ebay.

But let me share one of my stories. As most of you probably know, the very rare book "Creative Hairshaping & Hairstyling You Can Do" By Ivan of Hollywood (which became really rare after many people found out that Turudich got most of her pictures from it. Not to mention its informative hairstyling tips straight from the 1940s!) would rarely pop up on eBay. Last august, I came across one on eBay. I was broke at the time and BEGGED my boyfriend to buy it for me since my birthday was coming up. He said no cuz he had a budget too...lol but I went behind his back and bid $100 on it. I'm SOOOO glad I didn't win it!! The winning bid was about $102 from the repro book seller on ebay: blsk (who bid on an item recntly that I wanted but forgot about ) Anywho, like I said, I'm glad I didn't win it because not more than a week later, I kept searching and searching (as I had been for MONTHS!) and found a site where people put up ads. A lady in Austrailia was selling one. I got the book for a total of $17.25 (which INCLUDED shipping). I saved over $80 on the same book.

When it comes to clothing pieces though, I'm not so sure. I'm not so great at that. I would LOVE to buy them but they ARE very expensive even on other sites. I've been wanting to visit a few stores mentioned in Turudich's Vintage Directory but never have the time. I'd like to go to flea markets but again, never have time.

You know what you could do (that I learned with experience), Rather than looking for things by obvious names/titles that everyone usually types/searches (i.e. "1940s Day Dress") you should look in categories instead. That helped me a lot because some really great items have horrible names that no one would EVER think to type in the search box (what were these sellers thinking?) or they have not so obvious names, so I manage to get SOME things at a GREAT price! Hope that part helps!

 

[CourtneyJordan]

Thanks for all the responses! I was wondering how long I should expect for items to arrive. Do the guidelines usually predict the real time to get the item? Let me know.
-Courtney