Just gotta rant...vintage sellers who drive me nuts!

[Foofoogal]

Snookie, absolutely.

When a dealer buys inventory it is usually to stay up with the market and the things that are "hot" at the moment also.
Believe me I could go thru my inventory and state exactly when it was.
Thing is no one knows completely the different variables so it is pretty much all a gamble.
A dealer can have a whole bunch of something sitting till one day Martha decides to do a spot on the item and zoom it goes.
Economics play huge roles as well. Dealers have items I can promise they paid more than they can now get.
An old time dealer and I mean 120 years total in family dealings of selling antiques swears it is a 20 year cycle.
I so hang on to that.
Proper storage is everything to keeping inventory nice and making some sort of profit.
It is just really important to conserve and appreciate old things.

 

[Lady Day]

There is also a difference between selling something for what it will sell for, and selling something for its value.

I tend to price most stuff to the former, but have some gems that I know will be slow to sell but thats because they are priced at their worth.

On the other hand, Ive seen some sellers who JUST sell at their worth, and rarely sell anything because of it. Or have a lot of sales. [huh] I think thats a tell tale.

LD

 

[MaryMary]

Hi ladies,

You all make very interesting points. For me, I think my original post might have been misinterpreted.

I am not against sellers buying items to sell...lol that would be kind of ridiculous, right??? I totally get that is the point of being a seller...in anything really except for perhaps things you make yourself. The point I was making was that I am frustrated with sellers that take items off of an internet site, which is already readily accessible to the public, and sell off another site.

Of course, perhaps I am just partial to the friends and family members I have that are in this business - they put in a lot of effort to go to tons of estate sales, flea markets etc, to gather items to create a shop.

I am not against making a profit either. I guess I just respect the fact that some sellers out there work hard for their profit. It isn't as simple as buying off one site to put onto another. There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of fun in it either! My aunt always said that the joy of the business was finding that special item, buried away somewhere and giving the public the chance to purchase something they wouldn't have even known existed.

Just one buyers perspective!

 

[Paisley]

Tooting my own horn here, but I recently had a custom piece done for me on Etsy, and I was so pleased with the photos she sent for my approval that I told her to up the price. The original price quoted was far too low for a custom piece of good quality. It would have barely covered the cost of materials. The seller was very grateful - she told me that after she started working on it she realized she had undercharged, but didn't want to go back on her original quote.

Often, people who are new to a business will undercharge. Good for you for not making her take a loss.

 

[Paisley]

And the photos I take don't look anywhere near as good as the sort that are being referred to in this thread!

I used to be a professional photographer. Taking catalog-quality photographs takes some fairly expensive equipment, lots of practice, and an eye for lighting and composition. Again, there's quite a bit of time, effort, knowledge and skill involved in being a middle-man.

 

[KittyT]

What really bothers me is when I walk into a vintage store and find a dress priced at $50 with unrepairable damage to it.

This weekend, I went into a vintage store and found a very plain cotton day dress with a tear in the fabric all the way down the back, priced at $30? Who does that? It's so obnoxious. That's one of my biggest vintage-buying pet-peeves - seeing something priced high even if it's full of moth holes, gigantic tears, etc.

 

[Paisley]

There's a store in Denver that's full of that kind of overpriced stuff. I don't know how they sell anything.

 

[Lauren]

I used to be a professional photographer. Taking catalog-quality photographs takes some fairly expensive equipment, lots of practice, and an eye for lighting and composition. Again, there's quite a bit of time, effort, knowledge and skill involved in being a middle-man.

This is definitely true. I recently hired my cousin to do some shots for me of my patterns because I simply lack the experience and equipment to do good product shots. I think of it as an "investment", hoping it will pay off in the long run. I can't imagine doing it for each individual product- hiring a model and photographer. Wow- would take a lot of time and money.
On the other hand, I've bought things from two different well known sellers who use fancy photos and models. One came and I fell in love and was extremely happy. The other one and it had a lot of things that were played down in the description and not photographed. I think with vintage I'd rather they take pictures of the flaws than just describe them in leui of fancy product shots. What you see is not always what you get. [huh] But that said, I am EXTREMELY picky when it comes to authentic vintage, which is why I make most of my own stuff.

 

[Lady Day]

Whenever I list a vintage piece, I list every flaw I can find. I think it tells the buyer that I looked over the item and most of the time the flaws are just average wear. Id rather be totally exposed like that than have a buyer contact me later saying this flaw was discovered, eep!

LD

 

[KittyT]

Whenever I list a vintage piece, I list every flaw I can find. I think it tells the buyer that I looked over the item and most of the time the flaws are just average wear. Id rather be totally exposed like that than have a buyer contact me later saying this flaw was discovered, eep!

I'm the same way, Lady Day. Ultimately, it's easier to list all of the flaws than it is to deal with an unhappy Ebay buyer.

 

[Black Dahlia]

What annoys me most these days is that everyone thinks they're an antiques expert. Therefore, people charge sometimes outrageous ebay/collector catalog prices for items in poor condition at yard sales! Always makes me wonder if they really want to sell the items at all.

Grrrr...my pet peeve.

X
BD

 

[Valya]

What drives me crazy is when I see a nice item for, say, one dollar (if it's a pattern), or something really cheap, but the cost of shipping is the complete cost of the item. Personally, I find this insulting to my intelligence, especially since the "shipping" (real cost) is usually completely ridiculous. I would just love to email one of these people one day and tell them, "If you are going to try and rip me off, at least do it to my face." Of course, I probably never will.

 

[Amy Jeanne]

What drives me crazy is when I see a nice item for, say, one dollar (if it's a pattern), or something really cheap, but the cost of shipping is the complete cost of the item. Personally, I find this insulting to my intelligence, especially since the "shipping" (real cost) is usually completely ridiculous. I would just love to email one of these people one day and tell them, "If you are going to try and rip me off, at least do it to my face." Of course, I probably never will.

If shipping is outrageous I just pass it by without a second thought. Someone else can have it. Though I do understand that people need to make money from their goods so I am not too harsh if an item's shipping a few dollars over what it should be. If I like the item enough, I will pay it.

But I once came across a CUT OUT AD from a magazine (only a few inches big!) and not only did they want $15 for this inky dinky piece of paper, but they also wanted $7 shipping for something they could put in an envelope and slap a 42 cent stamp on lol Just had to laugh.

 

[KittyT]

What drives me crazy is when I see a nice item for, say, one dollar (if it's a pattern), or something really cheap, but the cost of shipping is the complete cost of the item. Personally, I find this insulting to my intelligence, especially since the "shipping" (real cost) is usually completely ridiculous. I would just love to email one of these people one day and tell them, "If you are going to try and rip me off, at least do it to my face." Of course, I probably never will.

I saw a Coach bag for sale on Ebay that was like that - 99 cents, shipping $170. When you see items like this, you should report them to Ebay for violations of their shipping policy. I then usually email the seller too to let them know that I've reported them. I don't know if Ebay actually does anything about it, but often telling the seller that you've reported them will get them to change it on their own.

 

[pdxvintagette]

What disturbs me more are certain sellers on certain auction sites who sell items, use pretty models and pretty photography and then have super-elevated starting prices or outrageous BIN's. The items for the most part aren't to my eye anything of particular rarity or exceptional quality or designer pieces.

Bunny, maybe I shouldn't comment, but even though I'm Etsy and not on that "certain auction site," I'm afraid I'm a tad sensitive to comments like this and thought I might have some insights that would help.

I use pretty models. And VERY pretty photography. And you know what? It isn't free. It isn't even cheap. However, you the buyer determine whether or not what any seller is offering is worth the price being asked. Are my dresses more expensive that someone who put it on a hanger and hung it over the door? Yes. Are my costs significantly more also? Yes, of course. Not only am I paying models and a photographer, I'm spending about 500% more time on the photos for each individual item.

You might ask why sellers who use models do so, and why we/they can command those prices.

a) Clothing always looks better when seen on a figure. People who aren't good at eyeballing a style on a hanger will have a better idea of how it will look on them.

b) Having a model and set that puts the clothing in context is appealing. It makes a shop that buyers want to return and browse through regularly.

c) Having a model and pretty photography sets you aside from the crowd. I think that it shows a lot of care for the clothing and even perhaps the passion that the seller may have for the era and their business.

All that said, I seldom buy online when I see bargains on pieces I'd love for the shop, because when a seller hasn't put the effort into the listings, I'm worried about condition issues.

In general, I have to say that there's really no point in being mad at sellers who do buy online. If they were willing to pay more than you for an item, they won it as fairly as another end user. And if they are willing to sit on that investment and wait longer for their profit than the seller choosing to list an item at auction, where is it anyone's place to fault their business model? It seems to me that there have been a couple threads recently with similarly disgruntled natures with regard to the price of vintage and the reality of the business.

This food chain of antique and vintage selling has ALWAYS worked this way. It is just more visible now due to many buyer's savvy on ebay and the internet in general. Before the internet, the food chain selling still happened - flea market to local shop, local shop to higher end out of town seller, that higher end seller to a picker for a boutique shop in New York or Los Angeles. On the internet, ALL of these levels are represented and the food chain still works the same way. The only difference is the consumers awareness of it and access to it!

I hope those insights helped some. I have always been a collector, and think as a collector first, and then a dealer, but the things that I've learned through being in business have really helped me put things in context that I didn't understand when I was buying for myself only.

 

[Valya]

I saw a Coach bag for sale on Ebay that was like that - 99 cents, shipping $170. When you see items like this, you should report them to Ebay for violations of their shipping policy. I then usually email the seller too to let them know that I've reported them. I don't know if Ebay actually does anything about it, but often telling the seller that you've reported them will get them to change it on their own.

Really? I don't think I've ever read their shipping policy lol ... I will report next time I see something ridiculous like that, though.

Amy Jeanne - Yes, I just came across something like that, $10 for a Coke ad from the back of a National Geographic and $15 for shipping!

 

[KittyT]

Really? I don't think I've ever read their shipping policy lol ... I will report next time I see something ridiculous like that, though.

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/selling-practices.html#shipping

 

[Paisley]

For a discussion of costs, profits, prices and decisions, here is some recommended reading:

"Economics for the Citizen Part 10" (Click and scroll down for parts 1-9)
http://jewishworldreview.com/0605/williams_econ10.php3

"The Role of Prices" by Walter Williams
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/williams091405.asp

"Windfall Profits" by Walter Williams
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/williams110905.asp

Basic Economics by Thomas Sowell

 

[Amy Jeanne]

Amy Jeanne - Yes, I just came across something like that, $10 for a Coke ad from the back of a National Geographic and $15 for shipping!

I find this so amusing becase you can buy vintage magazines for $7 shipped. THE ENTIRE MAGAZINE! A tiny 2" by 2" ad is NOT worth $15 lol

 

[Lauren]

Well said, pdxvintagette.

Regarding shipping, I also don't like being overcharged for shipping, but realize that a lot of time the cost also includes materials. Not if it shows up on my door looking like it's falling apart and I paid a lot for shipping I get irked. But generally if it's a few buck over I don't mind, as long as it's packaged nicely.
The post office has it figured out... free boxes for priority mail, but the prices are more expensive. First class and all others you need to buy shipping materials (boxes, tape, envelopes, styrafoam, etc) which if you ship a thing or two isn't really noticeable, but when you stock up it does add up (said she who had to buy $60 of shipping materials and paper for labels and invoices lately cause she was out) and if you ship domestically delivery confirmation is required when you buy it online, which from my standpoint as both a buyer and seller is a good thing. I recycle as much as I can- cut up old boxes for backing for patterns, etc, but I still like to make sure things are nicely packed and should get there safely.