everything vintage/what is it worth?

I sold saddle shoes sold on eBay for 35.77. They were in very good condition–barely even worn. They are leather and are often worn as part of a school uniform. Here is where I found them— At the clearance section of the Goodwill store. They were setting right on the edge of the bin just waiting for me to pick them up. I did–and they cost me 1.50. How do I know what to look for? One of my tools is this great book  Thrift Store Goldmines.

My next favorite find is vintage dress patterns. I find a lot of these at local estate sales. No seamstress ever throws away a dress pattern! I think I found most of these though at my friend’s yard sale where she was selling things that her mother had kept over the years. I usually pay about 1.00 for a dozen of them. The goods ones are the older ones (1950s or earlier–and they usually are not dated), especially apron patterns, doll patterns, and unusual items. The dress patterns are pretty ordinary and I sometimes don’t even sell them the first time around. I think these went for more $$ because there was a wedding dress in the lot—not sure! Oh, almost forgot to mention—they sold for 42.09 for the lot of 10 patterns. This FREE newsletter has also really helped me in my eBay business. CLICK HERE.

These jeans are on auction starting tonight and will be over on July 20. The reason I am writing about them as my favorite is because I just sold a pair of jeans that I had listed for over a year! I buy most of my jeans at the Goodwill clearance for 75 cents each. I start them at 3-4$. Then if they don’t sell, I move them to my eBay store and start them at 9.99 buy it now but I also accept almost any reasonable offer. They often sell for 9.99 as these did–even after a year! I usually don’t leave them in there that long but I do sell almost all of them eventually.

I have learned what brands to look for by reading the THRIFT STORE GOLDMINE book and also by trial and error! Another trick of mine in knowing what brands are good (besides just doing research on eBay completed listings) is the outlet mall in my area. I don’t buy there because the prices are still too high for resale but I know what brands they have there and how much other people are willing to pay for them.

HOPE this has helped you in thinking about what to sell on eBay. Check my auctions and eBay store at everythingvintagesteph.com

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 14th, 2010 at 9:46 am and is filed under THREE favorite finds this week. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.