everything vintage/what is it worth?

This is a quilt I sold this week. It sold for 66.00. I paid 35$ at the local estate sale near me. It is a beautiful quilt. The condition is like new. I do not know the exact age but I am guessing it is around the 1970s or so. How do I guess this?

1. I feel the fabric. It feels like a cotton blend rather than all cotton. Cotton blend was  invented as a “no iron” fabric in the 1950s. Anything with a cotton blend is probably at least 1950s  and on.

2. I look at the style of the quilt. It has raised sections for the flowers and most older quilts were all flat.

3. I feel the batting. The older the quilt, the less thick the batting. This one is somewhat thick. Again this has to do with the introduction of polyester to the batting.

Here is a group of neck ties that I sold this week. I bought a box of them for 1.00. There were probably 20 or so in the box. Some were dirty (threw those out), some were newer (sold those at the flea market for 1.00 each), and some were vintage like these (the novelty ones with special designs are the best–these are all nautical). I sold them for 9.57  total. Two of these were marked “Rooster” on the back. I like that brand—they are always unique.

My last favorite find is this Hallmark pop up book. I bought it in a box of books for which I paid 1.00 or less for all. It sold for 11.73. I even made a mistake on the title! I got a bid within a few hours of listing it and then I noticed that I spelled the word “might” instead of “mighty”. I don’t know if this affected the search or not! You can’t change the title once it has a bid so I was stuck with it that way. It sold to someone in Germany.

Those are my favorites for this week. Below are some items that are listed in my store right now—if they are still there! Check them out at everythingvintagesteph.com. OR click on any photo above to visit my store of over 350 items. (vintage also means used clothing!)

Good question! It’s one I face every time I list and I have come up with a few guidelines. I do have an eBay store with many vintage items and some great used clothing. I like to keep my store full of great stuff so sometimes I just list items in the store to get it more filled up. I have about 350 items in my store now and my next goal is 500.

However, I do like to list clothing on auction sometimes when I am not sure how much it is worth. The high end brands such as 7 for all mankind, Lucky, Diesel, should all go on auction unless you have researched a good fixed price. I usually don’t find these brands in the places I search for clothing!

Although the brands that have their own store such as Bass, Ralph Lauren, Liz Claiborne, Columbia, Gap, Old Navy are also very popular. Sometimes I will list these on auction if I have a unique pair but I usually put these right into my store with a fixed price of 9.99. Again, I am talking about used clothing for the most part and 9.99 is still a bargain!

I normally don’t bother with brands that are sold exclusively by Walmart or Kohl’s or other department stores. Although Route 66, Riders, Sonoma, and Faded Glory are popular, they don’t bring the prices of the other brands. However, I still might list those in my store and see what kind of response I get.

So, how do I decide?

1. Is it a higher end brand that is worth more than 9.99, even if used? Then put it on auction.
2. Is it a brand that has it’s own brick and mortar store? Then maybe put it on auction, but fixed price in the store might be a quicker sale.
3. Can’t decide? Then put it on auction with a buy it now of 10-15$ and see what happens!
You want to give the customer as may choices as possible.
And when it sells, thank yourself, don’t second guess your choice!

When it is a vintage item, always list on auction. I had no idea these mags from the 70s  would sell for more than 10$ EACH!

And this FBI shirt sold for 26.00. (I bought it for 85 cents).

Click on any photo to visit my store or click on everythingvintagesteph.com.
THANKS FOR VISITING! Leave a comment if you would like my opinion on what something vintage might be worth.

I was selling at an antique show this weekend in Allentown, PA. The weather was slushy and cold so we did not  have a very good attendance. However, I did sell about 3 times my table rent so it was worth the few hours I was there.  I would like to give a report on what I sold as well as some of the items I sold on eBay lately. The Karting News magazines above were sold for about 10.00 a piece. I sold them in various lots. They were all from the 1970s.

I had this really neat alien registration card from 1942. It sold for 5.00. I like paper items because they are easy to transport and mail.

This cool looking purse sold for 10.00. I think it is worth a lot more but… that’s always the story! I found it at a Goodwill store for 4.00.

This poetry book was dated 1905. It had a leather cover and you can see how the design is shaped like a necklace. That sold on eBay for 10.50.

I took this vintage cookie jar that I got for 5.00 at an estate sale. I actually got 2 of them for 5.00 because they were selling this larger one and a smaller one setting on top of it as one cookie jar. They are actually 2 pieces from a canister set. I priced them at 8.00 and 12.00 for the antique show but they did not sell. They got some attention though since they are really cute!

This last item is pretty unique! It is a vintage braided rug that was started and not finished. It has all the wool ready to go. Some of it was cut into strips and rolled up and other fabric was still uncut. I paid 3.00 for this at a local estate auction. I listed it on eBay starting at 5.00. It sold for 45.97. I was very happy! And hopefully, my customer was also very happy!

Click on any of the photos above or go to everythingvintagesteph.com to view my eBay sales, both current and completed. Thanks for stopping by!!!

The day after the 16 inch snow storm. First we had 6 inches. I shoveled the driveway myself so Lee could get the car in when he got home from work. We had an afternoon reprieve of no snow. And then it really started. About 2 inches an hour for most of the night. Luckily the storm moved through quickly or we would have gotten twice that amount!

So today we shoveled out. I still got all my packages mailed for my eBay customers! Lee and I were shoveling the driveway when the mailman came. We noticed that he couldn’t stop at everyone’s box because their mailboxes were still plowed shut from the street plows. So was ours but we shoveled it out. I handed all my packages to the mailman today. Off they go! All 7 of them. Somewhat of a slow day. Leaves more time for shoveling.

Newly listed in my store at everythingvintagesteph.com. Dreaming of Hawaii!

I had 2 great shopping trips this week to get more items to sell on eBay and at my flea market and antiques mall booth.The first trip was on Monday. I went to an auction in Leesport, PA. It is held once or twice a month in a large room at a farmer’s market. My bill was for about 150$ and I came home with a VAN load of stuff!

Everything from vintage pyrex to vintage pixies! I should be able to 5-7 times my $$ on this van load alone. In some cases, I bought an entire table’s worth of “junk”  for 1.00. That is great flea market stuff.

From vintage gadgets to vintage games! The games should be worth about 10.00 each or so and the gadgets 5-10 at an antique sale and less at a flea market.

My next shopping trip was on Thursday—to my favorite Goodwill clearance store. Where every piece of clothing is 85 cents each. I found some great brand names and even a few items with the tags still on them! I have at least 20 pairs of jeans plus t shirts and caps, career pants, and even some Tommy Hilfiger shoes that look like new! I spent about 70$ on all of the items and if I sell each one (and I probably will over time in my eBay store) I will get anywhere from 4-10$ a piece (maybe more if I auction a few of the better choices).

So visit me at everythingvintagesteph.com to see how my items are doing!

This is a question I struggled with for a while and I have advised others on it so I decided to write about it. I started selling on eBay in 1998. I opened my eBay store about a year later. Why? My initial reason was to have a “dumping ground” for all of the items that didn’t sell on auction. Many of my auctions would start about 3.00. If the item didn’t sell, I would move it into my store and mark it at 9.99 or “best offer.” I would often sell it for 9.99! This proved to me that I just didn’t have the right person looking for my item the 7 days that it was on auction.

This was a no-brainer for me. I paid 15.00 a month for my store and only had to pay 3 cents per month for each listing. The only problem was, for many years (it is differnt now) store sites did not show up on the default search on eBay. Store items only showed up when a customer would go directly to my store or they would change the default search setting to search for store items. This is about the same as selling on a tiny strip mall behind a huge chain store–it’s hard to get noticed.

It’s different now. It still costs about the same price to open an eBay basic store (15.95). BUT the cost of each listing is now 20 cents per month. At first I wanted to close my store—that’s a BIG increase! (my friends that I trained decided to close theirs and put everything on fixed price) But my dumping ground theory was really working! AND now all store items were showing up in the default search on eBay. It’s like I was now selling INSIDE the big chain store instead of hiding behind it.

You may have noticed this—now when you search on eBay, you get all store items as well as auction items listed in your search. I was hoping I would sell more from my store to make up for the increase in listing fees. I hung in there for a few months. It was working! I was selling at least 20% more from my store every month. But I still hated those 20 cent listing fees. I tried removing things from my store if they didn’t sell in 60 days. That was a lot to keep track of and I was still stuck with items that weren’t selling right away. If I could only go back to 3 cents per listing!

I decided to check out the idea of upgrading my store from a basic store to a premium store. The cost would be 49.95 per month. BUT the listing fees would be 5 cents per item. I figured if I could list at least 300 items per month, it would be worth it. So in November, I upgraded.

It’s working! I sell a lot more gently used clothing because of the great source I have for this (check my earlier posts!) and because they are so easy to list. I still love the vintage items though and move a lot of those into my store. Just yesterday, (New Year’s Day) I sold 6 things out of my store. My average sales for 60 days used to be about 2700$. Now they are staying at about 3300$. From October to November I had a 69% increase in sales! It’s a little more work to keep up with all the sales but that’s what it’s all about!

So I am glad I upgraded my eBay store. I didn’t want to loose my “presence” on eBay and the internet either since I have my own domain name at http://everythingvintagesteph.com. I would loose that if I put everything on fixed price and closed my store. I like to be able to direct my customers directly to my store. It’s a great selling tool and it works for me! Check out my store by clicking on any of the photos or CLICK HERE!

These are some of the brands of jeans that I am offering right now in my eBay store everythingvintagesteph.com. I sell mainly vintage items but I have a great source for gently used, like new clothing, so I have branched out into that area. What are they worth? I start them at 4.00 on auction and list them at 9.99 in my store (shipping not included).

Since you are reading my blog, I will give you a special hint: I always use best offer on my listings and I almost always accept anything over 4.00. Why? Because I buy them for 85 cents a piece! Keep reading and you will find out where and how.

I listed these flannel lined jeans (LL Bean size 4) and they sold in one day! My secret source: the Goodwill clearance stores! They just raised the price in the clearance outlet from 75 cents to 85 cents per item. In Morgantown, PA, they change the bin clothing every single day. I only go about once or twice a month but they are loaded with great stuff every day! I just found out that this store will be moving soon and expanding to about 5 times the size and only offering clearance bins. I will be spending the day there!

Click on any of the photos or everythingvintagesteph.com to see what I am offering. Click on my completed auctions if you want to see what I have sold lately.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND THANKS FOR VISITING!!!

When most people think of free shipping, they think of getting the same item at the same price but the shipping just happens to be free on a certain day or week. For example, if you are looking for a toy on eBay and the price is 10.00 from one seller plus 4.00 shipping and 10.00 from another seller with free shipping, it’s a no-brainer which one you will buy. However, it doesn’t really work the same way with items that weigh over a pound.

Here’s what happens when I sell a pair of jeans (most jeans weigh between 1 and 2 pounds).  I want to get at least 5.00 for the pair of jeans. If I sell them for 5.00 with free shipping, obviously I won’t make any profit so I can’t do that.

If I want to offer free shipping I have to build the price of shipping into the fixed price. That’s where the problem is. I live in the east coast. If I ship to the east coast, the cost for 2 pounds is about 5.00. If I ship to the middle of the country the cost will be about 7.00 for shipping. However, if I ship to the west coast the cost can be as much as 9.55 postage. Therefore, in order to offer free shipping, I have to add about 10.00 to the price of EVERY pair of jeans to cover my costs to the west coast. The buyers on the east coast are much better off if I DON’T offer free shipping. I’m sure this scenario is the same for anyone on the west coast shipping east as well.

Would you rather pay 5.00 plus actual shipping for a pair of jeans or 15.00 with free shipping? If I want to give my customers the best price, I offer actual shipping, not “free” shipping.

So is there really such a thing as free shipping? Probably not with the small sellers on eBay. We can’t just take a loss in order to offer free shipping, and the customer actually pays less without free shipping such as in the example above. Free shipping might really be free with Toys R Us or Land’s End or other big companies but for people like me (and maybe you). Free isn’t really free!

Lots of jeans. Lots of sizes. Great prices! at everythingvintagesteph.com

So it’s November and things are heating up on eBay as they are in most retail markets. What did I sell this weekend? Well, I list 6 things a day plus I also have an eBay store that anyone can buy out of at any time. That means I am happy if I sell at least 6 things in one day.

However, on just Sunday this week, I sold 10 items!

They were:

Royersford town history book 8.00

knoll new mousepad 9.00

partylite candleholder 4.30

lizwear pre-owned jeans 8.00

Eddie Bauer cropped pre-owned jeans 8.00

7 rubber stamping books 5.00

Nova new jeans 8.00

black pre-owned sweater 6.00

Oakland raiders girls outfit pre-owned 16.19

Philadelphia eagles girls outfit pre-owned 6.00

AND THOSE SALES ARE ONLY FOR ONE DAY!

So where did I find all these items to sell? I got the girls outfits at my church rummage sale for 1.00 each, the books were from an auction lot where I paid 1.00 for an entire box, the other clothing was from the goodwill clearance bins at 75 cents each. The knoll mousepads were from a surplus auction where I bought about 100 of them for less than 1.00 each.

Hope this gives you an idea of what you can do and where you might find items to sell on eBay!

CHECK IT ALL OUT AT   EVERYTHINGVINTAGESTEPH.COM

How do I find great costumes to sell at Halloween for a great price? I buy them the year before! Yes, I have a nice large place to store items so that helps.

After every holiday, Target usually does a 75% off sale and then if you can hit it just right, they clear out all holiday items at 90%! Yes, I hit 3 Target stores in my area yesterday and picked up a total of 34 costumes for less than 50$. The most expensive costume was a 19.99 one for 1.99. I just packed them all in a bin and will get them out next year and sell them for half price or a little more and they will fly out of my store! (I know because I had some this year).

10 of those costumes were for dogs! You can dress your dog like a ram or a blowfish or a submarine! Very unusual so I think they will do well next year.

I just listed this one in my eBay store. Sure, it’s a costume but it could also be a blanket for a cold day! I have 3 of these in a large size and listed them at 8.00 with free shipping. Ok, they cost me 1.29! I think they will sell soon!

Visit me at   everythingvintagesteph.com

for some vintage and not so vintage STUFF.