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| As a dealer, long gone are the days of buying what might sell. Now, purchases have to meet a stricter criteria (mostly to do with price, condition, functionality and overall appeal) to even get considered, which eliminates most of the stuff I view in my travels (people still have the idea that their very average stuff is worth a fortune -- around here, anyway). |
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| This meager group is an example of one day of hard ( but fun) work pickin' some thrift stores, yard sales, flea markets and antiques stores (a really long day). Is this the coolest stuff I saw? No. (except for the little case of plastic containers with chains) Is this the only stuff priced reasonable enough to make a profit on? Yup. (Since I mainly sell on-line nowadays, I don't buy furniture or large items anymore) |
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| One amazing observation was seeing several identical vintage items in both thrift stores and antique stores, and the thrift store prices were DOUBLE the prices of the same item in the antique stores! Really? |
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| I almost always pick antique stores more efficiently (picks per time invested) than thrifts, fleas and yard sales! (Of course you can't beat these for kids toys, household goods etc, and I love my Habitat Re-Sale shop for hardware!) |
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| Anyway, pickin' times are tough, and the thrift stores have caught on and seem to be taking full advantage of it! |
9 comments:
I've noticed the same thing. I have a few thrift stores where I used to find great deals and was able to resale many things I purchased at them, but these days they are asking SO much more - they are really rivaling antique store prices. Auctions are still my best bet for lower prices, but even there the price often gets driven up too high for me to turn a decent profit. I do occasionally find some good deals at antique stores though - you just have to know your market.
Blessings,
Angie @ Knick of Time
Hey Sassy, You're right. Pickin' is harder these days and the thrift stores do put outrageous prices on things. Looks like you found some great things. I'm goin' pickin' today, can't wait. I feel for you with blogger. I just changed to Wordpress and it is much harder for me. I lost my gfc guys and my feed was messed up. But enough whin'in things are better and I'm hiring a web developer to get things the way I want them and all I have to do is post which is the easy part. I am always changing my sidebar and playing with stuff. Very time consuming but I have no one to blame but me!!!! have to get to pickin'. I always enjoy your junk finds, we like the same stuff.
I hear you- some of the junk that the thrift stores price today is just crazy!!!! I think the people that are behind the scenes doing the pricing are really out of touch with what things are actually worth. Love your green books though- xo Diana
So agree. Thrift stores have really raised their prices and it's harder and harder to find good stuff consistently. Do love your teapot though. Is it for sale?
I've slowed way down too on the furniture part, especially the big pieces and haven't had much luck at the good wills of late either,I'd rather pick at the antique shops from Mom and Pops,then give the corporate pirates my hard earned cash, the thrifts are big biz now and I'm always wondering about the direction of the money flow...just sayin!
so true! thrift stores have popped up like mushrooms - they're everywhere but with only a few worthy items & high prices for what few they have. and goodwill now has its own pickers for their personal online auction site, so that's a complete waste of time. i do find the antiques stores {especially if you can find an individual, not a mall} are a better use of my time for sure!
What bugs me is the crazy prices on knick knack items at thrift stores. That owl didn't cost $10 new and just because its old, doesn't mean it is worth a fortune! grrrr... our stores are so full of expensive junk, you can hardly move through them.
That little toy truck is wonderful - I'd like a full-sized version, pretty please! Maybe it is the original "food truck"?
Anyway, I love your sassy trash and am going to check out your etsy store this minute!
- teresa
I totally agree on your comment about the high prices in thrift stores -- we have a town resale shop where supposedly people who don't have money go to get clothes and stuff -- I think the prices are too high for people who need practical stuff -- you could go to Kmart and buy NEW clothes cheaper. Anyways, they mark things "collectible" and the prices are ridiculous. A bunch of meat grinders I saw today were marked $18.00 each. Sometimes they have 1/2 off days on certain items -- but I've never seen collectibles go "on sale".
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