Ebay Glossary

[Michael Mallory]

The following is a handy dictionary of terms for those who shop for hats on Ebay

VINTAGE: Older than last August.

FEDORA: A trilby, porkpie, homburg, derby, Western...we have no idea.

1940s: 1980s.

MONTECRISTI: Something better than sea grass.

GENUINE FUR: A wool hat that the cat slept on.

1950s: 1980s.

SLIGHT WEAR: Most of the brim is still attached.

NEVER BEEN WORN: Never been worn in a paint fight, anyway.

1930s: 1980s.

SLIGHT SPOT ON LINING: The cat not only slept on it, it hurled on it.

ONE OF A KIND!: Forty were bought at auction and they'll be offered as this one is unloaded.

1950s: 1980s.

PICTURE DOESN'T SHOW TRUE COLOR: Nor the worm holes.

VERY GOOD CONDITION: Still recognizable as a hat.

19th CENTURY BEAVER: 20th Century Fox...it was finally thrown out by the costume department.

LATE 50s/EARLY 60s: 1980s.

 

[Andykev]

You forgot

"it is a size 7 1/4".... but when you receive the hat, you realize that it fits a G.I. Joe doll !!!!

Smoke free house = I don't but who knows who did

"it's 100 years old" = isn't that the liner with checks used by Stetson in 1966?

"1940 Fedora" = what happened to the brim? they didn't make stingy brims until 1960's

"it's a wonderful vintage hat" = lets'see, the liner is yellow, the sweatband is torn, and there are ELEVEN HOLES , not divots, HOLES in the felt.

Remember, they DON'T know what they have.

 

[Kentucky Blues]

No, every now and then you find people who know what they're talking about. I only consider hats when I can see pics. And pics may be decieving, but not always. And you never know when somebody here is selling that hat. I bought my first hats off ebay, and I'm pretty darn happy with them. Just remember that you never know when they're gonna please you

 

[MK]

Michael you gave me several belly laughs. Thank you.

Since we are on the subject........

Why don't these people put the size IN THE DARN SUBJECT LINE!!!!!!!

Also.....can you believe how many people have no idea what size the hat is?

 

[Renderking Fisk]

Is there anyone here who hasn't had a bad experience with E-Bay.

By the way e`bay is french slang for "Screwed".

 

[Andykev]

Ebay

I haven't had a bad experience with E-bay, and I love the concept. MOST of my vintage stuff, hats, stretchers, hat blocks, my conformer..all are from exhaustive and painstaking hunting...sifting...bidding.

The problem I have had is the human element...sellers who just don't know what they have, confirm a hat size (7 3/8 that arrives as a 6 7/8!), or deliberately misrepresent an item's condition. I had a woman tell me a hat was "wonderful" and it really did have over 11 holes and moth divots... maybe she felt the wonderful part was how airy the circulation thru those holes was!

 

[Kentucky Blues]

Well, never get it if you can't get an idea of the condition from the pics. And some people are there just to rip you off. And when you buy a 7 3/8 and it arrives 6 7/8, it's time to send it off to me

 

[Dusty Rhodes]

Ebay

I've bought a bunch of vintage hats on Ebay and haven't been screwed yet. After Andy and Daryl (thanks fellas) answered my questions on sizing, I make sure to email the sellers and let 'em know, hey turn the sweatband down and look in there. So far that's worked with every seller I've contacted. Heck, it help me uncover two very nice 7 3/8's so far that I would have never bid on without knowing the size
Dusty - Happy Ebayer

 

[Jsoftz]

I love eBay, i've bought two Borsalinos off there and they're great. One thing though, does anyone here know a roly6969? He always gets the hats that I want! He has more money and apparently time to browse eBay than I do, and it's my unfortunate luck that we have the same tastes and size.

 

[Michael Mallory]

I've actually only bought one hat on ebay, a casual straw. I'm just amused by the hyped-up descriptions. The one had I did buy came with a hitch, though. It was indeed old, as advertised, but I didn't pay enough attention to the deceptively innocent about "a crack in the simulated leather sweatband." Upon receipt, the "simulated leather" sweatband shattered into a million pieces like a strip of frozen chocolate, but that was okay, since the hat now fits without it. I plan to wear it the next time my son wants to go miniature golfing.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Still applies today, alas.

 

[mingoslim]

Great stuff . . . and all of it true!

But some of you fine gentlemen amaze me . . .
You complain about the posts on eBay from sellers who just don't know what they have when what you get does not live up to your expectations, but CROW when you pick up a badly photographed, badly described hat for $10that you just happen to think will be a treasure, and sure enough IT IS!

 

[Lady Blue]

i particularly love how every "fedora" hat absolutely needs to carry the words "pimp" "gangster" "blues brothers" and/or "indiana jones" in the subject line. [huh] It would be great if that line was used for more useful descriptions!

 

[GentlemanFarmer]

I've not had any bad experiences, yet. I've lately been working on a small collection of Hesston belt buckles. I tell my wife "at least I'm not buying hats !!".

 

[Marc Chevalier]

You complain about the posts on eBay from sellers who just don't know what they have when what you get does not live up to your expectations, but CROW when you pick up a badly photographed, badly described hat for $10that you just happen to think will be a treasure, and sure enough IT IS!

Actually, we're crowing with relief that we didn't mess up!

.

 

[MattJH]

01) "The interior circumference is 24 inches."

Translation - "I measured the diameter of the width, the diameter of the length, multiplied them by each other, wrote the measurement on a piece of paper, threw the paper out, and arbitrarily chose 23 inches because I'm a fan of prime numbers."

02) "Zoot suit fedora!"

Translation - "I have no idea what that means, but Zoot is my favorite muppet."

03) "Size 5X"

Translation - "I eat crayons and sleep in the dryer."

04) "New vintage fedora."

Translation - "Perhaps my ridiculous oxymoron will confuse potential bidders into unwittingly bidding on this pinstripe polyester abomination I stole from Hot Topic."

05) "I'm not sure what material this is made of, but it's very soft!"

Translation - "Thinking too much gives you wrinkles."

 

[baskerville]

I've been lucky thus far

I've gotten a very nice, buttery Churchill, a nifty Dobbs stingy brim, and a "Mac Phergus" (Mallory?). All of them have been in good shape and cleaned up nicely. The MacPhergus has has a label that says, get this, "Designed to fit the head"!!! Now that's some innovative thinking, in my book. Here's the photo from eBay and how it looks now. One could be excused for thinking they are different hats.
Ebay:
<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w11/chillmans/Hats/HatA.jpg" border="0" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket"></a>

Cleaned and pinched:
<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w11/chillmans/Hats/HatB.jpg" border="0" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket"></a>

TheFedoraLounge has been invaluable for me in this newfound hobby. Thanks esp. to snbfrfshn (?) down in Charlotte for his advice. I can recognize several FL members names as they bid on various items. As I tell my wife, there's a lot more stuff out on the internet that I could be interested in other than hats.....

 

[Fletch]

I have nothing here. I just wanna say RETRO EMO ZOOT GANGSTER ATOMIC PUNK SWING ROCKABILLY DECO DISCO NUDIE RATPACK MOBSTER BIKER SLIMSTYLE BRIDESHEAD BOOSH VLV!!11!!one!!!

All these terms are interchangeable. They basically mean "this item is being offered for sale on eBay."

 

[John in Covina]

Terminology

Has anyone ask them to measure the width of the brim and get the response:

"What's a Brim?"

I guess it really is rocket science for some people.

 

[Tango Yankee]

Dick Tracy Style!

Imagine my surprise when I clicked on it to find it really was an official Dick Tracy hat!lol