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

[Foofoogal]

I had written such a long reply I lost it a few days ago. lol
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Exactly pdxvintagette.

It has always been like this and still is in the real world. Dealers used to flock to the area where I used to be and buy other dealers items. They drove less than 100 miles and was able to mark it up considerably.
Location and the packaging is the free market system.
I so wish I could put the email I received from a customer the other day. Telling me about buying a replacement item from me and she was thrilled. Seems she tried to go to another dealer online place and got a extremely less than desirable transaction.
I am on the antique online malls. I pay a higher fee for this.
What one gets from me is money back guarantee and I am bonded up to $25000.00 on my items plus the backing of the venue.
I have been at Tias since Feb. 2002 and Ruby Lane since Nov. 2009 but was there before.
These malls plus Etsy are not cheap. Not saying that all of the other places are but some are free.
One does take the risk of here today and gone tomorrow. I know as it has happened to me. (got my money and my shirt that I really fell in love with and it still ticks me off.
I am not even suggesting the auction sites are all unprofessional but the point is know your dealer. Check them out.
It is very hard to find good models and even harder to find good inventory.
This I must say is also the time of year when other dealers try to buy as cheap as possible to sell during the Winter months.
Some dealers figure this out very quickly.
To be honest some less than unprofessional ones will lowball your items to solely get bargains.
I really feel it will all settle down eventually and/or the good dealers will just not see it as worth their while. Truly.
Selling is not easy even though the commercials will scream it out for you to make zillions the first year blah, blah, blah.
You have to love it and you have to treat other dealers and your customers as you would want to be treated. Simple.
I care for my fellow dealers and have been rewarded by it many times over in many ways.
Just this week another dealer from a few years used me as a reference so I was able to receive some unexpected funds to my account.
Reputation is everything online and in the cyber world.

 

[Guttersnipe]

Ladies, please excuse my intrusion in the powder room...

...but I've been following this thread and do have a bit to add.

I've noticed shipping to be a sticky issue as well, but it cuts both ways. On eBay there are definitely a lot of sellers who offer free shipping (as well as some cads who try the .99 cent + $25.00 S&H scam...). While I love deal as much as the next person, I think we have to be careful in regards to this. The culture of internet bargain hunting, I think, has conditioned us to look for the cheapest deal. But the subject matter of the deal ought be considered as well.

Case in point, I buy the designer cologne I like on eBay; I sort by ending soonest, and look for the sellers that offers free shipping and bid on the cheapest one. I can do this because the folks in the eBay fragrance racket don't offer unique items. In marketing terms, I find "value" in free shipping (since obviously, I don't care about the whole prestige factor of buying a designer brand of cologne from an "exclusive" store, considering I'm a cheapskate who buys unpackaged sealed"samplers" on the internet lol ).

When I buy vintage, however, I have whole different perspective. Buy and large, vintage items are fairly unique and not that replaceable. Nothing makes me feel more uneasy (and dare I say, even, cheated) than spending a pretty penny on an item only to have it arrive crumpled up and stuffed into a priority mailer bag unprotected - which happens very frequently when buying mens vintage!

From my perspective, I'd rather pay a little over the actual shipping and have my stuff arrive safely packaged. After all, tape, tissue paper, bubble wrap, and time aren't free.

 

[Lady Day]

I recently bought two vintage patterns, same seller. They wanted to charge $7 shipping on each pattern, that was obscene, but their combined shipping was $7 (which I HAD to ask for), still obscene.

It came in a standard envelope, with each pattern wrapped in tissue paper (I still dont know why sellers do that [huh] ). It had an online ebay sticker on it. I took it to the post office, and they said it cost $1.90 to ship.

They padded my shipping by $5. People who do this are saying, "You are going to pay for me to get up, wrap this package, and take it to the post office." The new mentality on that is that part of the buying process is no longer included in the actual price of the item. There in lies the robbery.

I ship stuff every day, and I ship the way I want to receive, neatly, efficiently, and safely packaged. If I overpay for shipping I expect it to be *used* for shipping, not an extra treat that they can see how much they can keep because of selling an item.

As a seller, I dont want to eat shipping costs, but I am NOT going to overcharge a buyer for my own shortcomings. I refund over shipping always. I dont like being overcharged, so I dont do it to others.

LD

 

[KittyT]

They padded my shipping by $5. People who do this are saying, "You are going to pay for me to get up, wrap this package, and take it to the post office." The new mentality on that is that part of the buying process is no longer included in the actual price of the item. There in lies the robbery.

Right on, Lady Day! Never mind the fact that most people don't even go to the PO anymore to ship - they print a shipping label straight from Paypal and drop it in any mailbox. I NEVER pay for shipping materials, but I'm also lucky enough to work someplace where those are available to me. But padding shipping is absolutely ridiculous. I usually add $1 to my estimated shipping price to help cover Paypal fees, though.

 

[MaryMary]

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.

I totally agree! It is so hard not to walk up to the counter and ask them if they're kidding...lol I find this happens mostly in brick and mortar stores versus online, where the prices are usually higher to begin with.

 

[MaryMary]

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.

This actually just happened to me. I bought an item recently and KNEW it would not cost as much to ship as the seller insisted it would. Turns out, I was right...she charged me triple the amount actually, and never refunded me the difference, nor did it say in her policies that she charges for handling as well. So we got into this huge battle and she finally refunded the difference but it made for a very unpleasent experience. I have learned my lesson to take the time to ask the right questions before I commit to buy!

 

[Foofoogal]

Shipping is going to go up in January again or they are planning it anyway. Will be interesting to see what happens.
Some things are not worth selling online already.
Sandy

 

[hailey greenhat]

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.

With something like this you generally can go up to the sales person and haggle. Its been my experience that when you point out its obvious misgivings and name a price you would pay for it they concede. Though there are always those arrogant jerks that will reply "thats why its marked down", to those i turn and walk away.

 

[Valya]

With something like this you generally can go up to the sales person and haggle. Its been my experience that when you point out its obvious misgivings and name a price you would pay for it they concede. Though there are always those arrogant jerks that will reply "thats why its marked down", to those i turn and walk away.

Oh, that is disgusting. Just today I found a pair of boots, in my size. They were just over 100 years old, so I can understand pricing them a little higher than normal, but these were not by any means in good condition. They had tears all over them, the soles were worn out, the laces were ripped, the original white was all brown, and they wanted 135 dollars for them. I don't usually buy things that old as I would have no use for them, but had these been priced at around 50 dollars or so I would have bought them...

 

[hailey greenhat]

^^^ Thats awful, you'd have to get the soles replaced and from the way it sounds the shaft too!