HAVE to make a living in vintage, part II: Inventory

I was thinking about this post last night, Maggie, and came to the conclusion that I would post about NETWORKING, and you've already figured it out.

My best advice would be to cultivate a business relationship with auctioneers and estate sale people in your area. The best way to do that is to get in their faces. Attend those estate sales each and every time, even if no clothing is advertised, and each time be sure to say hello, hand over your card and tell them what you're looking for. You may not always find things to buy, but you'll get noticed and you'll be in the back of their minds when they do the prep work. They'll start thinking, "Don't throw that away, I'll bet Maggie will like that.". One of my best estate sale buys ever was at a home where the closets were filled with 40's and 50's clothing. When I went to pay, the woman running the sale told me that the heirs forced her to offer the clothing for sale. Normally she would have thrown it out as she thought it had no value. You have to educate your contacts!

In my area, there is an auctioneer who holds an auction almost every week. He does estate cleanouts and offers all kinds of stuff, but his ads always list the furniture, art, glass, pottery, etc. with never any reference to textiles. But there is almost always something in these auctions that I am interested in and will bid on. Last week I came home with three box lots of linens that include hankys, gloves, and shawls along with lots of kitchen linens. I don't sell the linens on E-Bay, but I have developed a relationship with someone who does, and she will purchase this stuff from me, usually at a nice profit. And I have the hankys and other things to sell myself. I also came home with 4 wonderful 19th century paisleys, a large box lot of vintage hats, a jewelry lot, and a button lot. So you see, even though he didn't advertise vintage clothing, there were things at the auction that I can use. Also, because I have developed a working relationship with the auctioneer, and he knows he will see my face every week in the audience, I am convinced that he now brings my type of merchandise to auction rather than dumping it.

I guess I can sum it up best by saying, don't be shy! You've got to toot your own horn in this business, cause no one else will!

Good luck!
Jody

 

This has been an informative and educational thread. Wish I had more to add, but am in similar situation so will take consider this advice myself.

I'm curious to know from those who buy by the pound whether you bring your own scale and what kind of scale do you use?

carol

 

Great thread here; very informative! I have been thinking about calling the auctioneers who do estate work and seeing what they do with the clothing--it never even seems to show up in box lots. Where I used to live, folks would hold estate sales, rather than auctions, and there would always be clothing hanging in the closets for sale (too bad I was only collecting for wearing back then; I could have picked up tons of nice stuff cheap....) You didn't have to hang around waiting to bid on stuff. Anyway, I've tried calling some auction houses, but nobody ever answers the phones or calls me back! There is one upscale vintage shop in this area, and I suspect she might already have the market cornered on that avenue....

 

Re:Carols question about buying by the pound.

I've never bought by the the pound (from an estate etc) but there's a huge warehouse near me that sells vintage by the pound. They constantly roll out HUGE bins full of clothes...you fill up a big bag. They have a scale at the cash. It's digital...I've seen similar ones at Business Depot ect for shipping. A smaller lightweight shipping scale that holds a shopping bag would work just the same. (just total all the small bags together.) ....maybe even filling a box and subtracting the weight of it after?!? The store sells for $1.99 a pound. ...$1.49 if you buy more then 50 lbs...99 cents for 100 lbs or over. (or something along those lines.)

....just have to add that it gets crazy everytime a new bin comes out!!! STAMPEDE!!! LOL! That broadtail coat I had a question about here was actually from that store! (It was heavy...about $12)

Although, I'm curious how much a pound would be fair to ask if we were to buy from an estate/auction? I'd feel unfair giving $1.99 a pound to some sweet old lady for all her treasures!