Question about pricing vintage

plousia

plousia

Registered Guest
Trying to think how to frame this question.

Some vintage sellers seem to consistently price their items very high, and make sales.

I'm talking similar items that I have, but literally hundreds of dollars more in some cases.

Whereas I make very few sales, and almost all of low-priced items. I think the priciest items I've sold so far were both $85 CAD.

I want to keep things affordable, as I personally love to buy vintage, but don't have a big budget to do so. But sometimes I wonder if I'm doing something wrong.

Does one need to have built up a following to sell higher-priced items? Do you need to use social media? (I don't).

Are sales just low and slow due to the current economy?

Note that I don't want to put my prices super-high; I want to keep them reasonable. But it doesn't seem like anything in even a remotely higher bracket moves at all, for me.

Been wondering this for a while, so any input would be welcome!
 
Thanks, a couple of the points in that article touch on my question, namely reputation of the seller and seller's ability to present things with "je ne sais quoi".

Reputation takes time which can't be sped up, and "je ne sais quoi" is not my forte! I guess that part could be worked on, I tend to present things pretty straightforwardly.

But I'm still wondering about the fact that my higher-priced items don't sell, even though they may be priced much lower than comparable items from other sellers. Is it the current economy? Are people tending to stay away from bigger purchases? Just wondering what other people's experience has been. I only started this in July last year, so don't have much experience to compare to.
 
I would say reputation is a big deal for many buyers. I would also say that social media is really important and something you might want to consider.

One reason high-priced items may sell for more in well-known shops is because they carry a reasonable amount of such items. So if you go to their shop, you're expecting the price tag to be comparable to their other price tags and your previous purchases from them.
 
True, that makes sense. A lot of shops seem to specialize in much rarer, older, higher-ticket items. I'd love to know their secret for sourcing those things so consistently.

On the other hand, I don't really want to totally avoid lower-priced items or less rare things that I happen to like.
 
Plousia, in my experience it's all about knowing your market and giving them what they want - there are many ways to price stock, but your customers will beat a path to your door if you have what they want and offer good service and reasonable value.

So my advice is to think about what you sell, or want to sell, and who your customers are - and how to find them. Successful sellers usually market their stock in a way that suits their customers, eg WW2 vintage might feature a suitable background with period furniture, make up and hairstyles on the models. Or maybe you prefer to style WW2 in a more modern way - that can work really well too.

Vintage clothing is endless in its variation so most sellers will pick what they love or do well, and carve a niche, and get the word out there. Yes, social media is a great tool and is free, just takes some nous and effort.

Have a good look at the sellers you admire, and note what they're doing right, and see how you can apply those techniques to what you do.

Nicole

PS many of us love the older styles (I do) but some of the most successful sellers focus on more modern eras - there's a lot of demand for '60s, '70s, '80s, '90s and Y2K and it doesn't require as much special care to look after.
 
Circa Vintage Clothing said:
Plousia, in my experience it's all about knowing your market and giving them what they want - there are many ways to price stock, but your customers will beat a path to your door if you have what they want and offer good service and reasonable value.

So my advice is to think about what you sell, or want to sell, and who your customers are - and how to find them. Successful sellers usually market their stock in a way that suits their customers, eg WW2 vintage might feature a suitable background with period furniture, make up and hairstyles on the models. Or maybe you prefer to style WW2 in a more modern way - that can work really well too.

Vintage clothing is endless in its variation so most sellers will pick what they love or do well, and carve a niche, and get the word out there. Yes, social media is a great tool and is free, just takes some nous and effort.

Have a good look at the sellers you admire, and note what they're doing right, and see how you can apply those techniques to what you do.

Nicole

PS many of us love the older styles (I do) but some of the most successful sellers focus on more modern eras - there's a lot of demand for '60s, '70s, '80s, '90s and Y2K and it doesn't require as much special care to look after.
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Thanks! Some good suggestions. I don't really have the capability to do the props and models, hair and makeup thing, though I certainly know exactly what you mean. Maybe someday.

I do like the 30s/40s/50s and am biased toward that era, and heavily biased away from more modern stuff, but won't pass it up if I find something really nice.

Also I have pretty limited storage space, so have to be choosy.

Thanks for the suggestions, all good things to think about.
 
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