Vintage T-Shirt Forum & Community Authentication Appraisals

Hey guys. In the past months I've been playing with the idea of making smaller, more selective 25 piece vintage lots and selling elusively via ebay. It seems to me that it's a win-win for everyone since they'd be able to see exactly what's in the lot before buying and since shipping 100+lbs of potentially deadweight goods doesn't make for happy customers.

Is there any precedence for this on Ebay? How much could it go for if the pieces were blue bar, Big E, rock tees, etc? Is this a stroke of brilliance or a bad idea?

Like anything else there are pros and cons. I saw a vintage concert/harley lot from ABS (theraghouse) a couple weeks ago that had 41 pieces in it of pretty legit stuff that sold for $500+. This means they sold for over $12 per piece. Potentially this could be very good for someone who takes in thousands of t-shirts on a consistent basis and need to turn them.

These are also very nice for a collector as they can buy in bulk, even though the joy of finding it for 50 cents at a garage sale is a little more thrilling.

As a buyer I'd be interested in purchasing a mixed lot of vintage and I personally put up a lot of every month to keep inventory coming in and out. However, If I am paying $12-$15 a shirt then how worth it would it be? The t-shirts would have to be legitimate. What kind of return can I really make.

For you Crazy Bubba it would probably be a wise decision to go this route every once in a while. As long as you keep your other customers happy and can get them the goods they need to survive then it might be worth the shot especially if you currently sell by the pound.

The vintage tee market has changed quite a bit over the past five years and shirts are not going for as high as they used to. Then you factor in shipping and a wholesale lot could become expensive. However, if you build it, they will bid. Hope this helps a bit, let me know your thoughts.

For sure, some of the top vintage sellers on eBay primarily get their stock from eBay. Or go even further and get an assistant to list them individually. You would make way more than selling stuff as lots even after factoring in the cost of the assistant.

chasemac wrote:For you Crazy Bubba it would probably be a wise decision to go this route every once in a while. As long as you keep your other customers happy and can get them the goods they need to survive then it might be worth the shot especially if you currently sell by the pound.

Thanks for your thoughts Chase.

I don't think it would be possible for me to "go this route every one in a while" unless I do it at the expense of one month's vintage production. We only make ~500lbs a month. If I started to pull stuff out of the bales it would hurt the quality of the bales and then it all goes downhill from there. I guess the only way to know for sure is to make an ebay lot.

Conversely, I'm wondering what I would do with all the 70s/80s novelty tees, patagonia fleeces or 60s 70s biker jackets etc. It would really become a hassle to have to keep listing things on ebay.

Jimmy, I've actually noticed that you're an assistant. That's certainly a possibility. I'm not sure that retailing piece by piece on ebay is my kind of thing. I have way too much inventory.

Here's a good example. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0206425192" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If you had the time, you could have sold these tees individually and made 2-3xs the price this lot went for. So obviously buying this way (carefully) can work out for retailers (dont for get about ebay bucks!).

And here's a couple good examples of what to do with all those novelty tees, from our friend Chasemac, really an excellent lesson in how to list mixed lots of vintage shirts on ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... ory=155193" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... ory=155193" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Obviously you could do the same with Patagonia and leathers.

But really Bubba I think it wouldn't be easy to be a wholesaler of bales to online and brick-n-mortar retailers, AND also put up wholesale lots on ebay at the same time. Especially if you are pulling the top shelf icing from the bundles to list on ebay. Eventually both sides will feel shortchanged and you will be spread thin.

However there are quite a few warehouses that have serious eBay operations going, but you will need some skilled staff! Hey I will work for Honduran cigars and rum!

Thanks for the advice guys, it's really helped me figure out some possibilities.

That Raghouse is here in Phoenix- i've tried many ways to offer my services as a lister, etc etc. but they always say no, so their model must be working for them.

I think selling wholesale would be your best bet in terms of dollars you earn over time spent. if i were you, bub, i'd hire a lister on Craigslist and offer them a commission. I know i would jump at that in a heartbeat. If you were closer to me, i'd do it, but that's life. Maybe i'll move to Central America New York.

It's been a crazy week for me, but it seems like the problem is solved! A couple of the samples I had sent to people in NY have done well and now I won't have to separately list items/ship half way across the country.

Re: ABS. I took a look at that $500 lot and there were tons of goodies in there. They def know something that we don't.