Vintage T-Shirt Forum & Community Authentication Appraisals

I'm tired of sending things off to die on the first bid... if it gets that far... so I'm thinking of putting up some fixed price items. I've got a few heavy-hitters (Nirvana seahorse edition, Lynch's Wild at Heart) and a couple of decent-showing items, but not a huge roster of stuff. Is it worth it to put fixed-price items up in small clusters? Or is it pointless if you don't have much to drive traffic?

I think that it's worthwhile. Alot of people (myself included) don't habitually search ebay for our holy grails so if you make a 30 day fixed price listing the chances of the right buyer finding it are higher. Also, sometimes if I feel like buying a funny/destinations tee and there's a reasonably priced one available as a buy-it-now I'll do that instead of waiting for an auction to end. I don't think that volume really has much to do with it.

What do the pros think? For high end tees do auctions ever make the kind of $ that FP listings do? It seems like most of the tees on defunkd's "going, one, going twice" entries are FP listings.

I'm far from the volume leader here but here are my thoughts:

I'll throw it on as a Fixed Price auction if i think one person is going to find the auction and say, "Holy shit, i need that right now and i don't even care how much they want for it." or if it's like a common shirt, such as a souvenir from Niagra Falls or whatever since it's unlikely to spark bidding war.

In general, I'll list it as a regular auction if there is a collector/raving fan market for the item and hope that more people get interested in it.

What are your guys thoughts on fixed prices from sellers that are just F*^$king ridiculous? Things you've seen that aren't even that rare. Obviously they can try to sell it for whatever they want, they own the shirt. But i've had my eye on a few shirts that have been up for almost a year now that i'm interest in, but they're asking 10x the price and it will never sell in amillion years, it's not even that rare. I just feel like some of these sellers are lazy and don't even know what they have so they price everything either $150 or $200, fixed price waiting for someone who will overpay. It just seems like a bad business move from a selling stand point not to lower it a bit after not seeing any action.

Actually, it's an excellent business strategy.

Most of the people that you're talking about are part time sellers and have full time jobs doing other stuff. They can afford to wait for the right buyer and build value in the item (by virtue of setting its price high for several months). I see them as collector/sellers. Of course, the other guys who who sell like 50-75 tees a week for $5-10 each also have a good strategy.

It really depends how your source your goods and how much of a margin you require in what time frame. The category #1 sellers usually buy their tees off other sellers and need to resell for a price that covers their purchasing cost (often at premium prices), whereas the second category of sellers usually buy in bulk and are more than happy to make a few dollars a piece so they can sell their goods so that they can pick up more, like clockwork.

Excellent point. I just don't see how some of the items will ever sell in this life time with other sellers selling the same shirt, size, quality, for market or slightly above market, not 10x the market price. Ive seen the exact shirt come and go for way less from other sellers, i just didn't have the money at the time and was outbid.

I'm a part time seller who hopes to go full time someday. I usually alternate which method I use. If an item doesn't sell initially in an auction, I'll re-list as a fixed price with a best offer option. If an item has set for a couple months as a fixed price, I will re-list as an auction....unless it's something I really don't want to go too low.

I've been selling part time since about 2003. I've sold all different types of items and still do. I'm continually learning with each listing.