Vintage T-Shirt Forum & Community Authentication Appraisals

So, this is in relation to a "What's It Worth?" post in which it was suggested a Rolling Stones shirt could be worth a few hundred dollars... this was my response:

"I sold that exact same Stones shirt recently, via E Bay auction, with a small bleach dab, for $9.50. If there was a way to get a few hundred out of it, then I am obviously doing something very wrong."

I don't have a storefront and I do not feel comfortable throwing on a ridiculously high price... it doesn't seem like anyone would ever buy a shirt like that for that much money. For example, I recently sold a 1995 smashing Pumpkins shirt for $7.00, and other people had the exact same shirt listed for $99.00.

Perhaps this is where I should ask, "How do I make more money off of my shirts?" as I, obviously, can find shirts that others are charging super high prices for. My high dollar bids for vintage shirts seem to be in the $25.00-$30.00 range (W.A.S.P., Bon Jovi, GN'R, etc.)

I just feel the higher the opening price, the longer it will sit there. Granted with only one picture, you can re-list as much as you want with no fees. Should I start at a higher price and just wait?

You came to the right place! First - can you include the URLS to your eBay items and I will have a look at them?

Also - why not sell via Defunkd? Don't put a ridiculously high price on stuff - just undercut its rough eBay value - and promote the items on your blog. Sure you may sit on them for longer - but both of those shirts you sold should have brought in far more money.

You wont pay any system fees - and the listing procedure is quicker and customized for vintage t-shirts.

Just sayin'

Oh, I don't have any good vintage shirts up right now... just an Alan Jackson shirt that I only picked up because I had sold one before.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0693064852

I'm willing to sell on Defunkd, but I assumed it was for hardcore sellers. I didn't want to get in over my head. I do have four vintage shirts (Cincinnati Reds, Purdue, Georgia Tech, and a Rockport, Mass tourist shirt) in my living room that I am trying to decide what to do with.

Thanks to this site I've become pretty adept at picking.

I'll send a message via the sell option.

It's ok - send me past listings so I can take a look at them.

Alan Jackson won't do well. Country is typically not a big seller - unless it's the outlaws...and originators. Cash, etc.

Hardcore? Not at all - in fact I'd really like every type of vintage t-shirt up - by any seller who is honest. It doesn't have to be expensive collectible shirts - we need more inexpensive basic thrifty vintage tees - like Ted's Auto Collision with Screen Stars etc. I know sellers typically avoid picking these tees - but with a free marketplace - there's now potential with them because fees don't gobble up all your profits!

We definitely need a full $5-10 inventory selection - so if you've got access to these types of tees for cheap, by all means, post them!

Hey, Johnny! I'm pretty new to resale myself (about a year in), but I feel like I've found my groove recently. When I first started (I don't know how long you've been at it) I kind of fooled myself seeing the prices on some of the hardcore sellers' ebay listings. And I also wondered why my auctions would be so light. The fact is unless you have a really killer tee that people will get into a bidding war for, ebay auctions are not going to land you anything. You will have to open a storefront. I rarely use ebay, only for tees that I think (oftentimes erroneously) will get a lot of attention, or sometimes I throw one or two up just for fun to keep a minor presence there. I personally hate using ebay and use it most as a guide for what's hot and sometimes as a guide for pricing the more collectable ones I do get.

Ditto to everything jimmyj has said. Start a storefront here on defunkd. This would be a good spot for those ones like the Georgia Tech tee you had. I would probably ask for 14 bucks for that on here. If you really want to keep listing auction style on ebay you're going to have to include more pictures- close-ups of the tags (like you did on that Georgia Tech one). But the best advise I can give is to not waste your time and money with those. Selling tees on online is my fulltime+++ job. Most of my sales are from smaller money tees in the 10-20 buck range. I only list a few a month on ebay.

And promote yourself!!! Have a blog, or facebook page, or SOMETHING where people can follow you and see your discoveries and listings!!

(I sold an Alan Jackson tee, but for 12 bucks after it sat there a couple months. So don't pay too much for those!!)

Good luck!!

Oh, when I say:

"But the best advise I can give is to not waste your time and money with those."

I don't mean don't waste your time with those tees. I mean don't waste your time and money listing them auction style on ebay.

Thanks oscar and jimmyj. I've changed my name here to reflect the storefront and my blog that I will hopefully get back to doing more often.

Selling tees as a full-time job would be pretty awesome, in my opinion. As I've mentioned before, picking tees was just a hobby (vintage or otherwise), but then I noticed people were making some decent money on the older shirts. About six or seven months ago, I started studying the tags (I upload every brand update on the blog here onto my phone, so I can take it with me if I'm unsure of a tag) and I am pretty good at identifying any older shirts... being a lifelong musician, I've always known what bands are still hip and still command attention, so that helps, too. So, yeah, I am fairly new to "properly" selling vintage. But, the whole point of my post was that I kinda felt like I was just giving shirts away when I could be making more by sitting on them longer.

So, oscar, your post brings up some more questions... and you certainly do not have to answer as I don't expect anyone to reveal any of their secrets.

How long do you usually sit on a $10-$20 shirt before it sells?

Do you have a weekly/monthly budget that you consider? Or do you just buy what you see? I'm fully aware of the "spend more to more more" philosophy, but I also don't want to be spending a bunch of money just to have a closet full of shirts, as cool as they may be.

Finally, and again, not a question you have to answer, but how do you score your shirts? I only pick at thrift stores (I have a five store rotation; it's a lot of work, but it's fun). I've heard about "rag houses," but I no idea what those are all about and wouldn't even know where to find one. Craigslist totally sucks... when people are routinely asking $1,000 for a $20 baseball card, you know that isn't a good avenue to go down. Living in the Midwest, garage sales are out for the next seven months.

I really appreciate all of the advice.

I'm going to use my etsy shop for examples in answering your questions, just because it has a built-in customer base that the defunkd store doesn't have- YET.

How long do you usually sit on a $10-$20 shirt before it sells?
It all depends on the shirt. If it's something that the hipsters will love, like robots, nerd stuff, computers, dinosaurs, ironic outdoor stuff like the famous "three wolf moon" shirt, it can move as quickly as a day or two. I just listed this one: http://www.etsy.com/listing/86037883/vi ... on-t-shirt and since it's cheap enough for someone to buy spur-of-the-moment just to have a goofy ironic shirt I would be surprised if it sits longer than a week. On etsy an item stays listed for four months then you have to re-list it (if you so desire). To give you an idea, in October I listed 181 items, and renewed 9 items that hadn't sold.

Budget? No. I'm not liquid enough to say "I'm going to save x amount and put y amount back into it. Other than rent and gas and food and stuff, it all goes back into the shop. So I pretty much spend everything I can.

I score mostly at thrift stores. Where do you live? I live in the Twin Cities in MN where there are a lot of stores for me to shop. There aren't many days where I don't stop in at least one store. Recently I bought a bunch of band shirts on ebay so I could have some higher end tees and hopefully drive traffic with them. (Because you almost never find 100 dollar tees in thrift stores.) You can also score lots of tees on ebay, but if you're not careful you can end up with a bunch of lame stained holey junk. If I have to take a trip, like to visit my parents in WI I plan on taking the long way and stopping at all the smaller town thrift stores. If I think I can sell an item higher than they have it priced (or I want to take a gamble) I'll buy an item in a vintage shop too. The vintage shops around me, with the exception of one, don't specialize in t-shirts so they might not know if they have a super hot one than can be resold for a bunch.

Oh, I was just checking out your blog and I noticed an entry from a few months ago about not wanting to ship outside the US. If I could give you one piece of advise it's get rid of that. My best customers are from Malaysia and Thailand. If it wasn't for them I would have to get a job.

PS. I love your blog. Check it out: http://www.etsy.com/listing/84602284/th ... id_6284767 Funny, huh? This is the second one I've had.

Agreed - means I wouldn't even be able to order a t-shirt from you! I know there's a little extra legwork involved in customs labels - but it increases your potential customer base by ...the rest of the world. Japan - Thailand, Malaysia, Canada, UK and Australia are all active in the vintage t-shirt world.

I just fuse PO visits in to my routine when I'm already out and about - so it's not really an extra trip.

You want as many people fighting for your shirt as possible.

I'm not technically selling full-time..as I still have a 9-5 weekday job. However, most of my free time goes into picking, posting and packaging. I've been selling on eBay since about 2004. I got into vintage about 4 years ago. I did an 'about me' section on my blog a few months ago... http://fatandyzvintage.wordpress.com/20 ... -fatandyz/

I believe you'll find many of us are mostly picking thrift stores, flea markets and yard sales. Living in Maine, I too will not be seeing any yard sales for a few months. So, I'll be hitting thrift stores and indoor flea markets. I've combined road trips with picking. For example, this past weekend my girlfriend and I spent Friday & Saturday picking around Massachusetts. Visit a city near where you live...Pick local thrift stores as your tour the area.

I agree with Jimmy & Oscar about international buyers. Those have been some of my most loyal customers.

Also, Oscar's advise about promoting is very important. Not only for sales but connecting. Facebook, Twitter, blogging, message boards, etc. has been very helpful for me. This site has been extremely helpful! You should definitely set up a storefront on defunkd. I would (I'm sure Jimmy would as well) love to see this become the international destination for vintage tees.

Welcome to the community...

p.s.

Just checked out your blog...very nice! Nice to see the storefront on defunkd

This is all very helpful.

I live in Indiana (went to Purdue, stayed here). We have three Goodwills and about 100,000 people in the area when school is in, so the stock turns over pretty quickly. We have a couple smaller stores, but the stock takes a lot longer to turnover. Also, our chain of Goodwills just rolled out a Rewards program, so that is nice. In addition to always getting 10% off of every $20.00, there are a bunch of special rewards, too.

I've ditched the "U.S. only" rule. The funny thing is that the Post Office is, literally, one block from my apartment, so I will stop being a baby about that. Ha.

A couple more things...

Do you sell your stock (same items) on multiple sites? For example, Defunkd and Etsy? As mentioned, Defunkd doesn't yet have the audience that Etsy has, so Etsy would obviously reach a wider range of potential buyers. Is that uncouth? What if two people bought the same item at the same time?

I understand promoting... I'm just not sure where/how to promote. I mean I can throw up a link on my Facebook or Twitter, but only my friends are going to see it. Perhaps a separate Facebook page? Even so, who is going to "like" a random page and actually pay attention to it.

Post Office convenience is important...My full-time job is across the street from the post office. The post master knows me by name.

3 stores and 100,000 people...my best store in Maine is in a town of about 20,000. I visit this store at least every other week. I always find something. I should set up a photo album of what I've found at this one store.

Couple things I've learned is; It only takes 1 tee to make it worth your time and Never give up on a rack.

Multiple stores - I list on eBay and Defunkd. I signed up for etsy, but I haven't put any time into listing on that one yet.

Definitely set up a facebook page and twitter id exclusively for your vintage. Follow other users of vintage interest. It's all about self promoting and networking. I have fun with twitter. It's been like a game to get mentions and retweets. I've had a few celebrities reply, mention or retweet me.

Good advice about Twitter.

Also, when I say multiple stores... I meant listing the same items at multiple stores. Like, would it be a bad idea to basically mirror my shirts that I have for sale here on Etsy?

I do that. I've just started listing on defunkd first and putting it on etsy second. That way when someone is using google to try to buy an eighties Minnesota shirt (hey, it could happen) they will be directed first to defunkd. In the off chance that an item gets purchased from both sites before I could remove it from the second one I would just refund the second buyer. But when one sells I can remove it quickly from anywhere else on my phone, which I check obsessively.

I have most items listed on defunkd and ebay (as fixed price listings.) I wouldn't do an auction for any items I've listed on defunkd. I've also lowered the prices on most items on defunkd.

Almost forgot...I've had a local sports radio show mention me a few times lately. The host is the local sports anchor for an NBC Television affiliate in Portland. Not sure if I've got any visits from it but it was still kind of cool.

If you are going to sift the thrifts, I recommend that you become omnivorous. Don't just do t-shirts-- I make an extra $30- $50 selling books a month on ebay or Amazon with little added effort. Not a lot, but there's not much hassle. The only problem is that i also find books that I can't live without and have 50+ to read! You can also grab vintage camping gear, shoes, whatever you have enough expertise to flip for a profit.

It's also a joy to NOT have to stand in line at the post office ever again. Automate everything through Paypal and ship them yourself. i just drop everything at the PO or have them pick up.

I need to get on Defunkd myself...

Frank...you just explained how I started. I use to look for collectible books all the time. One of my first finds at a thrift store was about 15 Star Wars West End Games RPG books. Those were a huge success. I think the next good find was a box of original Strawberry Shortcake Dolls. I walked right by them at a yard sale. My girlfriend stopped me and said, "Do you know what those are!?!?" I think we got the whole box for $7. One of them sold for over $90.

I also try to go to auctions. I haven't found and vintage tees yet, but I've picked up some other antique/vintage estate items.

Oh, I pick other things, too. I'm pretty adept at knowing which video games are worth a few bucks. For example, an easy-to-find game like Contra for NES still sells for around $12.00 or so and I've picked up a couple of those for 99 cents. Records, too. I've found some pretty good records in the past. Once I found an old Rolling Stones 45 with the picture sleeve, bought it for 49 cents, and it sold for almost $50.00.

I can never seem to find any big ticket books, though.

I do think t-shirts are the easiest to find in terms of items you can sell easily/quickly for, at least some profit. I don't think too many people pick shirts around here. If I see a group of college kids rifling through the shirts I think "Good, they are just gonna weed out the garbage." One time, like eight years ago, I saw someone snag an old Anthrax shirt before I got to it, but haven't seen anything like that since.

Up up, down down, left right, left right, B A, B A

I've found and sold Contra few times myself. Keeping 1 cartridge for myself of course.

It sucks seeing someone pull something out before you start picking. I was going through a t-shirt rack once at a Savers. There was a guy on the rack next to me. I saw him pull out an Nike Air Jordan sneaker shirt. At that moment I wished I was packing a taser.

So, Fixed Price auctions on E Bay... I, personally, don't get it. Why wouldn't you just start a regular auction at the lowest price you're willing to accept for an item and avoid the fees? What is the advantage of Fixed Price? E Bay makes it super easy to re-list items that do not sell, so you could keep putting the same item up over and over again with no fees.

The only time, (I understand) that ebay does not charge relisting fees on an auction is if the item sells. To be honest I haven't looked at the ebay fee chart in a few months. I'll have to check it out again.

When you have an eBay store you can list fixed priced listings (any price) for $0.20. The listing stays on for 30 days. With a fixed price listing you can use the 'make offer' option. Potential buyers make offers and you can accept, decline or counter. I've sold a lot of items this way.

I also take advantage of eBay's free and $0.01 listing day specials. On these days, I'll switch some of my older fixed price listings to 7-day auctions.

I've only been charged a re-listing fee if I have extra pictures or sub-headings... you know, for what you would normally pay extra. Other than that, the fees are always canceled. That might be recent, though, as it was only a little while ago they did away with listing fees (well, the first 50 are free now despite the price).

That's right! I forgot about the first 50 listings. I don't believe I'm eligible for those with my store.