As an antiques buyer I usually just hit the local flea markets, yard sales and Craigslist. Now that I’m exploring different venues as a merchant, I’m discovering some sites that I knew about before but never really used.
Sometimes you don’t have time to shop around and if you’re looking for something very specific, it’s best to get it online.
For smaller vintage items, such as fabrics, linens and kitsch tschotkas, Etsy is the place to be! I’ve always loved Etsy for the handmade goodies, but it’s a great source for straight vintage as well.
Mitzi from Vintage Goodness recently started an online directory called The Vintage List. There are very few vendors on there as of yet, but help spread the word! If you build it, they will come.
Everyone knows about Ebay. I found many a bargain in my day and I’ve also had some let downs. Buyer beware. As a seller, I find their fees a bit too rich for my pocket.
Two antique malls I just signed up with are GoAntiques and Tias. I’m still working on uploading to both of my online stores so I can’t say how they are for merchant sales. One good thing about GoAntiques from a seller’s point of view is that they’ll automatically upload items to Ebay auctions, no fee. And unlike Ebay, these sites separate the reproductions from the real antiques. How many times have you done an Ebay search only to find new items sneaking in with “vintage” or “antique” in the description? I hate when that happens! Anyway, my take on these sites: Fewer bargains, but higher quality merch. It’s my impression that these sites are geared more towards collectors and dealers than the general public. I’m kind of lost there myself, but I’m learning!
Ruby Lane is the third big not-Ebay antiques mall. I really haven’t dealt with them, so I don’t know much.
Did I miss any? I’m sure there are lots out there!
2 Comments
My website has been integrated with Goantiques since 2002. I think their fees are reasonable, especially if you have many items online since they don’t charge per item per month. However,in the past couple of years, I think they have geared themselves more to getting more dealers and filling their ebay live auctions ( which is really a dead end since ebay is stopping their live auctions at the end of the year)than getting new retail customers.
With ebays fixed price listing promotion it makes me wonder if they will be phasing out auctions altogether.
Goantiques interface is easy to use to upload items. Be careful of all the scammer emails coming in from Mexico, the border towns, and overseas.
I’ve been getting a lot of fake emails for items I have listed on ebay (but I don’t have any items at the moment). I’m pretty sure it’s a virus because it starts to download something when you click on the item link.