do you have lots of competition while searching flea markets / thrift shops, etc?

[green papaya]

I have found that when searching flea markets, thrift stores , etc

I keep seeing the same people looking for the same items? one time a person even took the item I was looking at when I set it down to look at something else, then when I told him I was going to buy it, he said you should have held onto it in your hand!

I keep seeing the same guy everywhere I go because he is also looking for the same type of collectables I collect

last Sunday I went to the local swap meet earlier than usual 6:30 - 7:00 am to try and get something, and the same guys I always see trying to look for the same type of stuff were already there

they buy stuff for resale , because I know they are vendors at shows.

with all the competition it gets frustrating trying to find some nice collectables.

I learned that you must be there very early in the morning to compete with these horders, if you go at 9am or later they will get it before you ever see it.

also NEVER put something down ALWAYS hang onto it until you pay for it, or the next person may try to snatch it from you

they are just like a bunch of vultures, I also noticed they all know each other, because I see them huddle together at the swap meets.

 

[scotrace]

Don't miss this advice on Estate Sales - from some of the Masters at the game.

Estate Sale Advice.

 

[MaryDeluxe]

The nice thing about my area is that all the estate sales around here are not first come first picks. Here you show up at the house, you bring your lawn chair, register for a bidding number, and grab some food. Items go up in front of the crowd and people get to bid. Highest bidder takes the item. Just like at an auction house.

I usually see the same dealers at the auction houses and the estate sales. They definetly have a higher bidding power then I do as just a collector. I will bid against them if it's something that I really want. I actually enjoy bidding and winning against dealers There are also times when I've been at an estate sale and come away with wonderful finds because there are no dealers that show up! This is very rare but has happened. It all depends on what is going on around the area. I live in antiques capitol of the USA lol so lots of competition here!

 

[green papaya]

the dealers wont bid too high because they want to buy it to make a profit

I hate having to pay a higher price going through a dealer [middle man]

thats why I prefer to find my stuff by myself, it's like going on a treasure hunt.

I rarely buy from dealers, they mark the prices up way more than I would pay.

 

[Liz]

I've been collecting records for a few years now, and I know most of the other record collectors in the area. I'm friendly with many of them, and have gotten some nice records thanks to them as well!

I definitely agree with getting out to flea markets and garage/estate sales as early as possible, because most of the good stuff is gone within minutes of being put out.

 

[Daisy Buchanan]

This is a long one, but such a frustrating situation, I couldn't leave anything out!

I used to not have any, it seemed that there were only a few gals who were interested in the era's I was interested in. I also used to be a much smaller size, so I could buy the smaller items that didn't seem to sell around here. Now it seems as though I'm in a more popular size so it's getting a bit more difficult.
I used to go shopping with one person in particular who would sweep through every store we went to like a force of nature, piling up everything she could get her hands on, even if it wasn't her size, she would buy it and get it altered, even though she knew it would probably fit me. At first I didn't mind, but then it got really annoying. Some people can be so darn greedy, self absorbed and rude. I recall a recent shopping trip to some antiques dealers. She found about 5 plastic/bakelite pins, 2 of which were the exact same thing. I had mentioned that I liked them, and instead of offering up one to me, like any normal friend would do, she bought all 5 for herself. She did these sorts of things all the time that it got to the point when I just didn't bother looking when I went into a vintage store with her, for i knew she would just scoop everything up for her greedy little self. Then, only after she had amassed a pile of things that she couldn't pay for, would she offer me the least pleasing items, you know the ones that weren't in the greatest condition, or the most expensive item in the pile. See if she got rid of one really expensive item, she could buy more of the smaller priced things. Usually the item she gave up I either didn't want or it didn't fit me. I guess she's the type of person who just doesn't want anyone else to have anything.
The funny thing is, we went to Bobby's a few times, and each time we went in Bobby would have clothing laid out on the pool table for me, and only me to go through. So while she had to dig through the racks of really high priced items, I had my own little shopping spree with some "special" prices. It was so great. She would by half as much as me, but her bill would be twice as high!!! Sometimes revenge is sweet!!! But I still didn't understand her motivation. We weren't the same size, and there were plenty of clothes for her in her size, so why would she bother buying clothes that she knew would fit me and have them tailored instead of just buying the clothes that were in her size, all of which were quite lovely. I mean, she did buy things in her size, but she also bought thinks in bigger sizes. Then the whole thing with the accessories, where she would grab something and show it to me, tell me she had 3 of them already, but instead of offering one to me, she'd go ahead and buy it. Because every girl needs 4 of the same necklace or 3 of the same pair of earrings[huh]
Needless to say, I'm no longer friends with this girl.. Her incredibly selfish and cruel comments both towards me, and about other people, just became too much to bare.
So, for a while I did have some serious competition. I really wasn't affected much by this, because I just bought everything I wanted or needed off of the bay, or I went to the vintage shoppes without her, on days when I knew that they were putting out new product. So, all I really had to do was stay one step ahead of her, but I never let on that I was doing so. I didn't know what to expect from her mentality, and I didn't want her to get mad at me for shopping the stores without her. She probably would have accused me of trying to prevent her from buying things!! Things she did not need. $700 in less than 24 hours on vintage clothes is a lot to spend, especially a lot for someone who always complained about not having money, and always conveniently forgot her check book or cash when we went to Bobby's even though she knew he only took cash or checks. I would write the check, and she would pay me back. I only did this twice, for the two times she paid me back she shorted me, once by $85!! So not only was she saving the choicest bits for herself, but she was scamming me into buying them for her. ARGH!!! I guess I should have chosen a better vintage shopping partner. Now, I hold onto my check book tight when she is in the vicinity!!! After all I don't have a job, and I have my own vintage addiction to feed!! Some people[huh] :eusa_doh:
I am happy to say that my vintage shopping trips have been so much more fun without her! I know, this may sound mean, but shopping with her was way too stressful!! Shopping can be stressful enough, I don't need the added stress of a friend grabbing up everything for herself, and who does not know the meaning of sharing!!

I am lucky in a way. Bobby, the dealer here in Boston, knows my exact taste and my size. When he goes to the warehouse to pull clothes for the store, if he sees something that he thinks I'll be interested in, he puts it aside for me. He's such a wonderfully sweet guy, I'm so psyched to have our New York visitors come to see his shoppe. It's really something. If you can't find what you're looking for, just ask, he'll open some drawer or closet, and bingo there it is. If it's not there, he'll have it at his warehouse and make arrangements to bring it into the shop for you. Just remember, he only takes cash or checks!!
Sorry to be so long winded about this situation, it was just a really aggravating thing to have to go through. It didn't matter how nice you were, or that I thought she was a good friend, the bottom line is, i lost some nice vintage because of her... I guess it's my own fault. After the first time we went shopping, when she pulled out a dress of a size that was even big for me and said "maybe since you're trying to lose weight, you'll soon be able to fit into this", I should have just stopped shopping with her then and there. I really don't know what her motivation was, making comments like this, but she made these comments a few times to me. One thing true girlfriends know is to not kick each other when there down. This girl knew I was uncomfortable with the way I looked. I had just been put on really high doses of steroids do to being sick and actually needing to gain weight. The steroids caused me to gain a lot more than I needed. On top of that a lot of the weight was water weight, so I was really feeling uncomfortable. Hmph, I guess I'm a really bad judge of character. Oh well, no skin off my back. I don't need to make others feel badly to make myself feel good. I'm very happy with who I am, and am even very comfortable with my new figure. Besides, I'd rather be heavier and healthy, then too thin due to an illness!! Besides, I can lose this weight. She can't lose her attitude problem!! That's me, always the optimist!!

 

[pretty faythe]

I've not really noticed any competetion per se, but arrg, I hate it when I am at a rack by myself, no one else in the asle, and some one decides, "oh she sees something, let me go see what it is" and comes right by where I am at.
It's not just for vintage, it's in any store any aisle. Hello, heard of personal space much?

 

[Daisy Buchanan]

The nice thing about my area is that all the estate sales around here are not first come first picks. Here you show up at the house, you bring your lawn chair, register for a bidding number, and grab some food. Items go up in front of the crowd and people get to bid. Highest bidder takes the item. Just like at an auction house.

I usually see the same dealers at the auction houses and the estate sales. They definetly have a higher bidding power then I do as just a collector. I will bid against them if it's something that I really want. I actually enjoy bidding and winning against dealers There are also times when I've been at an estate sale and come away with wonderful finds because there are no dealers that show up! This is very rare but has happened. It all depends on what is going on around the area. I live in antiques capitol of the USA lol so lots of competition here!

Wow, that is such a great way to sell at an estate sale!! I wish we had more like that around here. Boston estate sales are way out of my league. The ones I've come across are usually sponsored by Sotheby's, or the people from Skinner or Sotheby's show up first thing in the morning and buy out everything.
But, that's in the city. I've been told that there are a lot of really great estate sales west of the city, near where Kimberly lives. She always gets the greatest things, and she can always buy a lot because she knows how to get the bargains!! I'm looking forward to making it out her way, spending an afternoon thrifting with her, I think she must know every great store and of all the estate sales going on west of the city!! I could learn a lot from her!! But I promise, I would never buy something in which I snatched from her hands!!

 

[pigeon toe]

When I go thrifting or to estate sales I act like everyone is after me and my stuff. I probably look totally paranoid! Luckily at my favorite thrift store they have shopping baskets so I don't have to precariously balance 50lbs of junk on every part of my body.

Fortunately, I have a really sharp eye and within seconds I zone into the areas that have the stuff I want. Even more fortunately, no one usually wants the stuff I do! They're all after the Hall & Oates cassettes!

 

[Daisy Buchanan]

When I go thrifting or to estate sales I act like everyone is after me and my stuff. I probably look totally paranoid! Luckily at my favorite thrift store they have shopping baskets so I don't have to precariously balance 50lbs of junk on every part of my body.

Fortunately, I have a really sharp eye and within seconds I zone into the areas that have the stuff I want. Even more fortunately, no one usually wants the stuff I do! They're all after the Hall & Oates cassettes!

How can you resist Hall&Oates with lyrics like this:

Everytime You Go Away


Baby, if we can't solve any problems

Why do we lose so many tears?

Oh, so you go again

When the leading man appears

Always the same theme

But can't you see we've got everything going on and

Everytime you go away

You take a piece of me with you

Go on and go free

Maybe you're too close to me

I can feel your body move

But does it mean that much to me

I can't go on singing the same theme

"Cause you can't see we've got everything

Baby, even though you know that

Everytime you go away

You take a piece of me with you

You just don't care
Golly, they were so lyrical lol lol (ok just for the record, I did not know all the lyrics to this song, I found them online at the Hall&Oates fan website!)

 

[Senator Jack]

Tagging used to be a leisure activity for me. My girl and I would get the paper, head out into Long Island and just make a day of it. Then E-Bay came along and we figured we might as well make a few bucks out of our hobby since had always thought of opening a vintage shop but never had the time to get it together. So we started going out earlier, trying to hit the sales when they were opening, and let me tell you, we were exposed to the ugliest, nastiest, and rudest lot of people I've ever come across.

The dealers are just plain miserable louts. They believe that just because they have a shop, they're supposed to have first dibbs on everything. They push and shove. I've had shouting matches with them. I've seen fistfights break out. I don't know if this is done anywhere else, but here it's quite common to find numbered tickets pinned to a tree outside an estate sale. That means if a sale starts at say ten o'clock, you can get there at eight and take a ticket, go for breakfast or to another sale, and then return a few minutes before ten to take your numbered place in the queue. Sounds like it would make things orderely, right? Wrong. The tickets are always put up by the first dealer to arrive, (sometimes even the night before) and not the person running the sale. The dealer then takes the first twenty tickets or so and then hands them out to his colleagues who don't arrive till the sale opens. So I was arriving at some of these sales at seven a.m. and still getting a high number. Anyway, I soon found that most of the sellers didn't know anything about the numbers and would just let people in if they were next in line, so even if I had number twenty-five, if I was third on line, I would wait till the sale opened to see if the numbers were being honored. The dealers would then come five minutes before the sale and ask 'what's your number,' and then try to get ahead, but I would tell them that if the numbers were being honored, I'd let them get ahead. Here's where I got into all the arguments - especially about ethics. Every time one of them raised a fuss, I'd make it known that if they were ethical, that if they didn't take all the tickets for their friends and hand them out, that I would honor their system, but since they had this sense of entitlement, they could sod off.

In the end, this all proved to be too much of a headache for me and what with most of the stuff on Long Island being from the 80s now, I can't be bothered. In fact, I'm sick all over again just from writing about this chapter of my life.

Regards,

Senator Jack

 

[RedPop4]

I don't have the time to go "thrifting" or to flea markets, and I haven't done my map work to find the good spots anyway since I don't.

But I do see the same thing here with Loungers on eBay. I watch items that are within what I want to spend or can afford to spend. Then the prices of hats, I'm talking about hats, jump through the roof as the snipers (I do this too, sometimes ) come in and drive the price. I admit I'm cheap, but still. I see loungers all over eBay driving up prices, leaving the rest of us to scrounge.

 

[fortworthgal]

Daisy, what a horrible experience!

Vintage clothing and accessories aren't super hot around here, so I don't have a lot of hardcore competition like some of you mentioned. I love estate sales and we've been going for years, but there really isn't a lot of competition for the items we're looking for at those, either. Most of the dealers who hit estate sales here are looking for furniture or eras that we aren't really interested in. I'm most interested in art deco, art nouveau, and 50s modern stuff, but here, anything with a western theme, or Victorian-era tends to be very popular. 50s modern is definitely coming around though, in Dallas it can get quite expensive, not so much (yet) over here in Cowtown. So, it all works out well for us! I do have an acquaintance who buys a lot of stuff (clothes, hats, accessories), and we are about the same size, but generally if she finds something, she'll turn me onto it and vice versa. Plus, I do have a couple of secret sources here in town. lol Vintage clothing at estate sales around here is like trying to sell dead birds. Nobody wants it! Militaria is another item that nobody seems to want, unless it is Civil War. We've bought some of our most amazing WWII finds at estate sales!

 

[Cousin Hepcat]

In high school, I got to where I was hitting the main Raleigh flea market about bi-weekly for records. One other collector would always turn up showing me ultra rare stuff he'd found in the same boxes earlier that day. Every time.

Finally he told me his secret: he was coming out once at dawn when only a couple vendors had set up, and every 2 hours afterwards until about 10.

I felt So Bad for that guy, I wasn't mad at him anymore after that. That's about the time I started tapering off my own collecting.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

naahh, there aren't that many people into 30s. Most are 50s types and up to the 70s.

A guy i know has come into work with black eyes from coca cola memorabilia sales - just for outbidding people. Not my scene. If it ever got to beatings, i think i'd quit collecting/wearing.

bk

 

[Fletch]

In high school, I got to where I was hitting the main Raleigh flea market about bi-weekly for records. One other collector would always turn up showing me ultra rare stuff he'd found in the same boxes earlier that day. Every time.

Finally he told me his secret: he was coming out once at dawn when only a couple vendors had set up, and every 2 hours afterwards until about 10.

I felt So Bad for that guy, I wasn't mad at him anymore after that. That's about the time I started tapering off my own collecting.

I know the feeling, Cuz. Truly great collections, of anything, often come at a much higher price than just dollars. The act of collecting often become one's only joy in life when taken to that level.

Fedora Lounge company excepted, of course. We've got some accomplished collectors here who evidently lead well-filled lives.

 

[Mildred]

Hollywood thrift stores

People love the thrifts stores in L.A. I am always the first to arrive now with my little basket because it is so hard here. What makes me angry are the dealers-they will try every trick in the book to get what you want to buy but saw it first. One time I had my son with me and he was about 10 years old and I told him to watch my loaded basket at a estate sale. I went over to look at some clothes and I heard my son crying "Stop! Stop!" I raced over and this woman was pulling my basket from his hands! Boy-did I let her have it! I love people who collect and appreciate vintage but those dealers are the worst!

 

[WideBrimm]

Thank goodness I've never managed to become involved in situations such as described in this thread! Yikes! Must not my style. What I have noticed is that Saturday is absolutely the worst day to visit the Thrifts. Too crowded as much of the merchandise is 50% off on Saturdays. Not so bad though is Tuesday which is Senior Day with 50% off for the 55+ crowd.

In the couple of years I have been doing some serious Thrifting, I've noticed that there doesn't appear to be any particular pattern as to when the best stuff shows up on display at the Thrift stores. It can show up any time of the day, any day of the week. I've even stumbled upon nice vintage hats on a Saturday evening. Wow.

I have noticed that while the crowds are thick on Saturdays at the Thrifts, the crowds are much thinner and more sedate at the Antique stores and malls. Good day to head thataway.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

It's a real problem. Reading the eBay sellers boards - over the Baroness's shoulder - gives me the impression that eBay sellers feel a sense of entitlement. They think that because they are in business they should have first dibs on anything nice. And they get really angry when they don't get a good price for their stuff - even if they do market it lying on the floor. The buyers, apparently, are at fault for wanting a low price for the goods.

bk

 

[beaucaillou]

i just noticed in my last two visits, that my best vintage shop is conscious of it all... their prices have jumped by at least a third. it's depressing. those were my last geat deals. now i'll just pay going-rate. too bad. the deals in this town were dead brilliant for the last year.