I know it has been several months since my first post. Life does get in the way. I wanted to share some places to source vintage, antique, or collectible items for reselling. One of my favorite places to source items is thrift stores, like Goodwill and the Salvation Army. From my experience you can still find items, whether nick knacks, glass vases, art pottery, candle sticks, dishes, serving pieces, and even holiday items. I have noticed these larger stores have increased the prices, in some instances over priced the items making it difficult to buy and flip for a profit. There are thrift shops run by church charities, local outreach programs, or other organizations, prices tend to be less than Goodwill. Some of these smaller thrift shops have done some homework on items. You just have to check the prices.
Another great source, this time of year, garage, yard sales, rummage sales, etc, Check on Facebook for local garage sale community pages, check Facebook market place for garage sales in your area. Check your local newspaper, there may be garages listed in the classified section. There are apps just for garage sales, like Garage Sale Rover and Yard Sale Treasure Map. I have not used these two apps, I am not sure how they work. I am familiar with Bookoo.com, it is an online yard sale site, there are sites for almost every state and tons of cities in the United States and some for Europe. On Bookoo sellers create an account and list/offer items for sale usually at great prices, buyers contact the seller and can set up a time and place to meet to complete the transaction. This site tries to connect local sellers with local buyers. On my local Bookoo site there is a section for yard sales, this will show you local yard/garage sales in the area. Today there are none listed.
In keeping with garage/yard sales, many communities will set a weekend, in my area its usually in May, for residents to participate in a town/city wide garage sale. The residents will register to participate. In some communities they will offer an interactive map or printed maps of all the garage sales registered. I have found there to be more than the maps show. If your like me, I drive up and look to see what is out. I do skip the sales with mostly toys out on the lawn or the drive way. If I see lots of household items I generally stop. You will encounter sales where the seller has done some homework and have print out of an eBay listing and will have a similar price on the item. I generally steer clear of these sales, in my experience the seller is not willing to take a lower price. I look for the sales where everything is a quarter, fifty cents or a dollar.
Rummage sales can be a great source, generally local churches will run a rummage sale and the church members donate items to be sold. They usually have better items or vintage on a table and priced a bit higher or with in half of what the items sell for on eBay. These sales may also have a fill a bag for a set price, it could be $5 or more.
Do not rule out antique shops or malls. These require more time to look, but you may just find a booth selling items at better than thrift store pricing. There are dealers who sell vintage, antiques, and collectibles at a wholesale price, leaving room for the buyer to resell and make a profit.
Flea markets are a good place to source items, not all flea markets are created equal. Check out local flea markets, you may just find vendors selling cool old stuff, you will see lots of vendors selling new stuff. In some areas you may find a monthly antique market, check it out, you never know what you will find.
Lastly, estate sales are another source for vintage items. One thing to keep in mind, the first day the items are usually full asking price, you still can find some great deals. Some estate sales will offer 50% off on the final day, always check with the workers on how they run and how they discount the sale. The estate sales I have been to run three days, over a weekend. I usually google estate sales for my area. There are a couple of sites that come up where estate sales have been listed.
I will save auctions, whether in person or online, for another time. It has been a long time since I attended an in person auction.
Have fun sourcing ~Jen
