Want to pay 80-90% off retail, reduce your carbon footprint, and develop a curated collection of fabulous items that no one else has? Welcome to the wonderful world of buying vintage.
I got my taste for thrift shopping when I was in high school. The town where I grew up had a couple of punky, eclectic vintage shops. The stores are gone now, but their spirit remains as I continue to scour thrift stores, yard sales, and estate auctions for amazing finds.
When I moved into my new apartment last month, it became clear that the vast majority of my possessions once belonged to someone else. Although there are a few categories that I prefer to buy new–linens and shoes, mostly–almost everything else is secondhand.
Vintage is cool now. That’s both good, as the stigma of shopping at thrift stores has largely evaporated. It’s also bad, because there is more competition. People make their living finding bargains and reselling them, often online. I’ve dabbled in that myself, but I prefer to keep my treasures for myself.
I could fill this entire space with a list of the incredible finds I’ve stumbled across, but I’ll limit myself to just a couple of highlights. The showpiece of my living room is a $3000 leather sofa that I picked up for $225 at my local Habitat for Humanity ReStore. Original paintings splash color across the walls, bought for far less than mass-market prints would have cost. My pride and joy is a Victorian silver-plated biscuit warmer shaped like a giant clamshell, which I found in an estate auction and fell in love with at first sight.
So how can you, too, fill your life with vintage treasures and practical items alike? These are my best tips, cultivated over almost twenty years of savvy shopping.
Know Your Options
When it comes to shopping for vintage items, you have a few basic choices:
- Thrift stores
- Consignment stores
- Yard sales
- Estate sales
- Auctions
- Online marketplaces
- Swap meets and flea markets
You’re probably already familiar with most of these, but some of the distinctions might be a little confusing. Thrift stores carry donated items, and their profits typically fund charity work. Consignment stores sell items on behalf of people whose stuff is either “too nice” for a thrift store or who need to get some money back out of their investments.
Yard sales are run by individuals and can feature anything from old socks to antique furniture. Prices and quality will vary wildly. Some will be listed as a moving sale or an estate sale, which usually means that the sellers are trying to unload more than just a few unwanted items. However, an estate sale traditionally describes the sale of all a deceased person’s possessions. (Sometimes, the person may have moved to assisted living instead.)
Estate and personal property auctions can take place online or in person. With the pandemic still raging, most auction houses have moved all of their sales online. You can get fantastic deals at auctions… or you can end up getting into a bidding war. I’ve had good luck at local auctions, but I’ve also left disappointed or frustrated.
I don’t personally use “free stuff” sites like Freecycle, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take a look. For newer clothing and accessories from famous brands, poshmark.com is a good source. I’ve bought a few things from Facebook Marketplace without any issues, despite driving thirty minutes into the country and meeting a stranger in a barn. Yes, it was not my finest hour. But I did get six cases of mason jars for next to nothing.
I only shop on eBay or Etsy when I want something very specific to complete a collection. While you can find amazing stuff on those sites, you’ll pay top dollar and shipping. Local antique malls also typically have higher prices, and I tend to skip those in favor of bargain hunting. Many of those sellers bought their wares at the same thrift stores where I shop!
Finally, I wouldn’t recommend swap meets and flea markets unless the one in your area has a really good reputation. The ones near me tend to offer new products like lotion or underwear of questionable provenance. If you live in Paris, then yes–go to the flea market. If you live in rural America, your mileage will vary.
How to Find the Best Sales
Thrift and consignment stores are easy to find. Often, stores in more affluent areas have higher quality items. I’ll always check out the Habitat for Humanity thrift stores if I’m traveling as those tend to have a good balance between quality and price. I also prefer to support charities that align with my interests and ethics, so I gravitate toward places that support hospice services and pet adoption.
To find yard sales, estate sales, and auctions in your area, your best bet is to search online. Individual sellers may post their sales on Craigslist; your local newspaper may also offer online listings of sales.
Estatesales.net, estatesales.org, and proxibid.com are all excellent sources to find estate sales and auctions in your area. These sites show listings from companies, not individuals. As you check out these businesses, make an effort to be friendly with the employees. Not only is it the decent thing to do, but as you build a relationship with them, you may be able to get better deals.
Learn to Haggle (Without Being Obnoxious)
Speaking of deals, haggling is an aspect of hunting vintage items that intimidates a lot of people. If you’re used to shopping at a retail store, then you might not have much practice. Trust me, there’s a right way and a wrong way to do it!
First, don’t try to haggle at a thrift store or consignment store. Many of those places already have discount systems in place, such as colored tags that indicate a percentage off. At auctions, the winning bid is the final price–no exceptions.
At yard sales and estate sales, however, you have some wiggle room. Some estate liquidation companies that run multi-day sales offer bigger discounts as the sale progresses. Items might be 30-50% off on the final day, which is great if the inventory isn’t already too picked over. Those companies may not be as willing to bargain, especially on big ticket items like furniture, on the first day of the sale.
Individual sellers may be more willing to haggle. However, it depends on how personally attached they feel to the item. I bought an entire set of mid-century dishes at a yard sale once for $20 because the sellers no longer wanted their grandmother’s dishes taking up space in the basement. On the other hand, I’ve seen furniture from Target priced at barely 20% off retail because the sellers want to get their money back out of a “like new” piece.
There are three tricks to haggling. First, always be willing to walk away. You don’t need to make a big show of being disinterested or skeptical, but if you want the item too badly, you’ll never get a discount. Second, ask for no more than 20-25% below the marked price. Anything more than that is probably not going to work. However, there’s a possible exception, and that’s bundling.
The third rule of haggling is to bundle items. Keep a running tally as you gather up anything you’d like to buy. Then, when it’s time to pay, ask if they’ll take an even dollar amount that’s lower than the total. For example, if you picked up $18 worth of items, see if they’ll take $15. Always try to round down by five or ten dollars, but don’t push your luck. And please don’t be a jerk about it, either. Everybody’s just trying to make a living.
Do Your Homework
My biggest shopping regrets always follow the same pattern. I get excited about an item at an online auction because it sells for big money on eBay. I spend too much on it, and more often than not discover that the item has a flaw or is a reproduction–in other words, essentially worthless.
If you’re going to buy with an eye toward reselling or collecting rare and valuable pieces, you need to know your stuff. While pulling up information on your phone is a good way to do a quick spot-check, you still need to dig deeper. I’ve learned the hard way not to trust photos online. I’ve also learned that the listed price on a site like eBay or Etsy may not reflect the final sale price. On eBay, you can search for sold listings to see what buyers are actually paying.
Recently, I was looking at an estate auction featuring beautiful carved wooden cage dolls. These seemed like unique pieces, and the prices were low compared to the vintage and antique items that came up with a quick Google search. But guess what? A little more digging revealed that these were mass-produced contemporary reproductions. New from a gift shop, they cost about $10 less than what the bidders ended up paying.
Buy What You Love
For you, a casual collector or a young adult trying to furnish a home, resale value is less important than buying things that you’ll cherish. Buy clothes that you’ll actually wear, not the Levi’s that sell for a hundred bucks on Instagram. Fill your home with quirky lamps or owls or vintage hats, if that’s your thing.
As I’ve honed my skills as a vintage bargain hunter, I’ve learned that cheap stuff isn’t always a bargain. Buy things you need or stuff that brings you joy. Ideally, every purchase will tick both those boxes.
I love shopping secondhand not just because of the prices, but also because thriftof the stories that these items tell. A few antiques in my home are well over a hundred years old, and I hope that they’ll last at least another hundred years. There’s something humbling about thinking of yourself as not a consumer of mass-produced goods, but as a caretaker for things that may very well be around long after you’re gone.
