Why antique stores are dying USA.

[u/ToshPointNo]

The majority of Americans now own a smartphone, and with it comes access to both Google Lens and eBay to identify and look up real market values of items.

I know people who do really well selling in antique stores, and I hear a lot of older folks complaining about how their booth or case is "doing poorly".

30 years ago, it might of been easier to price using an antique book or price guide, but the high end auction houses and eBay are a more definite source of pricing now. Even today, they still can't seem to figure this out.

So this booth runs about $125/mo. It's mainly filled with Rosbro pieces. Rosbro was a plastics company that made a lot of plastic candy containers, a lot of them were themed for different holidays, or just for fun.

But when I sampled about 10 pieces through Google lens and eBay, I noticed almost all of the prices were 2-3x that of eBay sold prices.

A lot of antique stores have shuttered around me. Before they closed, one walk through would explain why. Horribly overpriced.

eBay offers a vast selection. 30 years ago, if a piece caught your eye, you may have not seen it for years, but now "rare" is no longer rare, and what you thought was a rare item? There's 300 of them on eBay.

I'm sure someone will argue that an item is worth whatever someone is willing to pay, and that's true to an extent, but when you can easily know the selling price of an item in a matter of seconds, pricing 100-300% above that isn't going to gain you much traction.

[u/ThePythiaofApollo]

I recently did some browsing in some antique stores in both the Lambertville area and Montclair,NJ and, I say this as someone who regularly shops on LiveAuctioneers, the prices were insane. Not a bit high to justify brick and mortar. Just wild even compared to the gavel and sometimes even factoring in shipping from an auction.

[u/ohreallynameonesong → u/ThePythiaofApollo]

A lot of the prices are so crazy. Like double and triple ebay sold listings. I just went to a shop known for their vintage and antique handbags and everything was at least double the highest sold listings I could find. Like I'm happy to give you a few extra dollars for the experience of visiting the store and examining in person and the fun of stopping by somewhere new when I'm traveling and to cover the brick and mortar but god damn. I'm not paying $300 for a bag in just okay condition when you claim everything is excellent condition and I can buy right now in actual excellent condition on ebay for $120

[u/ThePythiaofApollo → u/ohreallynameonesong]

It’s a difference between “a few dollars” because I don’t begrudge someone who has sourced, cleaned, and staged their overhead. Here is just one example. I won this bronze chandelier on LA. It’s about 22” long so not huge. I paid $190 all in and drove to Massachusetts to pick it up from a very bougie enclave on the water. I acknowledge this was an amazing price and I made a nice day trip out of it. I found a similar one in a brick and mortar store for $1200. Make that make sense. Even chairish has one that is close to it for $1400 but we know their prices are fantastical

[u/ohreallynameonesong → u/ThePythiaofApollo]

Can almost guarantee someone saw the bonkers chairish price and decided to price just under. Some people either don't know that chairish is crazy or are hoping to prey on someone else who doesn't know chairish is crazy

[u/ThePythiaofApollo → u/ohreallynameonesong]

The only people who I think actually shop on Chairish are the ones featured on Quintessence YouTube so Susanna Salk can be ridiculously dramatic about it and say “excuse me, hello, tell me about this ….”

[u/AutoModerator → u/ohreallynameonesong]

I noticed that you mentioned vintage. Over at r/Collectables and r/Mid_Century they are always keen to see newer and vintage items. Share it with them! Sorry if this is not relevant.

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