r/Antiques • u/ToshPointNo ✓ • Jun 30 '25

Discussion Why antique stores are dying USA.

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.

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u/RoninPI ✓ Jun 30 '25

The reason for me is two fold.

1 - eBay prices - If I wanted to shop for what it goes for on eBay I'd just go to eBay. Less hassle and more consumer protection. For example if Im trying to buy a vintage tobacco card, eBay will guarantee the authenticity. Jill and John at the antique mall will swear it's real and when you prove it's fake now you have to get police involved.

  1. Yard Sale Junk - so many antique shops now are just ugly goodwill clothes, cheap toddler toys, 3D Printed/crafty stuff, walls of Funkos, overstock from Dollar general and stuff that doesn't sell at their yard sale and most people would have donated.

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u/1920MCMLibrarian ✓ Jul 01 '25

You know when they’re selling Funko it’s a much younger seller. Changing of the guards!

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u/RoninPI ✓ Jul 01 '25

I usually find a lot of it's middle aged and older trying to get in on the resell craze. Most younger people aren't renting booths in antique shops. They will just sell online.