hi everyone cheri vinitz
cherryvinish.com here this tutorial tips
and advice video is geared toward the
picker and reseller who is unfamiliar
with vintage costume jewelry my
inspiration for this video are my men
picker reseller treasure hunter
subscribers who don't know
what to look for and aren't even sure
what most pieces of jewelry are called
if that sounds like you then stay tuned
because this is for you
before i get started talking about the
vintage costume jewelry tips and basic
terms i'd like to recommend this book
it's a value guide the author is julia c
carroll her last name is spelled
c-a-r-r-o-l-l
and she started selling on ebay many
years ago and now has her own website
she's become an authority on vintage
costume jewelry identification and
values this is a really interesting book
it's easy to read it's full of photos
and vintage costume jewelry
and also accurate price ranges this book
is from 2004 and i bought it new then at
25 on ebay i noticed these copies are
selling for thirty dollars and up you
also can find it at
uh probably your local library her newer
books are 202 and 303 before looking at
these pieces and learning some terms i'd
like to share with you some observation
and tips regarding selling vintage
costume jewelry on ebay they come from
my personal experience and the
experience of my colleagues who have
sold more vintage jewelry than i do and
earn an annual income of thirty five
thousand to a hundred thousand dollars
selling collectibles on ebay
my first tip is in general plan to take
a slow dime over a fast nickel in
general the ebay sellers who realize a
medium to higher price on their vintage
costume jewelry let their items sit in
the ebay store until the right buyer
finds it like my friends i set my price
at the higher end and start to bring it
down to the mid price range the longer
that it stays in my store i do take best
offer
on everything but i set it to
automatically decline anything lower
than my rock bottom price that way my
customer knows if they bought it or not
usually customers do not want to wait
for the time it would take for me to
counter offer it and
i don't like to have to do a counter
offer because
it really just wastes time
something my second tip is something you
might wonder is why do you see price
ranges for the same piece of jewelry in
the same condition
for example why does this broach on ebay
if you look through the sold
sell from ten dollars to forty dollars
on ebay when it's in the same condition
my answer is
could be that some sellers are happy to
buy something for three dollars and then
go ahead and sell it for ten dollars
another reason is some sellers have no
idea what they are selling and what it
is worth
another answer can be many who buy that
broach from you for ten dollars are
buying it under their ebay buying id
and then they're reselling it on ebay
for forty dollars on their ebay selling
id or their website or their brick and
mortar store
so then i guess the next question would
be how do you get the higher price and
my answer to that would be be patient
keep your store full of 200 or more
quality items and you will see good
weekly sales it's cyclical
also customers are willing to pay more
to knowledgeable sellers with good
reputations this is a fact
know what you have
when it was made the history of the
piece rate the jewelry condition fairly
maintain excellent feedback stay in
contact with your customers and ship the
item out securely and fast
have a generous return policy sellers
who continuously do this often are able
to sell their item for more than other
ebay sellers
okay tip number three i don't often buy
at estate sales or auctions this is
because the investment cost can be high
there is often fierce competition
you have
not only the high end sellers who will
pay two hundred dollars for a necklace
to resell it for 275 dollars but you
often have collectors there who will pay
top dollar to add to their collection
even though it is just costume vintage
jewelry most costume vintage jewelry
from 1920 to the 1960s are investments
they gain value the longer that you hold
on to them this is why i don't sell off
very much of the vintage custom jewelry
that i own
i usually buy a garage sales flea
markets church or charity sales and
thrift stores it's easy to find a piece
of vintage costume jewelry a good piece
for 25 cents to five dollars and resell
it for twenty five dollars to a hundred
dollars on ebay if you are patient
and you know what to buy
tip number four
vintage jewelry often sells best
during holidays
tip number five a bigger profit can
often be made by selling less desirable
1970s through 1990s vintage jewelry in
lots ranging for 25 to 35 dollars
tip number six
in general signed pieces sell better
than unsigned pieces
just a very general rule and here are
some brands that unless they are showy
pieces
unless they are 1960s or earlier these
brands
often do not sell well
avon trafari
including crown trafari
monet
napier
marvella and some sarah coventry
this is largely due to the fact that
some of these companies have sold off
their names and other manufacture to
other manufacturers and then then you
know the quality was reduced and a lot
of it started to become made in china in
the 80s and so
the materials used just were crappy
compared to the former materials used
so again
i'm not saying never buy these brands
i'm just saying be very careful when you
buy those brands because only certain
pieces of those brands
are going to sell for 25 bucks or more
on ebay
tip number seven if you're just starting
out try to buy items that are in very
good to excellent condition
now i can talk about how to rate your
jewelry in another video
uh when you're looking at earrings try
to pay a dollar or less so it really
doesn't hurt you much if you've made a
mistake
bracelets brooches
sometimes called pins necklaces try to
aim for not more than three dollars for
a signed piece
all right tip number eight my last tip
these items have always done well for me
on ebay
rhinestone jewelry that is prong set
and i'll show you what that means in a
moment
figurative jewelry
that means
jewelry that looks like
uh person place or thing
so like
jewelry that looks like a cat a dog a
turtle a horse clowns ballerinas
also
most importantly
this has always been a good seller for
me and it's a hot trend for the last two
years and still is
look for over the top jewelry
by that i mean something that like
actress elizabeth taylor would wear
aka statement pieces and good keywords
on ebay are big
chunky
runway
runway means something like a model
would wear something that's over the top