For many resellers, revenue margins are razor skinny. Between discovering the product, taking photographs, writing descriptions, shopping for transport provides and paying itemizing charges, any misstep can obliterate our backside line.
And after some 30 years within the resale sport, I do know the worst misstep I could make is to purchase one thing out of a way of nostalgia when the market has shifted and patrons have moved on.
So, preserve your bills lean and your margins fats. There’s no “meat on the bone” with regards to the next manufacturers.
1. Longaberger
When you had been within the workforce any level within the Nineteen Nineties, you had been in all probability invited to multiple Longaberger occasion. The corporate’s baskets, basket equipment and pottery grew to become standing symbols in suburban properties in every single place.
After a heady ascent and steep decline, the corporate filed for chapter in 2018, leaving its basket-shaped headquarters in Newark, Ohio, empty and dealing with an unsure future.
As we speak, Longaberger baskets are onerous to promote, even for thrift shops. As soon as held behind the counter with a retailer’s costlier treasures, now you can discover them in massive bins with different cast-off baskets.
2. Isabel Bloom
A good friend of painter Grant Wooden, Isabel Bloom started promoting her small cement sculptures within the Seventies. By 1979, Bloom’s Iowa-based enterprise employed 5 full-time sculptors to maintain up with demand.
Like Longaberger baskets, Bloom’s items grew to become wildly common within the late Nineteen Nineties. Again then, discovering one in a thrift retailer was a stroke of bizarre luck, and flipping it for a revenue was simple.
As we speak, these items are much more frequent, and resale costs have slumped. Usually, a small (8 inches or much less) Bloom figurine will promote for $5-$10.
3. Nambé
Maker of kitchenware and residential decor gadgets, Nambé has been round since 1951. Most Nambé items have a novel design sensibility that makes them mix properly with up to date and even midcentury interiors.
The corporate’s signature polished aluminum alloy merchandise are simple to identify on thrift retailer cabinets. Even with the inevitable floor scratches that comes with thrift-store processing, Nambé items bought properly — till lately.
Shifting tastes or an over-saturated market has made Nambé a “don’t purchase” for me. Small items (trinket dishes, vacation ornaments, candle holders, and many others.) in good situation sometimes promote for $10 to $20.
4. Avon
Because the native go-to man for fast value determinations, I get requested about classic Avon fragrance bottles at the least as soon as a month. It’s helped me learn to tactfully ship dangerous information: Avon made many hundreds of thousands of every design, and the market continues to be flooded with these novelty bottles.
Most resellers battle to get $2 to $3 for Avon items, field or no field, stuffed with fragrance or empty.
5. Treasured Moments
The unique 21 Treasured Moments bisque collectible figurines had been launched in 1978. Customers’ liked the doe-eyed figures a lot that by 1981, the corporate’s collector’s membership had greater than 400,000 members world wide.
Recognition and collectability held regular till the mid-Nineteen Nineties, however tastes modified and the market reached a saturation level. As we speak, the model continues to be producing new collectible figurines, ornaments and the like, bought immediately and most notably at Hallmark shops.
However most classic Treasured Moments collectible figurines promote for $3 to $5 on-line. Just a few rarer items like this 1988 Easter Seals version have bought for as a lot as $649.
6. Rae Dunn
Rae Dunn kitchenware is the classic Avon bottles of tomorrow. Gross sales of the model’s simplistic word-adorned ceramic mugs and cannisters peaked by 2020. However right now, the market is so oversaturated that the model has change into the butt of jokes and parody merchandise.
With just a few exceptions, most Rae Dunn mugs (finally) promote on-line for lower than $10.
7. Vera Bradley
Quilted luggage and purses by Vera Bradley had been a staple for resellers till the mid-2010s. Again then (earlier than Google Lens), researching material patterns may take an hour or two. However the margins had been stable — purchase a bag for $4.99. Flip it for $70. Repeat.
As we speak, classic Vera Bradley is a gradual promote. Most crossbody purses and small totes promote for lower than $20. When you determine to take an opportunity on a Vera Bradley piece, know that giant duffel luggage and darkish multi-color patterns are likely to promote greatest.
8. Frankoma
Most collectors have had a “Frankoma Interval” that was pushed by surging costs for pottery of the identical period by McCoy, Roseville and Van Briggle. However resale costs for this Oklahoma-based pottery firm simply by no means caught up.
With just a few exceptions comparable to this figural piece, Frankoma Pottery isn’t well worth the time or hassle.
9. Couroc
For the previous 20 years, I’ve been ready for Couroc merchandise to meet up with different midcentury collectibles, however the market by no means delivers.
The corporate’s inlaid mosaic resin trays are hanging examples of midcentury design (they usually’ve discovered their method onto the bars and low tables of many trendy properties). Nonetheless, resale values stay flat decade after decade.
Small trays and bowls sometimes promote for lower than $10 on-line, and serving trays (18 inches or bigger) promote inconsistently for $20 to $30.
10. Sperry
Previously often known as Sperry High-Sider, this footwear and attire firm rebranded in 2015, and within the course of grew to become merely Sperry. I’ve hunch that in that very same interval, the corporate’s manufacturing location and high quality requirements modified.
Till lately, the corporate’s iconic nautical shoe was gold within the resale market (and sure, there’s a thriving used shoe market). A pair of Sperry’s canvas boat footwear in good situation would constantly deliver $40 to $45 on-line and leather-based variations may hit $80.
As we speak, costs are lower than half that and plenty of pairs don’t promote in any respect.
See additionally: “11 Professional Ideas for Discovering High quality Clothes at Thrift Retailers“
