What a bonehead – forgot to check…

Oh yeah, I make those mistakes…ties are a big one. Sometimes I’m too rushed, sometimes it’s really that fact that the lighting is so bad at the buying location that it looks fine till I get it home and can look at it in better light.

This is just another reason why I like to pay low dollar amounts for a lot of things. If a fifty cent tie is badly stained I’m out 50 cents. If a ten dollar tie is stained, well…

One thing we also keep in mind with a lot of electrical stuff: If we get it home and it doesn’t work, is it something we could still make money on by parting it out?

Making sure to check for cracks, stains, and/or mishaps on paint jobs of items. Sometimes these things are overlooked when in a rush.

I am learning to slow down and really look at what I am buying. If I am in doubt or feel like I can not do a thorough enough inspection and the price is high, I am learning to just leave the item where it is an walk away. I have already had to throw away and/or donate items because once I got them home, they just were not worth selling obviously leading to a lose of money.

I just bought a ralph lauren comforter. I went over it a few times before purchasing it and didn’t find any issues. Lighting was not an issue, but it was pretty hot outside (yard sale). Then at home I found the piping worn through in a few places! ugh. Luckily paid only $2.50.

Makes me feel a little better to know I’m not the only one who makes such mistakes.

I have been burnt by zippers so many times.

I (far too often) get so swept up in the excitement of what I *think* I’ve found, or how good something *could* be, that I totally don’t see crazing, chips, cracks, stains — you name it. The thrill of the hunt can overtake me; it’s one of many things I’m working to improve.

Thanks for the great thread butikiselltiki.

Sweat stains in arm pits and at neck. Worn out collars, cuffs. Missing buttons.

I agree with the general rule of paying very little for everything. When I am contemplating spending >$3/item, I really want to slow down and look at it and ask myself all the questions about how will I list it (are there easy key words), does it have stains? all the parts there? can i ship it easily? will shipping costs be prohibitive to capture value? is it really valuable (did I do my research)?

I get suckered in sometimes when someone says “I bought this for $400 in 2012, now I am selling for only $75, and I talk them down to $40. Then I get home and find that I can get $50 for it… Did some version of this two weekends in a row and then swore off buying anything that is >$10 without walking away, checking all my resources first.

Happy sales, aperture

Something that had caught me once(maybe twice) is defects on new items.
That great with tags item sometimes has a razor slash stain or other issue.
As far as electronics i have a small test kit in the trunk.
Batteries(AA/AAA) a cassette tape CD Disc etc….Saved me some bad buys.

We have been burned a couple times by buying a “new in box” item” without deeply inspecting it. Usually at a garage sale. When we come home, someone had replaced their original item with an old item. Didnt do on purpose probably. No one checked including us.

Buying vintage wool items and not seeing the moth holes until I go to list it or worse yet when I go to ship it.

Bought 2 NWT 2 piece women’s plus size bathing suits, but on the one where I got the color of the top and bottom right the sizes were different. And on the one where I got the sizes the same the colors were different. Actually sold the pink suit with 2 different sizes to a person who must have been one size bigger on the top and one size smaller on the bottom though so that turned out okay 🙂

I’ve also bought the wool with tiny holes and stains I couldn’t see items and new box but used item inside items. But buying a bathing suit with sizes that don’t match and with colors that don’t match (black and navy) is my most boneheaded move.

Fireguy21 – having a kit with you is really smart. I always have cassette tapes with me but that’s because my car has a tape deck and I love me some 80s synthpop.

I used to bring batteries and a screw driver with me when buying vintage electronics at thrift stores. All the good vintage toys/electronics dried up and I moved into shoes/clothes. I don’t carry a kit with me anymore.

For shoes it’s important to bend test womens Clarks/Dansko/Born shoes. Always check for sole separation too on most shoes.
For wool items it is important to check for moth holes.

Twice I have bought pairs of shoes that looked very good, got home and realized they were BOTH left shoes. Yes, check that too! I don’t re-donate because I don’t want to do that to someone else.

I’ve purchased shoes with 2 different sizes. 1 time I didnt catch it and shipped them out. Last pair I tried to make lemonade out of lemons and listed each one separately as amputee shoes. Both came back because the buyers didnt read the title or description. 🙁 Wont do that now with free returns…

Ditto on most of the above: Purchase a Bullet blender, told it was new, came home and it had food still stuck to it. Luckily I was able to take it back ($20) to the church rummage sale it came from.

Sold a pair of boots that were two different sizes, they came back.

Got excited about a Captain America shirt and forgot to check the armpits — had to throw it out.

It agree: slow down when shopping, don’t listen to opinions from the seller – always check. I almost got swept up last week at a yard sale but I remembered to slow down and check.

always smell everything. I am the weirdo sniffing the vintage woolrich shirts at the thrift store

totally made several of these mistakes on a jacket i was actually buying myself the other day. (wow a vintage 1980s german goretex jacket! ummm zipper is broken, goretex is too old to still be waterproof and soaked right through) d’oh! might still try to sell it as just a snap up parka with a cool german 80s tag though….

Talk about bonehead – that’s me! About a month or two ago I purchased a vintage 80s rainbow tote bag, but delayed listing it for some reason. So I’m listing it today, which happens to be the day of the huge NYC pride parade!!! D’oh! A little late, maybe????

Sonia,
Due to current political happenings around pride, I do not think it is too late to list.

Speaking of mistakes, I watched someone make a thrift store return the other day. I embarrassed to say, I have never returned an item to the thrift! Do your thrift stores take returns w/ receipt?

I am going to remedy this ASAP. Yes, sometimes items go to the death pile and it’s outside of window. But, I will be damned if I bring home one more NWT item that I paid UP for that has makeup stains on it. Another incentive to list quick.

The Goodwill near me takes returns within three days. You get store credit only.

I have done a thrift store return just once. A small independent shop where I bought a pair of high end shoes for $18 and then discovered a major flaw. They don’t really take returns in general, but this was a special case. They gave me store credit, which was fine with me. But this place is run by really really nice people who know me well since I’m there every week. I’ll have to check and see what my salvation army’s return policy is…

I purchased a pair of men’s shoes with shoe stretchers. Took the stretchers out and listed the shoes. Got a very polite return request with a picture of the shoes turned sole to sole.. They were two different sizes. Oooopps. He got a nice apology and prompt refund. And no I did not pay for them to be sent back to me. 🙂

This is fun thread. I’ve definitely made some of these errors.

My favorite is to see a really cool vintage item, buy it and then look it up at home only to find that a bunch of other sellers have the item in better condition, complete with the rest of the set, etc. Case in point:

These cute midcentury aqua! apple bowls

Here’s the complete set, which only sells for $20-30.