For me, vintage shopping is a treasure hunt. It is so much fun and it's also a great way to shop on a budget. (While some vintage items are expensive, you can also score some incredible bargains.) I admit that it can be time consuming to wade through loads of things I don't want but when I score a great bracelet for less than six dollars, I feel like I beat the system!
There are amazing vintage shops in and around New York City, but I also love shopping eBay. It's perfect when I have a limited amount of time. I just get online and off I go. These are some affordable vintage bracelets that I have gotten there over the past couple of years.
1) If you are looking for a piece of vintage jewelry, obviously you want to include the word "vintage" in your search.
2) If you are looking for a statement piece, try adding one of these terms to your eBay search: huge, massive, runway, or statement.
3) You can also narrow your search by designer if you are going for a specific look (ex. Jomaz, Florenza, Hollycraft). Lots of pieces are unmarked, but if you come across a designer you like, make a note of it!
4) It also helps to narrow your search by being as descriptive as possible about the item itself. Where bracelets are concerned, you might try to narrow your search by bracelet style. Clamper, bangle, link, cuff, buckle and hinged are a handful of terms you might consider using.
5) You can also narrow your search by material or time period/movement. Gold, sterling silver, enamel, lucite, rhinestone, beaded and carved celluloid are some potentially helpful terms. And if you are focusing on a specific time period or movement, you might consider terms like Georgian, Victorian, Modernist, Etruscan or Egyptian Revival just to give some examples.
6) And don't forget that you can narrow by color or type of stone!
7) Check out the seller reviews before you buy. You want to make sure that the vast majority of the seller's customers are happy ones before you make a purchase.
8) Finally, I find that it's extremely helpful to save items I like to My Watch List. This helps me compare items before I make a decision to bid or buy.
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There are tons of other tips I could offer about shopping on eBay but since this is a blog post and not a book, it might be best to leave it at that. Happy shopping!
2 comments:
I like shopping for vintage jewellery whenever I spot a shop. You are right in you have to be careful, once I was checking out a bracelet at a sale, and lucky I looked at the inside because it was actually a bracelet from Avon (the cosmetic company) and they were charging alot for it! Thanks for the ebay tips!
:)
mikky
www.todaloos.com
I am glad you enjoyed the post and you are right to be careful, Mikky. I have only had one issue shopping on eBay. (I didn't think the item's condition was as represented.) I contacted the seller who was extremely professional and I was able to return it. That's why I think it's so important to check a buyer's feedback.
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