Featured Will Google's Lens stop antique bargain hunting?

I help run estate sales and we definitely use Google lens on some things because there are just some things you don't know..

I'll do my best to research the item, what they've sold for, then we'll usually go under, up to half off that price. You also have to know the area, just because a MCM piece sold for $1000 online, it might not ever bring $500 in Small Town, USA.
My boss owns several antique stores and knows a majority of clients are resellers, so he tries to be fair to them, the family, and his profits.

It's a balancing game..


I find I have to fluff my booth with wholesale items to make it look home-y and complete, but even wholesale stock has skyrocketed

 

Thanks for the alibi Rave,here's the updated version-'But Sweetheart-I just bought a $100 for $99 !'....but then you've gotta add the kicker-'But I'm gettin' my steps in !'.

 

I sympathize w/ folks in Malls and can understand why they're stocked w/ so much new 'China-chic'. It's a waste of my time-but some folks fill their houses with it.

 

Interesting discussion. The sellers and buyers are both using the internet more to guide their price referencing. As a buyer, I go to the thrifts that still price reasonably (Not Goodwill ) and can beat out the googlers. Quite often they are searching for something different than I am. There seems to be a lot of emphasis on newer designer stuff, while I look for the old and unique. Rarely do I see much in the carts of the Googlers that I truly covet. Even so, it is hit or miss. You just have to be in the right place at the right time.

 

when one looks at our ' Finds " thread..... and notice that over the years it's been losing it's luster , with fewer finds from fewer places... ( exceptions are few as well..) ... I'd venture to say that it's a microcosm , of a larger condition..!

 

Here is an interesting estate sale, but it is too far for me with my jalopy and it is too cold here

Has some interesting items and you can bet your sweet bippy that the runners have googled everything before the doors open.

https://www.estatesales.net/NY/Oakland-Gardens/11364/4345503

 

I have that poker table .... & that bottle of Pinch !!

.ya gotta luv the fine print....

To maintain civil order customers will need a number to get inside the house. You may give out your own numbers among yourselves and we will follow yours when we show up. Please be kind and do not wreak the house when searching. Please don't come into the house with cups of coffee in your hand and please discharge yourself at home or at the diner before coming into the home. Bathrooms are off limits . We do not do bait and switch. If it is in our photographs it will be here the day of the sale. Some of our competitors with poor low quality estate sales will repeat the same photos over and over in their photo gallery . We will never play games and trick you doing that. We take great pride in our photography . Our photographs are far superior to all our estate sale competitors. Please enjoy examining them. We never will discuss prices of items over the phone. We don't haggle and negotiate to work out pricing over the phone. It always makes better sense for you to see our items in person and once in agreement and the money changes hands do you actually own it. We don't " hold " things. It's not fair to all the clients who show up early. Some clients will line up at 7 AM. First come are always first served and get the best items early in the morning. NO BAGS and satchels. We will provide you with a sturdy large box to collect what you want. We always have young men on the premises trained to help and assist you to move things out of the house to your car or truck. We are NOT responsible for accidents when you try to do it by YOURSELF. Some of our houses are unsafe. You come into them at your own risk. We are NOT responsible for injuries or falls

 

I think Brad's been in the game for a long time and has developed a 6th sense for the unique & old.Years of study hones your 'divvy' instincts.Newbies (& their phones) just won't have the same reflexes an experienced picker does.

Ditto IMHO.

PS- Don't breathe a word of this to the 'Newbies'.
Thrift Walking 101-
1.Ferociously throw anything/everything in yr cart even remotely intriguing. 2. Items secured,plop butt in chair,studiously Google all pieces & per results-EDIT,EDIT,EDIT.
*The Real Pros will continue picking & finding as yr jacked into yr phone,but que sera sera.I see this dance now everytime i go to the thrift.

 

LOL Komo, they have quite a procedure for entering into their sales. First person to show up starts the numbers. Then someone from the sale comes out with postcards with numbers and they give you a postcard with the matching number so it is official.

I have had them carry out items that were too heavy for me. But they were women. The sturdy boxes are priority mail boxes gotten free from the post office.

I like their sales because they for the most part have nice vintage stuff and it is clean. But of late they switched the person who prices things to a son and he thinks everything is pricey. If that sale was by me and it was spring I would go.

 

I would bet that a lot of what they have photographed is overpriced for my area, often by a lot. The number scheme they have laid out is fairly standard here. There's a nice-looking shell cameo in picture 184988503 that would be worth a look, because it's not in with the jewelry. But... "lots of goodys" ... spellcheck can be useful, folks. OTOH sometimes those mistakes mean bargains for us, so..!

I watch a Youtuber who does some of that. She knows glass and lamps, but does use it on some older ceramics. At least she knows what she doesn't know. It's fine as a tool, but the Google Kidz walk past literal gold in pursuit of the genuine silvertone.

 

The son that sets the prices is a jewelry maven or so I am told. I have never purchased jewelry as I have no idea what I am doing.

My thing was kitchen stuff, christmas stuff, cookbooks, craft kits, MCM glassware etc. I know the perfume shown in the photos will fly out of the sale unless they really are nuts with prices.

 

Perfumes tend to do well here too, since department store prices are crazy.

 

yes, but perfume, has a shelf life..

 

That is true but before my best friend retired from selling on ebay, she mostly sold perfume and the people did not care if it was beyond the expiration date. Go figure.

 

The ones no longer made sell anyway. I've sold a few of those myself; people just want the bottles.

 

Clearly not everyone is using Google lens, in fact I've turned it to my advantage. I was using Google lens today and found this little gem, not listed as antique but as "Vintage". A few years ago this price would have been about the right money but today antique Hoshiarpur is just a ridiculous price, even a small box like this.
https://freyastradingpost.co.uk/products/scrumptious-inlaid-box

 

When I go to yard or garage sales, or even some estate sales, they print out the ebay auction to show it to us. When I see that, I usually take a quick look and leave. No point telling this local yocal that those are listed prices and not sold prices and those who attend sales are not looking to pay retail prices.

Case in point, a few summers ago, I went to a local garage sale. I picked up an item where there was a high price on it with a sticker. I held it in my hand as I walked around the tables. Then I came upon an old fashioned restaurant sugar bowl with the flip top lid. This had no price on it. I went to the person running the sale and asked them how much for the sugar bowl. I believe they said $5. I put down the other item and the lady asked me why I was not buying both. I just said, I like this better, paid and left.

 

It is strange that location and establishment in one country has such a bearing when it comes to price, it clearly does.
It always amazes me why anyone goes to auction houses to sell, it's not so bad for the buyer as they can always factor in the commission but the seller will suffer massive losses, the auction house will say to the seller "we will put a come and buy me estimate on this to get buyers in" then it sells 50% less than it should, nobody goes to auction to pay more than retail.
I have noticed a big change in high end London antique shops in recent years because of the internet, they now only specialise in very rare and high price tag items, before they would at least have some low end stock. Now they think they shouldn't have any low end in because joe public are too well informed.
Collectors always have an eye on the price of what they collect, on the one hand when prices go up it costs more to buy but on the other their collection is worth more, I know for the Anglo-Indian items I liked to collect the affordability boat has sailed and I'm now looking at other areas.

 

Bargain hunting has become far more difficult everywhere. Thrift store "experts" lens everything and mark accordingly, if it makes it to the shelf at all. "Oooh, this is valuable we'll send it to auction" happens on the reg - ran into it today in the local senior center no less. A so-called designer ring went to eBay. Can't blame them really, but I'd have worn the ring; it had a cat on it. I did score some sterling jewelry today for well under melt, but nothing crazy. The Ebay asking price printouts happen here too at boot sales. I keep walking when I see a printout.

As for auction houses, I've seen that here too. One place local to me that carried a motley mix now only carries higher-end items. Their auctions are on-line now, and the lower end merch probably doesn't have enough profit in it to bother. The consignor probably does fine financially selling in those auctions, but if what they have doesn't fit it..into a skip it goes. Another auction house locally probably still takes house clearances and most likely has more business than they can handle.

 

So we are agreed that a novice is far more informed today than 20 or even 10 years ago, once apron a time novices took their goods to auction to get them valued and 10 years ago they would search the internet ad try and find something that looked the same and today they just snap a pic and go on lens