The price of things to come (a 1/2 off topic ramble)

Wandering one of my regular thrift shop haunts (a for profit place) recently I noticed that their price for aloha shirts had jumped to $10 (average short sleeved shirt price there is $4) and Tiki mugs were making it into the locked "special junk" case. Obviously the owners of the chain have become aware that these items are now "collectible" and have priced accordingly. Possibly they got some direction from prices paid on eBay. It seems likely that eBay has affected prices in junk shops, flea markets, et cetera by providing a sort of data base sellers can access to get an idea of what an item is and what it's worth. eBay hasn't completely become an information source as the occasional identification on eBay of Tiki mugs as "tropical vase" or "Hawaiian drinking stein" show. But eBay is a beginning, and it occured to me while in that junk shop that we probably aren't far from the day when you will use your hand held internet communications device to take a digital image of an item and do a world wide search for information and average price paid. I wonder what junk collecting will be like when the majority of items a store is selling are correctly identified and prices are based on actual data and not conjecture.

The TV station I work for did I story about how the local Salvation Army's have begun pricing their items by using price guides and internet research - not like I've ever found a tiki mug at one anyway but, now you see tons of junk in the display cases that would normally have just sat on the shelves collecting dust...what is this world coming to???

:drink:

On 2002-09-01 21:10, woofmutt wrote:
Possibly they got some direction from prices paid on eBay. It seems likely that eBay has affected prices in junk shops, flea markets, et cetera by providing a sort of data base sellers can access to get an idea of what an item is and what it's worth. I wonder what junk collecting will be like when the majority of items a store is selling are correctly identified and prices are based on actual data and not conjecture.

There is a real thorough hawaiian shirt site on the internet, and it's host reports that he was told one of the larger "thrift" store organization is now selling any vintage rayon aloha shirts on ebay. And on at least one ocassion I have been to small "second hand" shops looking at mugs and the proprietor has informed me "that one just sold for 'x' on ebay".

Ebay is definitely a two-edged sword.

midnite

I'm hate to speak sacrilegiously, but I've begun to really hate eBay. They've removed the thrill of the hunt. They've taken the joy out of stumbling upon some really cool, and CHEAP collectible at a garage sale or thrift store. At flea markets nobody wants to haggle anymore, because they "can get at least $XX for it on eBay." Prices are up everywhere. Especially on eBay. Just look at some of the crazy prices people are paying for fairly common tiki mugs in this forum.

It sounds whiney, but they're taking the fun out of the whole thing!

Of course, there's no halting progress. The show must go on...And, I have friends who are making a halfway decent living by selling vinyl records on eBay.

Maybe I can finally get that time machine working and travel back to the opening of Trader Vics.....

It's hardly sacrilegious to criticize eBay...Griping about eBay has long been a favorite Tiki Central activity. There even used to be griping about the griping about eBay. Now, thanks to the new forums, one can avoid whatever topics cause you to reach for the Rolaids.