Lost $250 on a bad bulk buy of vintage t-shirts last spring

I grabbed a lot of 50 vintage tees from a liquidation place in Dallas for $250. The photos looked clean, but when I opened the box half had stains I couldn't get out and the other half were fakes. My fault for not asking for more detailed pics before buying. I tried listing the decent ones on Depop but only moved maybe 8 of them. The rest are sitting in my garage as rags. Anybody else got burned on a blind bulk lot and have tips for vetting sellers better?

2 comments

2 Comments

diana_bell741mo ago

Man that hurts reading about those stain bombs and fakes. I used to think you could trust those big liquidation places because they look legit with the photos they post, but then I grabbed a lot of "vintage band tees" from a place in Houston that turned out to be mostly cheap screen prints from the 2000s with yellow pits I couldn't save. Now I always ask for shots of the inside tags and a close up of any marks before I pay, and if they won't send them I walk away.

the_piper1mo ago

Tag shots are a must now. Learned that one the hard way too. Bought a bulk lot of "Carhartt" jackets from a guy in Atlanta. Looked solid in the listing photos. Got there and every tag said "Caroheart" or some other misspelling. Cheap fleece inside, not actual quilted lining. Told myself never again. Now I ask for tag photos AND a ruler next to stains. If they balk at that, they're hiding something.