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Vintage Sellers Are Missing This on Their Listings

Timeless Style Vintage

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Questions about selling vintage on Etsy? Vintage Etsy listings need more than keywords — they need to help real buyers understand, trust, and feel confident purchasing your item. In this video, I walk through five buyer-focused pieces every vintage Etsy listing should include: clear photos, a human title, a helpful description, honest condition notes, and shop confidence.

I use one real vintage item — a set of Mikasa Icicles crystal taper candle holders — to show how I think through a listing from photos to finished description. This is a practical, buyer-first approach to Etsy selling for vintage resellers who want their listings to feel clear, complete, and trustworthy.

Chapters:
00:00 From Vintage Candle Holders to Finished Listing
01:10 Visual Proof
06:25 A Human Title
10:32 A Helpful Description
20:37 Hones Condition Notes
24:27 Shop Confidence
26:52 Buyer First Listings

Grab my Etsy Vintage Seller Checklists & Resources here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/vvintagecol...

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20 Comments

@TimelessStyleVintage Creator 3 months ago Pinned

I'm so glad the 'Human Title' tip is resonating! To clarify a great point from the comments: if you have a pattern name like 'Icicles' that could be confused with a holiday item, definitely use 'Pattern: Icicles' or put it after the main object--I'm updating that title based on a viewer recommendation. Also, I see your questions about the Canva background process—I'll look into doing a deeper dive on that next week! Which of the 5 details is the biggest 'aha' moment for you?

@BastetNoodles 3 months ago

Great listing and explanation of contents. Speed must come with experience. Retiring next month & plan to start reselling to supplement, but a listing like this would probably take me all day🤣

@terrihodges6793 3 months ago (edited)

Learned so much from your videos. Please make more❤ You are a gifted educator.❤❤❤❤❤

@CarolanRoss 3 days ago

Hi Carol. New subscriber here, also Carol and also a retired teacher. I've sold on eBay for decades and am in the process of setting up an Etsy shop, which I've considered for years, finally ready to just DO it. I've been binge watching your channel last couple days and appreciate the learning. Many moons ago, when I first began selling on eBay, my interest was mainly vintage and collectibles, and back then I had booths at antique malls too. Along the way I began selling all sorts of other stuff on eBay, including clothing. I'll likely continue some of that, but not on Etsy, unless maybe genuinely vintage. I look forward to building a curated ship of vintage treasures, slowly but surely.

@lesliefrates4727 3 months ago (edited)

I can’t tell you how many times I missed a chip, flea bite or scratch while hand washing an item, but after I take my photos and edit them to make them square, I always expand them. That’s when I go back to the item to verify the flaw. Then I add arrows or actual text explaining the flaw. I also put the flaws in the description. I don’t want a customer to be disappointed.

@Waterlily2376 3 months ago

Great information . God bless! I learned so much from you. Thank you 👍👍👍👍

@Denise-g9c 3 months ago

Excellent video and shop advice, Carol. My heart hurt for you on receiving a message like that especially when you were at the grocery store. I'm sure it changed the tone of the rest of your day. I think you handled it well, again, especially because you had pictures with a ruler. Praying your "buyer" moves on and lives with their purchase. Who knows if really it wasn't about the measurements, but about something else in their day and lashing out at you, a stranger, was easier than dealing with whatever was the real issue in their lives. Thank you for your great weekly videos. That in itself takes a lot of time 😊 Appreciate you!

@StephanieMannThrifts 3 months ago

Thank you for all of the work you put into these videos. They are very helpful! I had an interior crack in an item once, fully disclosed with photos and did not affect the upcycled purpose of the item. Buyer left a review, after my tears, I kindly messaged back much like you did. She apologized, acknowledged she didn’t really read the listing or look at all the pictures and changed her review to 5 stars. I hope yours works out that well too. It can be very frustrating and hurtful when it happens. But it seems like you handled it well!

@marthawillis233 3 months ago

I think you handled your customer perfectly. Your custome may see that she did not understand your clear details and all will be well. Etsy may not support you in a claim but you have giver your client full honest disclosure and can be proud of your service. Carry on. Sometimes it just is what it is. I very much enjoy your videos and have learnt many new things for my own shop.

@CarolineGoetze 3 months ago

I think you handled that customer in the best way you could. I have sold an item, only to realize as I packaged it that it had a flaw I hadn't noticed. Having to message the customer and have that conversation was humbling. I'm even more careful now.

@Maunakeala 3 months ago

Thank you for the video, it was very interesting and useful!

@nathanortiz3671 3 months ago

I feel ya on the poor natural light situation you're dealing with right now! I'm in the same boat- i only have a couple windows with "good" light and they're not in logical place to photograph- like my kids' rooms. So I mostly shoot outside. That can have its own challenges but so far its working ok.

@redpiano1 3 months ago

I like the way you handled the customer. I get really bent out of shape when customers call me dishonest, too, and I have to walk away from my desk for an hour or so (or the rest of the day!) I had one mention in a review that what I had done should be illegal, and that I was selling counterfeit china. Oh yes, because that is how I make money: go out and find some manufacturer to knock off a pattern from the 1990s that looks like it but not exactly like it.

But, in that case, since I hadn't done anything wrong, and it really was the authentic piece from early 1990s, I did not offer a return. I was very pouty and after a few edits to my reply, I left out the part about "if you are going to leave a nasty review (not even bad, but nasty) before you speak with me first, then we are through. I blocked the person and moved on with my life. I applaud you for taking the higher road that I sometimes cannot.

@lesliefrates4727 3 months ago

I love your advice for a human title. Now I need to go look at all of my titles. 😂

@JuliesVintageLove 3 months ago

I like the lazy susan video 😊

@kathleenlewis239 3 months ago

So helpful ... thank you!

@scarlettsislandfinds 3 months ago

Thank you for sharing this valuable video. So clear and detailed information. Learnt a lot .

@rickmiller5356 3 months ago

Thank you for this. I have an Etsy shop and SEO tags tend to drive me nuts. I've never really grasped their limit to 20 characters/spaces per tag.

@rkevghas 3 months ago

Great information and well presented.
I just had my 1st sale yesterday after reopening my shop after several months (had health issues). I have had the shop for 14 years and had a small following. When I began Etsy there was a strong recommendation that you treated the customer's purchase like you were sending a gift to them- gift wrapping the item &/or including a small token of thank you for the purchase. Does anyone still do this?

@amel2784 3 months ago

Thank you so much for sharing with us from yr experience and wisdom. That is excellent advice. Only problem for me was a nervous apprehension that you would accidentally damage the candlesticks you were waving around while you talked. 😰 I also am somebody who uses my hands a lot but I do not have enough confidence in my coordination to wave my hands around while holding breakables! I was holding my breath! 😉 I made it to the end, though, and thank you kindly.