What's selling right now
October is the month resellers either get ahead of the holiday curve or spend November wishing they had. This week's picks span five different verticals, but they share a common thread: in every single one, the difference between a $20 find and a $200 sale comes down to one detail — a shape number, a nameplate, a denim tab, a leather stamp. Know the detail, and you're hunting with an edge. Here's what to look for.
Vintage Christmas Decor ~$23.50
The median is sitting at $23.50 and has been climbing steadily for multiple weeks — this is a durable move, not a one-week blip. The ceiling on the right pieces is well north of $59, but the real money is in the details: mercury glass ornaments with intact silvering, Shiny Brite sets in original divided boxes, and anything with a West Germany or Japan paper label still attached. A complete Shiny Brite box of 12 in mixed colors clears $50–$60 regularly; a box of unsilvered or painted glass in a single color with the original cardboard insert can push past that. The tell most people miss: check the cap. A metal cap with a visible wire hanger loop — not a plastic cap — is the pre-1960s indicator. Plastic caps came in around 1960 and the value drops sharply. Grab any lot with metal-cap ornaments and original boxes; leave the loose plastic-cap singles.
Roseville Pottery ~$43.50
The median this week is $43.50, up 13% from last week, though this is a one-week move so treat it as a bonus, not the thesis. The thesis is the spread: the comp-proven data shows a 5.6× gap between common pieces at roughly $40 and the patterns that matter — Pine Cone, Futura, and Sunflower — clearing $224 and up. The Futura line is the one most pickers undervalue; it's the art-deco geometric shapes from the late 1920s, and a Telescope Vase in that line recently sold for $224.72. The tell is the shape number, molded into the base alongside the Roseville USA mark. If you see a four-digit shape number starting with 3 or 4, you're likely in Futura or Pine Cone territory — pull out your phone before you walk away. Unmarked or paper-label-only pieces are almost always later production and trade at the low end.
Vintage Levi's 501 ~$46
The median on vintage Levi's 501s is $46 this week, and the comp-proven spread puts the right examples at $79.99 — a clean 1.7× against median, and that's just the floor of what the real variants do. The two details that matter most: the Big E and the redline selvedge. Big E means the capital-E on the leather patch, which dates the jean to pre-1971 — those trade at $80–$180 depending on condition and size. Redline selvedge means the inseam shows a colored thread running along the edge of the denim, indicating the fabric was woven on an old shuttle loom — pre-1985 in most cases. Check the inseam first, then flip to the patch. A single-stitch back pocket on top of those two tells and you have a piece that moves fast at $100+. Faded, thrashed examples in the right size (32–34 waist) still sell; don't let wear put you off.
Dooney & Bourke ~$56.84
The median on Dooney & Bourke is $56.84 this week, with a range that runs to $139 — and the trend is rising, not a single-week spike. No comp-proven spread was captured in this run's sample, so no multiplier is claimed, but the category has real liquidity (60 comps in the data window) and a consistent buyer base. The qualifier here is leather and era: the All-Weather Leather pieces from the 1980s and early 1990s — the duck bags, the Cavalry Twill satchels, the Equestrian bags — are what the serious buyers are after. Look for the brass duck fob on the zipper pull and the tan leather interior with the red-and-blue stripe lining. A clean AWL doctor's bag or equestrian satchel in camel or British tan clears $100–$139 regularly. The later fabric and coated-canvas pieces (post-2000) trade at the low end of the range. Condition matters more here than almost any other handbag brand — a single deep scratch on AWL leather kills the price.
Vinyl Records ~$27.84
The median on vinyl records is $27.84 this week, with a trend that is rising (up-but-mixed, multi-week). No comp-proven spread was captured in this run's sample, so no multiplier is claimed, but the category has 60 comps and real liquidity. The qualifier is pressing and label: original US pressings on Atlantic, Blue Note, Chess, and Stax labels from the 1950s–1970s are what move at the top of the range. Check the dead wax — the hand-etched matrix number in the runout groove. A "VAN GELDER" stamp (Rudy Van Gelder, the Blue Note engineer) in the dead wax is a premium signal on jazz pressings. Original shrink with hype sticker intact adds 20–30% on rock and soul.
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