Have Something Good?

A photograph of the floor belongs here

What this is, and what it is not

San Francisco Vintage is not a booth mall. The shop is built from more than fifteen years of one person's collecting, and consignment sits alongside that rather than filling it. That means we take less than most shops in the county, and it means what we do take is merchandised properly rather than stacked on a shelf with a number on it.

So the honest version: we are selective because the eye is the product. If we took everything, there would be nothing to come here for.

What we look for

The shortest version: things with a point of view. A piece does not have to be valuable or rare to belong here, but it does have to be interesting, and it has to be something we can picture on the floor.

None of this is a guarantee in either direction. A rule exists so it can be broken for something genuinely worth it, and the strangest object in the shop usually arrived that way. Being on the first list means we would like to see photographs, not that a piece is already accepted.

Toys and exceptions

We generally do not take toys, but we make exceptions for unusual, collectible or especially memorable pieces. Send photographs anyway. The strange exception is often exactly what catches our eye.

What we may buy outright

Some things may make more sense for us to purchase outright rather than consign. We especially love old linens, towels with great prints, vintage sheets, quilts, Lucite grapes and other distinctive pieces that feel right for the shop.

• Old linens
• Towels with fun prints or unusual designs
• Vintage sheets
• Quilts
• Vintage Lucite grapes
• Other distinctive pieces that strongly fit the shop

How consignment works

1. Send photographs Three or four is plenty. One of the whole piece, one of any maker's mark or label, and one of the worst flaw. Add rough dimensions and anything you know about where it came from.
2. We answer honestly Usually within a few days. If it is not for us we will tell you why, and point you at the shop, auction house or dealer we think is right.
3. We agree terms in writing first Split, asking price, and how long the piece stays on the floor, all settled before anything moves. Nothing arrives on a handshake and a hope.
4. The piece comes in and gets photographed It goes on the floor and onto the website, with its story attached where it has one. Provenance is not decoration. It is most of what makes a vintage object worth more than a used one.
5. It sells, and you are paid You can ask where your piece stands at any point, and if it has not moved by the end of the agreed term you can collect it or we can talk about the price.

Estates and downsizing

If you are settling an estate or clearing a house, say so in the first message. That is a different conversation from a single piece, and often the right answer involves an auction house or an estate sale company rather than us. We would rather send you to the right person than take the four things we want and leave you with the rest of the house.

What we can promise, and what we cannot

We cannot promise your piece will sell. Nobody honest can. We are an outlet, not a buyer: we give a good object the best chance we know how to give it, in front of the right people, priced sensibly. What we are selling you is effort and judgement and a floor on Main Street. We are not selling you an outcome, and any shop that tells you otherwise is guessing at your expense.

Some pieces go in a week. Some sit for months and then leave with somebody who had walked past them four times. Some never find their person here, and the right answer is a different market, a different price, or taking them home. All three of those are normal, and none of them means the piece is bad.

What actually happens to a piece once it is here

People are sometimes surprised that a split is not just rent on a shelf. Here is the work behind it, in the order it happens.

Why the split is what it is

Everything on that list costs something, and almost all of it is spent before a single dollar comes in. Rent on a historic Main Street building, insurance, lighting, hours, photography, the website, the cards, the tax. If your piece never sells we have paid for all of it and earned nothing, which is the risk we take in exchange for the percentage.

Our split
50% Fifty per cent of the sale price to you, fifty to the shop. One number, the same for everybody, written into your agreement before anything comes through the door. No listing fee, no shelf rent, no charge for photography or repairs, and nothing owed if the piece does not sell.

Half sounds like a lot until you look at the list above and notice how much of it we pay for whether or not your piece ever moves. The alternative model is a lower percentage with fees attached: so much a month for the space, so much for the photography, so much to list it. We would rather take nothing at all from a piece that does not sell than send you an invoice for a shelf.

We would rather explain a number than hide one, so ask. If fifty does not work for you, say so. Sometimes an auction house, or a dealer who buys outright and pays you today, is genuinely the better answer, and we will point you there rather than talk you onto a shelf.

Pricing and reductions

A piece gets ninety days on the floor. The asking price steps down on a published schedule, so a piece that has not found its person keeps getting a fresh chance in front of new eyes rather than quietly going stale at a number the market already refused.

The split never changes. Fifty per cent to you, whatever it sells for, whenever it sells. We are not taking a bigger share because your piece took longer. Put in your asking price and see exactly what each stage means.

End of the consignment period

On the ninetieth day the piece is yours again and you have three choices, none of which we will chase you about.

Dropping off, and picking up

Both by appointment. Not because we are precious about it, but because a piece arriving needs somebody with two free hands, a tape measure and twenty minutes, and that is not possible in the middle of a Saturday.

How we track your piece

Every consignor gets a two letter code and every piece gets a number, so a tag reads something like KB‑0042. That code is on the price tag, in our till system, and on your copy of the agreement. When it sells, the code is on the receipt.

Money from the sale of your piece is held for you, not spent as ours, from the moment it sells until the moment you are paid.

A few practical things

• You keep ownership until the piece sells. It is your property on our floor.
• We do not do valuations for insurance or probate. That needs a qualified appraiser.
• Getting large pieces to the shop is generally the consignor's to arrange.
• We are in historic downtown Angels Camp and we buy and take consignment from across Calaveras, Tuolumne and Amador. We source throughout the San Francisco Bay Area as well.