THESE are selling on eBay for THOUSANDS! You might have one at home!

One just recently sold for $6,199.99. Another one sold for $1,300.
You might have one in your closet! Or, you might find one while walking in the woods! No, seriously. You might! True story later!
So, what is it that could bring you thousands on eBay?
I’ve got 3 words for you – denim, jeans, and Levis!
Now, for years eBay and other online clothes sellers have known that ‘vintage’ denim (especially the Levi’s brand) is among the best ‘stuff’ to sell on eBay. Oh yes – old, beat up denim (aka jeans) is hot, hot, HOT!
BUT, do you know just how hot?
Well, get a load of this!

Yes! ONE vintage denim jacket? $6,199.99 BIG ONES!
The item description read:

Excellent gently used Vintage Authentic Dark Levi Jacket Cinch Back Pleated Front, Single Pocket No Flap, One Side Big E Red Pocket Tag.
No holes or stains.




A classic jacket in great condition!
Leather tag is unreadable and has some cracks, no guarantee on how long it will stay intact. Check measurements below for sizing.
Seems to date around 1947-1952
Measures 22″ pit to pit and 23″ collar to bottom.
Sleeve from shoulder seam to cuff is 21″

“LOL! I LOVE eBay! You just can’t make this stuff up!”
~ Danna Crawford

So, why am I writing an article about the value of selling vintage clothes/jeans/denim on eBay? Because of the true story of how I recently started researching the market value of these items.

Only My Mother Would Do Something Like This

My mother knows nothing about the Internet. In fact, she never goes on the Internet. But she loves to hear my stories about selling on eBay. Of course she does! She’s my mom, right?
Well, she may not know anything about the Internet but she knows her thrift stores! Occasionally, she calls from whatever thrift store she’s hunting in and has me research items to see if she’s found a treasure.
I call them her “National Treasure” phone calls. 😉




This time, the ‘National Treasure’ call came in because her fiance (At 75 years young she’s engaged! How adorable is that?) was riding his quad near a coal mine shaft in Pennsylvania.
A senior citizen riding a quad! So, awesome!
Anywho, he found a beat up ol’ blue jean jacket (my mom now has her fiance looking for treasures, too!). Naturally, mom called to have me whip up some eBay market research and see if it was worth schlepping the jacket back to Florida.

Everything Old Becomes New Again

Over the years I’ve sold many Levi’s denim jackets and classic blue jeans. Years ago they used to reap the big bucks. The older, the more holes and genuinely worn out – the better.
But, admittedly, it’s been a long while since I researched the niche on WorthPoint.

Along with the aforementions $6,199.99 KA-CHING sale, I found this profitable gem:

It sold for $1,300.00 and its description was as follows:

This authentic LEVI denim jacket from the 1940’s is in great wearable condition. The color is most accurate in the photos with the time displayed in red. Nice deep blue color, rear cinch buckle & copper rivets. The cinch buckle is both silver and bronze. The coat has two small holes. One on the back of the right sleeve. The other is on the front left side near the button hole that’s second from the bottom. No label or red LEVI tag. Hasn’t been worn in decades.



From a smoke free home.
Size:
Chest, Armpit to armpit: 20″
Shoulders, Across top seam: 19 1/2″
Sleeve, Top of shoulder seam to cuff end: 22 1/2″
Length, Base of collar to back hem: 22 1/2″

Another vintage Levi’s jacket I found sold for $1,084.00 at auction on eBay. It had 14 bids with a 5 day auction. Opening bid was $600.00. I combined the photos from eBay to show the details:

The item description read:

Original true vintage 1940’s Levi’s 506XX size med. first edition buckle back jacket. This dark indigo jacket has not seen many washes, and I doubt that it’s ever seen an automatic dryer.

Denim is nice and strong, with a hard finish. No rips, holes, fraying or weak spots. Leather tag is missing. There 3 rivets missing: right-top corner of pocket, left sleeve at cuff, and at left buckle strap (see pics). There are some stitches missing to front pleats near left bottom (see pics).

The center pin of buckle is not original (see pic), but holds the cinch back securely.

Measurements are as follows: Chest, 20 1/2 in. Shoulders, 18 1/2 in. Sleeve (shoulder seam to cuff end), 22 in. Collar seam to tail, 22 in. Waist, 19 in.

I wear a size large, and can still button it. Very nice, hard to find jacket.

Getting back to mom and her fiance’s find…
The jacket doesn’t have any labels on it. The only identification is the buttons which read: “Pay Day”.
I did find a couple of these buttons that sold individually on eBay for $1.50 each. With that said, it’s not worth taking the buttons off to sell separately but keep that in mind for future reference. Meaning, sometimes you will make a much larger profit by selling pieces of a product rather than the whole item. Sometimes the buttons can be worth more than the outfit!

Always research each detail when selling vintage clothing items – including all tags and buttons.

The next search I did on WorthPoint was “Vintage Denim Jacket” and after scrolling down through the top Levi’s the next one showing was this :

Vintage 30’s 40’s SUPER OX HIDE Sanforized Dark Denim Blue Jean Jacket RARE

It sold on with only one bid – $999.95.
I did notice that our jacket has pockets shaped a bit like those and are in the same location.




The next highest priced jean jacket I found was by Wrangler and it was put on on auction with a closing sale of $919.99. It had 28 bids and the starting price was $300.00.

The interesting thing about this listing, the seller had only these four words as the title : “Vintage Denim Wrangler Jacket”.
I cannot help wondering if the product title were stronger “SEO-wise”, might it have sold for more money. Why? Because this jacket had very cool words on it! The front read: SPRING FROLIC and the back read: SPRING FROLIC POWELL BUTTE FARMERS CLUB!
This is a missed opportunity to put the words customers are seeking into the title. It’s very possible that if shoppers were searching for any combination of “SPRING FROLIC POWELL BUTTE FARMERS CLUB” his listing did not appear in their search results.




Bummer.
This was a rare and unique item. Even the description had no details which would’ve brought in more bidders, It only read:

This is an auction for a vintage lot 111 MJ wrangler denim jacket. It is in deadstock, perfect condition . It is labeled wrangler size 40 sanforized . This jacket is from an estate sale 100% guaranteed to be real vintage not a remake. Please see all the photos to appreciate this estate sale find. Denim is in great condition. Please see that measurements are in the photos so that the buyer can see how measurements were taken. Thank you.

***SPECIAL NOTE***
Always, always include all words from the item you are selling into the title and/or the description.

And Now, For The Grande Finale…

My favorite research find in the vintage denim category?
LOL Because – this:

Rare Vintage 1880’s Miners Denim Jacket Short Collar Selvedge Candle Wax Cool!!

They were asking $2,000.00 but they “accepted” an offer of $900.00. Take a close look at these photos. Even if during a zombie apocalypse money were still relevant and I had $900 and clothing were extremely scarce AND this was my size AND winter were coming, I don’t think I would pay $900 for this! Maybe I’m just not a fashion maven. 😉
Nonetheless, I AM a PROFIT MAVEN so go find all the ratty vintage denim you can lay your hands on and go sell, sell, sell – on eBay, that is!



Nonetheless, I’d like to point out, the product description on this piece is just fantastic:

You are looking at a rare and early miners denim jacket from the 1880’s. The jacket was recovered from an early Nevada silver mine. It has a short mandarin or Chinese style collar. It has selvedge seams and sewn on metal buttons. No pockets. This piece is full of candle wax drippings from the miner who wore it it measures 21 inches pit to pit and 26 inches collar top to bottom. A true piece of miners denim history! Condition as pictured.

It’s descriptive, has item details, and is an exciting bit of history in it. Terrific!

Based on all of this research I was able to identify the style of my “mother’s jacket”. When I found a photo that looked like our jacket, the common word used was “CHORE”.
One listing had a title that read: VINTAGE 30’S 40’S WORK DENIM JACKET MILITARY CHORE STYLE 2 POCKET 4 BUTTON. It sold at auction for $51.00 with an opening bid of $49.99.
BINGO! that is the decision I’ve made to start our listing at this price as well.
And, wouldn’t you know it? Mom’s jacket sold at the same $51.00!
OK, so $51.00 isn’t going to make anyone rich but it’s not bad for a jacket found in the woods!

So, go explore and grow your business!
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