The Monocle & Moustache

This Wednesday, March 28 is a perfect opportunity to discover new Vintage and Antique items such as this from Joyful Jewelry Designs:

Or this Antique Button Steampunk Brooch from Candyrot:

As you’re browsing the items for Wednesday’s auction, the following question may come to mind:

What makes something “Antique” vs. “Vintage”?

Antique – in the context of Tophatter, Antique is considered anything pre-1940s.

Vintage – Vintage can vary in definition a little but for the most part, it means items that are older than 20 years are vintage.

So, what should I do if I can’t verify it?

Use a synonym: old, retro, classic, loved, or some other accepted synonym that can be equally effective in conveying that it’s a nice piece from the past.

And what about the items in the auction?

It’s up to the seller to provide buyers with accurate information in regards to whether an item is actually an “antique” or “vintage” piece. As a buyer, you can always inquire about the origins of a piece during the live auction. However, hopefully knowing what you do now – you’ll be able to enter into the auction as a better-educated buyer!

Come join us Wednesday at 11AM PT. Tally ho and happy bidding!

By Katie Nelson

For all of you addicted to Tophatter, soon you’ll be able to access the auctions from your iphone using our Tophatter app.  We’ve been working on the application for a while and we’re really excited to make it available soon.

We’re looking for users that are interested in helping us test the app and provide feedback.  Any comments/suggestions/thoughts are welcome.

Anyone of you who is interested in testing out the app and has an iPhone, can you please send an email at suchit@tophatter.com. Suchit will then add everyone to the testing group and send out a version of the app that you can install on your phone.

Thanks!

What a week at Tophatter!  Just three months since we launched we are now seeing over 1,000 items per day up on the auction blocks.   While we’re thrilled with this growth, we know there are certain aspects of the marketplace that we’d like to improve and we’re working every day to make things better.

One initiative that we started this week was one-off promotional credits in different auctions - we ran a $5 credit in Accessories on Wednesday, a $2 credit in Accessories yesterday, and both a $2 credit in Antique & Viintage and whopping $10 credit in High-end Jewelry today.

Wendell is generously paying for these credits as part of our marketing efforts to attract buyers and boost the overall experience.  So far, it has been very successful and we plan to do more of it.  We won’t run them every day or in the same auctions repeatedly but we will use credits occasionally as a tool to increase value for sellers.

Thanks everyone for your support!  Remember to set your clock forward on Saturday night - wouldn’t want you to be late for Sunday’s Bazaar :)

Hello all Tophatter sellers -

I’ve been head auctioneer at Tophatter for almost two months now, and my uncle Baron Wattington had the great idea to start a seller blog.  So, here goes. I won’t be writing most of the entries here – Tophatter staff, hosts and sellers will – but I wanted to welcome you nonetheless.  I’m chuffed that you’re attending my auctions and can’t wait to see what the future holds.

Cheerio!

Sir Wendell Wattington