What to check before you buy a vintage bale
Updated
A bale is only a good deal if you can sell what's in it. Ask these before you pay, and get the answers in writing.
1. How many pieces?
Weight isn't a piece count. Ten pounds of tees is a very different number of pieces from ten pounds of denim. Ask for the count, or the weight with a rough count, so you can work out cost per piece.
2. What grade, and what does it mean?
"Grade A", "cream" and "premium" mean whatever the seller wants them to mean. Ask what the grade allows: stains, holes, fading, missing buttons, and what share of the lot it applies to.
On Stockhouse, sellers don't define their own grades. They pick one of Stockhouse's grade definitions, the same for every seller, so you can compare lots like for like.
3. What's the mix?
- Categories: tees, sweats, denim, outerwear.
- Styles: Y2K, band tees, 90s streetwear, gorpcore, workwear.
- Sizes, and menswear or womenswear.
- Brands, if that's part of the price.
A cheap mixed bale isn't cheap if half of it doesn't fit what your shop sells.
4. Photos of the actual lot
Not a sample, not last month's post. Ask for photos or a short video of the bale you're buying, opened up.
5. Who's selling, and how do you know?
Look for a track record outside their own page: marketplace ratings, other resellers who've bought from them, a real business address. On Stockhouse, sellers are approved after vetting, link the social accounts and platforms they already sell on, and are rated by buyers after every order.
6. Where's it shipping from?
Overseas stock means freight time and, since de minimis was suspended in August 2025, possible duties. See importing vintage bales after de minimis. Domestic means tracked shipping with no customs.
7. What happens if it doesn't match?
Ask before you pay, not after. How long do you have to report a problem? Refund, credit or nothing? And how are you paying: a method you can reverse, or one you can't? See how to avoid vintage wholesale scams.
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Before I pay, can you confirm in writing: the piece count, the grade and what it allows, the mix (categories, styles, sizes), photos of this lot, where it ships from, and what happens if it doesn't match?
Stockhouse is opening to founding buyers and sellers across the US. Every lot is listed with the piece count, a Stockhouse grade, photos and the mix, and payment is held until it arrives.
Questions
- How many pieces are in a vintage bale?
- It depends on the weight and what's in it. Heavy pieces like denim and jackets mean fewer pieces per pound than tees. Always ask for a piece count, or the weight and an estimated count, in writing.
- What do vintage clothing grades mean?
- Every seller grades differently, so a grade only means something if the seller says what it covers: condition, flaws allowed and how much of the lot it applies to. On Stockhouse, every seller uses Stockhouse's own grade definitions, so a grade means the same thing whoever you buy from.
- Should I buy a mixed bale or a single-style lot?
- A mixed bale is cheaper per piece but carries more you won't sell. A single-style lot, such as band tees or workwear, costs more per piece and sells through faster in a shop that knows its niche.