Top MCM Items To Buy And Sell For Profit

Before you even get started down the road of flipping you first need to know what to buy. To do that you need some basic knowledge of what constitutes Mid-Century Modern, what makes a piece collectible, how to spot real pieces from fakes, and the going rate for each individual item.

There is no short cut around this step. This is actually the most critical step in buying and selling Mid Century Modern Furniture and Decor. Knowledge is power, and the way you make money flipping Mid Century Modern furniture is by knowing more about it then others. There's so much info to know and learn that you'll never know everything. Don't be overwhelmed. If you spend even just a couple hours doing research you'll have enough knowledge to at least get started buying and selling. Just know that to be truly great at this profession you should never stop learning. Every week we try to add a few items to our arsenal that we didn't know about before. So don't stress, just get started!

1. Antique / Mid Century Modern Shops

One of the best ways we've found for discovering new items to sell and add to our arsenal is just by simply walking into a Mid Century Modern store (if there is one in your area) or just a plain old Antique store. If its an Antique store make sure you ask the person in charge if they can point you in the direction of any MCM pieces so you can differentiate between just plain old antiques and MCM. Bit of a side note here but when you first get going just try to stay in the realm of MCM. Obviously there is money to be made in almost everything at a Thrift Store from brand new items to pieces from the 1800's. The reality is though that if you don't specialize in a niche at first you're going to get burnt out and lost. When you go into these shops take your time looking at different MCM pieces and their prices. Get a good feel for styles and shapes and prices. Best free knowledge you can get.

2. Books, Books, And More Books!

There is information you need to know to be good at buying and selling Mid Century Modern Furniture and Decor that you just can't learn from walking into an Antique Shop or through trial and error. There are a few good books however that we'd recommend to help get you started with buying and selling MCM. They contain the nuances of the trade that isn't published online. They will educate you on pieces from that era, makers marks, wood types, what makes pieces more collectible then others, designers, etc.

One of the best decisions we made when first getting started with reselling Mid Century, was to invest in a large book collection and really commit ourselves to learning. That passive way of learning about new items to buy and sell has benefited us greatly over the years and we can't begin to tell you how an investment into a good book collection and a devotion to learning, will be the best choice you will make.

We've posted some links below that will take you to our favourite ones on Amazon:

For readers in the United States the links below will take you to the cheapest vendors on Amazon.com to buy from (Canadian Users scroll down to find Canadian links to vendors on Amazon.ca):

http://amzn.to/2kGYq4y

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1419713965/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=7072367073-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=1419713965&linkId=f3b285f6b80022b3ff5a2a7b779d3460

http://amzn.to/2lTEsbO

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/3836560216/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=7072367073-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=3836560216&linkId=420449dfac68a4ff31b0a12199981dbe

http://amzn.to/2lTvP10

For Canadian Users these links will take you to the cheapest vendors to buy from on Amazon.ca:

http://amzn.to/2kHiZxE

http://amzn.to/2l3hH3x

http://amzn.to/2lTsfns

http://amzn.to/2lTDooc

http://amzn.to/2kxULLf

3. Trial and Error

This is going to be your final teacher. Every city and town across North America is going to have people interested in buying and selling MCM furniture, but what pieces are available in your area and what they sell for is going to be different per your unique geographical area. So trial and error is the final teacher. Take flyers. Be willing to lose money to learn how to make money. We try to buy one new item each week that we are willing to lose money on. If it doesn't do good and we lose a little money we know not to buy it again and we'll make that money up on the next item we sell. But if it does good, you have a new money maker for life.

Final thoughts. Order your books. While you wait for them to be delivered, go into a couple antique shops and look around. Guarantee you it will inspire you and get you excited to go out and start sourcing.

-Mid Century Picking