The Hierarchy of Secondhand: Why 1stDibs Is Ruining Prices

(I Said What I Said)

I recently brought in a beautiful set of Libbey cocktail glasses. Black and gold mid-century pattern, in great condition. I scored them on the second day of an estate sale—20% off.

I paid a fair price for them—fair to the seller, fair to me as a small business, and fair to my future customer who wants vintage barware without the markup that makes you feel like you’re shopping the Neiman Marcus Fantasy Gift Catalog. This is the quiet math vintage dealers do all day long: pay enough that we can keep the lights on, but not so much that we have to pretend a set of Libbey glasses is worth $500 just because someone on 1stDibs said so.

Let’s talk about that for a second.

There’s a growing hierarchy in secondhand, and it’s warping the market. At the top: 1stDibs and its peers, those curated online marketplaces with eye-watering price tags and even more eye-watering commission rates. I get it—1stDibs has its place. It’s beautifully photographed, the pieces are stunning, and it does carry many one-of-a-kind pieces—and yes, it’s a gateway drug for some people into vintage. But it’s also inflating expectations and creating a false sense of value for items that, frankly, aren't as rare as they're made to seem.

Meanwhile, sellers on the ground—people like me who dig through basements, sweat it out at summer estate sales, and know our communities—are expected to compete with that pricing model. Newsflash: most of us don’t want to. We want to offer beautiful, well-made vintage at prices that respect the buyer and the object’s history, without the bloated prestige pricing.

Sure, there are people who prefer to pay the higher price. They associate a big price tag with quality, status, or credibility. That’s their choice. But for many of us in the industry, we resist feeding that cycle—because when people pay inflated prices, it skews future comps and artificially increases the perceived value of everyday vintage. And then we’re all stuck in a loop where the pricing ladder gets higher, but the items aren’t getting any rarer.

Additionally, because these large online platforms have incredible SEO, they’re often the first sites that pop up when someone runs a Google image search. The problem? A lot of the people working estate sales are doing just that—looking up comps on 1stDibs or Chairish and pricing accordingly. That artificially inflates the sale prices, making it harder for those of us doing the real work—sourcing, restoring, and reselling—to bring items back to the marketplace at a reasonable price.

So let me say it louder for the people in the back: not all secondhand pricing is created equal. The vintage piece itself? Often exactly the same. But when it’s styled by a local dealer who knows their stuff, versus listed on a glossy platform after passing through five hands, the final price can be worlds apart. One is grounded in knowledge, community, and real market demand. The other is often driven by perception, branding, and markup.

Let’s talk numbers. 1stDibs takes a 15% commission—plus another 3% transaction fee—from their sellers. Chairish? That can run as high as 40%, depending on your seller plan.

So when you're wondering why a $45 lamp is listed for $285 online, it’s not always because it's rare. It’s because platforms like these have built-in bloat just to make the math work.

I’m not here to shame 1stDibs sellers—many of them are just doing their best to keep up. But I am here to remind buyers (and new sellers) that secondhand doesn’t have to be synonymous with luxury pricing. Sometimes it’s just a killer set of Libbey glasses from the second day of an estate sale, priced appropriately and ready for their new forever home.

And that should be enough.