I love to shop online weather it be at The Goodwill store or EBay my favorite by far. How about you? My other great find places are, estate sales, garage sales, moving sales, etc. Here is a mini guide to buying , vintage and antique pottery online or at sales.

 I also love to search on EBay they have all kinds of Sadler teapots in various degrees of conditions.One of my latest finds at  is a Saddler teapot, very old and gorgeous!

 Ebay carries quite a few, they are gorgeous.

When you buy vintage or antique items if you are investing money hoping your item is resalable and grows in value, only buy mint quality, it is far better to own one mint quality item than 20 chipped items at a bargain price, your return is always  higher yielding at mint condition than "item has chip that does not retract from it's beauty".

If  it's to put up on the shelf for display and a little nick that is unseen is not a problem then buy that less than perfect item.

You can buy a Sadler teapot with a small nick for $10.00 or you can buy the same item in excellent condition for close to $200.00.

Personally I prefer to buy always mint if possible, but financially it's a lot of money, specially when starting a collection.

Some times you find someone on eBay that just wants to sell their teapot and is asking for a low price, bid on it but consider, shipping charges and condition.

Here are some terms you might want to consider when purchasing;

 For example crazing, I just learned that crazing is like crackles in the glaze that you can not feel with your fingers but you can see in good light.

 That term means if you try to resale at some point, the crazing is going to cost you on the value of your item.I love the look of crazing, but it is not a collector's idea of  a good piece.

 I can't stress enough, buy mint whenever possible but at a reasonable price.

 Overall good condition, you need to email seller and ask about crazing, chips, rubbing (when paint wears off).

See what the dealer means overall good condition, does it have peeling or chipping paint?  Has it been repaired?  Are there any hairline cracks you can feel but not see, if item is dirty once you get it home and wash  off the dirt, you can find hairline cracks.

 Insurance, two words, PURCHASE INSURANCE. You don't know how the item may be wrapped and shipped, not everybody puts the effort you do in packaging, if you don't have insurance, you are wasting your shipping fee, time effort and knowledge.Last but not least pictures, if item does not have pictures of the bottom  part  of piece, or you can only see part of the teapot or object ask them to email you more pictures. Lastly beware of no return policy, if there are no returns, and you are not sure don't buy.

Thanks for reading my small buying online guide.