I have been asked to help a non-horse person sell some western tack items. I ride English so am not very good at determining the value/ describing some of these items. I know the original retail, but want to make sure I am on track
1. I have a horsehair bosal and reins- the bosal part is made of a harder material, the rest is all horsehair. Is the harder stuff called "mecate"? It was orig. about $200 am asking $100
2. new Les Vogt spurs- was over $125; am starting at $70- they are silver with the oxidized black making a design.
3. a dark brown headstall with a lot of silver on it- orig was $200. What is the most important thing to describe or show picture of? I am asking $100
4. A western saddle carrier- asking $35- it is heavy, brand new. How should I measure it?
5. Cat Spring Spur Company spurt- asking $10 they are plain steel.
I am e-mailing pix to buyers. Any comments and input is appreciated!

my first question would be, where are you at? that would help to determine the quality of the hackamore. it sounds like you might have some pretty nice things. the bosal is probably rawhide,but it could be hitched horsehair, if it is braided and just cream colored you can bet on rawhide. if the strands are fairly wide say 1/4" or so it wont be worth as much as one with finer strands, if you know who made it that will help the value alot. find out what the thickness is , is it a 3/8th or 7/16th two rein bosal or is it more like a 5/8th or 3/4" for just riding or starting colts? feel how stiff it is, if it is pretty hard it probably has a steel cable for a core which will bring the price down, if it is soft it has a rawhide core and is more desireable.
the reins are the mecate, which loosley translated means, reins for a hackamore in spanish. a softer, mane hair mecate will usually retail at about $85 and the more prickly tail hair might sell for just a little less.
you are probably right on with the vogt spurs.
look on the headstall for a name and try to determine if the silver is sterling or not. is the silver in the form of conchos or ferrules, that will help with your advertizing.
you will have to get more help than me with the saddle carrier and the cat springs suprs as i dont know anything about those
liam

Thanks! The biggest thing, I guess I am worried about is the bosal and the headstall, I don't want to price them out of line or too cheap. I will look at them more closely for the things you suggested when I get home.
This is a new experience for me!

Check ebay and go by what they are selling for. Or just post them on ebay.

that sounds pretty easy Rrgunslinger but when it comes to possible custom or specialty items you need to know what you have for sure. many things on ebay are presented as wonderful but arent, then someone gets the short end of the stick.if you sell something really nice for cheap and dont know it, you arent selling very wisely. jklfarm is doing the right thing by asking for help.
liam

If you could find out how many strands the bosal is that would help determine a price but if its a hitched horse hair arent those pretty much decorative. That would probably make it a show item therefore you could charge more. Les Vogt spurs are gennerally sold for that price maybe more. It would be good to advertise at a higher rate than you have but say or best offer, so then you can always have the chance to sell for a little more than you think its worth. When you take pics of the headstall if you only do one take it of the whole thing. If more pics take the cheek pieces the browband the ear piece, you want to advertise the silver as best you can, some people really like that. If the equipment is really new you dont have to cut the price in half like that. Les Vogt spurs are really good so i would start a little higher than that. to get a good idea about them go to www.flatcreeksaddle.com and the les vogt site. i dont know if i made sense or not but you dont want to cheat yourfriend any. Price it high if people are interested they will bargain. The prices you set would be a good bottom line sale price.

Thanks! I have the headstall, horsehair set and spurs on ebay, with good pictures and descriptions. The bosal and hradstallare really hard to get pictures of, though.I have reserves so we will see. I had them on Tack trader, but got tired of the "dealers" trying to low ball me. Equine.com is having technical problems since they changed their website, so I won't use that.
Feel free to check my auctions and give me comments User ID equestriannes.
Thanks again for all your input!