Lately I'm tense about reselling again, trying to find my path with the blog, online shops, and everything else I want to produce into the future. I'm hesitant to bring in more vintage when the future of what I'm doing feels so uncertain, but did score a few nice things during my Pecan Park explorations. I have also have a ton of "free" finds I'll have to show you later when I've got more energy.
I paid $10.00 for this Federal Glass Pilsners, way more than I normally would, but I really liked the atomic boomerang/amoeba pattern. They're On Etsy.
I couldn't find an ID on this small, handsome ice bucket. Any tips would be appreciated. I got it from the same dealer who had the Amoeba glasses, she had so much glorious 1950s-60s goodness but all rather pricey.
I love the detail on this piece, the droplets reminding of condensation on glass. It's on Etsy and may move to eBay.
Can You Help? I need to move some items over from Etsy to eBay to increase sales. If anyone could take a look and let me know which items they feel would do best on eBay or just offer any eBay advice (any and all!) in the comments or via I'd really appreciate it! I'm trying to raise funds and move income that I know won't be as stagnant on eBay as it can be on Etsy. Thanks in advance!
Edit: I've been informed blogger is "eating" up your comments, augh! Looking into it. E-mail or Instagram/Facebook/Twitter me please if you have tips or anything else to say and the comments won't work.
Linked to: [Nifty Thrifty] [Thrifter|Maker|Fixer] [Sir Thrift a Lot]
Great finds. I love the mugs. I just sold some and was so surprised when they did.
ReplyDeleteDid you sell them on eBay or Etsy? I'll be moving a lot of mine to eBay where people say mugs, wall hangings, and things that just sit on Etsy sell fast/well.
DeleteLove the camra. Those atomic glasses are cool too. I'll be interested to see what advice you receive. I just started selling on Ebay this year and haven't done too hot yet. Most things sit or go for my way to low starting bid. Hope it improves.
ReplyDeleteWill report on what helps along the way with it. I'm told "Buy it Now" is the way to go. I'll be listing some of my first "Buy it Now" items today.
DeleteThe atomic glasses should sell quickly, I have had that pattern before and it sold quickly, and I currently have some on my shop and they get views all the time! (on esty), I don't have any ebay experience so I cannot offer much advice. But it doesn't hurt to try any of your expired items (what to do with these?! ) My friend sold all of her regret purchases that sat on etsy for a while and then expired and sat in a pile forever. They have been selling on Ebay. Ebay, according to her, is a good place to sell damaged items (small imperfections that are noted), stuff that isn't quite vintage, things that you don't want to spend time taking nice pictures of....She has been selling off her items that way and has been really successful. Saves the nice stuff/nice pics for etsy.
ReplyDeleteI always renew my Etsy stuff but have some things I've renewed 3 times. Some just need nice new photos, some need an eBay switch-over. I'll be working on this today me-thinks, want to move out of a lot of stuff and make a pile of money so I can decide what's next! The thing that drives me nuts with selling vintage, you have to keep bringing in more and more inventory, especially selling locally. Trying to decide how to move forward with how I sell before I buy more stuff.
DeleteLove that book. An artist friend of mine said, "Picture books are pieces of artwork that everyone can afford." I believe that's true, and more than once, I've framed illustrations from picture books for my kiddos' rooms.
ReplyDeleteI love to do that, too. I'm working on an ephemera line where I sell hundreds of vintage children's book and cook book pages online and printed scans locally. :) Just gotta sell what I've got first, haha...
DeleteVan the ice bucket and glasses remind me of pieces I've seen online called iittala. Below is a listing from ebay.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ebay.com/itm/iittala-Finland-Tapio-Wirkkala-ULTIMA-THULE-Rocks-Cocktail-Glass-4-Bowl-/121275106732?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c3c8f45ac
That's what I thought too while buying it. Not quite a perfect fit but very similar.
DeleteVan I looked through your Etsy store. Beautiful photos by the way. Here are some things that I think you could sell on ebay most of them because I've sold them myself. One thing about ebay is you can search an item and then look at the completed listings to see how much they actually sold for. I don't think you can do that on easy. Keywords are very important. Use all your allotted space in your title even if it doesn't make sense or look very good. Your first three or four keywords are the most important. For instance your fork and spoon set I would have the first keywords fork spoon wall decor wood. For things that you are selling as sets like the patches you want to make sure you use the keyword 'lot'. You have to do your research when you list to make sure you're pricing right and using the right keywords and it shouldn't be too hard to turn things over...sometimes it takes a while though..I have items that sit for a long time before the right person finds them but if it is a really unique hard to find item I will let it sit. The items I think you could sell on ebay (I didn't go through your whole store) are
ReplyDeletethe tiki spoon fork set
wooden hangers
the patch sets use keyword lot
the train cases
the big eyed art
Those are just a few things that I'm familiar with. If you have any other specific questions about ebay I'd be happy to help. It's a lot of trail and error. There are some great ebay seller blogs that I've learned from. I have them on my bloglist on my blog. Happy Sales :)
Thanks so much for the detailed tips Nancy, I'll keep reading, experimenting, and hopefully selling. I was wondering about "buy it now" vs. bidding, what do you feel is best for selling vintage?
ReplyDeleteI use mostly buy it now. Why? Unless you start an auction at what you actually want to get for an item it is too often the case that you don't get what you want. I hear many sellers bemoan that they started an auction at 99 cents and that's what they sold their item for. Or you'll put an item up at auction with a starting price of 9.99 and get no bids but put it at buy it now for 19.99 for a few weeks and sell it. I've heard it takes up to 2 weeks for Google to find a new listing and index it so if you just have things up for 7 day auctions you are losing out on that exposure. Ebay is also doing a lot of promotions where they give people like 1000 free auction listings or even more for a week. People list like crazy then and it seems like the market becomes over saturated. Ebay has changed a lot since the auction format was the way to go.
DeleteThat's what I figured. I listed a lot of my manga in a rush as auctions and got a lot as a whole but less than I'd have liked for each set of books. Going to be doing "Buy it Now" from here out.
DeleteVan, Like Nancy, I also looked thru all 21 pages of your Etsy listings. The things that jumped out at me as ebay sellers were: the Good and Easy cookbooks, the bronze animals, the banners, Playmobil figures (no "e" on the end of that), the butterfly coasters and the tiny toy cars and bus. Check completed listings to see the high and low selling price of your items and price them where you feel comfortable. Free shipping is usually preferred on ebay. And for me personally, books and mugs just don't move....at all!
ReplyDeleteIt's nuts when I see people sell mugs on eBay for $35 each and such, corporate non-vintage ones like Starbucks mugs. Thanks so much for the helpful tips! I thought the Good and Easy Cookbooks and banners would be good for it, too. Have a lot of item moving/listing to do today! Thanks so much for kindly going through the pages for me.
DeleteNancy gave you great advice! Get a basic store subscription. I forget how many you need in your store to warrant the $15.00. I think it was over 60 or something, maybe less? Anyway do but it now with best offer available. Keep your shipping prices reasonable. I do a kind of half and half. It works way better for me than free shipping or full price on shipping. I'm a top rated seller so its never hurt my dashboard either.
ReplyDeleteI saw your vintage plaid shirts. Might not get $45.00 but you never know it won't hurt to try. The vintage radios. Do me a favor go do searches on vintage walkmans and vintage flip clocks and then maybe just poke around from there. Hot HOT area and I bet you'd find it in spades down there and be the only one looking for it. I know I am here. I might be wrong but I think its stuff you'd find enjoyable to look for too.
Maybe some of your cookbooks and the sewing one's. But do completed searches.
I know you've resisted ebay but do you know whats fun about ebay? Making money. If you had told me a couple years ago I'd get super excited over a pair of Chico's traveler pants (think RVing, retired and don't want no wrinkles in my pants..mmhmmm) as I would a pair of vintage panties (think men who love nylon and will pay *big* prices for it). I'd a told you where nuts. But those consistent sellers no matter what they are. Its exciting! So start hitting completed in everything. Start with all those free clothes you got. You get stuck on a clothing item you might have. Email me, I'll be happy to help you get going. Oh and start carrying your phone with you and using your ebay app while your out shopping. It has made and saved me a lot of money!
Thanks for all the detailed tips. I wanna sell all the rest of the stuff that's been stagnating for years for the most possible and I think eBay will help do that. Not sure where I'm going into the future of reselling, the endless buying drives me nuts, but Ido need money while I try to figure it out!
Deletehey van! One of the cool things about ebay is that you don't have to be as concerned with a curated look as etsy. I find it's best to have both etsy and ebay up and running, as specific things do better one each site. Don't give up! There's a great circle of blogs- fruzies, clamco, simplysellinggirl who all talk about what sells best on ebay, give them a google!
ReplyDeleteOne thing I liked about Etsy is it forces me to curate better/refine my eye and I've really seen improvement the year I've been on it. But yeh, for selling "quickly" eBay will be nice once I figure it out. Looking at it is like trying to decipher the meaning of life out of a plate of spilled pad thai noodles-- absolutely damn impossible for a beginner. Hate it, absolutely do, but will give your suggested blogs a chance. Thanks for the tips!
DeleteOh van I love to read you, hope you never ever stop reselling. I think you could also make yard sales or sell in flea markets all the items you have that you dont sell for one year. That will help you to get some money and get more space. Did you ever thought about a part time job? Just to make sure you have income coming for sure montly.
ReplyDeleteI love the mugs pictures, look very professional and would like to experiment these cameras :) btw cool colages in your vision book, brilliant idea =)
I hope you and others will continue to read when/if (likely) I move away from reselling as my main income source. It's something that kind of plagues me but reselling isn't working for me right now. I have a part time job in a vegan kitchen but I only work one day a week, sometimes 2, which works best for me because I'm always working (and not earning enough) on this blog and reselling. I've considered a different/another part time job or even going back to marketing full time but I enjoy being self-employed too much to go back. My plan is to build up as much income as possible on existing inventory so I can continue to re-do my business plan and figure out what I really want to do in life. Again, I hope I don't lose too much support/too many readers doing this, but I have to do what lights me up inside and makes me happiest/feels right/etc. above everything else.
DeleteI did recently do that vintage "Yard Sale" in front of a vintage shop and am brainstorming ways to make a local vintage street team for other sellers to get out there. I made a lot in one day but I sold some individual items for WAY lower than I'd have liked, breaking even on some, which was really disheartening. I've considered flea markets but again it's a low buying market and I have to really consider the bigger picture- is that what I want into the future? It's not, and I need to plan my future more carefully from now on.
Thanks for the kind words and suggestions!
When I started reading you, you where not setting on Etsy.:) Your an individual past your job. Don't worry we will stick around.
DeleteSome will leave but you do what you gotta do. People are chatting about me about the whole living elements when I run into readers in the wild now at least so the transition isn't without merit. What I hear the most though is, "don't stop reselling/I love your hauls/keep doing what you're doing" - it's all super sweet but it makes me feel like I'm trapped buying pretty things for people just to look at and not buy sometimes. I'll keep working on getting over that feeling, I love writing this blog and it's not going anywhere. I enjoy reselling too but the methods have to change, I'm not doing this efficiently yet.
DeleteAnd of course thanks to both of you again for the kind words/support!
DeleteOften times, making a living from being self-employed means working all the time and not making a high wage from the hours you put in. It's a fact of life of being self-employed that the majority of those who are so aren't getting rich and aren't making a high wage. You have to decide that you love being self-employed more than you love a big paycheck.
ReplyDeleteYep, very true. My problem right now is I don't know what I truly want to do into the future so I'm trying to make time to finish my business plan so I can figure it out. Soul searching time. Hence why I did my Vision page post, doing lots of business planning/future envisioning whenever possible.
DeleteI LOVE your vision page post and want to write about it on my blog!
DeletePlease do Fenn, glad you love it! :D
DeleteYou just reminded me. I have a few vintage cameras I need to list, but I don't know a thing about cameras so I don't know ho to check if they even work :(
ReplyDeleteYeah that's the tricky part. I have some old film that I take with me while shopping to check if a polaroid works but with this type I just have to warn people that I'm not sure if it works or not or to use as display only.
DeleteI love that you are refiguring your business plan and your vision post! I feel I am at a similar point where I need to make some decisions about my career and future business ventures.
ReplyDeleteThanks Megan, I'll have to update on the process. It's hard to find time for it while you have to make money doing what you're -currently- doing, but it's for the best in the end. You have to move where your passion is.
DeleteVan, I will be shooting you an email with my tips regarding selling on eBay/Etsy. It was too long to post here.
ReplyDeleteThanks! Got it and replied.
DeleteOh, and since you are selling a camera - have you thought about selling the film for vintage cameras? I just learned (from the show, "Thrift Hunters") that things that go with vintage cameras go for a lot of money, maybe even more so than the camera itself, esp if a buyer already has the camera and is still using it.
ReplyDeleteI'd definitely sell it if I found it, could possibly order and resell some if it was economically feasible, too. :D
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