Monthly sales reports from my booth and Etsy. There’s probably something you can find for a quarter any day of the week that never occurred to you would sell at all, much less for that much.
Let’s start the sales reports again, shall we? I haven’t fallen off the face of the earth and I’ve been well. I just haven’t been actively blogging in a while. I’d like to change that and get back to my roots. What better way than to re-start with the always popular sales reports?
2024 was a weird sales year. Not good at all. We all blame it on the economy, the election, things going on in the world, whatever, but no matter what else is going on, it always boils down to having what someone wants when they want it and at the price they’re willing to pay. I dunno. Maybe it was a combination of all that.
If you’ve read my reports before you know I’m not a prolific seller. I don’t have hundreds of items listed. I got up to almost 300 items last year, but it quickly dropped back. The most I’ve had listed at any one time this year is about 240. I think December started with that. My Etsy shop is justvintage2 if you care to look. So let’s get started!
*You can click on the links and pictures to see the original listing. These ARE affiliate links meaning, I might get a tiny percent of anything you might buy from Etsy for a few days.
Vintage advent calendar with the design of an Ellen Clapsaddle painting or postcard. Cost: $4.00 Sold: $45.00
3 small brass pots, collected from different estates and with different amounts of patina Cost: $5.00 Sold: $35.00
18″, white, Yaffa DoReMi coat hook. I found this at the most expensive estate sale company in our area on half price day. Had they known to look up the value, it would have been at least $20. Cost: $2.00 Sold: $32.00
And finally, on December 31, this Fontanini carpenter sold for $19 with free shipping. He’s been hanging around for a few years. I’m so glad he found a new home!
Cost: $1.00 Sold: $19.00
So there it is. I hope you saw something you might not have thought about picking up. Like maybe the Yaffa DoReMi coat hook? I just saw the pictures for an upcoming estate sale that has three! I hope to be able to get them, but they’re high on the wall where most people would need a ladder, so there’s little hope for me as short as I am, but we’ll see. Annndddd…. I might have just given away the secret.
Would you consider pinning this on Pinterest with the image below? Thank you for reading!
February was great in my booth and fairly decent on Etsy and eBay. I didn’t get any pictures of booth items, so those sales won’t be shared.
I’ve only, in the past year, started putting things on eBay again. I pretty much abandoned it years ago in favor of Etsy, but I’m easing back into selling there as well again. I think I had got up to about 45-50 items or thereabouts on eBay, so selling 10 was pretty good, I guess. I was determined to get up to 200 listings on Etsy in February. In the 11 years I’ve been selling there, I think I’ve reached that amount once. Guess I’m not dedicated enough. So, I almost made it! Got to 198, then had a flurry of sales while I was busy with life and haven’t had a chance to list more and at this point, I’m back down to 182 items.
If you’ve read the blog much, you know I’m not a prolific seller. I’m soooo not full time. Still, it’s more than a hobby for me. I sell to supplement our income. But many hobbyists are speeding past me, leaving me in the dust. Anyway, I’m saying that to point out that I’m not here trying to show you how to make a living reselling and certainly not to brag! I’ve got nothing to brag about! My hope is that you might see something I’ve sold that you never thought to buy for resell or that you’ll see something I’ve sold for pennies and can make note not to bother with that. Anything I can do that might help you reach your reselling goals is my hope.
This post will be kinda long and I apologize for that. I thought about doing separate posts for eBay and Etsy sales, but ultimately decided to combine them because there really aren’t that many. So here goes. Let’s start with eBay, shall we? ( I believe buyer paid shipping on all these.)
I took these patches off a couple of my husband’s decaying caps several years ago and just this year put them for sale. They sold to the same buyer.
Cost: Free to me Total sale: $18.98 Net after fees: $14.58
I got this 2013 Ancestry DNA kit at Goodwill. $5.99 plus tax. That tax just gripes my behind. Don’t get me started. Genealogy being one of my hobbies, I debated on getting my husband or granddaughter to spit in the vial – I’ve already done mine – but ultimately decided to sell it.
Cost: $6.53 Total Sale: $33.99 Net After Fees and Cost: $22.15
Do you watch Yvon Thrifty Rich – on YouTube? I learned about John Perry sculptures from her, so when I saw this one at an estate sale, I grabbed it. And only now did I see the title was messed up! Egads!
Cost: 8.00 Total Sale: 31.00 Net After Fees and Cost: $17.10
This Vintage Champion Spark Plug bag belonged to my mother who always worked as bookkeeper in an auto parts store. I originally priced it as $47.99 but after going back and forth with offers, settled on $35.00
Cost: Free to me Total Sale: $35.00 Net After Fees: $28.43
These are a DON’T bother. They were brand new and, since they were Victoria’s Secret and only a dollar, I thought I’d give them a shot. But, what you can’t see in this picture is that they have “Think Pink” written on the outside of one arm. It was a little bit of profit and a little is better than none, so I won’t complain. And although I said don’t bother with these, I’d probably do it again. Sigh. (Also, the title is messed up again! I’ll have to remember not to use punctuation.
Cost: $1.00 Total Sale: 9.99 Net After Cost and Fees: $6.59
Oh, wow! This is the first Furby I’ve ever found in the wild. No, that’s not true. I found – and left there – a grody one in an outbuilding once. It was really scary. And dirty. Got this one at Goodwill.
Cost: $3.26 Total Sale: $24.99 Fees: $4.92 Net After Cost and Fees: $16.82
This was from my personal collection. I’m guessing I paid 25¢ years ago.
Cost: .25 Total Sale: 29.99 Fees: 5.07 Net After Cost and Fees: $24.67
This Brighton bracelet had belonged, I believe, to my step mother. I’m saying it was free to me, but we probably gave it to her for Christmas, so not technically free.
Cost: Free to me Total Sale: $14.99 Fees: $3.04 Net After Fees: $11.95
Ahhhh,…. Now this is more like it. My kind of profit. I’ve had 3 1980s Vogue counter catalogs for years and years and years, shuffling them around because, who is going to pay the shipping for something as big and heavy as that? Well, I’ve sold 2 of them now. I don’t remember how much I paid for this, but I’d bet it was a dollar.
Cost: $1.00 Total Sale: $47.99 Fees: $8.49 Net After Cost and Fees: $38.50
Last and least – hehe – this antique newspaper insert from my death pile. I’ll guess it cost 25¢ but really, I’ve had it so long, I have no idea. It wasn’t on my inventory list, either.
Cost: .25 Total Sale: $6.99 Fees: $2.30 Net After Cost and Fees: $4.44
That’s all for eBay. Are you still with me? Let’s do Etsy.
A note about the Etsy links here. Did you know you can use a Chrome extension that shows what an item sold for on Etsy? It’s called “Etsy Sold!” Of course, you have to find the sold item first and that’s not easy with Etsy, but if you go to a seller’s main page, you’ll see the number of sales they’ve had in the upper left corner under the shop name. Hover over that number and if it shows as a link, you can click and see a grid of everything they’ve sold since the beginning of time, and with the extension, how much it sold for is in red! Isn’t that cool? Then, if you want to see more about the item, you can click on the link. That’s what you’ll see here. The pictures from the grid. But I’ll also place a link to the listing if you click on the picture. That link, my link, will be an affiliate link. Of course, you can’t buy the sold item, but unless you have cookies or something disabled, if you buy anything from anyone on Etsy within a day or so, I’ll get a few pennies from that sale. It costs you nothing, nor does it cost the seller anything. And neither of us know you used that link. But those few cents add up in the long run and help me out because these posts take a loooonnnnng time to do! I would be ever so grateful.
Brass easels are a big seller on Etsy. I sold two of these, identical, for $17.00 each.
Cost: $1.00 (for two) Total Sale: $34.00 (for two) Fees: $4.47 (for two) Net After Cost and Fees: $28.63
Another somewhat surprising item is vintage, wicker, paper plate holders. My friend Florence, whose Etsy shop is Vintage Southern Picks, has taught me that the older ones have a larger braid around the edges. These were my first attempt at selling them. They were stained so badly, too! I was scared the buyer wouldn’t have seen the pictures and emailed her first. She had and understood and was fine with them. Whew!
Mid century modern, Danish modern, Scandanavian, etc. are among my favorite things to sell. I found this Dansk cheese cutting board with built in knife (It slides in to form the handle) at ReStore for $2.00. It wasn’t a huge sale, but I’ll sure take it.
This was a fun sale, both the buying and the selling. These vintage cocktail napkins came from a family run estate sale and they priced everything to get it gone. I bought so much there! And no, I had no idea about selling prices as I was buying.
Vintage Cocktail Napkins Cost: 50¢ Total Sale: $32.00 Fees: $2.86 Net After Cost and Fees: $28.64
Another surprising sale amount. I can’t remember where I bought this chalk fruit, but it originally had a pear with it. The pear was badly damaged, so I sold just the two here, apple and grapes.
A couple of weeks ago I bought $200 worth of a truckload of stuff. I have yet to determine the average cost of each item. This was one of those things.
Green Stripe Canisters Cost: $7.00 Total Sale: $19.00 Fees: $2.22 Net Sale After Cost and Fees: $9.78
Okay. So I found a bunch of these at the antique mall where I have a booth. I walked past them at first, then backstepped. They are so vintage 60s! So retro! So cool! I’m just going to picture a couple of examples. Most sold to one buyer and one sold to another buyer.
Five Vintage Lucite Switchplates Cost: $7.71 Total Sale: $95.00 Free shipping was offered in the sale of four together, but I’m not going to try to figure that out. Fees: $8.87 (I think. It was pretty convoluted.) Net After Cost and Fees: $78.42
Just a photo of some Red Cross ladies
Vintage Photo of Red Cross Ladies Cost: ?? We’ll say 25¢ but it was probaby a penny Total Sale: $7.00 Fees: .82 Net After Cost and fees: $5.93
I started going through all the hankies that were in my death pile. Took most to the booth where I sold them for $3.50 each. This one was rather special and I knew no one would pay more than $3.50 at the booth, so I put it on Etsy.
Vintage Alabama State Hanky Cost: Probaly .25 years and years ago Total Sale: $24.00 Fees: $2.59 Net After Cost and Fees: $21.16
You may have noticed that I haven’t been sharing any “what sold” posts in awhile. I flip-flop on whether to do these or not. I know it’s helpful, or can be, for other sellers, and we’re definitely on this earth to help, but is it tacky to share what sold and for how much? If a buyer saw their item here, would they be offended? I don’t know the answer to those two questions. Probably yes and no to both, but in the end, helping is going to win out, I believe. At least this month.
I’ve been concentrating on Etsy for a couple of months now. Much more than the booth and the blog shop. At the moment, I’m barely tolerating the booth.
I’ve got this huge stockpile of stuff wonderful, collectible items, that have been languishing in my death pile. Or profit pile to put a positive spin on it. Yard and estate sales are sparse right now, even though our weather is rarely below freezing. And that would be at night. Anyway, I decided to really start working on my stockpile. I did go to an estate sale and have been thrifting just a bit. So, some of these things I’ve had packed away for years, and others were bought a week prior to its selling.
February started with a sale of an opened, vintage flour sack. From my stash. I had a bunch! Listed and sold most of them several years ago. Found some more in a box and started putting them up on Etsy. Listed this in January and sold the first week in February.
Flour sack Cost: ?? Not much Sold: $12.00
These tall, brass, waterfowl statues were in the booth for months for less than $20.00. (Did I mention I’m barely tolerating the booth right now?) I finally brought them home and put them on Etsy where they didn’t last long and sold for over twice the amount they could have been purchased for in the booth!
I sound like a broken record, but gosh darn it! I just wasn’t into the resell game last month. I only visited the booth twice! Or maybe it was once? I did renew some Etsy listings and added a couple of new things. But my preference for life was, as it has been for several months, to hole up in the sewing room. Why in the world can’t I discipline myself to divide my time?! But all that’s neither here no there. The point of these posts is to share the things that did sell. Because that’s what we all want to know, isn’t it? What’s selling for everybody else? So, here it is:
These nightstands were given to us. Ricky put a quick coat of paint on them and we took them to the booth.
One White Nightstand $27.00 (The other sold a couple of months earlier.)
This pottery flower frog is a planter, too. And it’s just the green thing, not the candlestick it’s sitting on.
Green Flower Frog Planter $8.00
Yellow and White Drinking Glass $6.00
Okay. So. I sold this old fireplace surround for $25.00. Before you berate me for selling it too cheap, mine was one of several in the mall. The others were at least $50.00. All of them, including mine, had been there a looooonnnnngggg time. The others are still there. I had actually decided to bring mine home and find a use for it but never got around to it.
Hint: Want something to sell? Decide to keep it but don’t take it home immediately.
Fireplace Surround $25.00
I bought two of these copper-colored, iron plaques and kept one. I loved it! Haven’t put it up yet, but there’re a lot of things waiting to find their place here. I was so surprised that this one took quite a long time to sell. Guess I don’t have to worry about selling – or not selling – my taste.
Goddess Plaque $25.00
I bought this bird cage looking thing at the Country Living Fair in Atlanta several years ago. It is not old and there is no bottom. It’s like a bird cage cloche. I decided to let it go. Probably lost money on it. I have no idea.
Also, sold in this picture is the silverplate tray it’s sitting on.
I watched so many people stop and look at this old cart. They’d look at the tag ($59.00) and walk on. My husband had to make the wood insert. I wondered if we had painted the wood in different color layers and distressed it, if it would have sold quicker? However…. I’m not the painter in the family and decided not to mention it. After nearly a year, it found its new home.
Flower Cart $59.00
Fabric $10.00
Not pictured:
Headboard Lamp $17.00
Refrigerator Dish and Lid $12.00
White Planter $8.00 (I don’t know which white planter. I’ll have to figure that out later.)
6 Cans of Paint total $97.00
4 Pieces of Jewelry total $25.00
4 Postcards total $4.50
3 Books (Old antique price and ID guides) total $10.00
2 Old Photos total $3.00
And the biggest goof I made this month — A set of 4 chairs $45.00. These chairs were newer, made in Malasia. I paid $10.00 for the set, took them straight to the booth, slapped $45.00 on them because, well, when I’m chair shopping that’s the price I hope to see. Didn’t even bother to get a picture. And I was hoping they would help sell a table we have no seating for at the moment. A couple of hours later, they sold. Sigh. Yay? Sad face? Head slap?
Etsy Sales:
Note that I usually charge shipping, only occasionally offering free shipping.
First Etsy sale of the year? The last of the 6″ Tupperware doilies. Ya know? I didn’t make a killing off these things, but considering the cost, which, if I’m not mistaken, was free, it was a very good profit. It was just slow and a little at the time.
Tupperware Doily $3.50
I had a lot of vintage flour sacks listed over the last few years. All had sold but this one and I let it sit in the expired listings for quite a while before renewing it again in January. It sold a few days later.
Windmill and Dutch People Flour Sack $8.00
Meat Slicing Tool $14.00
I did give free shipping on this vintage Vogue pattern. Shipping was $2.76, so take that off the $15.00 selling price.
Vogue 8878 Pattern $15.00
Pair of 6″ and 4″ tall brass deer $27.00
Web Site Sale
I’m always sooo appreciative of sales from the blog shop!
Vintage Mock Turtle Neck Sweater, still with its tags $25.00
So that’s it for my January sales. Hope you did better! I’m having to pay five dollars and 6 cents rent at the booth. Allllmost made it! If I’d charged just $10 more for those stinkin’ chairs, I’d have got a $5.00 check! Pooh!
Hi! I'm Wanda, the owner of Just Vintage and this is my blog where I talk about buying, selling, and decorating with all things vintage. I want to help you learn what to buy for resale and maybe give you inspiration in decorating, even if it's what NOT to do.
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