My monthly online sales report from Etsy and eBay.
December slowed down for me. I believe there are two reasons for that. First, my fault, I didn’t work at it much. Just a little maintenance here and there and only a few new things added for sale. Second, I have this theory that most people are shopping new retail for gifts. Of course, I hear of people selling vintage and burning up the woods with sales in December – like my friend Florence at Vintage Southern Picks (Click to see her December sales report) – so….. {She shrugs} Whatever, it’s typically a slower month for me. But in the end, between Etsy, eBay and the booth, in particular, December wasn’t so bad. I can’t complain.
So here are my Etsy and eBay sales for the month of December.
As always, Etsy sales first. Etsy is my darling of sales venues. I prefer it over everything else I’ve tried – except for my own site, of course, but that’s a whole ‘nuther story.
Etsy brought in $308.00.
Cost of items: $19.45
Fees incurred to sell (Etsy transaction fees): $10.82
So I got roughly 90% ROI. Right? Am I thinking correctly there?
With Etsy, there are no PayPal fees to tack on. They are included in the transaction fees. Also, we only pay fees on the selling price of an item, not the selling plus shipping like eBay. And… I have a bunch of free listings from an affiliate link specifically for free listings, so the 30¢ insertion fee doesn’t apply to me.
~~As always, most, if not all, of the links will be an affiliate link to the item or my listings on Etsy or eBay. That simply means that if you click on the picture to see the listing and happen to buy anything from anybody in the next little while, I’ll get a very small percentage of that sale. And I thank you for it if you do! I’ll never know who did or didn’t.~~
Here we go:
First up is this 1940’s ad from a French advertising magazine. I bought this magazine several years ago for…… I dunno…. a dollar? 50¢? Maybe more than a dollar? It was full of color, as well as black and white ads. I’ve sold a bunch in the booth, several on Etsy and still have ten or so left waiting for me to get some sleeves so I can put them in the booth. I’ve made quite a few dollars on that investment.
1940’s French Perfume Ad
$7.00
I’ve had this vintage, beaded fruit for years. I think I displayed it for a while, then started bringing it out only at Christmas, then this year decided to pass it along. It sold quickly in spite of the overexposed main picture.
Vintage Beaded Fruit
$30.00
Someone wanted two of the heart boxes I had listed, so I combined them into one listing for her and gave her a discount as well.
2 Vintage Heart Shape Candy Boxes
$25.00
It always amazes me that a magazine can survive over 100 years.
May 1891 Delineator Magazine
$20.00
This little guy was so sweet. Made of chalkware, he did have some chips. I considered painting him white, but I’m lazy.
Chalkware Cherub Plaque
$9.00
Did you know Tupperware made doilies? These were left over at one of our estate sales. I came home with several, unopened packs of 6″ doilies and a few loose 6″ and 12″ doilies. Two of the loose, 6″ doilies sold in December. There are still some available on Etsy and here in the blog shop.
2 Loose Plastic Tupperware Doilies
$4.00
I paid $3.50 for this set of cookie cutters. That was a big spend for me. It was in the area we’ll be moving to, giving more fuel to my worry that things will cost me more there. In the end, $3.50 was okay but had they been at a local sale, the little town I live in at the present, I’m pretty sure they could have been had for a dollar or less. On the other hand, that same sale had the Timex flip clock for $1.50 that sold for $20.00. So maybe my fears are unfounded?
11 Vintage Aluminum Cookie Cutters
$15.00
I’ve learned that these incense burners are called censers. Really. I didn’t know that! The largest of these was about 4″ tall. Notice too, I’m not into cleaning and polishing brass. Most of the ones you see for sale are all polished and shiny. It only took about a month for these to sell, so maybe polishing that brass isn’t necessary.
3 Censers – Incense Burners
$27.00
1940’s cook booklets. Six Culinary Arts and one Good Housekeeping.
1940’s Culinary Arts Cook Booklets
$12.00
Okay. Finally something with an interesting story. Erin (my daughter) and I are both building a house and she is on the hunt for an antique mantle. So we spent one Saturday hitting shops and malls. Have you ever heard someone say that there’s always something underpriced in an antique mall and how we, as resellers, can make it our mission to find it to resell? Well, I don’t have the patience for that. Besides, I like spending quarters, not dollars. AND when I spot something I “know”, they’ve priced it higher than I think I could sell it for, so I don’t go on that hunt often.
I was uninspired walking through one of the malls. It was the same ol’, same ol’. I did see a blown glass decanter with a flame shape stopper, something I’ve learned can be a really good seller. Plus, it looked like a Blenko, but I couldln’t find a signature. But 1.) it was $15.00 and 2.) it had visible water damage down in the bottom and on the sides. I debated long and hard and finally decided to pass. It still haunts me and I wonder if I should go back to get it if it’s still there?
So Erin found a little Hull vase and I thought I was buying nothing there. As she was paying, I noticed this “bowl” on the counter holding their ink pens. I immediately recognized the pattern as McCoy Scandia. I had sold a floor vase in the same pattern some time ago.
When I asked if it was for sale, they looked kinda funny and said, sure. It could be for sale. How much did I want to pay? Well…. “not much!” I was thinking maybe $6.00 when they said, “How about $5.00?” Sold! At the time, I worried it was a bowl without its lid. But it wasn’t! It was a planter just as it should be.
I considered putting it on both Etsy and eBay as an experiment to see which would sell first. But lower fees won out and I only put it on Etsy. I listed it on a Thursday and it sold the following Sunday. Of course, now I wonder if I underpriced it? A red one had sold on eBay for well over $100. But that was RED. This one isn’t.
The lovely buyer let me know she has planted it with succulents. I bet it’s pretty!
9″ Wide McCoy Scandia Planter or Vase
$75.00
Another set of four of the Thermo-Serv, mushroom mugs sold. Read their story in November’s sales report
Set of 4 Thermo-Serv Mushroom Mugs
$24.00
A friend had these adorable, children’s moccasins in her booth for $3.00. I thought I had found that underpriced item in the mall as mentioned above. So I bought them. I was wrong. Ended up only making a tiny profit. But the buyer messaged me when she got them and said she and her sister had some just like them when they were kids and she was going to display them alongside an antique Navajo doll. That made it all worthwhile! I love hearing – and seeing! – what people do with their purchases.
Vintage Children’s Moccasins
$8.00
This next item is something from my early days of going to yard sales. I used it in my decor for a long, long time. It never really fell out of favor, I still like it, but I just wasn’t decorating like that anymore, so decided to sell it. It also turned out to be one of those impossible to photograph items. (My new lighting that I’ll have to post about some time eliminates those shadows.)
Brass Peacock Coin Dish
$22.00
This next item was passed up at one of our estate sales, too. We priced it at fifty cents. No one, including us, knew what it was. He’s little, only 3″ tall, but gut instinct told me to get it and not send it to the thrift store. Turned out it was an Inuit, carved stone seal signed by R. Powers.
R. Powers Carved Stone Seal
$25.00
Another pattern:
Vintage Vogue Pattern 3016
$5.00
And now for the eBay sales:
Total sales: $181.46
Cost of items: $16.24
eBay selling fees: $19.67
PayPal fees: $7.78
If I’m figuring correctly, and that’s a big IF, because I’m terrible at math, I got about a 75% ROI with my eBay items.
Here they are:
Spreading my wings a bit, I found these Finn Comfort shoes at a thrift store for $9.99. They looked brand, spankin’ new — until I got them home and saw the little gouge in the back of the heel. But I checked eBay solds before I left the store and they looked like an easy $80 in used condition.
I first priced them at $79 with best offer. They got lots of looks and watchers, but nothing was happening, so I experimented with the category, the title, then lowered the price, then raised the price up a bit with best offer, then finally lowering it to $49 fixed price. It seemed like they were taking a long time to sell, but really it was only a couple of months. I should have let them ride, but it’s done, I’m relieved and may or may not try non-vintage shoes again.
Finn Comfort Shoes
$49.00
So I read on a reseller’s Facebook group that these Jelly Belly advent calendars carried by Tuesday Morning for $6 were selling on eBay for $40! A couple of days later I was in the vicinity of a Tuesday Morning and bought two. My granddaughter claimed one of them. I listed the other, then thought, “Advent has already started. Who is going to pay full price for something they can’t use for the whole length of time?” Stoopid thought. So I lowered it to $20.00 with free shipping. Stoopid move. I had forgotten I had free shipping in the listing. By the time I paid for across the country shipping, eBay and PayPal fees, I lost a couple of bucks.
At the same time, I heard that a product called Prongles was selling for $20 and could be bought at Target for .19 each. I bought three. Sigh. At least I only have .65 (.57+tax) invested in those. I don’t really care to put mine up with the 300+ others on eBay. Maybe buying new things to try to make a profit is not for me.
Jelly Belly Advent Calendar
$20.00
There’s a story about this next item. At an auction about 15 years ago I bought a box or two full of genealogy and local history books. There were several of these little History of Pike County, Alabama books. I believe I kept one because I have Pike County ancestors, I sold one on eBay for, $20? maybe? And donated one to our library specifically saying to please put it in the genealogy room. They have a great genealogy collection and didn’t have this particular book. It would have made a nice addition. Instead, they put it in their books for sale room! A friend, whose eBay listings I followed, found it, bought it for, I dunno, a quarter or fifty cents, and sold it for $15.00. And good for her. She absolutely should have. It just annoyed me that the library disregarded my request, especially considering how much volunteer work I had done in that genealogy room. Oh well. I had several of these books left. They’ve been packed away all this time and I brought them out to put on eBay. Three sold in December. There’s currently one left.
Pioneer and Modern History Of Pike County Alabama
3 @ $14.99 – Total $44.97
When we had my dad’s estate sale, we covered up the few pieces of furniture in there because either I or one of the kids were taking it or it was going in the booth. I thought I had cleaned out all the drawers, but started to move one piece, I realized the drawers were full. At first, it looked like a bunch of yard sale stuff or trash, like old, stinky, potpourri, but I decided to check eBay for the gadgets to be sure. Glad I did. This little gadget is kinda like a handheld microscope with a light. Who’d-a thunk-it?
Panasonic Light Scope
Listed for $25. Took best offer of $22.50
I feel bad about these. They’re Erin’s American Girl catalogs from the 1990’s. Who knew she wanted to keep them? I shouldn’t have mentioned that I sold them. I’ve tried to get her to get all her old toys and things…..
1990’s American Girl Catalogs
$44.99
And that’s it for my December eBay sales.
You can see, follow, keep up with, lurk, or even buy(!) things from my Etsy and eBay here:
eBay — ivorytklr (The name is from back in my piano teaching days)
I probably won’t get into the full swing of listing for a few weeks yet. There’s still soooo much to do to get this house ready for showing and we’ve made ourselves a deadline of 2 weeks!
Tell me in the comments how your December sale were! Did your sales slow down or pick up?
Hope we all have a wonderfully healthy, prosperous and happy 2018!
Thank you for pinning!
Definitely respectable sales! It took a sharp eye to see that vase at The Brass Bear. You did great on that one.
Have you ever stopped at “Vapor Thrift Store” on 280? It’s a good place, but you might not go that way when you come to B’ham. It’s out of the way for me, but I go there sometimes. Check it out when you have time.
I love your finds Wanda! You always have things no one else has. I wouldn’t have known a thing about the seal or R. Powers for that matter.
The incident with the book at the library…that would have annoyed me too.
Didn’t know incense burners were called “censers.” I will put that in my keyword memory bank.
Great find on the shoes! Sounds like you had a great ROI even with all your pricing hassles. I found a pair of Steve Madden shoes in someone’s trash can when I was looking for boxes on recycle day. They’re only missing the laces. When I can get around to getting more laces, those should do well for me.
Great month Wanda!
We pass right by Vapor every time we go to the B’ham area. Sometimes I even have time to stop! I found a great mid-century, hanging light there once for $7.00 that I could sell for around $75-80 if I wanted but even though I’m not using it, I just can’t part with it. I love that lamp!
Get you some shoelaces and get those shoes listed! Said The Procrastinator. LOL
I love reading your posts about booth sales and etsy and ebay sales. You put it out there in an honest straightforward manner. Very informative and inspiring.
Keep it coming!
Awww… Thanks Gloriann! If something doesn’t change, next month’s reports will be awfully short. LOL