Here is my Etsy sales report for the month of September 2017. Sales weren’t great, but there are a couple of things I sold that you should be on the lookout for, or BOLOs for short, that you might not have been aware of. Nothing that’s going to sell for a fortune, but things you can almost always pick up for a quarter – or less – that will consistently sell for around $10.00 – or more. I’ll take those any day of the week! Especially since they’re so common and you can use the same listing over and over.
As I mentioned, Etsy sales for me were scary pitiful. Usually, when my sales are bad I take the blame. There’s always something I could have done better, but this month? I refuse to take all the blame with Etsy! They were making some changes and doing some tests and it seems like every time they do that my shop suffers. I sold two things in the first three days of September and nothing else for almost 3 weeks!! Then, at the last, it began to get back to normal. A slow, low dollar normal, but sales nonetheless. I did nothing different. Maybe it’s a coincidence, maybe not. Maybe people were glued to their TVs with the hurricanes and of course so many were affected by them. But I heard some people had a stellar month on Etsy, so I don’t think that’s it. I just think some people’s shops (because I was not alone with bad sales) are affected – for some unfathomable reason – by changes when Etsy makes them.
So. Here’s the sad look at my September sales.
Alabama Governor’s Staff tag. I have no idea what those were for or what that meant. I’m pretty sure the people who had these tags were not on the paid governor’s staff. Maybe it was something people got for donations??? Beats me. But I do know they are collectible. This is the first sale I know of that came about because of someone seeing it on Facebook. My Etsy shop is connected to my FB page. I don’t know exactly how this person found it, but they lived out of state and called Angel’s (The mall where we have a booth.) to see if the tag was in my booth. Angel’s called me and I sent them to my Etsy shop. Less than half an hour later I had a sale.
Governor’s Staff Tag
$35.00
The very next day, this C. Alan Johnson figure, Joey, sold. Whoo, boy! Nice sales on the 2nd and 3rd day of the month. “September is gonna be gooood!”, she thought. Ha.
No one bought this little guy at one of our estate sales. Our shoppers really surprise me sometimes. So he came home with me and found a good, loving home via Etsy.
Joey by C. Alan Johnson
$47.00
Now. Do you hear that record scratch? Where sales came to a screeching halt? I was sweatin’ bullets! Wondering if I should just give up entirely? Maybe it was time to retire? Fast forward to September 22. Whew! Maybe my shop didn’t have cooties after all!
Vintage child’s red plaid hat
$10.00
As I mentioned last month, I believe, I had let these candy heart boxes sit in inactive listings because it wasn’t near Valentine’s Day. Since reactivating them, I’ve sold two. This one is going to be in some kind of photo shoot in NYC.
Vintage Candy Heart Box
$10.00
BOLO #1
Did you know that these Ekco scissor tongs are good sellers? I know, right?! There are plenty on Etsy, but if you keep your price reasonable, they’ll sell. They might even sell eventually if they’re the most expensive kid on the block. Look for ones that are tight, that clamp together on the ends and with little or no rust or discoloration. I had two pairs. One good, the other not so much. I’m not sure this is the right picture. I did not list the not as good ones.
1970’s Ekco Scissor Tongs
$10.00
BOLO #2
When we had my dad’s estate sale, I decided to sell the large, Corning Ware, stove-top coffeepot. It was, I believe, a recalled model that we aren’t allowed to sell on Etsy or eBay (see more about that below), but there are plenty of collectors for them. So. Someone bought the coffeepot, but left the little plastic trivet it sat on. They probably just didn’t see it. Well, alrighty then! It sold within a week of putting it on Etsy. (Etsy did deactivate it for a few hours to make sure, because of a coffee pot recall, it complied with their policies. You can read all about the recalled coffee pots here at Corning Ware 411 . So, because the words, “Corning Ware” and ” coffee pot” were in the title and listing, they had to be sure it wasn’t one of the recalled coffee pots. Or at least I think that’s why they deactivated to check for compliance.)
Corning Ware Coffee Pot Trivet
$10.00
We might even say this next sale is BOLO #3
I had these metal cookie cutters up in my cabinet for years and years. Picked them up at yard sales here and there. I’m not the cookie baking grandmother I always thought I’d be, so these were a declutter casualty. Took less than a week to sell.
Vintage Metal Cookie Cutters
$14.00
And there you have it. Not very inspiring, huh? I’m just glad to have the BOLOs for you – if you didn’t already know about them – to keep you from thinking reading this was a total waste of time. I thought about combining my equally pitiful booth sales with my Etsy sales this month but decided to keep them separate. Now, the slow booth sales? Totally on us. But that’s another post.
How were your sales? Did you ride above the Etsy storm? Or were you drowning in the choppy waters with me?
Here’s to a fantastic rest of the year for us all!
↓↓↓ Why not pin it to reference later? ↓↓↓
Your “Bolo” obviously doesn’t mean what I thought it meant. I thought it meant a leather thong-like thing that men wear around their necks if they’re wearing western attire. So what does YOUR “bolo” mean?
Congrats on the sales you had. Love those cookie cutters! I know what you mean about the Corning Ware issue. I had a coffee pot a while back b/c of that. Had to end up giving it away at a flea market. I didn’t know about the tongs & have never heard of “Alan Johnson.” Congrats on those!
I’m not going to get my post done for another couple of weeks.
Congrats on the candy box too.
Oh, Florence. A BOLO is “be on the lookout” for. That’s always my first thought, too. Are we showing our age? Thanks for saying that though. I went in and clarified it a bit more. I had never heard of Alan Johnson either. It was at that sale of ours you came to where you bought the rabbit dish.
Showing my age? Ha! I’m sure I show that every day…LOL. I just know a few of those modern abbreviations.
From now on I WILL “Bolo” Alan Johnson, and the tongs. Does the Corning Ware trivet say “Corning Ware” on the bottom? Otherwise, I might not realize the significance if I ever ran across one at an estate sale, but I’ll keep an eye out. Appreciate the tips!
The trivet does say Corning Ware. It’s hard to see with our eyes, though. I’m sure you’ll forgive me for including you in the eye thing. 😉 But really, I think you’ll recognize it when you see one. It will be stored away in your memory. Nothing else looks like it that I know of.
Is the trivet still for sale