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February Etsy and eBay Sales

Marble Duck Soap Dish

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.


Etsy Sales:

My Etsy shop is justvintage2 and you can see all the sold items (that sold on Etsy) with this link.


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.

Vintage Flour Sack Fabric

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!

Brass Waterfowl Statues

Brass Waterfowl, Egrets Statues
Cost: $3.00
Sold: $42.00


This velvet paint by number has been listed maybe a year? I knew the right buyer would come along, though. My picture isn’t very good. I was still trying to figure out the best place to take pictures in this house.

Velvet Paint By Number

Velvet Paint By Number
Cost: 25¢
Sold: $14.00


People are looking for these old sewing machine attachments. They’re not quick sellers nor do they bring much money, but people need them and we’re here to supply needs, right?

Singer Monogrammer

Monogrammer Sewing Machine Attachment
Cost: Free from my mother’s sewing stuff
Sold: $14.00


These window cling letters and numbers came from our neighbor’s estate years ago, but whether or not I bought them or got them off the massive discarded pile they put on the side of the road, I can’t remember. I kept them thinking I might use them. Really?? I’ll never use these! They still had their invoice with them. They were $33 in 1959! They were put on Etsy in January and sold in February.

Vintage Window Cling Letters

Vintage Window Cling Letters and Numbers
Cost: ??? – Maybe free??
Sold: $49.00


This gold gilt planter is very much in the style of Freeman & McFarlin of California, but it wasn’t marked. It probably had a sticker at some point in its life. I used it in my home for a long time, then took it to the booth a few years ago. Nobody bit and it was priced less than $20. Probably $12 or so. (Did I mention I’m only tolerating the booth right now? LOL) I know the picture tells nothing of the size. It was about 7″ tall and wide.

Vintage Gold Gilt Planter

Vintage Gold Gilt Planter
Cost: $1.00
Sold: $31.00


I could never find another of these online anywhere. I wasn’t even entirely sure what it was made of! It stayed on the table where I brought it in and set it down for a couple of months before I consulted my husband on what it was made of, decided it was marble and I labeled it as a soap dish or ring dish.

Marble Duck Soap Dish

Marble Duck Soap Dish
Cost: 25¢
Sold: $24.00


Another vintage pattern – McCall’s 6242

McCall's 6242

Vintage McCall’s pattern, 6242
Cost: Negligible
Sold: $12.00 which included free shipping


Okay. So this has a story. Before we moved to a larger town, we lived in our small home town where everybody knew everybody and their business. This lady was having a sale in her basement. When I spotted this travel bar, she made sure I, and anyone within earshot, knew that it was given to them as a gift and was never used because “We don’t drink!

I resisted listing it because of the size and weight and resisted putting it in the booth because there were so many parts and pieces and each one has to be labeled and there’s the risk of theft, blah, blah, blah. I finally put it on Etsy in spite of high shipping, which the buyer would pay, and it ended up going to someone in my postal zone for not so very much. Yay!

Travel Bar

Vintage Travel Bar
Cost: $10.00
Sold: $79.00


Another item that had been in the booth for months, years maybe. I think I had $12 or $14 on it there. (Did I mention I’m only tolerating the booth right now? I did? Twice, three times already? Ha!)

Vera Tea Towel

Vera Neumann Tea Towel
Cost: 25¢
Sold: $22.00


I’ve been collecting watches for years thinking I’d make jewelry out of them. Yeah. No. No, I’m not. I’ll never get around to it. Someone contacted me and said she wanted most of them, but didn’t need the pocket watches or a couple others and would I sell just the ones she needed and what could I do on the price? I was asking $34, I think, and decided to come down to $20 plus shipping. She offered $25 incluing shipping and I accepted. THEN adjusted my Etsy price to say $20 with free shipping. I’m such a goob sometimes! Totally wasn’t thinking. But it’s done and they’re gone and I won’t cry over spilt milk.

Watches Lot for Crafting
Cost: ???
Sold: $20 minus shipping


You all know to buy old recipes, especially hand written recipes, right? If you didn’t, you do now. These came from the only estate sale I’ve been to this year. I bought them on a Thursday evening pre-sale, listed them on Friday and sold them sometime the next week. Both sets to the same buyer who didn’t want the boxes they came in. Just the recipes.

Vintage Hand Written Recipes
Vintage Hand Written Recipes

Two file boxes full of clipped and hand written recipes
Cost $1.00 each
Sold: $19.00 and $21.00 (One box was better than the other.)


Sewing magazines, especially those predominantly for children’s clothes and handwork, sell well, but not necessarily fast. Sold here are two Martha Pullen Fancywork magazines (only pictured one).

Fancywork magazine

Two Fancywork magazines
Cost: ??? but very little
Sold: $9.00 each


I dug this out of the stash. (Not trash! Go back and read that again. Stash!) Did you know vintage mug trees sell? This one’s a little different from the ones we usually see with its fancy schmansy top. It was listed on Etsy about a month.

Vintage Mug Tree

Metal Mug Tree
Cost: ??? Under a dollar, I’m sure
Sold: $17.00


I can’t remember a thing about where or when I bought this. So no narrative here. Except to say I played up the natural corrosion. It stayed listed a few months.

Egyptian Copper Vase

Egyptian Copper Vase
Cost: 50¢
Sold: $19.00


I’ve always thought this was an egg lifter, but after research, found out it’s an egg separator! I had a hard time photographing it and really talked about its uses and how good it’d look in a primitive or country kitchen. It sold to a man who uses them to lift minnows for ice fishing. Baaaaahahahaha! But I’m happy he bought mine from me. There were plenty of others listed.

Egg Separator

Vintage Wire Egg Separator
Cost: ??? Probably a quarter
Sold: $8.00


Remember how I said sewing machine attachments sold? I was privileged to get to help someone determine if this would fit her machine. It did and she’s using it already!

Singer Buttonholer
Cost: $0.00 – Came from my mother’s home
Sold: $15.00


I found this vintage, Taylor, weather station at Goodwill. It needed a good cleaning. So I cleaned it up and listed it. It lasted less than a month.

Mid Century Weather Station

Mid Century Taylor Weather Station
Cost: $1.49
Sold: $20.00


This one is exciting! This is a “book that looks like nothing.” But back, oh, about 20 years ago, when I was into collecting buttons – not seriously collecting, but gathering and hoarding, I suppose – I was aware of this book, The Big Book Of Buttons. It was quite pricey then. I always hoped I’d run across one that I could afford. Welllll…. I was looking through the antique mall one day and the heavens opened, the angels sang. There it was! $7.50! I did a quick check on the phone to see if it had held its value and it had! I clutched it close until I was out the door, only releasing it briefly to the cashier. I considered keeping it, but after looking through it once, realized it really didn’t apply to me these days and put it on Etsy for $315.00. Research showed that it was selling on eBay for $250 to $300+ and one had sold on Etsy for a whopping $700! I chose $315. That’s all my conscience would let me do. It lasted a couple of weeks.

The Big Book Of Buttons

The Big Book Of Buttons
Cost: $7.50 plus tax
Sold: $315.00


Another book, Elementary French. It was in my stash somewhere.

Elementary French book
Cost: ?? Perhaps a dollar?
Sold: $14.00


Old photographs sold to the same buyer.

Picture of antique cadillac

Two pictures of ladies standing by the new Cadillac
Cost: pennies, if that much
Sold: $14.00

Photos from an old family photograph album
Cost: The album cost $7.00 but some other photos sold separately
Sold: $19.99


So, I really don’t know how to tell older peg, accordion racks from new. So I went on the assumption that this one was vintage.

Accordion peg rack
Cost: ??
Sold: 19.00


That concludes the Etsy section of the post. Now for……

eBay Sales


I’m also starting to put a few things on eBay, although I’d prefer not to. Long story there that I won’t go into. But I’m trying to get past my aversion. Ha!

Years ago, my uncle – or maybe his son, my cousin? – plundered an “abandoned” house. Well, I knew it might have basically been abandoned, but knew someone owned it and whatever was in it. So, yeah. They stole some things out of this house and gave me this camera and film! Said I could sell it on eBay. But I just couldn’t. That conscious of mine again. It was stolen property, after all! I guess I’m a Goody Two Shoes sometimes. That house has since been razed, my uncle has passed away and we’ve moved 75 miles from there. It was time to quit hanging on to the camera. I put it on eBay explaining that it had been in a closed-up house and I had no idea of the conditions, etc. etc. In separate listings, I put the film that had expired in 1966. Here’s the result. All were Buy It Nows.

Camera:

Vintage Camera

1960s Polaroid Land Camera
Cost: $0.00
Sold: $45.00

Two packs of Polaroid Film that expired in 1966

Polaroid Film

Two Packs of Polaroid 3000 Film, expired in 1966
Cost: $0.00
Sold: $34.00 each


Do you know about Jim Shore collectibles? I didn’t until recently. Learned it from a Facebook group, I’m pretty sure. I found this dog figure at the estate sale. I did look it up prior to buying because I’m out of my territory with things like this.

Jim Shore Charlei

Jim Shore 2006 Charlei Boston Terrier Figurine
Cost: $5.00
Sold: $19.00 — Not a great profit, but I’m fine with that for the learning experience.


So, that’s it for February. Were there any surprises? Or did it totally make you yawn? Let me know if you want me to keep sharing these. I need feedback! What do you want to see more of? Things I buy each week? Things I’ve learned like something I didn’t know was a good seller or how to identify something? The house – if I get off my behind and clean it up, that is? Yeah. I’ve neglected Instagram, too. I’ve been so lazy! Honestly, I don’t know if I’ll ever get back to my early blogging days schedule, but surely I can do better than what I’ve been doing.

5 thoughts on “February Etsy and eBay Sales

  1. Love your blog…and your detailed descriptions of cost, sale, the story behind it! I have an Etsy shop too – WindhamAtticTreasure. Very eclectic. Maybe someday I’ll find my niche đŸ™‚

    1. Hi Karen, good to meet you! And thank you so much for the kind words! I just liked your Etsy shop. If it makes you feel any better, after 22 years, I’m still hunting my niche. Sometimes our niche is just whatever we can find that we think someone else will like.

      Good luck with your shop! Just keep on adding to it and you’ll do fine.

  2. Oh, please do continue to post your results on etsy and ebay. I learn a lot from them, but I really enjoy ‘hearing’ you recount your experiences!
    I think we live in the same area. I live in Columbus, GA. If so, I would love to go thrifting with you if you’re ever in our area. That’s not creepy, is it? I hope not.
    My husband and I are just getting our feet wet in the online selling biz. Our goal is to make enough for him to retire.
    Thanks again for the post!

    1. Hi Shari! Thank you so much! And, yes! You probably saw where I’ve said – or figured out – that I live in Auburn, Alabama and have a booth at Angel’s in Opelika. I rarely get over to Columbus. I’m such a homebody, it actually takes a lot to get me out of the house, but I would love to meet up sometime! Do you ever go to the Goodwill outlet? I’ve been once and keep wanting to go back, but I heard a rumor that they’ve stopped selling out of the bins. Is that true?

      Selling online is a lot of hard work. Awww… reselling anywhere, online or off, is a lot of hard work. To stay encouraged, I try to keep tabs on successful resellers to see what they’re doing. There are definitely people out there making a living selling. I get really excited reading and hearing about what they’re doing but I run out of energy very quickly. Ha! You’re right to try to get it going now. Get established before retirement. But it can definitely be done! I’m getting interested in the booth again right now. Gots me some plans. But I tend to neglect one to do the other. Got to stop doing that!

      1. Hello!
        I was at the bins just the other day. It was a Saturday, I got lots of stuff. Mostly books.
        I have been wanting to visit Angel’s. I go to Opelika to shop at Kroger, occasionally. We don’t have one here.
        There are some nice estate sales here. I do enjoy going, especially on the final day!
        I’m getting a booth, hopefully this week. It is a smallish establishment. New experience for me. I do enjoy learning.
        I’m blessed to have a husband who supports my interests. That is a huge gift!

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