Booth sales this year have been up and down. Feast or famine. Pay rent one month, make a little the next. May was a “feast” or at least an “eat” month. “Feast” might be pushing it a little.
I need to say that this post won’t be a visually appealing one. I’m having to scrape up pictures and the ones I can find aren’t very good. I had pulled away from the internet this year and last and rarely took pictures of the booth or items in the booth. But I’m trying to get going again and figured I’d get this series started back with or without pictures.
First up, a corner shelf. This and another corner shelf, among a lot of other things, came from an estate we bought. I use the word “estate” loosely. It was two rooms of furniture and nick-nacks. And not packed in at that. But we did okay with the buy.
The other corner shelf sold a few months back. I seriously did not want to have to paint these things and lowered the price to $25.00. They were handy to use in the booth, but looking at the picture below, at least this one might have been the kiss of death. Nothing on this shelf has sold and all have been there for a while. I’m not sure anything ever sold off the shelves. It’s not undesirable stuff and not priced high at all!
Corner shelves
$25.00
These antique fashion prints didn’t last a week in the booth. I forgot to get a nice picture before taking them and forgot to get one the day I took them in. I just happened to be in the mall the next day and hastily took a picture of each one. It’s a good thing too! Two days later they were sold!
Antique, framed fashion prints
$24.00 each
Maybe I should stop turning my nose up at new Hobby Lobby type decor. This is a young town. This is what I find at the yard sales and perhaps it’s what the people are looking for. This little drawer/shelf thingy only lasted a few days. Warning: Horrible, horrible picture below! It doesn’t even show the correct color!
Newish drawer/shelf thing
$15.00
Plain, no pattern, butter press
Butter press
$7.00
This next item, a Sadler teapot, has been around a couple of years. I typically put it out in the fall just because it looks good with the fall things but this year, instead of packing it away when it didn’t sell, I left it in the booth. I had $35.00 on it. And it sat there, wanting so badly to go home with someone.
I was leaving the mall one day and saw a lady with it in her hand — and putting it in the return bin!! I grinned and said that it was mine and I thought it really wanted to go home with her. She said she was overspending and had found a German coffee set that reminded her of her daughter or something which put her spending too much. I told her she could have the teapot for $25 and when she hesitated, I blurted out $20.00. She knew a deal when she saw one and took me up on it.
I don’t regret it. It was a nice teapot, but it was time to move it. And she was a nice lady.
Sadler teapot
$20.00
I had a bunch of these Garrett Snuff notebooks. Two left at the time of the picture below. The buying of them must not have been memorable…. (Um….. maybe it was that fabulous sale out of town and these were just some extra little things…..??) and had sold all but this one. Now the last one has a home.
Garrett Snuff Notebook
$1.00
I bought this tin bottom chair years ago and used it until we moved into the new house last year. You can read the acquisition story –>HERE<–. It hung around the booth a year before someone saw the beauty in it as I did.
Tin Bottom Chair
$30.00
The two red and white surveyors’ poles. The tripod and the measuring sticks haven’t sold as of yet.
Red and white surveyors’ poles $35.00 each but buyer took a 10% discount
$63.00
That’s all I have pictures for. Here’s a list of other items sold. Note that the links are various sellers on Etsy with the same item in case you want to know what the item looked like. These are affiliate links.
- Glass cookie jar like –>this Etsy item<–
$12.00 - Different glass cookie jar like a Tom’s jar
$12.00 - Wire hat stand similar to –>this one<– but not as fancy. Mine was swirled curves rather than angles and had 3 places for hats. I didn’t research it first and now that I see this one I feel sick. You’ve gotta see the one I linked to.
$14.00 - Small, rectangle basket with a lid. That’s the best I can do with a description. Sorry
$5.00 - Bag of about 15 pen nibs similar to –>these<–. Mine were generic. Nothing special.
$4.00 - Ceramic frog sponge holder kinda like –>this one<–
$9.00 - Wall hanging, wire scroll, plant/flowerpot holder. Not very old, but awfully beat up.
$16.00 - Small stoneware jar a bit like –>this one<– (That is a lovely product picture!) only mine had straight sides. Nothing special but still sweet
$7.00 - Vintage printed tablecloth with a vibrant tulip border. I might regret selling that.
$29.00 - Tooled leather coin purse very much like –>this one<–
$9.00 - Small moonstone bowl just like –>this one<–
$5.00 - Simple, black metal, scrolly brackets $8 each
$16.00 - 3 diecast model cars that my husband bought, not old, $18.95 each
$56.85 - A big-a** roll top desk that we bought new from Ashley furniture 15-ish years ago. The best place we could use it in the new house was upstairs but it was too doggone heavy so we decided to sell it. Apparently, I never got a picture of it anywhere it ever lived.
$279.00
And then there are these things I have no clue what they were!!
- 1970s glass bowl
$24.00 — You’d think I’d remember that! - Glass bowl
$7.00 - Fostoria candlestick(s)(??)
8.00
Also sold were
One book for $3.00 and 10 cans of paint for 197.75.
So our total for the month was $922.60. Yippee! Now next month we’ll probably have to pay rent. LOL
Wanna know what I sold on Etsy? My Etsy shop that has been terribly, terribly neglected? I thought it was only going to be one thing, but at the last sold two more items
$20.00 with free shipping
Vintage Harlequin clicker. (I have another one of these for sale.)
$4.00
Brass music stand photo album.
$37.00
I’d love to hear how your May sales were. Is May typically a good month for you? Were you surprised or was it about what you expected?
Great sales for you Wanda! I agree, you shouldn’t turn up your nose at newer Hobby Lobby stuff. That does sell, so why not?
I just started following your blog and really appreciate how truthful and informative it is! Your comments about regretting selling something (tulip tablecloth) or not researching and finding out after the fact that something could have been sold for more (hat stand – although it hasn’t sold at that price so who knows) — are EXACTLY the same thoughts that have gone through my mind over the years as a seller. May has actually been a decent month for me this year – selling primarily on etsy — which makes me think it could have been really good if I had applied myself, which I didn’t. I look forward to reading your blog in the future!
Thanks, Margaret for the follow! I know what you mean “if I had applied myself.” How often I think that! Here’s another — I wonder, if I knuckled down and sold everything in my inventory, if I could buy that lake house or at least a boat? LOL Of course, getting it out there for sale is not the same as someone buying it. 😉 Now wouldn’t THAT be nice?!