My booth sales and Etsy sales for April 2017
Egads! What the heck happened to April?! There are always ups and down in the vintage and antique selling business. Any business, actually. But April 2017 – for us – was HORRIBLE! Alarmingly so. Like, I’m still reeling and shaking my head and wondering what happened?
Business was off in general for the mall, or at least when I went to work in the booth, there would only be a few cars in the parking lot when normally it’s pretty full. This mall, Angel’s Antique Mall in Opelika, Alabama, has the best traffic of any mall I’ve ever been in or know of. If business was down for them, surely it was for other malls as well. I do know that in the antique and vintage vendor Facebook group I’m a member of there were many people saying their April sales were down as well.
Some people blame politics. Maybe. But we have to remember that half the country is as happy as the other half is unhappy. Pretty much the same as it always is. Also, different areas will have different sentiments on that. So…. That one might not hold a lot of water. April being tax month has always been blamed as well as spring break, people working in their yards and spending their money there, people shopping for summer clothes, etc. Whatever the reason, our sales were wayyyyy down.
And Etsy? Ack! Even worse. Much, much worse!!
Booth total sales: $631.50
Etsy sales: $82.98
Ugh. Makes me want to throw up seeing those numbers. But I’ll get off the complaining horse and show the important stuff. Just what did sell?
The windmill print for $8.00. The seal sold in March.
Folding ruler for $10.00. It folds at several angles. The frame sold for $8.00. That doesn’t seem right to me. Seems like it should have been more, but I probably got my tags or my thinking mixed up or maybe its condition made me say $8.00. Or, it’s entirely possible there was a small, oval frame in there I forgot about. But I do remember being on an $8 pricing jag that day.
This blue, floral, still life painting for $25.00. I’d have kept that one if I used those colors.
There were five of these small, wire, fence pieces scattered throughout the booth priced at $5 each. Four sold. Don’t know if the buyer only had $20 to spend, if they only needed four or if they missed the other one.
Blue, pottery, elephant planter for $8.00. Remember the $8 pricing jag I was on? Ha.
That’s all the pictures I have. Also sold:
- Vintage baby hot plate – $14.00
- 6″, yellow, heavily crazed and cracked bowl – $8.00
- 3 piece, silver plate butter dish – $10.00
- The remainder of the vintage summer clothes – $70.00 – Yay! But now I have no vintage clothes in the booth.
- A vintage dresser Ricky painted green – $125.00
- A green vintage dresser of Erin’s that she did nothing to except clean – $120.00
- 9 cans of General Finishes milk and chalk style paint
And here’s what sold on Etsy:
Vintage, rattan cup holders that were still in their original, plastic bag sleeves. Falling out of them, but original. Sold for $29.00.
Lot of antique, dress trim. $17.00. One of those things I had for years before finally listing it. Like a whole lotta other stuff I’m sitting on. 🙁
Vintage How To Square Dance book. $3.99.
Vintage, Sears, shower curtain box. Love the flower child look! $5.00
Two vintage flour sacks – $23.00
Vintage pattern – $5.99
Also sold one, $18 item from the web site store here on the blog. I’m always excited to get a sale here. I think people tend to trust the bigger sites more than a stand alone web site, which is why I’m not doing away with Etsy any time soon. Besides, I do love Etsy.
I’m also sharing a booth with a friend in a brand new mall near here, Childersburg Pickers. Grand opening is May 13. I didn’t get any pictures for our first month and I only sold $47 worth, but will try to start to include it in the monthly reports.
On a side, but scary, note, Ricky had a heart attack this past Sunday night! Monday morning he got three stents and they went back in Tuesday to put a stent in another artery. He came home yesterday, Wednesday. He’s tired and sore, but alive and will continue to get stronger every day. If he hadn’t gone to the emergency room when he did, he most likely would have died. They gave him a clot buster which probably saved his life. When I think of how close to losing him we came, I just want to cry. But praise God we get to keep him awhile longer!
Wanda, so happy to hear Ricky is doing better. What a scare! So glad you were home to get him the help he needed!
As for your sales, April was pitiful for me too. It’s always been a slow month though. May is also turning out to be slow, even with a sale I’m conducting.
It will be interesting to see how the new booth comes along. I forgot you were doing that one. Things will pick up. They always do. Thrilled to hear you sold something in your blog shop! One of these days, ill set mine up, but I’m with you. I’ll never leave Etsy.
May isn’t burning up the woods for me either, so far. I feel like when the team in a movie is in a losing streak and the music is sad and everything is in slow motion. Hope we get a home run that turns everything around!
What a scary time for your family. I’m happy to hear everything is working out okay for you and Ricky.
It’s fun to see the items you have in your shop. I hope sales just keep getting better and better for you!
Thanks for these reports
You’re welcome, Ruth! I wonder sometimes if I should do the bad months, but there’s almost always something we can learn.