Booth Sales for December
Hi everyone! After I posted a couple of weeks ago about What Sold, What Didn’t in 2016, several readers mentioned how much they liked the post and would I write some more like it in the future. In it, I focused on my DIY and craft projects from the previous year.
Today, I thought I’d give you all an idea of what sold from my antique booth at the Grist Mill Antique Center. My goal each month is to 4x my rent. I pay $130 a month rent with no commission charge, so when I make $400 or more in a month I’m happy.
In addition, I like to keep the cost of goods sold at about 10%. I grossed $425 for the month of December and my cost of goods sold was $42.00. Woo woo, I’m rich(!). Let’s take a look at some of the items that sold last month, shall we?
Two antique wheat-patterned ironstone bowls, manufactured by Turner, Goddard & Co., a Staffordshire company (1867-74), purchased for $1.00 each, sold for $15.00 each.
I don’t sell a lot of ironstone, because I tend to keep it for myself–LOL. But I’ve limited myself to one corner cupboard, so when I find a piece that I like better than one I already own, I’ll trade it out and sell the “reject.”
I recently spruced up my Ironstone Price Guide
& added more pieces to the list.
A vintage Dietz lantern with newer paint, purchased for $1.50, sold at a discount for $18.00 to a reader I ran into at the shop one day. I used it for several years, with a bow attached, as an outside Christmas decoration.
A painted crate/shelf purchased for $2.00, sold for $18.00.
Unfortunately, I don’t take photos of every single item I buy and sell, but I happened to take some photos of my booth not too long ago, and was able to zoom in on a few pieces that sold in December.
I sold $30.00 worth of Christmas ornaments (cost: $3.50), an oak mirror for $30.00 (cost: $3.00), a folding ruler for $8.00 (cost: 50¢), and a cast iron heron planter for $35.00 (cost: 50¢).
Here’s a better shot of some of the ornaments that sold.
For help valuing your collectibles
check out my Christmas Price Guide .
A box of ornaments, almost identical to this one, sold for $15.00 (cost: $1.00).
A 3′ die cut Santa with moving parts also sold for $10.00.
A small German creamer that cost just 50¢ sold for $5.00.
A coffee table book, History of Art, also sold, for $10.00
This upcycled, chalk-painted [by me] dresser cost me just $5.00, and it finally sold for $72.00. [Not a bad profit.] I priced it originally for $99.99, but when it failed to sell after 6 months, I marked it down.
It still took a couple of months to sell at the $72.00 price, though. I get antsy when things are in my booth for longer than 6 or 7 months. I get out my red pen and slash prices like crazy. Anyone else like me?
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Nice of you to share, Diana. Lol, we have some items in our booths that have been there for 4 yrs! When they do sell, it’s not only a surprise, but a wonder as to why it was only just now ‘discovered’. We have so many influencing factors – price, placement, customer traffic patterns, etc. – we just roll with it.
Ha ha! We all run our businesses differently–I’m sure that’s part of what keeps thing interesting. I’m a powerful “keep the merch moving” kind of seller.
I really enjoy seeing what you pay for things and then what they sell for – its a great resource for me.
I’m so glad it’s helpful for you, Kim; I’ll try to do it more in the future 🙂
I’m like you, Diana, and like to move things right out of my booth on a regular basis. I get a bit unsettled when my booth doesn’t have a certain “look”! That being said I do try and move things around frequently and lo and behold, they seen to sell! Thank you so much for your candid post and revealing the prices and profits. This is extremely helpful to the “booth community”! Keep up the excellent work – I love your blog and your passions!
You are such a sweetheart, Dawn! I’m so glad you sent a note–it’s so good to make friends with other dealers 🙂 I’m also glad that you found the post helpful–will try to do more in the future. Oh, and I agree, moving your merch around the booth feels like magic sometimes 🙂
A helpful and interesting post Diana! $130/mo is a great rent & no commission? Yikes! Fantastic! I’m still thinking over going back to a booth, but love posts like this. Thanks for sharing all the details!
Hi Florence! I should have mentioned that my booth is on the small side–7′ x 8′, so that makes a difference with how much I can fit it. So glad you liked the post 🙂
Thank you for posting this….it is very helpful for me as well. I am amazed at the great stuff you find for so little money. I rarely find deals that good.
You’re very welcome 🙂 I do feel blessed to find some pretty great deals–
I used to post about my booth sales years ago… but I sell 200+ items a month between the 2 booths, so it’s hard to keep up. I also stopped keeping track of my COGS… instead I only know how much I spend in total each month on goods to restock. It’s all I need for my taxes anyway (do you think anyone would find a detailed post about antique booth taxes fascinating?) I do love to see the different things that sell from state to state and mall to mall. I find the trends quite fascinating.
That would be a lot to post about–LOL!! I didn’t post about everything–just some, so it wasn’t too hard. I have always kept track of COGS and it works for me and my smaller business 🙂 I agree, the various trends are very interesting–
I find this very interesting since my booth is in Florida. My rent is more and we do better in the winter than the summer. But with so many new subdivisions being built near the booth I hope sales will really increase. You have such cool items.
We tend to do better in the summer months around here, but the owner of my shop just mentioned that June was our worst month in 2016–go figure. Here’s hoping for an increase in sales for you, Debra!!
Thanks for sharing. I know I made the right decision to move out of my current booth. Not sure if I will get another one or sell on Etsy. Still thinking it over.
Love that dresser, they sure got a steal! I’m motivated by you to finally open up my second Etsy shop for vintage wares (versus jewelry)…..ah, I just wish I had more time! Congrats on the sales! xoKathleen Charm Bracelet Diva {At Home}
I’ve been toying with the idea of opening a booth at a local antique mall not far from me. Just “toying” with the idea, not sure if I’m serious, yet. But your post this time is interesting to me, just for the information about what the profit might be on various items. Seems like it’s pretty good for you in your area. Don’t know how it would compare with this area in Michigan. I’m wondering how much time you spend a month in maintaining your booth–either shopping or items to sell or styling and cleaning the actual booth area.
A very interesting post, and fun to see the items you have sold and prices, etc. Thanks for sharing the info!
I think there’s a real ebb and flow to it. I pulled out of my first antique shop after ten years and didn’t go back into a shop until just two years ago. I liked having an Etsy shop, but I really enjoy selling via the blog because almost all of my customers are readers and I love making that connection. That said, I am considering reopening my Etsy shop (in addition to my booth and my blog shop!) because I did quite well the year I was open. Like you, I’m thinking it over…
I love this post Diana! It’s interesting to see what others are making in their booths, maybe I should start doing a booth profit post too… kind of like all the blogger income reports.
Tania