What’s Selling in Vintage & Antiques May 2018
Hi there! I hope you had a great weekend 🙂 I headed up to my antique booth on Friday to restock and hang some fairy lights. I hadn’t gotten around to setting them in my new booth yet. They make me so happy and create a warm atmosphere that I think is very inviting.
That said, I had a terrible month at the booth, and I’ve been struggling to figure out why. Of course the big change has been my new location (since March), but I moved from the second floor to a coveted first floor location–things should be better, not worse. This unfortunately highlights the vagaries of life in retail sales.
On the other hand, I had two additional sources of income this month: Facebook Market and MediaVine. I’ve only begun recently to occasionally list items with FB Market, but it’s been pretty successful and I’m hoping to list more. MediaVine is an advertising company that I recently signed on with and that too, has been working well for me.
The ads were active for just half of May and I earned $288, and I’m on track to earn much more than that in June. This is a huge win for me since I’ve been working on growing my readership to qualify for MV, and that $288 meets a major goal of mine to begin earning some income from my blog. Woo woo!
Now, let’s take a look at what’s selling in vintage and antiques (May 2018).
Antique Booth
A wooden document box sold for $14 (cost: $2).
A pair of eagle bookends sold for $25 (cost: $25).
A beautifully embroidered couple sold for $38 (cost: $3). [Upper right hand corner in this photo of part of my Shaker Christmas craft fair booth.]
A copy of Adirondack Album, Vol. II sold for $6 (cost: 50¢).
A glass flower frog sold for $6 (cost: 50¢).
A 1st edition of the Little Golden Book, The Sky (© 1956), sold for $6 (cost: 50¢).
A set of squirrel salt and pepper shakers sold for $10 (cost: 50¢).
The black suitcase sold for $12 (cost: $1) and the suitcase 2nd from the bottom sold for $12 (cost: $2).
Not pictured:
Soda Crate, $22
Yellow Planter, $12
White cow creamer, $5
Child’s rocking chair (worn), $8
Pewter candlesticks, $7.50
Galvanized bucket, $12
Facebook Market
I’m working on clearing out my garage a bit and so have begun listing some items on Facebook. It’s been really working well so far, as I mentioned.
A pair of folding chairs sold for $25 (cost: $4).
An original oil painting I brought home with me from England sold for $50 (cost: $5). [Read about my personal art collection here.]
A recovered and stenciled stool project from a while ago sold for $12.
A cupcake stand sold for $5 (cost: $1).
Ebay
A Georges Briard hors d’oeuvre tray sold for $10 (cost: $1).
A pair of vintage (1980’s) magnet sets sold for $8.00 (cost: 50¢).
A Danish cookbook sold for $7.92 (cost: 50¢).
A vintage light meter sold for $24.99 (cost: $1).
Here’s the breakdown on what I made for the month of May with my side hustle:
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I just returned from a trip with friends that involved shopping and sure wish I could have found some things like you sell, especially those suitcases! You find
things at amazi ing prices. Hope things get better with people traveling. God bless!
I’ve tried to sell things on Facebook for myself and for my church. I have found people to be horribly rude. I go in order of replies and get back to people immediately. I let them know if there are others ahead of them. I had over 20 people show interest in a dresser at church, yet when I reached out to let them know it was their turn, I’d get absolutely no answer. One person strung me along for 2 weeks. She was definitely going to come and get it, her boyfriend was bringing her. Then the next weekend, she said she couldn’t find anyone with a truck. sigh. Someone else messaged me in Spanish, and when I wrote back to let them know I did not know Spanish, they called me a ***** . Of course, that person was reported. I would love to sell on etsy, but have heard stories that lead me to think it’s not a good idea. For now, I’ll sell what I have periodically at our flea market and the twice yearly citywide yard sale. You’re a busy lady, Diana! I didn’t hear back from you on last email, so I hope I’m doing everything correctly. Have a sweet day !
Hi Patty. I’ve been selling vintage stuff on Etsy for over six years and love it. I find the customers to be some of the best and the interface is easy to use. That said, Etsy is raising its transaction fees from 3.5% to 5%, but that’s still cheaper than eBay at 10%. All the best, Karen
I’ve been on Etsy for five years. Despite some recent changes, it is still a really safe and efficient way to sell vintage. I love the personal customer contact, but I don’t do international shipping. I had an large antique mall space, so the overhead online is minimal compared to having a walk-in location.
Karen, thank you for giving me the benefit of your experience. Had to go check out your website. Good info there, too ! Like you, I am all about the Hunt & Find!! so, tell me…. what is your reason for making prices end in .99 ? Just curious as to your method of madness. 🙂
OldNewGreenRedo — thank you for your etsy experience. Maybe one day I’ll jump in, too!
Congrats on getting into Mediavine! You did great, too! That’s one of my goals. Have enough views to apply with them. Although one that I haven’t been working to hard to achieve. Kinda like a diet. I’ll start tomorrow.
Last month was bad for me in my booth, too. Like you, I moved into one of the most coveted spots in the mall and have had to pay rent 2 out of 3 months. Sigh. The best spot is not a magic bullet. But I only have myself to blame. At this point anyway. Haven’t got around to fixing it up and making it inviting and the booth across from me is over the top fabulous drawing attention away from mine. I need to step up my game!
Hi Diana, I always look forward to reading your blog and commiserating with the vagaries of selling retail! I know that last year, June was a TERRIBLE month at the Antique Mall where I sell my finds, but this year, it is better. I really never know why though, but I did move my booth recently, my reason was to go to a smaller & less expensive one. I have had a good month so far and found that smaller pieces of furniture are rather popular. I do sell some other small items, but the furniture has been doing so well, small tables especially and two trunks that I painted and decoupaged. I have one more to sell, once I get it ready!
Ebay has been a little slower and Etsy too. I just try to remain thankful for whatever sells, which I can see you do the same. Our garage is full of stuff that I need to finish working on (or start) so I can sell it at the mall. I have not tried FB Marketplace, but have tried Craigslist and while I have sold some things that way, it is not my favorite way to sell, most people want to pay very little for whatever you have for sale.
Good luck with sales everyone! I wish I had the answer for the off and on nature of selling!
Interesting information. I also had a slower than usual May, in my area I think it was due to the weather. April was cool and rainy (and yes, some snow flurries!) so that when the good weather finally arrived in May, people weren’t eager for shopping or being inside. After many years of selling on eBay, I’ve learned that sales drop off starting in March. I wait until fall to actively list again. I like Facebook Marketplace, faster and better results than craigslist. I attribute that to technology – more people are on Facebook rather than scrolling through numerous listings on-line via craigslist.
Hi, Diana. I always found May to be a great month for me, but I did the bulk of my May business in gift items and garden items. I do remember vintage/antique sales were soft, though. Tourist season will be in full swing…I’m sure it will be great!
Hi Diana, One place where I have a booth said May sales were awful; mine were. Starting to move stuff from one booth to another, too. I’m on the second floor; the stairs are nasty steep so a lot of people don’t make the trek. Hoping those “summer people” bring their spending money to Maine!