What’s Selling in Vintage & Antiques February 2018 Income Report
Hi there! How was your weekend? I did some thrifting on Friday on the way over to my booth at the Gristmill Antique Center for re-merchandising. Later, while my sweet daughter was still in town, we enjoyed a family movie night (Thor Ragnarok) and our favorite Indian food. What a blessing it is to spend time with family.
Saturday night we enjoyed another dinner and a movie (The Last Jedi) in the company of sweet friends. Sunday morning we spent with our church family and then saw my daughter off to school. In between all of our activity, I squeezed in time to finish today’s post: February 2018 Vintage Income Report. You all have blessed me by letting me know how much you enjoy these posts and how helpful they are to you in your own buying/selling, so enjoy!
This month I grossed $794.67 between sales at my antique booth, through ebay, and through my Vintage Blog Shop. Here’s what sold from each.
Gristmill Antique Center
A small, stenciled ironstone platter that I made sold for $7.
A cow print in a rustic frame (cost $1, sold $15).
A vintage chair seat Milk & Cream sign that I made sold for $28.
A baker’s rack that I gave a chalk paint makeover (cost: $15, sold: $100).
Vintage white pottery vase (cost: $1, sold: $12).
A Christmas arrangement that I made in newer ironstone creamer (cost: $1, sold: $10).
A chalkboard from antique oak frame that I made (cost: $1, sold $25).
1) A small hammer (cost: 50¢ sold: $5).
2) A larger hammer (cost: 50¢ sold: $6).
Antique “Clad’s” ice cream scoop (cost: $12, sold: $25, on sale from $35. [Note: I paid more for this than I normally would because I had planned to keep it, but changed my mind.]
An antique document box (cost: $20, sold: $75). [Note: Same as above, I paid more for this than I normally would because I had planned to keep it, but changed my mind.]
Vintage Blog Shop
Hot air balloon pendant, which cost $1, sold for $11.99.
Sterling silver bracelet, which cost $2, sold for $11.99.
Nursing pin, which cost $1, sold for $10.99.
Willson’s Larger Speller, which was free, sold for $ $8.00 (sold to someone named, Willson 🙂 ).
Nordic wool socks, which cost $2, sold for $20.00.
Antique grater, which cost $3, sold for $25.00.
English crockery beer jug, which cost $2, sold for $23.99.
Ebay
Airplane-themed Valentine, which cost 50¢, sold for $5.49 (BIN).
Crabtree & Evelyn shaving soap, which cost $1, sold for $12.99 (fixed price). [I reached out to the winning bidder and offered a second one for $10 and she agreed.
Railroad time tables sold for $7.80 (auction starting price). I bought a large bag of these for $3 a long time ago and hadn’t found the right venue for selling them until I started with eBay. I listed a couple of them separately with no success and then decided to try a grouping, finally some success!!
Woman’s Home Companion Cookbook, which cost 50¢, sold for $11.99 (BIN).
Brand new leggings sold for $9.99 (fixed price). [I bought these new a couple of years ago for $11 and never got around to returning them. I was happy to make most of that investment back!]
A vintage Lucite reverse carved and painted pin with copper embellishments, which cost 50¢, sold for $141.49 (auction).
A collection of vintage spools of silk thread, which cost $1.00 and I learned is desirable to fly tiers, sold for $9.99 (fixed price).
A sterling silver World’s Fair 1893 Columbia Exposition teaspoon, which cost $2.00, sold for $11.93.
Let’s take a look at how all of those numbers work together:
So overall not a bad month for vintage sales. I made my antique booth target of 3X my rent, paid off a few bills, and have some cash left over to buy more merchandise. And so the circle keeps on turning…
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January 2018 Income Report
December 2017 Income Report
November 2017 Income Report
October 2017 Income Report
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Always interested in what you have to say about what is selling and your approach to sale venue (eBay vs. booth, fixed price vs. auction, etc). I wonder though about your comment about the spools, “I learned is desirable to fly tiers”. Is that a northeast term? What does that mean? My best to you!
I had to read that three times to figure it out. People who tie their own fishing flies use it. (Who knew?)
fly fishing ..?
I was wondering the same thing. ☺
Ha ha! I have an outdoor sportsman for a father, so it never occurred to me that readers would be unfamiliar with the term “fly tying.” As Michele pointed out, it’s the art of creating faux flies to fish with (fly fishing), made famous by the movie “A River Runs Through It.” It contains some stunning scenes of the characters fly fishing.
Understanding was not helped by my mispelling “tyers” (I spelled it “tiers” initially, but went back and corrected it. My father tied his own flies, which explains my familiarity with the subject 🙂
YOU are just the very best to answer my inquiry! Thank you and Happy Easter!
Well, THAT was nice! A very good return on that pin! Wowza! The Speller is cool. “Arranged according to the Principles of ….. Orthoepy!” I learned that it’s the correct or accepted pronunciation of words. I have never heard that word before, but it is something that I tend to do. Correct mispronunciations. Or want to. Some people don’t like being corrected. 🙂
Glad you enjoyed the post, Patty! It’s good to learn something new every day 🙂 We do have to be careful with our corrections, don’t we?!!
Thanks again Diana for sharing. Question….you almost apologized for paying $20 for the document box although you sold it for a great profit. You wouldn’t intentionally pay that much for an item to resell? I know it doesn’t fit into the formula you normally use. I’m curious about your shopping thought process.
Well, that $20 is actually a typo–it should be $30, so that reduces the profit margin a bit, but it’s still not terrible. And I do need to get in the habit of not being afraid to put out more cash for some nicer things.
I’m constantly struggling between wanting to buy large quantities of low cost items (for an emotional feel good) and buying few high quality but higher cost items that don’t give me the same good feeling at the time of purchase. (I think I need prayer!!).
I’m not sure you could actually call this a process; it’s more of a default setting!!
Great question, though Linda–thanks for asking 🙂
I always look forward to these post. Thank you for sharing your information . I sold my store in Nov. and of course I have lots of inventory left over. I always think that I want to start selling on e-bay but so far haven’t made the leap. As I look at the merchandise that you have sold I think that I would have bought that. I think your prices are very good. I live in the mountains of Northern California, in a very small town with three thrift stores but no antique stores. So when I feel like a antique fix I have to go to Chico, or Reno. But looking at your shop also fills the end and is so much closer. Have a wonderful day!
So glad my blog meets a “need,” Suzanne 🙂 I say jump right into ebay–I avoided it for years, but just started in July and have been very pleased with the results. Have a great week!
Interesting as always! So glad you had good sales. Had to laugh at “Scaredy Cat”, but he did really well!! 😃
Thanks Karen! No one was more surprised than I at how well “scaredy cat” did!
I love to see what you buy and sell. So very interesting to me as I start to think about downsizing some of my collections. Your price guides are a big help to me also!
That blesses me to know Linda!!
You have a good eye for what will sell. Thanks for all the good information.
So nice of you to say, Vikki!! And you’re welcome 🙂
I had been wondering where February’s totals were. Was starting to think you had a terrible month and was afraid to publish! So glad that’s not the case! I always love seeing what’s selling in your neck of the woods!
It just took me a while to get my hands on my receipts from my booth sales, is all. So glad you enjoy these posts, Debbie 🙂
Interesting and informative as usual. Thanks
I’m so glad, Krista–thanks for letting me know 🙂
Hi Diane – I was wondering if you could do an article on “collectibles.” Such as Harmony Kingdom, Christopher Radko ornaments, Jon Anderson Filmo Clay, etc. I think this generation doesn’t want any nick-nacks, (my Mom’s term)!
Thanks,
Mark
I wish I could do an article on those types of collectibles, Mark, but unfortunately, I don’t know anything about them. The closest I’ve come to writing about these sorts of things is a post on Wade figurines, but that’s about all I’ve got!
Diana, I love your what sold posts. They help me so much right now as I’m helping my sister price her inventory from her closed out Etsy shop. We have set the dates for April 12 and 13. We are advertising it as an Estate Sale Vintage Shop Closeout. This way we can make a little better than garage sale prices. After all, we bought most of it from garage sales and would like to make a little profit and yet leave some “meat on the bones” for the resellers.
She gave me all of the vintage jewelry we had left when we closed that shop down 6 years ago. I’m either going to open on Etsy or eBay but I haven’t decided yet which one. If I do Etsy I could just reopen the shop we had with pictures and descriptions already in place. As you know, that’s more than half the battle!
Your lucite kitty pin was precious and what a wonderful profit! Those collectors can only be reached online.
Also wanted to say that my grandchildren watched the new Thor movie last night and couldn’t stop talking about it. It sounds edge of the seat good. Glad you had such great family time. There is nothing more important.
Thanks again for your blog post. I so look forward to them.
Jeri
I’m so glad these posts are helpful for you Jeri! Sounds like you and your sister have your hands full. Best of luck with your sale; I’m sure it’ll be great.
I’m finding that certain odd or rarer items sell best on ebay, so it’s all a matter of learning the best venue to sell which items from. Much harder than it sounds, right?!
I so agree with you about family 🙂
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I have items in a consignment shop.
I put my collection of spaghetti poodles in about a year ago. Not a single one sold until this month. 8 sold to 3 different ladies. I didn’t lower the price or move their location. I guess they’re coming back!
Yippee! I love that when that happens, Lydia 🙂 Congrats on making some good sales.
i always smile when i see your bottom line! You have the greatest eye for finding treasures that will resell at a great profit–not that you don’t put your effort into it–like the chair seat stenciling and the baker’s rack. One place where I have a booth said it was their slowest month EVER! Glad you did so well. That cat pin must be a treasure to someone; I think it is homely! That’s coming from someone who has Monet prints and flamingos in her bathroom!
I am definitely very blessed to find the things that I do, but I’m always trying to improve! The gal who bought the cat pin LOVES it, which makes me very happy 🙂 You made me smile, Kathy, picturing flamingos in your bathroom, LOL.
Thanks for your dedication to vintage/antiques. I’m a newy and appreciate all I can learn from your website.
You’re so welcome, Carlota!! Thanks so much for introducing yourself 🙂 I’m so glad to help however I can–
I always enjoy this monthly post! It’s so interesting to see what’s selling and gives me ideas on what’s selling and how to price. Do you have a store on eBay? I’ve wondered if thats a good idea or not. Thanks for all your wonderful posts!
Diana’s eBay store is linked on her blog. Its in a square near the bottom of each blog entry.
Thanks so much, Jeri, for pointing that out!!
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Hi Judi! I don’t have an ebay store because I don’t sell enough there to warrant one. I’m pretty happy with how I’m doing right now and the fees are fairly low. There is no insertion fee for your first 50 listings each month, you just pay the “final value fee,” which I think is 3.5% of the value of the item selling price. [Paypal charges an additional 3.5%.]
Congrats on your sales! You are such a thrifty shopper. As always I enjoyed your blog. Thank you for the inspiration and information. I have a booth in a local shop, selling most of what I have collected for myself over the years so my profit isn’t as good. I had a good month though with profit about $400.
Oh my gosh, so many items just flying out the door! I know I’ve said this before but I’m always amazed at the prices you are able to rake in. Even though we’re a suburb of Chicago I just don’t think there’d be anywhere near the same success rate. $20 for a pair of socks? You go, girl!!!! Congrats on a great month! Thanks for sharing at Vintage Charm! xo Kathleen