Posted by Here’s a weird trend I’ve noticed…when I go on vacation I always get more sales than normal in my store. There’s no logical reason for it. None. Whatsoever. I mean it’s true when I go on a mini-vacay it’s usually over a weekend and weekends in general tend to have more sales. (People are off work, relaxing, doing a little online shopping.) But still a lot of weekends I get only a few sales, but the day I leave town the number jumps up. (Head scratching ensues.) Not that I’m complaining. It makes for a delightful footnote to the trip, but it’s curious.
So when I got on the airplane this past Friday to go visit my daughter in Washington state for a few days, I wondered if this trend would prove true once again. And by golly it did! Saturday was particularly wild with five sales! Now I know for some of you five sales in a day is normal or maybe even slow, but for me that’s unusual, particularly for this time of year.
Here are my order/revenue stats for February so far with my vacation days on the right side. Crazy, oui?!
Some of the Things that Sold
- Robert Van Wert mid-century linen pictures (paid $25, sold $60, plus shipping)
- Old Mickey Mouse silver charm (part of a larger bracelet, sold $38, free shipping)
- Peruvian Connection jacket (part of my personal wardrobe, sold $21.25 on sale, plus shipping)
- 3 stone grapes (paid $5.35 for 4, sold $35, plus shipping)
- Le Creuset jug (paid $4, sold $20, plus shipping)
- Sterling silver, turquoise and claw bolo tie (paid $80, sold for $145, free shipping)
- Wedgwood posy holder (paid $3, sold for $40, plus shipping)
- Huge brass ashtray (paid $8, sold for $40, plus shipping)
- Large ceramic Polish dish (paid $7.49, sold for $40, plus shipping)
- Vintage pink crystal necklace (paid ?, sold for $15.30, free shipping)
So no outrageous profits, but still a lot of good items heading off to new homes. (Side note: It took me three hours to package everything!)
My modus operandi while on vacation: I contact buyers and let them know I’m out of town and the date I’ll be able to ship their item, usually with apologies for the slight delay. So far everyone’s been cool about it and no one’s asked for a refund.
Vacation Finds
And while things were selling, I was trying to do a little buying! I decided to bypass anything too big or breakable and focused on jewelry and smalls. Alas, I didn’t find any home runs this trip, but here are a few finds that I rather liked.
I love this little wabi-sabi Victorian aesthetic milk jug. It appears to have once been silver plated. Now only a bit of plating remains and there is a dent or two. Wouldn’t this look cute with wildflowers?
I was also drawn to this sterling silver stamped brooch with a Scandinavian-looking design. Isn’t this fabulous?! It’s unmarked and unsigned (alas, alas) making it difficult to figure out exactly how to attribute it. But it was so unusual I couldn’t pass it up.
And this sterling silver and gemstone pendant is not old, but a pretty thing. I’ve already worn it twice! It’s marked 925 signed with what looks like “Aya.” More research is needed.
I bought these two jewelry pieces from the same seller in an antique mall. I made an offer (which was a 20% discount) and the sales clerk said she could do 10%. I asked if she could do a little more and after a few seconds she agreed to my offer. Yahoo! This is the first time this antique mall has been willing to do more than 10% for me.
I have a few more finds that I’ll save for another post.
As always, happy hunting,
Karen
Hunting for Vintage 