Dealing with Stress!

It was so exciting looking through the boxes of stuff at the private pick last week and choosing what I would buy. Back at home as I started to catalog the items, I felt my stress escalating. There was so much to process! So much to research! Some had more damage than I remember and a few things had me smacking my head–why did I take that? In retrospect I should have been more selective!

Now my office area in our family room is a complete shambles. It was only a shambles before. Now it’s complete!! And I detest when I let it get like this.

Needless to say I’m keeping busy with it all–completing the cataloging, researching things and even listing a few–like this bronze medal dated for 1900. It’s rather lovely on this side with Jesus on the throne and musical angels.

And this carved wood Lourdes wedding rosary likely 1940ish. These are strangely huge.

But most need more research…

Now here’s something that will make a few of you cringe, maybe more than a few of you–a box of Victorian mourning hair jewelry remnants! Actually the bracelet on top is very nicely done, but the closure at one end has worn off. (I’ll list this separately.) Victorian mourning jewelry is very collectible and even the hair pieces sell. I’m hoping some jewelry maker or artist will be interested in acquiring these for projects.

I also bought these vintage Tibetan prayer beads. The wood has a very pleasing scent. Perhaps sandalwood? No idea yet what they might sell for!

The good news is that I have calculated what I am willing to pay for everything I’ve taken and I’ll contact the gal on Monday with my offer. We’ve had this arrangement in the past and it’s worked out fine. These items have been in storage since the 1960s and the folks who own them now are motivated to have them gone. But of course if they are unhappy with my offer we can negotiate.

Most of these will be long tail. Some will be hard to sell. There are some things that possibly will never sell and I will eventually give them away.

It’s the hard truth in my vintage Etsy biz that I have things in my store that have been there for more than five years!! That’s a ridiculously long time.

Now some of you may be thinking these are obviously things nobody wants or the items are priced too high/too low or the photos/search terms/description are poorly done. And yes, this is likely true for some things. But I know the biggest culprit is not getting enough “eyes” on the items. Etsy’s search system is, in a word, wonky! And if your item has been listed for a few years it moves towards the bottom of the search results. At least that’s been my experience.

So while I process all the “new” stuff from this latest pick, I’m also tackling some older inventory–focusing on things that I think would make great gifts for the holiday season.

Here’s my plan:

Select “older” items, deactivate their current listings and create new, fresh listings for them with new photos, search terms and pricing, if needed.

For example I spotted my listing for this fabulous locket and realized my photos were subpar!! In fact they were terrible. I created a new listing with better photos and a few other changes. (We’ll see if that helps!)

Select Etsy items to cross post on eBay. EBay has its faults, but it does have a better search engine and more traffic. In general the smart resellers cross post on a variety of platforms or sell at a number of venues. Some folks I follow on YouTube have an antique booth AND sell on eBay, Poshmark and Mercari. They don’t put all their eggs in one basket! And while I do sell on Etsy and Chairish, right now I’m not getting the results I want from either platform. Time to expand.

For example, I bought most of these spoons (part of my personal collection) on eBay, so I’ll see how I do selling them there! And yes, collecting antique sterling silver souvenir spoons is no longer on trend–the Golden Age of collecting them began in the 1890s and continued to 1917 or so–BUT there are still collectors today!

Pull inventory to donate. Yup, it’s time to cull some items. Some may be donated to friends. Others offered up in my local BuyNothing Facebook group. Some to local thrift stores. The tough part is that I have had things sell with my original listing and price six years after I first posted it! Recently I sold a book on Ohio history that had been in my store forever.

My passion for vintage things hasn’t waned, but I am weary of dealing with so much of it around our house and garage. (It’s been tough on my husband too.) And at my age, I can’t wait five years till something sells!

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And the stress is real–not just from my biz but from other things in my life too–and it showed up my body. Thankfully a few essential oils, a heating pad and an ibuprofen are helping a lot!

Hoping your life is more stress-free.

Karen