Making Better Choices and Leaving Chairish (Maybe!)

My neighborhood thrift store is literally on the way to my church, so naturally on Sunday I decided to leave a few minutes early to have a QUICK browse before the service. Twenty minutes was all I had but usually all I need in this tiny store.

Right away I spotted this Belleek porcelain tree vase ($3.69), but I sternly reminded myself that Belleek doesn’t sell for me. Ever. Not even pieces with older date marks. So I reluctantly put this vase back on the shelf. And this larger painted wood box from India ($7-ish) was naively charming, but it wasn’t super old or valuable. Maybe a $40 to $50 item. If I had really needed inventory I would have picked it up in a heartbeat, but not today. I left both of these behind.

Later at home I saw the results of a private auction where a similar box sold for $90, though their original estimate was similar to mine. (Hmmm, perhaps I should have bought this one!)

Well after putting these back on the shelves I decided to make one more tour of the hard goods aisles before heading out the door and I spotted part of this frame behind others in the art section. I pulled it out and had a hallelujah moment. Now this was more like it–an antique wood shadowbox frame that had been later fitted with a mirror.

In the Eastlake style, it’s a bit of Victorian gorgeousness with ebonized wood and fancy gold bits. This was more like it. This is the type of thing I love and I love buying and selling it.

All three items were good in their own way, but for me, this is the best one. The best choice.

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To Chairish or not to Chairish, that is the question!

This week I let all the items in my Chairish shop, Cloak and Dagger Vintage, expire. A few of these items have been there since my opening four years ago and they just wouldn’t sell. A couple are now too big for their shipping program so I would need to handle the packing and shipping myself which would be a huge hassle. Which got me thinking–do I really want to continue on Chairish? Cloak and Dagger Vintage has always been small with only 12-18 items at any time and it’s never been a huge revenue stream. In fact I’m usually surprised when something sells!

Here are some of the Chairish realities on my mind:

• After you complete a listing, it goes through a curation process by the company. This typically takes several days and they may reject it. I’ve had several rejected that surprised the heck out of me.
• Commission is now 22% (if you have fewer items than 10 items it’s higher). It was 20% when I started and is bound to keep going up.
• They encourage you to give people in the trade a 15% discount.
• Every item includes a “Make Offer” button and folks use it!
• If you use their Drop Off & Go program for bulky or fragile items, you pay a portion of that shipping cost. (This program allows you to drop off the item at UPS and they do all the packing. For some items it’s a godsend. But now two of my paintings are too big to use this program.)
• They have hierarchies of sellers. Favorites. A-listers. Designers. Some folks get more attention and promotion. Only once have I had an item in one of their “special curated lists.” It sold immediately.

Here are all my Chairish sales in descending order over the last four years. You’ll note I did not get one sale in 2022!! Not one. The first dollar column on the right represents what the buyer paid (some were negotiated prices) and the second my payoff from Chairish after their fees. When I used the Chairish Drop Off & Go program I also paid a small part of the shipping.

Of course from that payout amount I have to subtract the cost of goods and any other expenses related to the item to figure out the real profit. Sometimes the result was rather disappointing.

So the question again–do I want to even continue on Chairish? Do I want to add new items and try to revitalize my store? I’m not sure. I like having another selling portal, but is it worth the effort for the few sales I get here?

Well, I don’t need to make any immediate decisions so I’ll give this some serious thought.

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In the meantime I am busy adding new things to my Etsy store. We’ll see how I do with these.

Wishing you happy hunting.

Karen