Posted by Like any job, the tasks I do to sell vintage things on Etsy get a tad repetitive. Last week I was mostly listing items and tweaking old listings. Not exciting, but necessary. For example for a time antique copper jelly molds sold for me, but my last two two have lingered for years so I not only lowered the base price (again) but put them on sale. Hopefully someone will be tempted.
Thankfully this July has been a fairly normal sales month so I’ve had orders to package up several times each week.
But my sourcing and buying has screeched to a halt and I only bought one thing in eight days–this set of vintage Japanese matcha tea cups. I thought the shape, colors and design were captivating.
But wouldn’t you know back at home I found hairline cracks on two of them! Oh for Pete’s sake! Still two were in good shape and I listed the pair for $35
On the sales side, one the other day particularly pleased me. I had bought five Doris Lessing 1979-1983 “Canopus in Argos: Archives” books at my local library sale room for $15 and the collection just sold for $198. That made me do a little happy dance.
And while I was happy these large scarab stone beads sold, it was not a “good” sale. No happy dance here! I had bought them from a flea market dealer last month for $7 each. They were in little baggies that stated they were antique. But back at home as I looked at them more closely using my jeweler’s loupe, I just did not feel confident they were very old. Vintage, but not antique, and I had found very similar ones that had been sold on a bead site. In the end I listed the pair for $28. They didn’t take long to sell, but by the time you take out the cost of goods and the fees, I’ll be lucky to make $8 profit–a large cup of my favorite chai latte these days.
This sold pair of ceramic pumpkins were from my personal collection. Over the years I had bought five pumpkins from ceramicist Hsin-chuen Lin at our annual clay and glass festival. I have no idea why, but they appealed to me. But the reality was I only displayed them for two months out of the year. Two months. So I decided it was time to downsize them. This pair sold for just $40 which is less than what I paid, and I discovered well below the prices of pieces he sells nowadays. Still I was happy to move them along.
I have three more that I’ve listed individually for $45 a piece, still a great price for his work (his mugs sell for $75) and it appears he is no longer making them!
That’s the weird thing about getting older is it just doesn’t make sense to keep a lot of seasonal/holiday stuff that only comes out for a few weeks a year. At my age, I am cognizant that my time for enjoying these items is limited. I hope to have another 20 years or so but I could have a lot less. Other than a few small boxes of Christmas items, these pumpkins were all I had but it seemed silly to keep these lovely pumpkins hidden away for so much of the year.
And this week it’s more of the “wash, rinse, repeat.” I have lots of charms to list along with two vintage purses I bought this summer and piles of books. I’ll also be continuing to rethink some of my older inventory–donate or redo listings? And I’ll be packing up orders and maybe treat myself to one day of thrifting! A rather tedious week but I’m looking forward to lunch with a friend on Wednesday and a concert on Friday.
Wishing you happy hunting,
Karen
Hunting for Vintage 