Vintage Sales

Remember my cool tourquoise dandelion TexasWare dishes that I found a few months ago for $20?

I decided to break them up into sets and the last 2 sets finally sold this week! They didn't make me rich by any means but I'm happy with what I got and I'm happy that someone will be using them and appreciating their awesome-ness! I sold each set for $18 + shipping, the last buyer paid $30 to have 2 sets shipped to Australia!

I called this the "Good Karma Mug". When we went to Seaside back in March I found this vintage US Mail mug at a little thrift shop and didn't realize that they were cash only and it was only 50 cents but do you think either me or my hubs had two quarters on us?! Of course not, we spent all our money at the arcade, haha! Anyway, I call this the good karma mug because a very nice lady heard our discussion about not having cash on us so she said since we had such cute kids that we could have a dollar for our mug and a toy for Naomi. I was very very grateful to her, we paid for our mug and while waiting in line my husband looked it up...

The only other mug of its likeness up there (no recent completeds at the time) was listed at $300! I was jumping up and down for hours! Unfortunately in the long run the mug didn't sell for anywhere near that but I hope that lady gets some great karma for giving us that dollar and for the $65 I made on the mug I'm going to pay it forward to someone in the coffee line next time I do the drive through!

 This is another weird little guy that I got for free around Christmas time. He's a vintage drunken hobo or gnome or something funny and while he only sold for $6 + shipping on Etsy the fees still gave me a nice little profit, he was just so weird looking I couldn't pass him up!

I usually don't like to post about items that are currently in the process of shipping just incase something goes wrong like they return them or get damaged in shipping but my fingers are crossed these get to my buyer safely and they love them as much as I do!

These are a set of 1970's Ballonoff litho metal canisters. I actually have the same exact set and I love it; I found this set very reasonably priced at an antique shop on Monday which is surprising as I very rarely find things to resell at antique shops. Most of the time people know what they have and when I shop at them I'm shopping for me or for ideas on projects I want to do! Anyway, I picked up the set for $14 and it sold yesterday (3 days later) for $48.99 with free shipping. It cost about $12 for Parcel Select and it's on its way to TX now. Like I said above, fingers crossed!

Those are my cool vintage sales as of lately. I have been looking out for more vintage these days but so far toys, plush and mugs are still my bread and butter on eBay. Things have picked up a little but it seems I go days between a sale and then get 3 in a day or something.

I also recently changed the name of my Etsy shop to attract more vintage buyers since I don't sell knits or candles anymore, and I am making sure the photos of items I list on Etsy are funky and really nicely positioned so they will stand out among similar items. I still really want to do a showcase or booth at an antique shop but I haven't found the place or pulled the trigger yet, although I definitely have enough items to at least open a showcase somewhere!

Trends

It's amazing the difference a year can make when you are an online seller. Trends come and go as fast as you can blink; what would've made you rich in a matter of hours a year ago can sit on your storage shelves for months and leave you wondering what the heck happened!

Last year the newest Alvin & the Chipmunks movie came out and Build a Bear Workshop came out with some limited edition chipmunks as they often do with new kids movies. Right now they have a line of My Little Ponies out that my daughter wants SO bad haha!

Last year I was lucky to come across an unwanted pair of chipmunks at Value Village for a couple of bucks a piece. I decided to sell them together as a set and they sold within 8 hours of listing them for $49.99!

Well so when I came across the same exact pair of chipmunks a year later for even cheaper at $1 a piece I was so excited I almost jumped to the cashier with my Alvin & Brittany thinking Cha Ching!

Oh the difference a year makes because Alvin & Brittany have been sitting in my storage area for a couple of months now and I kept lowering the price over and over and over. I finally decided that I might split them up to see if they'd sell separately and then voila they sold last night. Not for $50 mind you, but a measly $22 with free shipping.

Alvin & the Chipmunks is still on my BOLO, $22 is nothing to complain about by any means and I'd buy them again for that price; but maybe I'd try to list them separately next time to see if they sell faster.

The moral of this story folks is to keep an eye out for those hot trends and when they fizzle out so you aren't stuck with a pile of things that have to be re-donated or put in a yard sale!

{Anyone have any hot trendy BOLO's that are happening for you right now or alternatively, what's something trendy from last year that won't be on your BOLO list this year??}