Really?

I have had my etsy.com shop now since July 2010 - so for 9-months and 329 sales (as of today) -- and here are some of the things I've learned so far.


Not a very sexy or fun part of the business, but not estimating shipping well will kill you. If you put the cost too high on something, it will stop people from buying it. But if you put it too low, you may end up loosing a sizable portion of your profit. I even have a better handle on when to go to FedEx and when to go USPS.

In the beginning of this venture, just finding boxes for shipping was a pain, but even that has become easier. I know the spots where a couple stores put their boxes once they've emptied them from deliveries. They don't mind me taking them at all, it saves them the time and effort of preparing them for recycling.

I have a better idea of the best days and places for going to yard sales, too. And the day my favorite thrift store gets in new merchandise...these are very useful pieces of information for finding things for the shop.

I also think I have developed a better eye for what will sell, although I am still flabbergasted sometimes at what sells quicker than others.

This mirror is a good example. I knew enough to get it when I found it in a church basement charity shop, but thought it would probably languish for a bit - this is an unusual piece, not everyone's cup-of-tea. So I was surprised when it wasn't even in my shop a week before it sold.
On the same day I found this mirror, I also found two matching white chenille bedspreads for two single-beds. They are so pretty, I would have sworn they'd go first.

Maybe this will always allude me because it has more to do with timing and chance...that particular person was looking for that kind of item, and they happened to find mine that day...than anything more predictable.

When I hit the year mark in July, I will have too look back again and try to understand the rhyme or reason for what sells quickly and what doesn't. Or maybe accept that sometimes there just isn't any.

twoblondsandavan.blogspot.com

Abbotstown with Joan

A large part of my days are spent in solitary pursuits: food shopping, writing, laundry, putting inventory on-line in my etsy shop, packing purchased items to be shipped off, housecleaning...you get the picture. And this is not a complaint, this suits me just fine. But it does make for a pleasant change of pace when I get to go with someone on one of my searches for inventory to a yard sale or church fundraiser. Pickin's more fun with a friend...I should make that into a bumper sticker.

Which means, I was more than happy when my Aunt Joan told me she'd found a few ads for church fundraisers north of us in the Abbotstown and Hanover areas, and would I like to check them out with her. So, right after the kids got on the bus Friday morning, I grabbed a cup of coffee and headed to her house - about 10-minutes from my own-- we jumped in her Yaris and made our way to the first sale, which was held in a picnic grove.

There were a lot of nice things, but many of them were priced too high for me to make any kind of profit. But I did find a couple cute items. My favorites are this owl coffee canister and a set of chenille bedspreads.

The next stop was a church fundraiser which had the opposite problems as the first, great prices but not much left on the tables. We didn't get there until 9:00 and the sale started at 7:00 - so it was picked pretty clean by the time we got there.









After a few more stops at a rummage sale (VERY picked over) and a yard sale (mostly newer plastic kid's toys), we went to a great book store/ cafe in Hanover - interestingly, also in an old church -- for lunch.

So Friday was both successful for my shop and I got the bonus of enjoying a morning out on a beautiful spring day in the company of my aunt, doing what seems to be in our blood.

twoblondsandavan.blogspot.com/

Whoo Hoo Friday

Whoo hoo Friday! That's what I like to call the last Friday of the month, four-times a year, when these two blond's favorite retirement community has their sale. It's a charitable event to raise money for members of the retirement community who have run out of funds - so its also not a bad place to spend your money either.

This last sale on Friday did not disappoint. I don't know what it is about this particular community that makes it so great to pick at, maybe its that the residents there that donate their cast-offs for the fund raiser were all furnishing their homes in the same era that I like to buy (50's, 60's and 70's)...and they all had really good taste!

Here is my absolute favorite thing I found, and one of the first things I spotted. A vintage chenille bedspread in near perfect condition. Gorgeous. I'm actually having some trouble putting it up for sale!


Linda and her mom, Lee, introduced me to this wonderful quarterly event and I will be forever grateful, it's a pickers dream. Which is also why it has gotten progressively more crowded each time we've gone. It is at a point where you need to get there almost an hour before to get in line, and then be prepared to just about run to the area you have the most interest in - I usually go for the craft table first because I have a thing for sewing boxes, and then I head for the linens table, where I found the chenille spread.

This is a cute green pot from the 60's I snagged in the housewares area.


This event has gotten to be such a madhouse that Linda, Lee and I devised a plan to most effectively survive, and even enjoy, the day. We got there a half-hour before they opened the doors so we could be in the first wave, and then brought our armloads of purchases out to the car where we snacked on sandwiches and donuts we'd brought to fortify ourselves. After a half-hour sanity break, we headed back in and found the crowds had died down somewhat and we could poke around at a more leisurely pace.

Good day. Whoo hoo!