Antique Barn - May Report

I can't believe my 2nd month having a space at the Hocking Hills Antique Barn is already over! I just got my check for $98.35 in the mail - which means I fell just $16.65 short of making rent. Better than April, but still not great - especially considering I ran a week and a half long 25% off sale for Memorial Day! I figured I would sell quite a bit during that, but only sold 3 items. :(

So, now I am trying to figure out what my plan of attack for June is... if I can't get it together here in the couple of months I'm going to have to give up the idea, which I really don't want to do!

First, let's look at what has sold and see if there is any pattern:

Sold in April

New In Box Horseshoes Set - $16.20
Tender Heart Care Bear Glass - $4.00
Cheer Bear Care Bear Glass - $4.00
Vintage General Electric Iron - $18.00
16 Piece Blue Flower Dish Set - $10.00
Pyrex Butterfly Gold Butter Dish - $6.00
White McCoy Pottery Planter - $7.00

Sold in May

Floral Serving Platter - $8.00
Blue & Gold Swan Figurine & Soap Dish Set - $12.00
Round Green McCoy Pottery Planter - $9.00
Set of 2 Floral Ceramic Vases - $25.00
Yellow McCoy Pottery Planter - $5.00
Wood Picnic Basket - $12.00
Vintage American Family Scale - $10.00
Green Hull Pottery Planter - $6.00
Vintage Cookie Gun - $6.00
Hull Pottery Green Drip Planter - $6.75
Blue Esmond Serving Bowl - $6.00

Well, the McCoy and Hull planters seem to be fairly popular, but to be fair I did load up my outside space with a TON of planters... Plus I priced them under $10.00, which seems to be the favorite price range of the things that have sold. In fact only 5 things I sold were over $10.00 - even during the 25% off sale the three things that sold were already under $10.00 (or less)!

I have already decided I need to go down there this week and cut some prices, and I guess looking at these results that is probably the right move. The Barn isn't a fancy antique mall, where you expect prices to be on the high end, and I guess the numbers here are proving that in general people aren't looking to spend a whole lot when they are shopping there.

Pricing things lower isn't really that big of a deal when you look at the grand scheme of things - it is less work for me to sell something at the Barn rather than online, for sure - no photos, no packaging, no marketing... Plus my commission fee is only 7%, which is less than what I pay on an eBay sale for sure. And when you figure that a good chunk of what I have for sale down there is stuff that sat online for a long time without selling, getting anything more than what I paid for it at this point is a good thing!

Other than lowering prices, the only other thing I can do is start shopping specifically with the Barn in mind - which is kind of tough at this point, since I haven't been there long enough to really get a good idea of what kind of things are selling. It all seems pretty random at this point, but maybe after another month or so I will be able to get a better handle on it...

So there's the scoop, I'll let you know how June goes - keep your fingers crossed for me!