I haven't done a great job taking booth photos every week when I visit, sometimes I forget my camera, or I get sidetracked and only snap a few item photos for my Craigslist ads and forget to take some of the entire booth. What can I say, I'm getting old I guess! ;) Here is a few of the photos I did remember to take, so you can get a general idea of the progression over the last two months (click to enlarge):
October 2nd, 2013
October 7th, 2013
October 31, 2013
November 20, 2013
It looks a bit different now, especially since I added this Kroehler chair the other day - which was no small feat, let me tell you - but with the help of my awesome Dad I made it work! I wish I would have remembered to photo the whole booth, maybe next week...
I also squeezed in another chair, which is really neat - the frame of it is super heavy metal, very old school!
The biggest ticket item I have in the booth is this amazing 1960's Universal Statuary tree wall hanging - it weighs a TON and I've got a price of $100 on it. I had one inquiry about it from the Craigslist ad I posted for it, but no one has bought it yet.
OK enough showing stuff off, I know what you are wondering - what's sold? Here's the breakdown:
October
Vintage Space Heater - $25.00
Woman Portrait Painting - $30.00
Metal Cafe Wall Plaque - $19.80
Vintage GE Toaster - $12.00
2 Owl Wall Plaques - $8.00
School Poster - $3.00
Lot of 26 School Posters - $45.50
Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook - $5.00
Betty Crocker Cookbook - $15.00
Brass Duck Fireplace Tools - $40.50
Santa Salt & Pepper Shakers - $4.00
Brass Hourglass - $20.00
Total: $227.80
- Rent $72.00
- Commission $20.58
= $135.22 Profit (not counting cost of items or time spent working)
November
Quail Figurine - $3.00
2 Angel Figurines - $4.00
6 Plastic Sundae Cups - $12.00
Party Platter Food Warmer - $18.00
McCoy Cookie Jar - $16.00
Vintage Telephone - $18.00
5 Boy Scout Signs - $15.00
Glass Rifle Bottle - $28.00
Butterfly String Art - $12.00
3 Boxes of Christmas Ornaments - $22.00
Wood Fork & Spoon - $21.60
Glass Chip & Dip Set - $12.00
Vintage Mickey Mouse Doll - $15.00
Total: $196.60
- Rent $72.00
- Commission $11.51
= $113.09 Profit (not counting cost of items or time spent working)
As you can see, I'm not losing money but I'm not turning a huge profit either. So far I've sold mostly items that are $20 and under, with a few happy exceptions, if that trend continues I imagine I will try to stock a lot of stuff in the price range, with a few larger / more expensive pieces thrown in for good measure. It's tough with the amount of space that I have, it is a half booth rather than a full one, so fitting things in is tricky business!
I'll try to post a December update next month - please let me know in the comments, do you like hearing all the specifics of my booth adventure? Did the string of numbers put you to sleep? Would you prefer a condensed version instead? Or maybe you would prefer a weekly update here, similar to what I've been posting over on Facebook? I don't know how many of you all have booths yourselves, or are thinking of getting one, so I don't know what interests you all the most - thanks in advance!
I love seeing your pictures and reading all of your statistics! Sounds like you're doing a great job! ~~Pam
ReplyDeleteDefinitely want to hear the specifics. My wife and I have been going back and forth on starting a booth somewhere in our local area, so the gritty details are just what we love hearing!
ReplyDeleteDave
I like hearing about your booths and seeing pictures. It's nice to know what items sell for you and what people in your area pay. I need to start posting more on my blog. We have 2 spaces and it's hard sometimes to keep up with both and do everything else that needs to be done. By the way, I love your big flying birds from the 60's. I had some of those once and sold them on eBay. Keep on posting!
ReplyDeleteJackie
First - Dave, just do it! Getting a booth space (at least around here) seems to be the hardest part! Once you get your feet wet you can decide if it's gonna work or not. If you enjoy thrifting, flea-ing and or estate sale-ing and have a good eye for value you'll do fine.
ReplyDeleteSecond - Mitzi, after crunching some numbers I'm confused by how your antique mall charges commission. It appears that in October they charged you like 5.85% commission and in November they charged about 9.47%. Otherwise, according to advice gathered from people I respect and feel like know what they are talking about, you're doing fine. I've been told that you should be taking in about 3 times your rent and you seem to be doing just that. That said, (IMHO) it looks like you might have been under pricing some items. The Metal Cafe Art looks like a Curtis Jere piece that you might have gotten anywhere from $50 to $100 for, and the Butterfly String Art...I'd have asked at least $35 for...but probably more like $55! That stuff is hard to come by and even more rare in such a widely desirable form! Given that you are limited by your space as to how many large items you can sell, you really should make the best of your smalls.
Thanks for chiming in on the post everyone - I will definitely keep doing at least a monthly breakdown post for you all! :)
ReplyDeleteMr. Modtomic - Where I am charges extra commission when the buyer uses a credit card, so my amount of commission paid per month will vary depending on how many people use a credit card to pay.
The metal cafe wall art thing was from Enesco, so I priced it around what I saw some sell for online. That was one of the items where someone asked for a discount - the mall policy is for any item over $20, if the person asks for a discount they give them 10% off. If you see a weird number of cents on a price it means they got the discount.
The butterfly string art I would have charged more for, but the felt backing was not in the greatest shape - it had some spots and some small holes (I found it hanging in a basement at an estate sale). I almost kept it for myself actually but decided it was something that might sell in the booth so I threw it in there. ;)
Keep posting! What part of the country are you in - the mall space? We pay about $120/mo. for a case - you have more space at $72. :-)
ReplyDeleteHi Karen, I'm in Columbus Ohio, my booth is in Delaware, Ohio, which is about half an hour north of here. Delaware is a smaller town, but there are 3 antique malls all together on the main street downtown so they get pretty good traffic. I can't imagine paying $120 for just a case! That's crazy! I have a half booth - a full booth is around $140.
ReplyDeleteI was noticing how good your pictures are - sharp & bright. I have a terrible time taking pictures even with an expensive camera. They are dark, grainy, have a blue or yellow tone. Most of the pictures I end up using are not very good. How do you get such good pictures of your items?
ReplyDeleteI struggle with photos a lot, I rarely get good ones straight out of my camera, I have to take them into Photoshop and fix them up. Usually brightening them, and adjusting the white balance on them makes them much much better. If you can't get Photoshop, there are other free photo editors out there that you could play around with.
ReplyDelete