everything vintage/what is it worth?

I sold more great JUNK at the flea market 2 weeks ago. I made about 200$ in sales this time—I usually make around 300$ for the weekend but it was kind of slow. This is the same inside flea market I sell at once a month only this time it was a little different. You’ll see why in a minute. I get the same spot every time and I usually have this great lady next to me who is very nice. We take turns watching each other’s stuff and catch up on business while we are there. Last time she couldn’t come because she had another show to do. So I was wondering who would be set up next to me.

It was ……………CRAZY TRASH TALKIN “JOE!” That is what I am going to call him. I hope he never comes back and he probably doesn’t want to from the sound of all the complaining he did.

Did you ever meet a non-stop talker? Yea, the kind that just keeps talking whether anyone is listening or not. I mean, no one even has to be NEAR the talker and they just keep talking. OK, now you have part of the picture. Add to the non-stop talking the way the guy looks. Straggly hair cut straight across in the front, dirty baggy clothes, big ole workin’ boots, and each eye is a different color—for real! Age looks about 70 but is probably younger (maybe even 40 but who could tell?). And then there are the items he sells and how he sets them up.

OK, he had 2 8-foot banquet tables to use but apparently they weren’t long enough so he put plywood boards over top of the tables that stuck out about a foot on each side to make the tables bigger. Oh, he sounds really clever you say—NOT! His items were a big old mess. He had dusty old adapters for cars or something, about 100 videos all stacked upright instead of sideways where you could actually read the titles, a few new umbrellas hidden under the adapters, some old single use cameras and a BIG pile of sports jerseys. These seemed to be his pride and joy. Nothing was marked with a price but when a customer would come near the table, he would start his spiel—“the jerseys are only 20.00 each. Best buy in all of Pennsylvania. You can go upstairs and get them for 50.00 or you can go to the mall and pay 100.00 but I got the best deal anywhere. Only 20 bucks. You can’t beat that anywhere. Only 20 bucks people and I got all kinds just look!” Rinse and repeat the entire time that the customer MIGHT still be standing there.

Then, when the customer starts walking away (he only sold 2 all weekend) he starts the trash talk. “Best price in PA. Oh, I guess nobody wants to spend any money anymore. You can’t get ‘em cheaper anywhere else. Just try! These people don’t wanna spend any money here. I don’t know why I came. I could go to XXXXX or XXXXX and they wouldn’t be afraid to spend their money there. You people are really cheap here! I don’t know why I bother!”

AND THEN he has this big sign with crooked letters on a huge piece of cardboard set up behind his table. It says “MENS DVDS JUST ASK.” It took me a little while to figure that one out but after he explained it to me about 10 times the first day, there was no more explaining needed. “Some places won’t let me sell this stuff but I don’t see what the problem is. I don’t let no kids see it and I keep it hidden behind the table or inside my truck when I’m outside. This is a free country. They don’t give me no problems in Jersey but when I go to Quakertown, they won’t even let me have it there. No one sees it unless they ask. This is a free country. I can sell whatever I want. No kids ever see it.I keepit hidden” He did have about 4 customers for the dvds he had in 3 cardboard boxes behind his table. He made the customers come behind his table (after stepping over trashbags and coffee cups) to open the boxes and pick through the dvds. I guess they got a good deal. I really don’t want to know!

Round about lunchtime, Joe got tired. He had told me earlier about how he beat cancer and what the treatments were like and how they don’t have any good doctors around here, and the only good ones are in New York that know what they are doing. So I felt a little sorry for him…but not much…I mostly just pitied the doctors who had to work on him. But then the day got better. He flat out fell asleep! There he was sitting in his beat up beach chair with his scraggly head hung back and snoring loudly through his big open mouth. No more talking! Customers would just pass him by and I wasn’t about to wake him up. One lady came up to him and asked him a question about a camera and he woke up for a minute but then went right back to snoring.

I tried to stay on the other end of my table for the rest of the day. He woke up after about an hour and started in on the talking again. He talked while I waited on customers. He talked while I went 4 tables away from him to fix my merchandise. He talked while I walked to the other side of the room…and it’s a big room. Mostly it was trash talk about how cheap the customers are and how much money he’s not making at “a place like this where I thought it would be better since we are inside. I can’t wait to go out in the 40 degrees again. At least people spend money there.”

Well, there were some good things. There were no bad smells emanating from his area. He didn’t eat much. He liked kids because he entertained them with a scruffy frog puppet whenever they got close to him. He did beat the cancer. So did I so we had that in common. I’m pretty sure he won’t read this. And I’m pretty sure he won’t be back!

Selling on Ebay is not quite as stressful!!

click here to visit by ebay store!!   everythingvintagesteph.com

HAMMERTAP is a great system of statistics for determining what to sell on eBay or any internet site. The stats are very specific. If gives you the best time of day to list, the best day to list, whether or not you should use an auction or fixed price format, and a list of most used keywords. That is just the beginning of using this tool. It is very helpful and worth looking at the free trial!

Another great ebook that I have read is called Thrift store goldmine. I could have written this book because I agree and use all the tips in it! The only difference for me is that I find most of my items at local estate sales and auctions rather than thrift stores but I look for a lot of the same things. This book give so many tips all in one place, it is really worth the price.   THRIFT STORE GOLDMINE

You can use youtube for uploading and using video but another site that is specifically for ebay videos is called VZAAR. All you have to do is upload the video and then search for the listing you want to insert it into, click once and it is embedded for you! Check out this FREE service at:

and check out how my listings are doing at

everythingvintagesteph.com

vintage reading and grammar books 1870+

on sale until feb. 26

storing my ebay junk before it gets listed

I go to a local estate auction almost every week. I have a few favorites but usually pick the one closest to home, which is about 15 minutes away at a firehouse every Tuesday.

I don’t even need to sign up for a number there because I am number 305 every week and I don’t even have to hold it up for the auctioneer because he knows it! Normally, when you go to an auction though, you need to show your driver’s license or other ID and sign up for a number at a registration desk. You will use that number to bid with throughout the auction. Some people raise the number in the air with every bid, others just raise it once and then keep shaking their head yes (or winking or raising an eyebrow) to continue the bid. It’s best to raise the number so the auctioneer can be SURE that you are bidding.

Try to have an idea ahead of time of the price you want to stop at or you could get carried away just trying to win the bid! I don’t have any trouble with this but some people do.

Plan to stay at the auction as long as you can because you might have to wait hours for something you have your eye on. In the meantime, you can learn a lot from the other items and what they are selling for. I went to many many auctions before I started learning what was a good price to bid on the various types of glassware, pottery, quilts and other antiques that are usually available. Now I know a good deal when I see it!

where I store my junk in the garage

I have a strategy at my auctions. I don’t talk much so I can pay attention to the bidding. I don’t take many breaks so I don’t miss anything. Sometimes I wait for certain people to take their smoke break or leave so I don’t have the competition! I bid on a lot of box lots of linens and kitchen tools. When he holds them up for bid, I count how many he has and won’t bid more than 1.00 each (depending on what it is). If there are 10 items in the box, I won’t go past 10.00 because I know I can easily sell them for 3.00 a piece. I don’t bid past 4.00 on any one tablecloth. I don’t bid past 50.00 on any one quilt, etc. I know my limits and there are always exceptions!

I arrive early and check out the merchandise. If I can’t get there early, I still walk around and check it out while the auction is going on—most places allow this but it is harder to pay attention. I usually stay until the very end because that’s when the best deals are—the auctioneer is tired and many people (competition) have already left. I use the Internet on my cell phone to check out prices during the auction if I am not sure of how much to bid. (I don’t see anyone else doing this at my weekly auction –no techies there I guess!)

Here are some of the bargains I got just this week:

A box of flatware 1.00

5 cases of new high quality gel mousepads 2.00 for a case of 10

a pile of sheet music 1.00

vintage sewing caddy 3.00

4 shoe stretchers 1.00

Shirley temple mug 5.00

Box of costume jewelry 5.00

Box of ties 1.00

I only spent 47.00 this week—I usually spend about 80-100$. I had to leave early to go to a meeting . I sell these items on ebay or the flea market or the antique shows I frequent.

gel mouse pad by KNOLL

It’s a lot of fun and also addicting!

Check out my ebay auctions  HERE!

My vintage foyer

ok, I love the flea market, both shopping and selling but here is my opinion on bargain hunters–please be kind! I have lots of regular customers at the merchants square mall in Allentown, PA where I sell every month. My favorites are those who know the price is good–come on, it’s a DOLLAR!–and they will gladly pay it and be happy. My unfavorite customers are those who try to get it for less EVERY TIME! I know, everyone likes to bargain but if the price is already 1 or 2 dollars or only 50 cents, give it a rest!

SO, there is this one lady who works at another booth in the mall. Here she comes–she picks up 2 or 3 items that might add up to 4.00. She hands me 2 dollars and doesn’t even ask if I will take it–she just expects me to!! If she tries to do this on a Friday when I am setting up, I won’t take it–if it’s near closing time, no problem. She does this every month. There is a man who comes every month too and does the same thing but at least he asks. There is another young mother who comes every month and has 2 babies in the stroller and buys about 5-10 items and for each item she asks–will you take 1$ (if it’s2$) will you take 50 cents (if it’s 1$) will you take 1.50 (if it’s 3$). Now, she is not as annoying because I can see she is buying for her children and she asks for every item and she buys a lot–quantity discounts are fine.

This kind of bargaining, will actually work against you. It makes the seller want to raise the prices because he/she knows that the cheapskates will still ask for a discount, even when it’s already a steal! I like what one of my friends says when asked about a 5.00 item “can you do better?” He says, “Sure I can do better, you can have it for 6.00. Better for me!”

Bargaining on larger items like at an antique show is fine! The item might be 10 or 20$ and sure, there is room for a discount. Most sellers expect to lower a price on a larger item by maybe 20%. But at the flea market when it is already CHEAPER than dirt–I even have people ask me to take 25 cents when it is 50 cents and even had (I think once!) a person who asked if I would take less when IT WAS A QUARTER! What do you want it for, free?? I have to pay rent you know. And gas to get here and plenty of time and effort buying and setting up and eating lunch…

So, I hope you are not one of my UNfavorite customers! I give my favorites a discount even without asking so it pays to be kind!

CHECK OUT MY EBAY STORE!

I sell lots of these vintage wooden spools!

Sold at the same flea market today that I wrote about last month. It was really PACKED! There were so many customers that I had people in front of my tables almost constantly. Sometimes they were 2 and 3 deep, looking over each other’s shoulders. I had one lady with a large walker “parked” in front of the jewelry for about 5 minutes and I could tell others were annoyed who wanted to look at the jewelry.

I only had 4 tables this time because I gave one to my son to sell stuff. He sold about 25$ and I sold about 170 $ just today. There is still tomorrow. I sometimes waited on 2-3 customers at once. Some people take a lot of time getting out their $$ so I just stick out my hand to take someone else’s 50 cents or 1.00 while I am waiting and then I might have 2 people digging in their purses for their money! It can get crazy but that is how I like it!

The Christmas items were still selling pretty well. People were buying purses and books and bottle openers and dolls and all kinds of knick-knacks. I had Barney back packs and tablecloths and a box of old paper for 50 cents a piece. People love to look through the pile.

If you live anywhere near Allentown, PA, check out merchantssquaremall.com and come on over!

neat vintage bedspread selling on ebay until Jan. 8 click on photo

too cute grandaughter!!

So now I can write about what I bought on eBay for Christmas presents since it won’t matter if my gift recipients read it! I got a vintage Star Wars game for Nintendo 64. Under 5$. Bought 2 mini tripods for cameras, 3.99 each. Bought one of those step on pedals that you plug into any outlet and it lights up the Christmas tree (or any electrical stuff) for 5$ free shipping. I wish I had bought more for gifts—I love it!

I also bought a Little Tikes video camera for my grandson that normally costs 75$ and I bought it for 45$. It was new.

I hope a lot of people got nice leather gloves this Christmas that they bought from me! I sold over 40 pair in the last month.

Some ebooks I bought for myself (not all for Christmas though!)…

A neat book about buying and selling thrift store stuff. Very detailed!  CLICK HERE

 A great book about selling on eBay that is really worth the $$ at  CLICK HERE.

 A great book about blogging that will save you TONS of time in getting started! CLICK HERE.

WHAT DID YOU BUY ON EBAY FOR CHRISTMAS THIS YEAR? Were you happy with the bargain you got??

Well, today was not very good for sales. I think I made about 50$ though but it was really slow! All the snow was gone and the sun was out but it was COLD! It was warm inside the flea market though…we are in a nice big building in an antique and collectibles mall. I sell there every month. The customers came but they were no mobs of poeple like there has been in the past in the winter months. I sold over half of my “junk” though and went home with 4 bins instead of the 9 I came with!

Most of the items I sell there are 50 cents and 1.00 so you know I sell a lot to get over 200$. The customers like it CHEAP! It’s all leftover stuff that I buy at local auctions and doesn’t work for eBay. I had a lot of Christmas stuff that I had been saving for a few months. Then I sold things like 2 old radios, china and pottery, milk bottle caps, old paper, cookbooks, scarves and mittens and hats–sold them ALL! It’s fun–I have a lot of repeat customers who come to see what new bargains I come up with!

some of my 50 cent jewelry

VISIT: merchantssquaremall.com

everythingvintagesteph.com

Awesome snowstorm we are having here in PA today! It’s a little crazy—some areas (mainly south) are getting 12+ inches and others about 4 inches—we are somewhere in the middle. I set up YESTERDAY for a flea market in Allentown, which is about 20 miles north of me. Well, it started snowing about 7AM here and already had a half-inch on the ground by 8AM when we left our town to get to Allentown. I was worried about the roads and the sale and the fact that no one likes to come out in any kind of bad weather, so why even bother going??

I am glad we went! There was NO snow in Allentown until about 2PM which is when the sale was about over. TONS of people came to the sale at Merchants Square Mall and I made about 200$ so far. The sale goes for another day and the snow is supposed to be over by morning so I am off again! The roads were pretty bad on the way home but my husband was driving and I closed my eyes for a lot of it! I get nervous if he gets too close to the car ahead and I don’t want to keep yelling at him!

We stopped for a late lunch/early dinner at the Emmaus Diner on the way home and there were only a few people there. Some guy in a Honda Civic was doing donuts in the parking lot while we watched out the huge front windows. Great pumpkin cheese cake!

 

 

just listed on fixed price

I just listed 4 pair of these leather gloves on fixed price and sold a pair in about 5 minutes! at everythingvintagesteph.com

3 weeks ago I was at my usual local auction eyeing up

on auction until 10-21

the merchandise. The first thing they sell is a bunch of boxed stuff that is outside the firehouse where they hold the auction. Some of it was just junk that didn’t sell the week before so they box it up and you buy it by the box—sometimes for 50 cents or 1.00 a box. The last couple of weeks they also had “leftover” plants from some nursery and you could get a tree for under 5.00 and mums for 1.00. I got 2 yellow ones for my yard.

 I saw a box of books I had my eye on that I later got for 50 cents but I didn’t see much else. Some old dressers, dirty rugs, boxes of glassware and dishes, and tons of other junk. Then I looked over on the grass under the trees. Halloween costumes?? OK, that might be interesting. Wow, new ones too. Some of them were Lillian Vernon and Rubies and there were probably about 100 of them on the 2 tables and in boxes under the table. My mind started racing—is he going to sell them by the piece or by the box or by the table full?

 Have to plan my strategy because this looks like a good deal. So I’m thinking, if he sells them by the piece I would be willing to pay 1$ a piece but I don’t want all those costume parts—only the real costumes. I don’t really want the skeleton gloves and the unicorn hats and the princess hats and all those leotards. I don’t know if I can sell those.

 The M&M costumes look good and the character ones like Superman and the Thing and Bugs Bunny,etc. Maybe he’ll sell them by the box or table full. How much would I pay for a box full? Gotta plan!

 So, about 30 minutes into the auction he comes over to the 

a few of these left!

tree area and gets started on the costumes. He starts them by the piece and the bid is up to 5.00 so I drop out. The first bidder only takes a few from the table. I jump in again at 1.00 a piece. He is only selling the ones on the table at first. No one else bids!! I get to pick whatever I want from the tabletop at 1.00 a piece. I am always careful—too careful—and I only take 11 costumes. Then he moves on to the ones under the table. I bid again at 1.00 a piece. The M&M ones are there and they are really cute. No one bids against me again and I get about 10 more costumes. Wow, I’m on a roll now. I hope he does the usual and puts everything that is left all together in one lot for one price and I can get them for even less than 1.00 each. Oops, he announces that he is not going any lower than 1.00 and he is going to sell the rest of them next week. Boo! I should have taken more than I did at 1.00 each. Oh well, I will list the ones I have and be ready for next week.

 Wow, this story is longer than I expected! Anyway, I list a

fixed price 6$ good until cancelled

bunch of them on eBay in fixed price and a few of the single ones on auction. I also give all the M&M and Bugs Bunny ones (and a few more) to my daughter-in-law to sell. They start selling as soon as I list them because I can start them LOW since I got them LOW. And I can’t wait until next week to get the rest of them.

Next week comes and I see the costumes inside the firehouse on the back table. The auction starts at noon and goes until “whenever.” Of course, there are other things I want to buy but by 5PM the auction is almost over and he hasn’t done the costumes! He is standing right in front of me when he says, “Oh, is anyone interested in the costumes?” I say “YES.” And the rest of the story is… I get about 30 mores costumes for 1.00 a piece and then I get the skeleton gloves and leotards and unicorn hats (all new) for 2.00 for the entire box. 

 So, you can still see a FEW of the costumes I have left at everythingvintagesteph.com. and at my daughter-in-law’s site at vintage4mykids.com. But you won’t find any leotards (sold for 6$ each) or skeleton hands (sold for 3$ each) because they are all GONE already! With eBay, you never know!!!                

NEW M&M costume

I am trying my hand at adding video to my site. Click on the video below to see a vintage quilt that is selling on ebay from Oct. 11 through Oct. 18 (and maybe later if it doesn’t sell on auction!) Follow it at: everythingvintagesteph.com

Here’s the story: I bought this quilt at a local estate sale. I think I paid about 5.00 for it–I’m not sure. It has wear and tear around the edges and it smelled a little musty when I got it. I just washed it in the washing machine and hung it over my deck to dry. A big NO NO but I figured what the heck, if I wreck it, it didn’t cost me very much!

It turned out pretty nice and smelled fresh. Then I took it to an antique sale in Kutztown, PA. I had it marked for 50.00. I didn’t sell it. (I did sell other quilts though!) So last week I decided it was time to put it up on eBay. So there it is! Follow it at: antique vintage quilt/patchwork  if you are a crazy vintage quilt lover staying up late at night just to watch quilt auctions!