What’s Selling on Etsy June 2018

July 16, 2018 by Florence 10 Comments

Time for another edition of my monthly “What’s Selling on Etsy” series! Am I getting a late start on this or what? Here it is the middle of July!

By the way, I want to welcome all my new subscribers! I’m so glad you’re here, and hope you’ll find some tips you can use here for selling online. My main avenue is Etsy for now, but I’ve sold on Ebay for many years too. In fact, I was a Top Rated Seller there, but always took the Summers off, so when monthly volume of sales fell, so did the status.

I decided to give Etsy a try, and I’ve never looked back.

So what sold for the month of June? It was slo-o-w-w, but for me it usually is in June anyway. People are going on vacations, having family parties, and graduations.

June Etsy Sales

Vintage Southern Picks Etsy Shop

2 Vintage Swing Frames. I’ve had these a good long while, and I’ve tried the larger of the two by itself for about 8-12 mos. I repainted it and added a Shabby Chic insert, which was easily removed.

Cute or what? I thought so, but it wouldn’t sell. I never even listed the smaller one. Discouraged, I started to put them in my garage sale, but decided to try them together once and listed one more time. Success!

Sold together: $25.00

Antique Shoe Stretcher, sold to a gal in Hawaii.

Sold $18.95

Brass Boho Sun Napkin Rings, bought from a Thrift Store.

Sold $18.50

Cat lovers take note! Aren’t these napkin rings adorable? I forgot I had them. They were buried in the back of a drawer.

Truth be told, I seldom use napkin rings. In fact, we hardly use napkins LOL. Napkin rings are for entertaining. Do pickers entertain? I’d be willing to bet not much. We can’t because our “stuff” is all over the house! Pickers, am I right??

Paid $4 & one had a chip on the foot.

Sold $12.00

Pair of Vintage Clock Keys…who knows how long I’ve had these? Finally started looking through my jar of old keys I’ve accumulated at estate sales over the years.

Sold $11.00

Take it from me, and don’t buy gloves. They take FOREVER to sell!

Sold $8.00

I bought this at an estate sale last November for 2 bucks, and it’s taken a while to sell.

Sold $23.00

Vintage Tupperware lids, bought for $1 at an estate sale a while back. Before I priced these, I looked on Etsy and Ebay for comps, and was surprised to find them selling for a lot more than I would have guessed.

Sold $22.00

Such a pretty mail organizer, bought at a Thrift store.

Sold $19.00

Wool yarn I’ve had forever, and I think (hope) this is the last of any yarns or crochet spools. I don’t buy these anymore because they sit. I have to practically give them away.

14 skeins sold for…

$15.00

Wooden wall shelves for knick knacks…Last Summer I bought this and 30 little brass thingies that were in it for $10.00. I’ve sold 5 of the brass knick knack thingies already at $15/5, so now the shelf is going. Now if I can only find the other brass thingies I can start selling them.

Sold $39.00

Bought from one of the last estate sales I’ve allowed myself to attend, which was in my neighborhood…a pretty sunhat, made in England…and it’s paper, believe it or not! Paid $2.50.

Sold $17.00

This was a “home find.” Actually I knew I had this funky purse, but forgot, and wasn’t sure anyone would buy it. Made of red wool, with carved wooden frame, corduroy handles, and an interior looking like it was made of men’s ties…kind of unusual.

Sold to a gal in England. I really didn’t know how to price it either. I’m sure it was too cheap, but it’s gone, and that’s the idea. I’ve got to get rid of stuff!

Sold $28.00

I have quilts from both sets of grandmothers, and this was one of the better ones. Stored in a hot attic for years, which isn’t a good place for textiles, I’ve been anxious to rescue them before ruined by heat.

I decided to sell most of them myself if I can because most estate sale people price them $25-45.

Bought by a quilt collector, and she was delighted with it.

Sold $65.00

Sales from SquareDanceNWestern Etsy Shop

Cute Western shirt for ladies in size small. Barely worn.

Anything size small takes a long time to sell, so keep that in mind if you’d like to dabble in clothes.

Sold $18.95

That’s it for June sales…only 15, and like I said, it was slow, but I haven’t worked my shop much due to being overwhelmingly busy with downsizing and getting our house ready to sell. I haven’t had much time to blog either. See my Top Tips for Getting Seen on Etsy if you’d like to try it out.

Questions and comments, I’d love to hear them, and respond to each one.

6 Top Tips for Getting Seen on Etsy

July 9, 2018 by Florence 14 Comments

The 6 tips below are those I’ve found helpful for getting seen on Etsy, whether you’re a newb or have experience under your belt. Now we’re just skimming the surface with these 6 tips to help you start thinking about how to improve as you move forward.

Top Tips for Getting Seen on Etsy

List Often

If you’re not working your shop frequently, you tend to fall in search.

We’re downsizing and preparing for a move to a smaller house, so I’ve been very busy:

sorting through our stuff
getting ready for an estate sale
packing and moving stuff off furniture for floors to be refinished
cleaning up dust from the floor job
preparing for carpet replacement
painting a small chest to use in a Powder Room update (which you’ll hear about soon)
boxing up stuff
struggling to find a place to put stuff
wishing I didn’t have so much stuff

And it’s driving me crazy because my house looks like this!

Is it any wonder I’ve had little time to list the last couple of weeks? It definitely shows in my 2 shops. Less than 20 sales for the month is the result, but June is one of the slower months of the year anyway.

Take Great Photos

Top Notch Photos are Very Important

Here are 2 early photos of mine that are much too dark…

All those shadows on the front and sides aren’t helping these photos at all!

[click_to_tweet tweet=”Anyone selling online should have top notch photos showing their items in the best possible light!” quote=”Anyone selling online should have top notch photos showing their items in the best possible light!” theme=”style3″]

Set up your treasures with light on the front and sides, and preferably with back lighting, so the items stand out.

Here are 2 recent photos I’m much more pleased with…

Do you see how no shadows makes these photos pop?

Even if there are 10 other items just like yours for sale on Etsy, the ones with good photos will likely go first, especially if the price is comparable.

And you know what? Both these items sold, and both had plenty of competition!

I’ve found that a seamless white background works best for me, and after many years of frustration, I finally splurged on a professional light/background set-up. During all the downsizing, I had to break down my gear, and I sure miss it. I’ll have to show it to you later. It’s not perfect, and there’s a learning curve, but I’m basically pleased.

Yet, when photos turn out “less than,” PicMonkey to the rescue! It’s an easy photo editing site, no longer free, but a good deal at $48/annually. There are free ones as well.

Props? Props are fun, but too many, and there can be confusion about what you’re selling. I tend keep it very simple…no more than a stack of books or a sprig of faux flowers. Whether you use them or not is totally up to you, but they can sometimes make your photos look a bit more interesting.

Keep a Full Shop

Oh, this is a tricky one!

What’s a full shop? Ha! There’s no easy answer to that one. Some say 50 items; some say 100; some say more. There’s really no magic number, but it stands to reason that the more you have, the more you’re likely to attract an interested buyer.

Titles

Tags and titles should match pretty closely. Don’t use “retro suitcase” if you don’t have that in a tag, or the term “old suitcase” if it’s not in a tag. The most important keywords in the title need to be first, but don’t repeat a keyword too many times in the title (known as keyword stuffing).

Example:

Instead Say: Vintage Suitcase Blue Hard Side | Retro Suitcase | Old Luggage | Travel Bag | Overnight Case

Teams

Teams is a community feature on Etsy where you connect with other members. You can find teams on SEO, Pinterest, How to Sell, How to List, How to Promote, How to Grow, How to Use Calculated Shipping, Teams for Wanelo, Teams for Facebook, Teams for Instagram, Teams on Artisan Jewelry, Teams for Quilters, Teams for Vintage Lovers, Teams for Antique Lovers, Teams for Bloggers, even Teams for People who stay up all night, and many, many more!

Teams are something you can ask to join and they often have rules to follow, which are not hard to do.

Once you join, you can shadow a discussion, read, learn, get tips, promote for each other, favorite each other’s items, and many more. Join a team and find out how it works.

What I Like About Teams:

Since my niche are the vintage and antique markets, I’ve joined several of those teams. As members, we can spend time favoriting each other’s items, the theory of which supposedly gets you more exposure in Etsy land. Now I say “supposedly” because some say it doesn’t help. Others swear by it. You’ll have to make up your own mind.

What I really like are the group Pinterest boards. The more places you can pin your item, the more you will be seen.

How to Find Teams:

Go to your shop’s Home Page or the Etsy Home page

Scroll all the way to the bottom of the page

There are 4 columns of links at the bottom

Go to the 2nd one: “Sell”

“Teams” is the middle link

Once there, you can put in a query for your niche or general topics into the search bar.

Happy Searching!

I hope these 6 tips have helped you learn a bit on how to get seen on Etsy, if you decide to go that route. Of course, there are other great online sites to get started on such as Ebay, Poshmark, Ruby Lane, Amazon, and many others.

PIN THIS PLEASE!

What’s Selling on Etsy May 2018

June 12, 2018 by Florence 26 Comments

Time for the latest roundup of What’s Selling on Etsy May 2018!! The month of May was very good for me at 31 sales! If one can predict, May is usually a good month, whereas June…not so much.

I especially want to say a big welcome to all my new subscribers too!

Not that many of you would notice, but this post is a bit late coming out because we have been very busy with our downsizing and decluttering process. How could we have so many books? I’ve put away 5 big boxes alone for our future estate sale. I’m going through family records, old pictures, lots of mementos, kitchenware, drawers, cabinets, bookcases, trunks…and more to come.

During the process I have to ask…why do 2 people have 5 colanders?? 3 tea strainers when we don’t drink tea? 4 pie pans? I don’t make pies either, not to mention a metal cookie sheet with holes in it…I mean please. Tell me we aren’t the only ones. (And that’s just the easy, no-brainer stuff.)

Last weekend we had our hardwood floors refinished, and for anyone who has done that, you know it’s a lot of preparation before and after. The “dustless” floor refinishing is not all it’s cracked up to be. We had to be out of the house completely for about 4 days, and I’m still cleaning and putting things back into place.

So that’s just a bit of what’s been going on with me.

Sales in Vintage Southern Picks Etsy Shop

My first attempt at selling vintage glass beakers…surprisingly they were favorited a lot, but took a while to sell.

Paid: 50¢/both

Sold: $18.00

A gorgeous bedspread/coverlet, machine embroidered with 2 shams. Surprisingly in very good shape with no pulls and only 1 stain. If it were me, I would never buy anything white, but I’m glad it wasn’t me!

Paid: $2

Sold: $80.00

70’s KJV Bible…sold very quickly. I’ve had this a long time, but not listed long.

Paid: $1.66

Sold: $25.00

Very pretty, ornate brass folding shelf, found at a thrift store. Its flaw was a missing screw…an easy fix. Sold to a collector.

Paid: 99¢

Sold: $22.00

One of the early Caboodles boxes. It was holding Y2K supplies in the basement for 20 years, and it was grimy, but it cleaned up nicely.

Sold: $32.50

A recent vintage find…”Going to Grandma’s” boys’ suitcase…in great shape, all except for the name on the front. I tried every remedy known to man to get that off, but couldn’t, so decided to try it anyway. It sold pretty quickly.

Paid: $5

Sold: $29.90

A very unusual vintage clock, mounted in a piece of a wooden log…at least I thought it was unusual, only to discover there were various versions on Etsy already…both newly made and older. I’ve had this several years, and hubby fixed it as it wasn’t working when purchased from an estate sale. I tried it on Ebay a while back, but it wouldn’t sell.

Paid: $6.00

Sold: $34.95 (probably too cheap, but I don’t like to sit on it forever.)

5 vintage metal crochet hooks, made in England. I can’t even say what I paid for these because they were dumped in the bottom of a knitting bag I bought who knows when.

Nearly 2 weeks after they were shipped, the buyer contacted me to say I shipped them to the wrong address. Whaaat?? I looked back and saw it was the address on file for her, but she had neglected to give me her new address. So I’m supposed to know it by mental telepathy??

Sold: $12.00

I was happily surprised this vintage enamelware set in the fruit pattern sold. There are a lot of them out there, but this had several pieces…3 cereal bowls, large bowl, and a mug. Not even close to pristine condition.

Paid: $10.00

Sold: $38.00

I’ve had these 2 Federal drinking glasses so long, they were already in the donation pile when they sold.

Paid: $1.32/both

Sold: $15.00

Just a simple Samsonite vintage train case, if an unexciting color.

Paid: $5

Sold: $32.00

Hexagonal mirrored tray. The finish was wearing a bit along the side rails, but I didn’t think it looked too bad. In fact, I pointed out that it had a bit of a mercury glass look to it.

Paid: $2.09

Sold: $24.00

I had 4 vintage Josef’s mouse figurines. This is #3. Sold to a gal in the Netherlands.

Paid: 50¢

Sold: $9.99

These were the coolest Over-Bed Lights with an MCM atomic look. Selling for a friend.

Sold: $40.00

Pretty little vintage wooden box I painted, stenciled, and papered inside. I renewed it twice, which means it took about 3 months to sell.

Paid: $2.50

Sold: $17.50

2 pieces from a vintage “Poor Cinderella” Madame Alexander doll. I don’t even know where I got these. They were destined for the donation pile too, when they sold.

Sold: $16.00

“Precious Moments” is out, I’ve heard, so I was surprised this finished cross stitch piece (unframed) sold. I cross stitched it myself back in the ’80’s.

Sold: $16.88

Vintage round train cases are ever popular.

Paid: $5

Sold: $34.00

Men’s vintage safety razors by Gillette that are adjustable are also insanely popular. They are very hard to find these days. This model is called a “Fat Boy,” and dates from the 60’s. It sold very quickly.

Paid $2.00

Sold: $40.00

A very pretty shower curtain ring set. Sold fairly quickly.

Paid: $1.99

Sold: $18.00

Vintage pretty gold switch plates, made in Italy. These are quite attractive painted too, but I didn’t take the time.

Paid: $2.00

Sold: $15.00 (much too cheap)

Pretty little English tea tin I found in Greensboro, Alabama when we were going to visit “The Pie Lab.” Found in a junk shop going out of business.

Paid: $1.00

Sold: $14.00

Vintage Dudley padlock, sold to a guy in England.

Paid: 25¢

Sold: $12.95

I was a little embarrassed at listing this ugly vintage toilet paper holder and towel ring because they didn’t look good at all with finish peeling and parts scratched. We were planning on painting it and putting it in our motorhome, but changed our minds because the thickness of the wall wasn’t deep enough for the recessed toilet paper thingy.

You can only hope that people read the description and look at the pictures. Some don’t though, but I haven’t heard anything back, so guess it’s OK.

Paid $2.07

Sold: $18.00

Vintage metal bookends that have been sitting around in my stash a long time but never listed. Sold quickly.

Paid: ?

Sold: $18.00

Another thing I’ve had a long time, but never listed. Hubby thought we would keep it, but now we’re downsizing, so out it goes.

Paid: ?

Sold: $22.00

I thought I was silly to buy this vintage digital clock radio, but I did it anyway.

Paid: $1.00

Sold: $18.60 (probably too cheap)

Sales in SquareDanceNWestern Etsy Shop

A black and white Square Dance skirt. Selling for a friend.

Sold: $29.00

2 Men’s Shirts sold to the same buyer

I’m sure you’re wondering why a men’s Square Dance shirt is lavender! It’s to match his lady’s dress! (And men wear pink shirts too!)

Sold: 21.00

Sold $20.00

Ladies’ Square Dance elastic belt.

Sold: $15.00

That’s it folks. Hope you found something of interest. If so, tell me what you liked.

Sharing with these link parties….

Check out these other posts too…you know you want to!

16 Vintage Finds That Turned into Huge Buying Mistakes

May 29, 2018 by Florence 20 Comments

Having just had a garage sale a week ago, I can’t help but reflect on the fact that I gladly sold several ~~dud buys~~ vintage finds, mostly at a loss, but at least I got something for them. But there were many that wouldn’t even sell in the garage sale! Enjoy the 16 Vintage Finds that Turned into Huge Buying Mistakes. Live and learn!

By the way, if you’re new here, I normally share what sells for me online every month, but I like to tell what doesn’t sell as well because you can learn a lot from that. For more on that topic, see “And Then There’s What Won’t Sell.”

Lest you think I’m a total bomb, I have over 1300 sales in my Etsy shop, and well over that on Ebay, but some of these vintage buys below have me stumped.

The 16 Vintage Duds Buys

4 Veggie Wall Plaques with hangers for the kitchen…cute but why didn’t they sell?

Didn’t even sell at garage sale!

$1/ea

Best of the Ames Brothers record. Has anyone even heard of the Ames Brothers? Vintage records do sell, but this ~~dud~~ one won’t. Sigh. It wasn’t even in the garage sale.

Cricket boxes…yawn.

Wouldn’t sell at garage sale for…

$1/ea

For those who like vintage apothecary tins, this should sell…but it won’t, and it’s not only full of Epsom salts, but it’s still sealed! I’m puzzled as to why it won’t go.

Wouldn’t sell in garage sale either.

But I bought this in a lot with other vintage apothecary tins that have all sold, so I’ve already made my money back on a 50¢ investment.

I bought this pretty painted firkin myself at a yard sale for $2, and back to a yard sale it went…and it didn’t sell there either! What’s wrong with it? I haven’t a clue, but it wouldn’t sell in my Etsy shop. I got tired of renewing it.

Men’s shaving paraphernalia sells, but not this Fire King shaving mug! I’ve lost count of how many times it’s been renewed. I’m trying it one last time.

I don’t understand why this Hammered Aluminum Farberware Relish Dish won’t sell. It’s in great shape; it’s vintage; it’s pretty… but it wouldn’t sell.

I tried different pictures…

Flowers in the picture,

Flowers out of the picture,

Food in the relish dish,

Food out of the relish dish.

I renewed it umpteen times on Etsy

and even tried it once on Ebay,

and it wouldn’t even sell in the garage sale either. I give up. Sometimes you just can’t win.

And it was just about the same with this vintage Wedgwood “Wellesley” bowl. Renewed umpteen times with very little interest. No interest at the garage sale either, and I even had a sign on it saying it was Wedgwood. My prices at the sale were dirt cheap too.

This was a thrift store purchase, so you know it wasn’t cheap! But no go on Etsy or in the garage sale either. Sigh.

This is a huge basket, and you see all that fruit in it, right? I want you to know I made a special trip to the store to have all this fruit on hand, so I could photograph it in the basket to show how big it is. Made no difference.

TIP: Don’t buy because YOU like it! It may not be a success story.

It’s been photographed with fruit in the basket, fruit out of the basket, and it still won’t sell. In fact, baskets generally don’t do well for me. So why do I buy them?? I like them, and I must quit buying because I like it.

Now this is a vintage Art Nouveau ornate dresser box I fell in love with at a yard sale. But you know the punch line…it won’t sell. I was hoping people could overlook the fact that the lining is missing. It’s just bare inside. I haven’t relisted it yet, because I told myself I can fix it. I even have red velvet on hand. Truth be told, I have no idea how to go about it. Does anyone know, or done this before?

I’ve looked at this floral tin so long, I think it’s ugly, and apparently everyone else thought so too. 😀 Even at the yard sale.

Now this Vintage Canasta game did sell at the garage sale! I was thrilled to get rid of it! Bought for $1 and out the door it went for $1. Yippee!

Vintage kitchen scales are hot….but not this kind. It’s too new-looking, even though it’s vintage, and originally sold by Sears. I knew that when I bought it, but I told myself it would sell. It hasn’t. It didn’t make it to the yard sale this time. I’ll probably let it go in my estate sale.

Who can possibly resist this beautiful Russian Folk Art Boho Toleware bowl? I can’t understand why it won’t sell! Yes it has the visible cut marks in the wood. Is that the problem? I don’t know. It hasn’t made it to any sales yet, so I’m still trying it a few more times in my Etsy shop. I haven’t given up yet.

Lastly, here they are again….two MCM (mid-century modern) Pennsylvania Dutch chip and dip trays made from melamine. Melamine is hot, but these are definitely NOT! Wouldn’t even go in the yard sale either.

That’s all 16 of the vintage finds I should have just left behind folks. Maybe it will help somebody. And yes, there’s more, but that’s for another day.

Did any one surprise you? Don’t forget to share ideas on how to line the little dresser box!

Sharing with these link parties…

Unexpected Lessons from Junker’s Downsizing Garage Sale 2018

May 21, 2018 by Florence 24 Comments

At last! Junker’s Downsizing Garage Sale 2018 is over! And I learned some unexpected lessons from it….Again! I think I learn these same ones every time I have a sale.

Getting ready for it took 6 months of my time off and on, and enduring the hubby complaining, “I can’t even get to my saws!” Let’s just say he was more than ready to reclaim his space. Actually he was very patient putting up with long boards full of knick knacks set up on sawhorses in our basement since way before Christmas last year.

Big relief to get rid of things that wouldn’t sell for me in my Etsy shop. Big relief to see them walk out the door with other resellers ready to try their hand with the goods. Maybe they’ll have better luck than I did. And how did I know they were resellers?

They come armed with flashlights and magnifying glasses. They’re reading the fine print on labels.

They buy unusual things…like a man buying perfume, and a makeup palette?

Men buying collectibles, like Pyrex, and dolls. Gals buying Hot Wheels, and Harley Davidson mugs.

Now it’s a lot of fun to watch people and see what they buy! I kept mum about where I got the stuff, even though I had someone ask me. I kept mum about the fact that I’m a reseller too. I don’t ever reveal that info.

The Lessons I Learned

How to Price. If you want it to move, price cheap. Price it to move.
People expect to get it for half price on the second day, because they’ve been programmed by estate sale practices. Garage sales don’t have to do that, and I don’t unless it still hasn’t sold and I want it to move. You just have to make it clear to your customers.
Don’t leave your hubby unattended for long (or other assistants helping you) because things walk out the door too cheap.
I hate to say it because it sounds racist, and I don’t mean it that way, but Hispanic customers are hard bargainers. Expect them to haggle you down endlessly.
Don’t put too much new merchandise out the 2nd day, or it will go too cheap. That was my biggest mistake, but on the other hand, I got rid of it!
Write a good ad with specifics of what you’ve got. This was my ad:

I’m chancing the rain & having a huge JUNKER’S DOWNSIZING GARAGE SALE that I’ve been working on the last 2 weeks. I have vintage dolls, vintage kitchen, mid-century modern, home decor, faux flowers, lamp shades, lots of man stuff, garden things like planters, buckets, copper pots, huge amount of lawn edging, storage containers, rolling craft shelves, vintage record player that plays 45’s, 33’s, & 78’s, with built-in speakers, 2 big wooden doors, a wheel barrow only suitable for a yard decoration, box of tile pieces, dash radio units, guitar, wooden pool cues, 7 long bead strands for making a bead curtain, large bag of white tulle used once in weddings, large bag of polyfill, vintage suitcase, bag of used shotgun shells for crafts, sewing notions, other craft items, pillows, sofa slipcover & matching throw pillows, vintage baby bed, (only suitable for repurposing the pieces, not for use as a baby bed), folding tables, lots of misc & oddities. WE HAVE LOTS OF JUNK!

My man is FINALLY cleaning out HIS junk b/c I told him if I had to do it, almost everything would disappear!

For more ideas on garage sale ads, see “What Not to Say in Garage Sale Ads.”

At least advertise on the free places (Craigs List, Facebook) and above all…show pictures!
Unwritten rule of garage sales: what you think will never sell, goes first, and what you definitely expect to sell, won’t.

What Sold Quickly

2 Huge Boxes of Dirty Lawn Edging…

…I tried to get my husband to at least pressure wash them so they would look better

…Failing at that, I suggested we throw it away, or donate since they looked so bad.

…It was the first thing that sold!

Curbside find I couldn’t get a vision for of what to do with.

…First thing that sold! (Priced at $3.)

How Being a Blogger Helped with Sales

3 Old Wooden Windows

Being a blogger at the sale was helpful when trying to sell those…not the ones pictured…they’re buried in the stack. From reading blogs, and seeing what people do with old windows, I was able to help my customer catch the vision and she bought all the old ones I had.

Rolling Storage Drawers (seen in photo below)

Old Wooden Drawer… (not pictured…a curbside find)

Being a blogger I was able to tell my customer how she could repurpose an old drawer…make shelves or put legs on it and make a table. And she bought my $3 old drawer!

Vintage Record Player

A friend gave me this old record player, used by a former Square Dance caller. It even played 78’s, but it needed work, so I was asking $10 even though I’ve seen them sell on Ebay for $150. Even if it worked, I wouldn’t have tried to sell it due to its weight…extremely heavy and shipping would be astronomical. I was lucky someone bought it, and I was thrilled to get rid of it.

What Didn’t Sell at All

I spent 30 minutes stripping these shades the day before. Must not have had any bloggers or Shabby Chic lovers at the sale! At $3/each, they didn’t sell. I would have bought them.

I was sick that this nice vintage patio table only went for $2.50 because someone assumed I was giving half price. I had just marked it down from $8 to $5 that morning. I shouldn’t have marked it down. Another lesson learned.

I couldn’t understand why this pretty faux flower arrangement never sold. I anticipated it definitely would.

(Sorry about the quality of these photos…taken in a dark basement, and I forgot to take photos for this post.)

I figured these lawn chairs would go first thing. Guess I wasn’t the only one who thought they would be hard to get out of. Or it could have been that I was asking $5 each! I’m sure they would have moved if I was asking $5/both, but I wasn’t willing to do that.

Lastly I didn’t really expect this to sell, but I was hoping…an Antique Iron Baby Bed I was asking $20 for. (3rd time I’ve tried to sell it.) One customer said she has read people are now having these old beds refurbished with more rungs to bring them up to code, and they end up in “rich people’s homes.” Has anyone ever heard of that?

Lastly, expect the unexpected. Like unexpected visitors.

Like this snake…

Slithering across our driveway just as pretty as you please! Now I’m not one of those who panics at the sight of a snake, but I didn’t think he made very good PR at our garage sale! Luckily he showed up during a lull in the steady flow of traffic.

We tried to urge him on his way, but he took a turn and curled up in this box of vintage rocker parts we were trying to sell. (By that time the box was on the driveway and the cat wasn’t there.)

And I’m like, we’ve gotta get rid of him! By that time we had another customer, and he heard us talking “snake,” and came over to peer in at the famous coiled visitor in the bottom of the plastic box. We’re like, “he’s not poisonous,” and he’s like, “it’s still a snake.”

Next, armed with a broom, we tried to poke him out, but he just stuck his head and tongue out as if to say, “Do you mind? You’re bothering me!” And he emitted some kind of awful smell.

So the broom didn’t work. Out came the water hose. Spraying a stream of water got him out of the box, but now he was coiled up in a little ball on the driveway. And the hubby sprayed and sprayed. Still he stayed curled in a ball. More spraying. Finally he uncoiled and slithered away into our Spirea bush.

I was glad he didn’t go into the neighbor’s yard, and stayed in ours. And glad we managed to get him gone before anyone else walked up. Actually, I like snakes, as long as I’m not threatened by them, or they’re poisonous, and he wasn’t. They are beneficial for eating rodents and insects.

So that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Expect the unexpected at yard sales.

But the very best thing about the yard sale?

I’ve got this!

An empty basement!!!

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