Tag: Selling tips

What are a few tips for when you hold your own estate sale?

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn Estate Sales, Selling tipsLeave a comment

Whenever you start to buy vintage and collectible items at sales and antique malls, you will eventually come to the point where you will want to sell some of it off.  One of the ways that you can sell some of your items off is with an estate sale.  What are some things to remember when you hold one yourself?

Make sure that you have good traffic flow.  You will want the buyers that come out to look at their own pace, so keep items for sale to both the perimeter and the center of each room.  This way there will be enough room for a couple of people to stand and look at the items without holding up the rest of the shoppers.

Enlist some help.  Have several people at the sale so that they can help with everything from being the cashier to help load the heavy items.  I have seen people bring in some food for the people running the sale to go along with paying them a portion of the sales for them helping out.

Have a plan for the items that did not sell.  This could be donating the items to a local charity or secondhand store that takes donations.  Another thing that you could do is to set them off to the side and you can have items ready in case you have another sale down the road.

This is only a few of the tips for when you have your own estate sale.  What are some others that you have heard of?

What are some tips for the beginning antique dealer?

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn Selling tipsLeave a comment

You have attended auctions and estate sales and have even headed out to flea markets, antique malls and even some garage sales.  Now you have decided to take the plunge and start to sell vintage and collectible items.

What are some things to remember when it comes to selling off some of the deals that you have found along the way?

If you are selling an electronic item like a video game console, see if it is possible to test the item.  If it does, you can get a little more money for it.  Not only that, you can also give any potential customer more confidence about it if they want to buy it.

If you are going to be selling items for a good amount of time, you need to keep an eye open to see what is selling and what’s not.  This way you don’t spend hard earned money on items that have the potential of never selling or taking a long time to do so.

Condition is the biggest hurdle to cross when it comes to making sales.  I have seen people walk away from an item if the item is broken or has missing pieces.

This is a few things to remember when you are beginning to sell items.  What are some of the tips that you have run across?

What are some things to expect when you begin to sell antiques and collectibles?

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn Selling tips2 Comments

When you dive into selling antiques and collectibles, you quickly find that there are some expectations when you sell an item.

What are some of the things that you should expect to happen when it comes to selling antiques and collectibles?

You will sell quite a few items that are priced below $100.  I cannot count how many items that I have sold over the years that are below $100.  There are several reasons that can account for this—it could be the shopper wants to decorate with the item or it could be a gift for a friend or loved one.

Another reason is that selling the high-priced items will take a little longer to do.  It’s not that the item has a problem with it or that no one wants it, but rather it might take someone a lot of thinking about in order for them to break out the money and buy it.

You will get an offer on an item that you are selling that you will not be able to take.  I have heard of several reasons when a price is not accepted, but the most common reason is that the offer on the piece for sale is too low.

This is a small handful of things to expect when it comes to buying and selling antiques and collectibles. What others have you run across?

Online Photos

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn Selling tips, Tips for the beginnerLeave a comment

Have you thought about selling off some of the items that you have around the house?  If the answer is yes, how do you go about getting the photos to the online selling site like eBay or Etsy?

You must have a digital camera.  There are many options on the market, like a DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex camera that has interchangeable lenses) or even a point and shoot digital camera.

Any digital camera will give you the ability to upload photos to a selling site.

The site that you choose for selling your item will have instructions for listing and uploading your pictures.  If you are familiar with uploading pictures to a blog, it’s always a very similar procedure.

Selling sites make all of this very easy.  Don’t be afraid to try your hand at online selling.

My tip to you is this:  your computer has a limited amount of room to store your pictures, and the pictures can be pretty large (especially if they come from a DSLR camera).  If I were you, I would be sure to back up all of them.

What kind of camera do you like to use?

The ever-changing marketplace

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn Selling tipsLeave a comment

Today’s hot buys in the secondhand marketplace might be stone cold by the time you decide to begin unleashing them on the public.  Buyers are very fickle when it comes to what they buy.


Shabby chic could be in one year, then fifties modern the next.  It could be Depression glass even.  Several years ago here in my area, Jadeite was white-hot.  You could not keep it on the shelves, no matter what the piece (or the price) was.  You know what?  Now you can’t give it away, even if you mark it as “FREE.”

As a dealer, you must be willing to change with the times.  You might love kerosene lamps and high-priced graniteware, so you’ve filled your shelves with them.  The guy next to you is unloading advertising signs and designer marked jewelry.

You have to learn to watch.  Then you have to anticipate and move or the crowd in the isle will pass you by.

What kinds of items are selling in your area?

What are some tricks that produce great photographs of jewelry?

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn DIY, Photography, Selling tips, Tips for the beginnerLeave a comment

When it comes to selling jewelry, it is often said that a picture is one of the best-selling tools that you have.  What are some of the tricks that can you use to produce a fantastic photograph?

There will be times when you produce nothing but blurred, out-of-focus pics, or photos that show the item off-center.  A simple tripod will help you eliminate these problems.

I often use a mannequin arm to highlight the beauty of a bracelet or ring, and a bust or a necklace display.  Another option is to use a real-life model for the jewelry.  This could be your sister, brother, or even one of your children.  This type of display helps the buyer know what the jewelry could look like when they have it on before they purchase it.

Don’t be afraid to play with the settings on a camera.  We all know that digital cameras come with a macro setting.  Make sure to try the settings for night shots, fireworks, or even snow pictures as well.  You never know which setting will show off a piece’s best attributes!

Take a ton of pictures along the way.  Play with the angles of the photograph, and even use the flash of the camera.  You can even put a table lamp near the jewelry near the jewelry to help give the stones in the piece more of a sparkle affect.  What works for me is to use natural daylight.

I even play with the background as well.  If you have something that has a silver tone to it, a dark backdrop behind or underneath it really plays up the shine.  A piece of construction paper can be all the backdrop you need.

Another way that you can make those pictures “pop” is to take a piece of glass (this can be from a picture frame that you are not using anymore) and lay it on top of a piece of colored construction paper—the reflection of the jewelry can be picked up in the glass. There is a product called a light box, which can produce a “halo” effect around something like a pendant.  Instead of investing tons of money on this equipment, a flashlight can come very close to doing the same effect.

So what kinds of tricks do you use to take photos of jewelry?

Three things to consider when you sell an item online

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn Selling tips, Tips for the beginner, Vintage, Vintage, Vintage!Leave a comment

When I first started to sell online, there were some things that I found out pretty fast.  Here’s a few of them:

The weight of an item matters.  This will be a major factor of how much shipping and handling that you charge for an item.  The weight will be a combination of the box, packing materials and the item itself.  A good rule of thumb is to find a box that is a little bigger than the item to you are shipping, but not too big—it will definitely cost you more.

There are restrictions on what items can be sold.  Each website that you sell on will tell you what you can and CAN NOT sell, and each selling website will tell you when you set up your seller’s account.  If you already have seller’s account, you can find this pretty fast in the HELP section of the website.

Use social media to your benefit.  Facebook, Twitter and even Pinterest come in very handy when you want to spread the word that you have listed an item—I usually include a photo when I am on one of these sites so people can also see what’s for sale.

This is just a few of the things to consider when you sell an item online.  What other things have you found out?

What are some tips when you attend an estate sale?

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn Beginning to collect, Estate Sales, Selling tips, Shopping tips, Tips for the beginnerLeave a comment

When I started to sell items online, one of the types of sale that I found are estate sales.  When you go to an estate sale, the contents of the house are usually for sale.  I have heard them referred to as a tag sale and even an estate liquidation.

Estate sales are a wonderful way to find some bargains, but what are some tips to remember when you attend one?

The first thing to remember is that all sales are final.  You need to be careful with this—check everything carefully for damage and to see if any electrical items that you are interested in work.  When you attend a sale, you will most likely see signs that read either ALL SALES ARE FINAL or even one  that reads ALL ITEMS ARE AS IS / WHERE IS.

The next thing to remember is to bring cash.  The people that are running the sale may not have the ability to run a credit card or accept your check.

Another thing to remember is to bring the muscle.  You may need to load a very heavy piece, like a piece of furniture.

The last tip to remember is that there will be times that you can get a discount on the price of the item you are interested in.  The estate sale company that runs the sale will usually have the sale over a couple of days.  The first day will usually be full price while the second day will have 10 to 25 percent off and the third day could be as much as half off the price.

When I go to an estate sale, I am now in the habit of seeing if there is a discount the day I attend.

This is only a few of the tips to remember when you attend an estate sale.  What kinds of tips have you run across?

Simple things to remember to help keep the cost of shipping supplies low

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn Selling tips, Tips for the beginner, Vintage, Vintage, Vintage!, Wisdom LaneLeave a comment

When you start to sell items on the internet, one of the things that could eat up any profits are shipping costs.  There are plenty of ways to help keep costs low, and here’s a few of them:

Grocery stores like Wal-Mart will set aside some boxes for you if you ask them to.  They will give you a wide variety of sizes so you can pack any number of items.

If you have a paper item (like an ad or even the cover of a record), you can use plastic bags from stores to help keep it from getting wet.  Make sure that you also put a piece of cardboard with it to help it from not being bent.

When you are packing an item, a good substitute for packing peanuts is newspaper.  Make sure that you use plenty of it so that the item you pack with it doesn’t move around and get damaged while being mailed.

This is just a few of them, what kinds of tips have you heard of?

3 simple tips to remember when you sell an item online

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn Selling tips, Tips for the beginnerLeave a comment

You decided not to long ago to sell some of your items around the house, and some of your item have sold.  What are some simple tips that you need to keep in mind to help things go smoothly?

Tip number 1—when selling items online, make sure you have a scale to help weight items you are shipping.  You don’t have to worry about getting a scale from the post office—you can use a bathroom scale if it registers anything less than a pound (this will help with first class mail).

Tip number 2—make sure that you pack the items you sell as good as you can.  When I pack an item, I will use bubble wrap and packing peanuts to help keep the item I sold from getting broken.  You never know what might happen when the item is being shipped.

Tip number 3—If you are unable to get an item you sell to the Post Office, you can always schedule a pickup with them.  This can be very useful if the weather outside is bad or if you have to get to work (you can tell the post office to come where you work if it’s ok with your boss).

This is just 3 tips to remember when you sell an item.  What kinds of tips have you run across that help you out?