- This topic has 12 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 5 years, 9 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
-
Hi, all! I’m new to the forum but have been lurking for a couple years. My husband and I have been selling on ebay for a number of years – mostly the model kits he sculpts, but I make ends meet with vintage stuff. I’ve always been a bit half-hearted about it, even though I’m pretty good at finding stuff. I get caught up in the generalist vs. specialist conundrum and never quite know what to do in that regard. I recently decided to get more serious, and have just spent the last week gutting and organizing the garage into a work area. Now that I’m mostly organized, I’m back to worrying about whether or not I should have a curated, instagram type vintage shop or just keep throwing random stuff up on ebay.
Either way, I’m lucky to live only about 2 miles from a big Goodwill as-is, where I have found some pretty great stuff over the years! I’m always amazed when I find an 18th century book in the heaps, for example. People throw out a lot of crap, but there’s still some fantastic stuff out there to unearth. The as-is is not for the faint of heart, though, it’s hella grubby and borderline bonkers, but it’s very cheap and as close to mudlarking as I’m going to find in Oregon. It’s been nice to go there during the pandemic, weirdly, since they limit the number of people, only one person per big bin, and they don’t allow children. In normal times, it’s total mayhem, with elbowing and bickering and people grabbing stuff out of your hands.
Anyway, I’ve been enjoying this forum and podcast! Lots to learn from you all! 🙂
-
-
Hi Jay! Exactly – ebay is just sort of a flea market where I’m not so concerned about having any sort of “look” or “brand”, but it seems that in order to sell on etsy, instagram, etc. you have to create a highly stylized, curated style with specific aesthetics. I never know what I should do, it’s all so exhausting parsing what “they” say works best, haha! I like too many different things to be so narrow, but I would love to sell on etsy and instagram!
-
-
It’s easy to have a generalist store on Ebay and a specialized store on Etsy/Instagram. You can do both. There are also a lot of generalist sellers on etsy/instagram and they still have good followings. It doesn’t seem to matter as long as people like your stuff.
I see down in the thread you talk about buying and selling antiquarian books. There are a lot of book dealers on etsy/instagram that focus on that sort of aesthetic. It’s really anything goes.
-
-
-
Also, I can sell items on ig and etsy and keep more profit than on ebay. I don’t sell big-ticket items, making it harder to make a decent profit on ebay. I’ve been selling art on both places for years (whereas I can’t sell art on ebay at all). It seems to me that every channel has its own quirks.
-
-
Hi cedarheart! Fellow Oregon bin picker here. I used to go to the Milwaukie bins often, but now I’m closer to the NE location so I go there. Sounds like you have had a good experience since they reopened. I have only gone to my location once, but I’m wondering if I just went at a bad time. I got there at opening and was there a couple hours, but they never turned any tables the entire time and every bin was completely picked through by the time I got to them. People were going the wrong direction from the arrows, or taking so long at one bin and holding up the flow. How does it even work when they rotate tables? Do you just hope to be the lucky person who is in front of the new bin? I really miss going. I have found so many cool things over the years.
-
Jay – my scavenging is pretty much limited to a couple of places because my budget is quite low, and I don’t have space to store much. I do well with what I do list (especially vintage and antique books) but I just have always been a total half-ass because I get very consumed by overthinking everything to death, worrying about aesthetics, etc. I know it’s stupid, but there it is. 😉 I used to sell at a monthly flea market and did very well at that, but it’s gone now, so… here I am with a bunch of stuff that did great at the flea market but doesn’t move at all on ebay. I’m kind of having to start fresh, I guess.
Hi Cyndy! I think the Milwaukie bins is doing things pretty well, though there are the ding-dongs who are always traveling the wrong way, or the meticulous pickers who pick up and study every. single. thing. in each bin, lol. I go in the evening when it’s less busy and there are a few final rotations. It’s been very hit and miss – not really a lot of great stuff lately, though the books have been pretty great and that’s one realm I’m comfortable with picking and selling. There are a LOT of regular pickers, though, so a lot of competition. I tend to hang back and don’t bother a lot with the fresh rotations. When the crews come out to rotate tables, people RUN to get spots, it’s nuts. The few times I have happened to be there when the rotation happened, I got the table that’s just filled with plastic tubs, haha.
I don’t like the airport bins at all. I feel like it’s all clothes and nothing else, and people are even more rude there than Milwaukie. Maybe because it’s pretty small? The rudeness seems less intense in a bigger space or something?
-
Ha, that’s funny because I thought the opposite. Last time I went to Milwaukie (pre-Covid) people didn’t even wait for all the tables to be in place before they started digging, and the employees did nothing about it. But maybe because it was a busy Saturday with lots of non-regulars who don’t know the rules. I always went to Airport on weekday mornings. It was mostly regulars and they were generally courteous and even helpful towards each other.
-
They changed the rules last year at Milwaukie so everyone has to wait now – I have to say, it has improved the place a ton! They also banned several super aggressive pickers, thankfully! I’ve only been to the airport one a few times, but each time I went, I had a weird experience and didn’t find anything. I go to MIlwaukie all the time, though, because it’s like a mile from my house. I guess because I’m an outsider at the airport, I just feel out of place there.
-
-
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.