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My husband and I have talked about doing this, but we’re not young, lol. I’m 49 and he’s 52, but we’re starting to get a little burned out on the endless turmoil in our city and crazy high prices.
I use instagram to sell my artwork directly, but I honestly don’t think it drives any business to my etsy shop selling the same art. I have a link to my etsy shop in IG, but my etsy stats show that the vast majority of people looking at my etsy listings or buying items from me find my stuff through the etsy search, not via social media. I also sell vintage stuff on ebay and in an antique mall and have dabbled a little in the social media side of that, but it feels a bit like swimming through peanut butter. The people who have big followings and sell directly through IG are hardcore influencer types.
I’m a little late here, but the parts that you say feel like plastic may still be quite old – vulcanite was a popular type of plastic in the Victorian era. It’s usually black or brown, too, and carved or molded. A lot of fake jet jewelry is made from it.
almasty – that’s exactly what I’ve decided to do! I think that will work out ok for me. 🙂
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.
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?
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 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!
