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Thanks Liz. I think you’re right! No manufacturer or serial number unfortunately. It’s smaller and shorther than other speculums/specula (?) I’ve seen, so maybe vetinary or paediatric. I’ll list it on Etsy in the ‘curiosity’ section of my shop. Someone somewhere is bound to want it.
Hi Ryanne
This looks very much like an asbestos board! Very common up to 1980s as a heat resistant board. The fibres are very dangerous. Please do not cut into it!!
In the UK it must be disposed of professionally.
Bag it up securely and get rid of it.
Not worth the risk.
LesleyI’m hoping this will be a net positive for our (very small!) business. We aim for a high margin on all our items to cover our time. The increased fee is still only a small percentage. We will look at our shipping charges and probably increase those to cover the new 5% on shipping.
The packages they are offering seem aimed towards their ‘handmade’ sellers, who are brand building. I don’t think this is relevant to sellers of unique vintage stuff.
Most vintage sellers on Etsy seem very small. I don’t come accross very many with more than 1,000 items. I don’t think these tiny businesses will want to pay an additional monthly fee on top of listing fees and final selling fees.
Hi instagrammers!
I’m dig_vintage_stuff
Just followed everyone. I have sold a few things after posting them on Instagram. I try to seek out and follow vintage fans who are actively buying. I’m an Etsy seller and Instagram does drive some traffic to my Etsy shop.
Often forget to post though 🙂I’ve not googled the names (yet!) but usually take a look at the house via postcode search in google maps.
This is totally legitimate research.
Absolutely normal, utterly fascinating and habitual.
This is understated gentle British comedy at it’s very best. Mackenzie Crook writes, directs and stars – he’s a genius. We are watching the third and final series on the BBC at the moment. It’s the very last episode this evening!
This week’s numbers, 4th December to 10th December (converted to US dollars at 1.35 from GBP)
Total Sales: $927 (Etsy $811 / Ebay $116)
Number of items sold: 18 (Etsy 15 / Ebay 3) 13UK, 4 USA, 1 Finland
Total items listed: Etsy 654 / Ebay 82
Cost of Goods Sold: $49
Highest price sold: $242 Vintage spinning wheel
Average price sold: $51.5
New listings: 23Another great week for us on Etsy. It’s definitely the seasonal gift buying effect and it will certainly drop off as we approach the holidays. We had three higher dollar items sell – another Art Deco mirror ($175), a typewriter ($168) and a vintage spinning wheel ($242). Packaging fun time!
I won’t be listing much now till after the holidays. This week is the print deadline for our magazine business – so I’ll be full on with graphic design and proofreading. Then on the 15th our rental tenants move out, so we’ll be deep cleaning, doing minor repairs and getting it ready for new tenants. We’ll also start our own bathroom renovations – ripping out our shower and installing a new one.Etsy is definitely more fun for us. Buyers are friendly, polite and willing to pay a premium for vintage stuff.
I hope the furry canoe santa buyer pays, but if they don’t you could list him on Etsy. He’s vintage, handmade and expensive. Perfect for Etsy!
Bingo is big in northern England. Lots of older women, big marker pens, junk food and serious ‘eyes down’ concentration.
I think it’s a fairly modern re-interpretation of her image with added dark eye-make up to make her more appealing to modern tastes…1950s/60s dishes I’d say
Hi Sharyn
It’s Marie Antoinette – last queen of France. Famously saying of the peasants who were starving for lack of bread ‘let them eat cake’!
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ANTIQUE-HEART-SHAPED-PORCELAIN-MARIE-ANTOINETTE-TRINKET-OR-PIN-DISH-NUMBERED/192379461738?hash=item2ccab5a06a:g:Id8AAOSwyc1ZodGfOmfug T-Satt, Etsy is working well for the kind of stuff I enjoy buying/researching/listing, although to be honest, I don’t think I’ve given Ebay a fair chance yet! Etsy rules say vintage is 20 years old. Nonsense of course, but I’ll roll with it. So, newer stuff goes on Ebay. I also use it for rare(ish) collectables. So recently sold a 1936 Gold Monopoly on Ebay. But that kind of item is difficult to find. I also have some vintage china/ceramics which I hope will sell to customers looking to replace broken/missing items in their sets. We’ll see how that goes.
The problem for me with Ebay is that I come to list an item and just know it will sell for more money on Etsy, so it ends up there. Fees are lower and customers are delightful.
Maybe I’d sell stuff quicker on Ebay, but I don’t think I’d make as much money per item or as an hourly rate equivalent.
I’d be very interested to see figures from sellers who have similar volumes/types of stock on both platforms.I have storage envy! That’s a fabulous building. I have half a UK garage (that’s a small thing), some bookshelves and ‘vintage displays’ all over the house!
First time posting my numbers (converted to US dollars at 1.35 from GBP)
Sales: Etsy $705 / Ebay $8
Number of items sold: 22 (15 UK, 5 USA, 2 Italy)
Total items listed: Etsy 645 Ebay 85
Cost of Goods Sold: $40
Highest price sold: $229 Art Deco Mirror (shipped to Italy)
Average price sold: $32.40
New listings: 20We’re hitting our limits on storage space, so we’ve hatched a plan to turn our bedroom into a storage room, convert the living room to our bedroom and reconfigure our (relatively big) kitchen to include the living room function.
We’ll also free up the other half of my garage over the holiday period as we plan to install the pink art deco bathroom suite (Ebay purchase $135) we have stored in there. Work should start on that project mid December.
Sales are definitely ramping up for us – we sell lots of stuff suitable for gifts (if your friends/family like vintage) books, ceramics, kitchenalia, vintage home décor, toys etc. I know it will slow down soon. I’d like to have around 1,000 total listings and, like most of us, I’m working on upping that average selling price.
I would honour the sale. It’s simply the right thing to do.
I love your podcasts and admire your transparency and honesty, but I feel sad that you cancelled the sale.
Sure, no one likes to feel like they are ‘losing money’, but actually the original selling price is the one you set based on the research you had done and your experience. You set it at a level you were happy to accept, given the work you had put into it. The original buyer just knew more about the item than you did.
This information imbalance is one of the things that enables us to do what we all do. In fact, we completely rely on it to buy our stock at a low enough price to profit from the re-sale. I think we have to accept that sometimes we will be the ones who do not realise the ‘full value’ of something.
That feeling when something sells really quick is always a mixed one. Great, it sold, but – oh no, I priced it too cheap! I am a fool and I know nothing! We just have to learn from it for next time.Doing business online provides a de-humanising distance which can lead us to behave in ways we wouldn’t dream of behaving face to face, with real human beings. Imagine that the original buyer is someone in your community. Someone you shared your Thanksgiving meal with. Someone with whom you wish to build community.
Do you still cancel?$1, $100, $1,000 or $10,000 +++ makes no difference.
Good business practice and integrity have no price tag.Hello fellow etsy sellers!
New to the forum and based in Leeds, UK.
I’ve been selling vintage on Etsy for a couple of years, ramping it up in the last 6 months. Sales are steadily increasing as we list more stuff (currently at 583 items).
http://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/DigVintageStuff
I also sell different stuff (non vintage or more specialist ‘collectable’) on a personal Ebay account (digvintagestuff).
About half of my Etsy sales are to US customers – despite high shipping costs.
I love selling on Etsy and would like to grow my shop to 1000+ listings by Christmas.
Lesley
