BTW, the FM has been really slow, but when I checked one of the AM's, our sales were really strong for the first 2 weeks in October. I was surprised that we had sold so much stuff, and very thankful at the same time.

Clovis, Glad to hear you had a good vacation and are back home safe and sound. Hopefully the FM sales pick up soon ---

I have an interesting situation to share with you folks. The FM where I have my booth was filmed for an episode of Ghost Hunters -- apparently while I was laid up after hip surgery. I know no other details or even when it will air, but I have to think this publicity, once it finally airs, will help the sales at the market. So once again I'm biding my time, hoping for better things down the road. The owner is VERY excited about it all and is sworn to secrecy about details. What do you all think about this development?

My Amazon account is in the doldrums (probably gearing up for Christmas - I hope) but my book booths are doing surprisingly well. I got a bunch of sci-fi and romance novels recently, and put some of the shabbier-looking ones in my booths for 25 or 50 cents.

You would NOT believe how well they're selling! :rock:

There have been lots of sellers at the FM who specialize in pulp paperbacks.

I am kicking myself for passing up a small lot of pulp PB's a few weeks ago. They were in beautiful condition.

They used to fly off the shelf at $1 each.

It's good to hear everyone is doing well in one venue or another...that just proves the point of "multiple streams of income" lol! I have not been on here much just due to a recent influx of about 500 toys that all needed to be cleaned (in their packages, but the plastic smelled funny, so they all needed to be scrubbed and aired out) and the same amount of dvds that needed to be sorted.

Our amazon sales have been pretty good, local sales not so much, but it is like that in October a lot....we have a fair for 10 days that is the only big event here, and it is expensive, so families don't spend much elsewhere. Our ebay sales are picking up, but that's more due to a higher selling limit and more effort on our part. We have always been lackadaisical about ebay, but we are trying to be more aggressive about listing more. And we are selling more DVDs on half.com because Amazon has so many dvds that are restricted now, so don't forget that option if you have items like that to sell. Also, DH has been on the amazon seller forums a lot lately, and is picking up tips and ideas from there.

So, jlxian, I am quite curious about the Ghost Hunters story!!! That's got be good publicity! It would certainly draw me in if I lived near by!

We are getting close to November, so hopefully everyone's sales will go thru the roof with the holidays coming!

So glad you had a great vacation Clovis!

And Jlxian that is awesome about the Ghost Hunters! I watch that show so I will def be on the lookout!

Our sales have been decent. Slower on FB than normal but more in the booth. The mall we are at is having a Fall Festival on Saturday so we are trying to get as much done as possible. We haven't went picking in a while, but we have had so much stuff that we are finally clearing out the garage! lol Which is a blessing. With cold weather coming I'd love to be able to regain my parking spot in the garage. Not sure if that will ever happen though. LOL

Have a good week all. I hope your sells continue to flourish!

When I hear the date the Ghost Hunters story will be aired, I will definitely let everyone know. For those who believe in that sort of thing, I've heard multiple stories about the ghosts in the building and other phenomena.

Very cool!

A pic from the time Ghost Hunters was here -- which was on Facebook.

That is awesome! Do you mind telling me which mall you are in?

It's called McBrides Antiques --- I don't think it is well known at all, LOL. The gentleman with the Ghost Hunters guys is the store owner.

Jlixian,

I think that the TV exposure could be very good. I've never seen the show, but it could pull in a nice crowd.

One of the nice things will be the re-runs and DVD set. I know of a business that was featured on the Food Network. They thought it would be a one hit wonder, but the FN kept re-running the show, and the phone would ring off the hook, and did so for a year.

Thanks, everyone. The store owner is convinced the publicity will be terrific. I do hope so. I can hang on for a few more months, I guess.

jlxian - That's MY small town too! Awesome history with that building for sure, glad that fire next door didn't do his building in also. What a small world it is sometimes

Is that near Joplin? I have a friend that lives in Joplin! Very cool! I just googled it and it looks like there are some videos on YouTube from others who has gone there and had Paranormal experiences there.

DanyellL --- yes we are about 15 - 20 miles from Joplin. There is a paranormal society that has close ties to McBrides and they often have tours of the building, as well as others in town.

Show Me Stater -- Amazing!!! Small world is right!!! Yes, the fire next door really was a bad thing for sales --- I got started in this FM a month before the fire so never really had an idea of what my sales should be. They've been very slow, for me at least, this whole time. I'm hopeful the show will help things pick up.

Hello, everyone!

I hope you are all doing well, and selling a bunch. We are coming into the winter, which for our area, means strong sales.

We've been working hard. Over the weekend, I went to an estate auction...one of those unbelievable sales that you rarely see any more. They are advertising it as a "four generation estate sale...untouched." I browsed the auction pics, but honestly, they didn't even come close to doing it justice. I was knocked over by the amount of stuff, and by the quality. I used to see these estates all the time 20 years ago, but I haven't seen one like this in years!!!

The woman owned a vintage dress shop at some time, and was a quilter and seamstress too. I bought at least 500 yards of fabric, all of it properly folded and stored. I bought so much that I actually called my wife to help get it home. Being a 50 minute drive, one way, I hated to ask her. I had fabric stacked in all three of my vehicles. We have worked through most of the fabric in two of the vehicles, but the third car is stacked so deep that we literally couldn't get another yard into the car!!!

Over the past year, we've been working hard to up the amount of fabric we have to sell...we are seriously in the fabric business now!

I hope and pray that it sells...um...lol...um...no I am serious.

My Amazon store sales have dwindled to zero. I haven't sold anything in almost 2 weeks, and before they started doing "computer updates", I was averaging about 10 items a week.

:flame:

Lots of other people are having the same problems. It's also not because the items don't show up, or that the orders can't be placed.

I cannot figure out what's going on, and neither can they.

:grit:

I am sorry to hear that, thesedays. I really am.

Famous last words: Sold something this afternoon.

:cool:

Hope the issues are being resolved.

thesedays, our sales have dwindled lately as well, though there are spurts of sales sometimes, it's weird. We sell 10-25 items a day normally, but 2 or 3 mornings this week I woke up to none. Not one sale all night! Last weekend was a burst of sales, though, so I am hoping this weekend will be the same. I know they're making a lot of changes at amazon right now, so I am hoping in a week or so, they will have ironed out the bugs. We could all use a good holiday selling season!

Clovis, that is so cool about that estate sale!

We sell on ebay, and our sales have been smaller, but profitable.

The quantity of sales is down, but the profit margins are not. I feel extremely blessed to have sold some items that have had huge margins.

One such item was part of a car jack that I bought in a box of tools for $5. I almost scrapped it one day, thinking I could never identify it. The part languished in my truck for a while, and I listed it after learning what car it went with.

It sold yesterday for $80!!!!

We only sold two other items yesterday, both to the same person, but I'll take a near $80 profit any day of the week.

#feelingblessed

And something else this morning! :sing:

Clovis, you're right, some things we have sold lately have been huge profit items! We sold a Winnie the Pooh menorrah I bought for $2, sold it for $160ish....never would have dreamed that! DH has done well lately buying laptops for $5 or $10 and selling them for $100-200. He cleans the hard drives on them and does any repairs necessary first. Not many sales, but the good ones make up for that!

I never thought I'd say this, but I am ready to go back to the flea market! I just want to unload some stuff! Heck, I might even have a "everything's a dollar" table! Our storage unit just sent a letter raising our rate, so if I can get rid of some stuff, we can move back down to a smaller unit, maybe eventually a shed in the backyard.

I'm glad everyone is doing well.

Our booth has halted. We had minimal sales in October (not even enough to cover rent). But we have had a few sales through Facebook. I just finished 2 pieces yesterday and one sold about 10 minutes after I posted it. I think for us people just aren't buying furniture right now with the holidays. We do have quite a bit of custom work going on though so I am blessed for that. But we don't make as much on custom as we do when we just refinish it and sell it.

And Clovis, I'm addicted to Old English now. LOL I Old English EVERYTHING.

DanyellL, you could be right about people not buying furniture around the holidays, but that's silly of them because your pieces on Facebook are beautiful! They would make awesome gifts! Maybe there's some way you could market them more as gift ideas than personal purchases?

Aw thanks so much! I thought about getting some bows and putting them on the pieces for when I post them. Also throwing out there it would make a good gift. We do have some custom orders coming in that are for gifts. A chair redo for a customer's daughter. And then we are also doing a big china cabinet for the daughter of another customer. They just bought a house and the china cabinet has been in their family for a really long time. So she wants to hand it down to her daughter.

But thank you, that is a good suggestion!

Tuesday Tip, if anyone cares:

I'm going green with this tip, recycling an old one, mostly because I believe it is so important.

Keep using ebay's completed listings as a learning tool for everything that you have purchased for resale.

I'm not suggesting that you list everything on ebay, or using it as an ultimate guide to pricing, but it is an outstanding resource as an educational research source.

A few weeks ago, I picked up another very large galvanized funnel at auction. I put it in the FM booth, and it sold for $8 the very day that I set it out. At an auction over the weekend, a similar funnel sold for $25...I was shocked to say the least.

So, today, I looked up "antique galvanized" on ebay, and used the 'completed listings' with 'Highest first' setting.

Here is what I learned:

Did you know that there is demand for old galvanized mailboxes?
Did you know that the market is fairly strong on old milk boxes? (This was a soft market for a long time.)
I have scrapped tons of window sash pulleys over the years, and after looking those up, I found that some lots are selling, which is really surprising to me.

The most important part of this is that you, as a reseller, understand the markets, and that you are making the most money that you can on each item. There is no sense in setting out a funnel for $8 when you might of sold it for a much bigger profit. This business is supposed to be about having fun and making money!!! Don't leave money on the table, so to speak, on any of your items.

It does take time to research, but I promise you, it will pay off in spades.

That is something I need to do Clovis, is research more.

When I have done research and list something for what I've seen them sell for, they sit. We have a table now that is BEAUTIFUL. Has gorgeous wood inlay that we sanded to expose. We started it out at $225 which I think is a more than fair price. No bites. We had to drop it to $175 to even get people interested in it. And she wanted me to PAINT THE WOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!! NO! People are crazy. LOL

I finally just got a booth in Camp Verde at one of the only resale malls in the area. It's a two hour drive one way from the house, but it's a very busy mall, so hopefully it'll be worth it. Long waiting list to get in to it, too.

I have a book shelf sized "booth" for now but am on a waiting list for a larger cubicle type booth. (I'm hoping they'll bump me closer to head of the list, because my book shelf is getting quite a bit of traffic now.)

Got the booth at the end of October. Didn't sell enough to make rent for November, so had to cough up more. November looks like it'll be tons better. I suspect people were busy with Halloween and not shopping at the very end of October.

I sell vintage dolls and doll accessories (mostly shoes) on eBay and end up with tons of leftovers (items for one reason or another I don't want to list on eBay) from the big lots I buy.

I stuffed the book shelf with Barbies and other dolls -- vintage on the top out of Kidzilla reach, and kid stuff on the bottom three shelves. The store employees (and other vendors) report that customer reaction, both adult and child, has been very positive, with a lot of people apparently stopping short and then heading straight for the booth when they see the dolls. Other vendors have also started carrying dolls, LOL, which they didn't before! (I'd been watching.)

One of the employees mimed a typical doll-lover's reaction when they saw my booth, which was hilarious. And great to hear about.

I've talked to several doll collectors while I was there stocking my booth, who are astonished to see real vintage dolls, correctly identified, wearing era-appropriate clothing, clean, and with appropriate prices, and with stands included. :D (I'm pricing stuff about 25% under eBay values because there's so much less work involved with selling out of a booth versus photographing, listing, and shipping on eBay.)

As of Tuesday, I made my rent and then some -- plus I have gotten a few requests from customers of the store or employees for XYZ doll or doll outfit, which I brought in and put up on Tuesday. (I have business cards up in the store.) I'm pleased since it's a brand new booth and just getting started.

So far, no damage to the dolls, either, which pleases me.

The store employees report that kids are stopping and sitting for hours in front of the shelf while parents shop. However, everything is staying fairly neat and no packages of doll clothes have been torn open -- stuff gets moved around, but it only takes me a minute to put everything back in place. I'm going by once a week. (It's an absolutely beautiful drive, too, over windy country roads, with incredible views.)

Everyone said dolls don't sell.

Pbbbbb. Those QVC "collectible" porcelain dolls don't sell. Dress-me dolls and composition dolls that are falling apart and have zombie eyes don't sell. Dolls missing body parts or with bad haircuts don't sell. Real vintage dolls and stuff for kids, in decent shape? That sells.

(Oh, and at another seller's booth I found a doll worth about $70 for $6. I tried to tell her that the doll was worth a lot more but she just said she wanted to sell it. Fine. I bought it. That certainly adds to my profit margin, LOL.)

Glad to hear that you are having success with the dolls, Cygnet.

I am surprised that you are lowering prices by 25% of what they would be on ebay.

I generally price stuff about the same as ebay, generally speaking, and have had good results. I figure that the customer doesn't have to pay shipping, plus, after the mall takes 10% commission and 3% if they use plastic...I am netting about the same as I would have on ebay, again, generally speaking. Not to mention, at some malls, the customer can get 10% off immediately, just for asking, if they are paying with cold, hard cash.

You are right...you can't give away a QVC doll!!!! There was a time that I couldn't find enough of them. Those dolls would fly off the shelves at cheap prices, let's say $10 to $15 each. I literally threw the last QVC dolls that I had in the trash can. I had priced those at $5-$10 each, and after they didn't sell, I marked them down to $1-$2 each, and they still didn't sell!!!! Sure, these were a little rough, but not destroyed. Are they not selling QVC dolls on TV any more???

I may start bringing my prices up a bit once my booth becomes better known, but it's a pretty poor area. We'll see. I'd rather sell a bunch at a reduced price than a few things at a higher price.

On those QVC dolls -- the one thing they ARE good for is the clothing. I've been known to buy them in large lots at Goodwill for $1-$2 a doll when I find a bunch in good condition cheap, strip them, and sell the clothing in lots on eBay. The clothing is worth a lot more off the doll, because someone will buy it to dress vintage dolls. Accessories -- eyeglasses, purses, shoes, etc. -- get sold separately, usually BIN, with measurements and a ruler for scale in the picture.

I hand the nude dolls right back to thrift store then and there. (And one thrift store manager told me that someone would buy the dolls to redress them -- that nekkid dolls sold better than dressed ones! LOLOLOL.)

That is brilliant, Cygnet!!!!!!

Cygnet,

I could help but think of you today, when I walked into the FM. Another vendor has a four foot table set up, and it is stacked deep with QVC dolls.

All of the dolls were in good, clean condition, and had their outfits. None of them had boxes or stands.

All were marked $3 each. If I hadn't just thrown out an armload of these, I would have been tempted to buy them to flip. How much can you get for the outfits? What terminology should I search on ebay for their clothes?

I have to admit that I am perplexed about the QVC dolls. What on earth happened to that market? Were they so popular, and such stunning sellers for us, because it was a well advertised fad? There was a time that I could buy them for $5 and quick-flip them for $10, and today, I can't give one away. Thoughts?

I am still a little stunned how many markets like this have simply vanished, almost overnight, it seems.

Another question, Cygnet...

Many of the dolls that I see aren't even QVC quality. Were there other sellers or retailers of these? Maybe retailers that sold lesser quality dolls????

I haven't sold a big lot of QVC clothes in a couple years, so I couldn't tell you what the market's like now. I'd say check eBay for doll clothes lots, and also the current value on accessories. (Since I moved, I haven't found a good source for cheap QVC dolls.)

The money was always in the little accessories, though -- glasses, hats, shoes, socks, jewelry, pets, stands, etc. The rest was just gravy. You could always buy one or two dolls, strip them, carefully photograph the clothes, list the size (measure like you would people clothes), and see how they sell.

And remember that owners of vintage dolls are often looking for finishing touches, so sell the accessories separate. For tiny accessories, I list the size but I also often include a Barbie hand in the picture, because everyone knows what size Barbies are. (Here's an example of how I often photograph small accessories -- I don't have anything much for big dolls in the store right now.) You can also photograph them with a ruler for bigger accessories, or on 1/4 inch graph paper.

As far as QVC values -- I think it's like any other fad -- the fad went bust. The doll market has more ups and downs than the stock market. There's certain things you assume will always have value (hard to find truely vintage Barbie pieces in mint condition, for example) and the rest is just fluid. Even for vintage stuff, it's a roller coaster ride. Right now, late 70's/early 1980's Superstar Barbies are up in value, Jem and the Holograms is way hot, and the bottom seems to have dropped out of Topper Dawn dolls. Give it few months and the market will change again.

Many adult doll buyers (vintage or modern) play with their dolls -- not like kids do, but they dress them, style their hair, pose them, build dioramas, fix damage, and sometimes even repaint their faces and reroot their hair. (There's actually a decent market for badly damaged vintage Barbie heads, and certain modern face molds, because people love to fix them up!) And they get a tremendous amount of enjoyment out of it. Buying another doll is another chance to play.

A QVC doll? Well, I've seen people make zombies or gothic vampires or whatever out of them, but for the most part, they're meant to stand on a table and look pretty (and get dusted occasionally). Everyone who wants a doll standing in a corner or sitting on their dresser has one. The market's saturated. And the people who bought a bunch expecting to make $$$ on resale when they appreciated in value have figured out they wasted their money, LOL.

As far as other sellers besides QVC for "collectible" porcelain dolls -- I've seen them for sale at Wal-Mart and various drug stores for very low prices. Back during the "collectible porcelain doll craze" there were stands in the malls selling them, too.

Oh, for key words, I would look for "baby doll clothes" and "porcelain doll clothes" and "big doll clothes" and various eras or styles -- victorian, flapper, mod, cowboy, etc. (Be sure in your listing to call them reproductions and note if there's velcro closures!) Also by height of the doll. I tended to list the accessories BIN and the clothes in big auction lots, but I sorted them by size and style.

The stands alone are worth listing and may be worth more than the dolls, if you find QVC dolls with stands.

One thing to consider for shipping -- certain styles of fabric wrinkle easily, and doll clothes are notoriously hard to wash and iron. Ship them, and crushable accessories (including shoes) in small boxes.

Oh, on doll clothes, if you have badly damaged doll clothes, either modern or vintage, you can strip them of (re)usable parts -- snaps, buttons, eyelets, trim, lace, etc. and sell that in lots. I've made quite a few dollars over the years by saving buttons and snaps and belt buckles off vintage Barbie clothes that was otherwise beyond repair ... someone with an otherwise nice vintage outfit worth $$$ may be very willing to pay a few to several dollars for a missing button or buckle or rhinestone. (This is also why lots of shredded-beyond-repair vintage Barbie clothing will sell -- people want the bits and pieces and even scraps of certain patterns of fabric for repairs.)

(*I'm trying to fix up a 1950's Sweet Rosemary doll and I *cannot* find a buckle for her shoe. I just need one buckle, darn it! I really wish someone would list one ... see? There's a need for that kind of stuff. I could use some of the string that Mattel used for button loops, too, as I have a couple dresses that are really nice except for the button loops being stretched out, and there's nothing modern that looks like the vintage cord they used.)

On a slightly related note, during the early 80s Cabbage Patch craze, my grandmother made Cabbage Patch dolls and clothes, and sold those at the flea market. She made a LOT of money doing that, too.

And she also did something that most people of her time and place (rural Iowa) wouldn't think of that went over quite well - she made the dolls in different colors, too. :cool:

My grandmother made anatomically correct "Cabbage Patch Kids" -- I still remember her and other elderly relatives passing diaper-clad dolls around, peering into their diapers, and giggling.

These days, Cabbage Patch Kids are generally not worth the money it costs to ship them. However, the clothing will sell nicely on eBay. The catch to selling the clothing, though, is that the dolls came in all sorts of different sizes and matching clothes to dolls can be difficult. I generally sell CPK stuff in big lots except for mid 80's (first couple of years) shoes, which sell for between $5-$10 a pair depending on current market conditions.

CPK clothes sell well in big lots, but I disclaim the heck out of them as far as fit goes. Not every buyer realizes that the sizes have varied over the years and sometimes you get a cranky and functionally illiterate buyer with a 16" doll who buys preemie CPK clothing and it doesn't fit.

(There's a reason I sell so much Barbie stuff -- Barbies really only come in two sizes.)

With rare exceptions, Cabbage

I am enjoying your posts about dolls, Cygnet. I know virtually nothing about dolls. I wouldn't know an expensive doll if it fell from the sky and hit me on the head!