Trash On Etsy

Before I went on line locally with larger objects, I occasionally listed small easy shippable vintage and curb found items on Etsy. Not for big money but just to keep things going and every sale is one that adds to your ranking.

Now I’ve sold only two handmade items this whole year and I’m listing more and more vintage and supplies. Upping my prices too! It’s too cool seeing it all go overseas and why not make more money of it when the competition in hand made is just too hard.

Not all is really curb found – I have other free sources now – but here are some that I really picked from the garbage.

Somewhere 2007-2008 I found two flat boxes with tiny animal figurines. Quite primitive, probably from India. Priced by hand and likely someone’s flea market leftover stock. I listed the birds on Etsy as the package was, still covered in plastic. Sold fairly quickly but only at $5.

The slightly larger beasts from the other box had hang up wires and I kept them for crafting. Never happened and in the end I sold four at the indoor market place in 2013. The remaining six sat for ages on the lower plank of my coffee table. Finally got tired of looking at them last August, listed, sold $10 within days.

Which inspired to list more crafting supplies. I had dragged a horrible blue chandelier home years ago, spent hours cleaning and getting the beads off, created some earrings, not a success, sold the beads within a few weeks at $10.

Finally, also years ago, large cards full of completely plastic 1980s earrings picked up in an older part of town. Thought I’d sell them around 20 cents euro a pair at markets but people wouldn’t even pay that. Now listed on Etsy the first set already went for $2,50. That sounds poor but I think it’s ok for what they are and it’s a lot more than 20 cents!

Not the most spectacular examples, but these are fun for me and I would’t have sold the stuff anywhere else but on Etsy.

My Favourite Spot

Though I still don’t go out far to look for stuff since a couple of months I don’t fail to pass by whenever I can a special spot across from the end of my street. 

In the past it has produced my easy chair that I still love.

This is a very old photo and now there is a large plastic collection bin next to the tree which somehow invites people to dump bulk trash next to it any day of the week as the items will be kind of hidden between it and the underground kitchen waste bins.

More recently I spotted this bicycle rack that is now in my back yard serving its purpose. Very handy, especially since my bike does not have a kick stand.

But next to it I saw a strangely shaped wooden box. At closer look it turned out to be a primitive handmade shoe shiner’s bench. Most likely from North Africa, as the people often travel by road and boat to bring goods back and forth.

Lucky I was on foot and it was easy to carry the two things home at once.

I was pretty excited about the thing but it has failed to sell yet. I’m not surprised nobody is looking for a shoe shiner’s bench, but it would make a great decorative storage chest in a shabby chic interior. Therefore I listed it in such a category and also put that in the description hoping someone may just get the idea hitting on it by accident. Or does anyone have a better suggestion?

More success with this hand carved table top from about a month ago. Passing by with my bike loaded with groceries I managed to lay it flat on the back carrier and walked the last meters home. I had a buyer within a week and got a very nice amount for it.

Early 20th Century Enamel Kitchen Ware

Here’s another find from my neighbour. They are almost really antique, but at the time complete sets in different sizes were found in every kitchen and looking on the local on line market place I found lots of them and they don’t cost much. The only thing is most are dark green and my bright red is a bit harder to find. But I’m not ready to sell these yet at what the market wants to pay for it.

Same counts for my little pale green funnel, which I actually bought for 20 cents euro at a fund raiser flea market.  I saw one for five euros and thought I’m not letting mine go for that.

I’m happy to have the jars and funnel on top of my fridge where they bring a little colour in a dull white corner.

Old Iron

Talking about my trash picking neighbour last week I looked up some more of his gifts. Well these could have sure ended in the hands of the iron collectors who sell it for its weight, if he hadn’t rescued them.

It was a really pleasant surprise when I found this milk can in my front porch. If I had place I would have kept it. They make great vases for giant dry flower arrangements. Not surprisingly it sold quickly for a very nice price, even without the lid!

I also would have loved to keep this rusty old lamp. However I didn’t trust the strength of my prefab modern ceiling so finally last July I listed it. Usually items like this sell within two weeks, but as it didn’t I took it to the car boot sale in August. There I let it go at half price, but I was glad because it helped me make my day’s target and I didn’t have to drag the heavy thing home.

The Chair Lady Strikes Again

I’ve been following the big Ebay sellers blogs and they all complain about the slow season. Now I can’t compare because it’s since early August I started listing like crazy and it paid off, multiplying my usual peanuts revenue by five. September started off more or less the same, until a few days ago things seemed to have come to a halt. Then I had technical problems with Etsy, not being able to list anything…

I had started to write off my frustration here when emails and bids started to come in again and I sold two pairs of shoes and my xxxth set of chairs. I got so busy I had to leave the blog.

The morning after I dragged these in I regretted my enthusiasm a bit seeing the pretty bad state they were in. On top of the worn out upholstery one was a bit wobbly too. But the woodwork was still so lovely I hoped to find a new owner anyway, albeit at any price. Oh, hadn’t I promised myself not to bring in any more chairs? To my surprise they went after only five weeks.

Also to my surprise it was a to lady who said she loves DIY and things that look old and she bid three times the minimum I had in mind.  With that I’ve come to a daily average that’s even a bit above the one of August. It’s far from an income, but it does give hope. And Etsy was fine again this morning.

Talking chairs again I found an old one that didn’t make it to the blog yet. The fold up sort of fisherman’s stool was delivered to me by my trash picking neighbor. I listed it first in Fall 2012, my first active selling year but it had to wait till May 2013 to find a buyer. I had to look that up but I do remember it was a design student who bought the funny thing to study its construction.

Thrifted: Villeroy & Boch And Laurel Burch

I hardly ever buy to resell but here’s one exception.

I actually went to look for a teapot to design a cozy around, but all they had was an ugly thing priced 11 euro’s. Then to my surprise I saw the Villeroy & Boch coffeepot for only 2,50! Remembering we had the same shape pots when I was a little girl in the Sixties for tea and coffee in pale yellow and blue I couldn’t leave it. I’m not sure if mom had the filter top but possibly it remained in a cupboard - it was clumsy because you had to use a round piece of cotton cloth in it - after the handy paper filter bags with the plastic holders appeared.

Out of nostalgia I kept the set as a piece of décor for a long time. But in the end it got in my way so I listed it. To my disappointment the same brown Seventies pot was all over the place with the one exception that nobody else had the filter part. If only mine would have been one in those Sixties colours it would have been worth a lot more.

Still I managed to make a profit of nearly 10 euro’s. An elderly lady had broken her pot that she had used all her life and sent out her daughter to find the same model to replace it. For a not so collectible item I think it was the best I could do.

I did better on a pair of Laurel Burch earrings that my friend bought at 1 euro.  After finding out the designer is not among us anymore and her work is very sought after she gave them to me to list on Etsy. I did some research of my own first and found the cat earrings were doing around $35 on Ebay, but the exact same pair called ‘Siamese Cats’ was listed $50 on Etsy. So I put them up for $45.

Well, can you guess? Sold within eight hours! After taking off costs there was a bit over 30 euro’s left which my friend kindly split with me.

Another Ugly Lamp And A Bit Of SEO

The Man seems to have a way with bringing me ghastly lamps and when he came home with this huge shade I really thought how will I ever get rid of THAT?

Though it’s vintage, possibly Fifties and very well handmade I didn’t think anybody would still want this in their interior.

But he proved me wrong in a way. When I finally listed the shade a few weeks ago I thought it might make some kind of stage requisite. So I just described it as old-fashioned, not vintage or anything like that. I think it worked because yesterday a lady came for it who needed it as a prop for a singer song writers festival and said she would keep it for future other festivals as well.  And I got more cash for it than I had hoped for!

The Mystery Item

I got what I wanted plus a little bit for my lamp foot, so I’m a happy girl.

On to looking back to next item sold in the past that is worth showing.

This is one of the picks from a time when I was furnishing the renovated flat and everything was still for me. The Sixties style and shape immediately spoke to me and I had make over plans but first I had to know what it was!

I had to post it in a T2T chat board to find the answer. One of the older ladies there remembered seeing something like it in beauty salons in the Sixties. So a manicure table it is. Did you guess?

Well the make over plans never realized, the chrome started to show rust stains and in the end I got tired of the thing and sold it. If I remember well it was the same person who picked up the plant pots. He looked at the table when he was here for them and came back later to get it for his wife or girlfriend.

Pots And Pans

Vintage German pottery can be worth quite a bit, but not if it’s from a more common line and not in mint condition. I kept this little jug - that has a minor chip at the spout - for years as a vase and listed it when I had enough of it. Didn’t go, packed it in the market bags and managed to sell it at a flea market price after a few times. Just glad it went and I didn’t have to ship it.

Somehow pans always go on line. I can’t be bothered to pack them up for what they bring in and the space they take in the car. When I list them I don’t include shipping options. Someone from town will always come and pick it up.

Made a bit of a mistake in accepting a low bid on this one. I thought it was ok because of the missing lid and crumbled plastic at the bottom of the handle. But Carl Weill is an expensive brand and the stainless steel of the highest quality. Broken and missing parts can be replaced… When the guy, probably a restaurant cook, came for it I could see on his face he had a very, very good deal.

Another Lamp Foot And My First BIG Sale

Well, I sent the photo’s of my cute wooden lamp foot to Catawiki (a European antiques and art auction site) but they didn’t think much of it so I just listed it on my local site and hope to get at least the little amount they said.

Now I’m not sad because first I tried my Seventies floor lamp stick. I had this for ten years or so and used it as a coat rack. Then I found a real coat rack and used the old thing as a market rack. There a man pointed out to me I could get some money for it, even without the shade and any wiring.

But I had no clue and almost sold it for way too little. But then someone emailed me over the reserved ad, not being able to see what the deal was he offered me 75 Euros. I was in total shock and had to look three times. Thankfully I had the others phone number and was able to cancel.

So lesson learned: never close a deal too quickly if you don’t know what you can get. Fun is though that the second guy was so eager to win the bid he even paid an advance by bank transfer. Makes me wonder if I could have gotten more out of it after all? Never mind, with this added to a couple of more sales for the usual amounts not worth mentioning, but more than expected really, I think I’m doing pretty well for the slow summer period.

Shiva And A Horrible Tulip Lamp

I’m not 100 percent sure if this is really supposed to be Shiva but it’s the best resemblance I could find. I found it facing down on the wet pavement and didn’t expect anything of it but the quality of the canvas seemed ok, so I took in anyway and after drying up I thought it would be good enough for my upcoming flea market. My friend was sure it would go and it did. No big money but we had a good laugh.

The Man brought this lamp in. He meant well, but I tried two markets and the internet and it just wouldn’t go. I finally listed it in my Facebook free pick-up group and even there it took a while. If I ever see one again I’ll leave it for someone else.

An Interesting Lamp Foot

Inspired by other bloggers (see my blog list) and an almost mess free house I went on the lookout a bit further than my own street, then just around the corner I found this sitting by itself on the curb:

Unfortunately there are no marks on it. So impossible to say where it’s from or how old it is. There are parts that speak for it and parts that speak against it.

The base is very light weight and looks more like something coated than solid brass. The cable and plug look Seventies but the bottom has been out (see the bump?) so it’s possibly been rewired. But then hopefully that plastic ring has been put in on that occasion as well.

The candle though looks old and I’ve seen it on a Etsy item that was dated mid 20^th century.

But furthermore I love the woodwork and all the pretty details.

Has anyone ever seen anything like it? Value? I would love to hear from you!

More Cool Stuff For The Garden

I still have to cover some sales from the past few years. Here are three more for the garden:

Having successfully sold big flowerpots before I was very happy when the Man came home with these three stacked up on his bicycle. Though listed separately they all went to the same buyer in one go.

This Roman style wooden stool was waiting for me across the street and went to a rather posh but friendly lady. Seemed like the right object for the right person.

Finally the lantern - also from my close neighbours - was picked up by a fun loving type of girl who was going to throw a garden party the next day. This looks older than it is and was cheaply made, but the rust adds to its charm and I haven’t found a new one for sale the same size and shape and I got a good price for what it is worth.