Buying lesson—check items out for damage!

Recently at an estate sale, I bought quite a few items.  One of the items was a Lefton salad plate made for the Order Of The Eastern Star.

I had purchased it under the notion that the plate was in good shape.  When I got the plate home, I found that the plate had a good sized chip on the edge of it.

Today when we shop, we have the ability to use out cell phone to check out the worth and rarity of a piece that we are interested in.  To a great extent, it has diminished the need to go with your gut, but not completely.

You still have to be able to judge an item if it’s fake—and frankly to discover flaws.  You need to use your fingers and the light around you to discover chips and cracks.

Fortunately, my purchase mistake was inexpensive.  It was less than 5 dollars.

Currently in my Etsy store, I have an Eastern Star cup and saucer for sale (which can be seen here).  I am including this plate as a free gift when you purchase the cup and saucer.

What kinds of mistakes have you made when you purchased an item?

Another Valuable Lessoned Learned

In March of last year, I opened up a store at Etsy.

 When I first heard of the site, I was under the belief it was geared more for women with handmade items like clothing, or even jewelry.  I quickly realized that the site also offers vintage items that could be tailored to both women and men.

This site has been absolutely fantastic for me.  Not only does this site give you a chance to sell, but they also have what they call “Teams.”  These are groups that you can join that share your same interests.  There are also teams that also give you an opportunity to discuss things like how to promote your items for sale.

I’m a big fan of Etsy—what are your favorite sites for buying and selling?

It’s Completely Different Than What I Had Originally Thought It Was—It’s Arabic Made!

A while ago, I talked about what I thought was a handmade and unique coffee pot in a blog post.

An eagle-eyed shopper dropped me a line and told me that the pot was actually Arabic made, and it was from the 1930’s to 1950’s.

It always pays off to do your homework before you post something for sale online, but it’s also extremely nice to have someone also help out and catch an error with a listing.

As for the pot, it’s listing has been corrected and can be seen in my Etsy store here.

Another Lesson Learned

While shopping at one of the local antique malls in my area, I happened onto something that could be a very good thing. It happened to be an R S Suhl shaker, or even possibly hat pin holder.



With the price being right, and some wear being present on the bottom of the shaker, I went ahead and bought it.  When I went to find out what I could about the mark (so I could list it online), there was a little voice in the back of my head that was saying that something was not right.

And then I found a shaker just like the one that I have.  I was thrilled!  I started to read what was posted online about it, and sure enough, that little voice I was hearing was right.  The thing was a fake.

 
The lesson I learned?  A little research and knowledge can go a long way in the long run.

Re-learning eBay

A few years ago, when my collections became unwieldy, I chose to sell off my less-than-favorite items on eBay.  I wasn’t in business like I am now, I was just a collector getting room and money to go shopping again.  As soon as I decided to go into business as Wisdom Lane, I immediately began listing antiques on eBay, as I did before.

And I was surprised at the result.

My antiques weren’t really getting the bids and the lookers as they did before.

So what happened?

As an experiment, I listed my original Nintendo console with eight games.  I also listed a separate lot of twenty-four Nintendo games.  I listed the two lots as auctions with the option to Buy It Now.  The two lots sold within five minutes.

Lesson learned?

eBay appears to have a different type of shopper than it did a few years ago.  The current shopper seems to be interested in collectibles rather than antiques—thirty- or forty-somethings looking to get back items from their youth.

As a result, my strategy will change as I continue to test this theory.  I’ll be selling collectibles on eBay, and I’ll look for different sites where I can sell my antiques.  First stop for some of my vintage items:  Etsy.

Anyone with great experience on any antiques selling sites (GoAntiques, Ruby Lane, etc.), weigh in by leaving a comment below!