Anyway, what's all this jib-jab got to do with the blog post at hand? Well, I happen to have a lot of vintage clothing and whatnots to my decluttering name. I've been selling these wares in my vintage shop on and off of a couple of years. It's a great way to share my vintage finds as well as rake in some fabric buying cash (shhhhhh, don't tell the hubs). More often than not, I also spend that money on etsy, scooping up great vintage finds and unique artworks. And that's how I met Sharon Hernandez of Sassy Señorita Vintage. I purchased one of my very fave vintage hand-stitched skirts from her and we struck up an vintage-lovin', etsy-sellin friendship. You might recall a couple of months ago, I interviewed a jewelry-making/art-teacherin/etsy-seller Beth Heishman. This time around, I thought you'd enjoy hearing from the perspective of an active and successful vintage seller. Enjoy!
My adventures on Etsy started after I suffered a traumatic physical injury. It was definitely the worst and best thing that ever happened to me. The best part of it was that it really brought my life into focus. I had been working at a soul-sucking job, and after my injury happened, I would just sit at work with the thoughts, "what the bleepity bleep bleep am I doing here?" just racing through my brain all day. So, I literally walked out of my job with no plan. Luckily, I learned about Etsy from a friend, and a lightbulb went off – one thing that I knew I was good at was shopping for deals at thrift stores and garage sales! So, I was able to start up selling pretty quickly and bring in some badly needed income.
Right now, Etsy is my part-time gig, and I am currently in
school studying hydrogeology. Even
though I plan to become a professional hydrogeologist, I think I will always be
a seller on Etsy. It really is part of a
creative part of my life that I need in order to balance out the more sciency/technical
part of my personality.
In looking for items to sell, I definitely start off with
what would I like or what would I wear. If
I am thrilled by a piece of clothing, I certainly hope someone else might be
too. Otherwise, it has been a bit of a
trial and error. Sometimes, I’ll find an
item that I’m unsure of and will try it to see what kind of interest it
gets. I’ve been often really surprised
at all the different niches there are out there and what can be really popular. Of course, I’ll snap up anything unusual….old
trapeze circus outfits, Halloween costumes, or antique nurses outfits!
I am really lucky in that, in addition to doing my own
shopping, my mother is an estate sale whore, and so she is always out looking
for items for me as well. Besides
frequenting garage sales and estate sales, I treasure hunt in local thrift
stores, charity gift stores, and even Goodwill.
I would love to take a cross-country trip looking for goodies some day!
Selling on Etsy is requires an amazing amount of multi-tasking! I’ll typically wake up and answer emails from customers, package items, go to the post office, and then return to the house for mending items and then promoting the store. The fun days, maybe once or twice a week, are when I get to go shopping or work with my models.
My favorite things about Etsy are the hunt for amazing things and also interacting with many awesome customers and people. It’s also great to have a customer just love what you send them. I really like pushing myself to be more creative with photography and how to put together an outfit so that it looks fashionable. My least favorite thing is all the garment preparation…the ironing and the mending – I wish I could claim workman’s comp for all the times I have burned myself with an iron or stabbed myself with a sewing needle (many are haunted, I swear!).
My advice for people who want to start selling on Etsy is to stick with it and always push yourself to do better. There is often a big learning curve…from learning to where to take photos and how you want to present things, to figuring out how to label your items so that customers can find your fabulous treasures. One of the most important things is perseverance, especially when you go through a dry spell!
If y'all have an etsy shop of any kind, please feel free to add a link in the comments so we can check ya out.
