I found a nice little mall that I can carry my soaps and candles in, with the caveat that I also carry old stuff. Not a problem, because I love old stuff. Vintage, shabby chic, primitive, stuff is right up my alley.
But, having never sold anything like this before, I’m flummoxed. Does anyone who does this sort of thing have recommendations for books, websites, etc?
I expect that most of my items will be kitchen or decorative things, and tend to be more vintage than true antiques. I have NO idea how to begin pricing this stuff, other than the standard markup method.
Thanks for any ideas!
~karol
I’m no help at all with the antique pricing, but I just wanted to say Woohoo! about your booth. You should be able to make lots more moola than with the paper delivery, although fewer of your customers will be naked. (I can’t decide whether that’s a good thing or not.) Good luck!
[sub]By the way, I’ve got my first craft fair coming up on Saturday the 21st, and I’m still blaming you. Thanks![/sub]
I would look on EBay for what you’re selling and see where some of the auctions come out. It’d give you a good rule of thumb regarding what people will pay, ya know? I’d also hit a good bookstore and browse through some of the price guides and such.
This is an area in which I actually have some expertise, since I have a friend who has several such booths and stocks them by buying from garage sales every Saturday morning. I’ve been going with her for seven or eight years now, and often I do her pricing for her, since she has a tendency to WAY underprice.
That being said, my observation is that markets are very different in different areas. Even within the same town - here in San Diego, antique malls have higher prices in the beach areas than they do in inland areas. After the last major Los Angeles earthquake (and probably other times, but I didn’t notice), dealers came to San Diego to restock (broken glass and pottery) because our prices were sufficiently lower than theirs to make that practical. So you can’t get more than a general idea from books, or maybe even EBay, although possibly EBay may level things out over time. But so far it hasn’t seemed to do that.
I think your best bet is to look around at other booths selling similar items to see what your local market is like. I’ve seen things I collect in books and on EBay for several times the prices I actually paid, and it doesn’t work to stick an “official value” price on your goods if no one will pay it.
I had three booths at three separate malls until about 6 years ago. I gave them up when it became very hard to make a profit. Everybody and their brother think that they can make money at this, so now there are too many people chasing too few items. The prices that you have to pay now at auctions leave very little room for profit.
I am not trying to discourage you, I just want explain why I no longer do it. There is some advice that can offer. Find a few types of things that interest you and become and expert on them, read up on them on the internet. Just do a search and you will find lots of info about most any type of item. There are many books about each type of antique which have very accurate price lists in them, but you will have to adjust for regional differences. For example pine furniture commands a high price up North while in the South oak is preferred. These differences can be learned by visiting area shops and comparing. Kovells is the Bible of pricing, they have a web site but it is not free.
The A number one rule of buying and selling antiques is never fall in love with an item, you will always lose money if you do. After you have determined your price for an item raise it by 10% and tell the people who run the mall that you will give a 10% discount. I know this sounds stupid but most antique buyers will ask the cashier for a discount, and this makes them happy. I hope this helps a little and if you have any further questions I will be happy to try and answer them.
PS. (P.S.) I have about $500.00 worth of six year old pricing guides that I’ll let go really cheap 
You might try this appraiser’s web site
I was in crafts fairs for years, and sort of enoyed it.
Now that I’m out, I’m more cynical. I think the only people who make money there are the promotors, selling false hopes to the stall-renters.
You end up making a lot of excuses for why this show was poor and the next one will be better, and you envy the few at each show who clearly are making it work. But then you ask them a few questions, and either they will have “brick and mortar” shops as customers (selling to them at wholesale), or they have independent incomes or family that meet the rent. So the “successfull pottery booth” may be more of a hobby.
Still, some people like creative, non-profitable hobbies, like baking pies for the PTA bazaar. But you have to decide if that would be enough. Don’t consider it more until the money actually enters your checking account.