Recent finds: White!

I seem to be finding A LOT of whites at the thrift store lately.  

With HALF PRICE tags, no less!!

They seem to practically FLY off the shelf and into my cart when they are half price!

NO such thing as TOO many white dishes though, eh?

I can always just take them to my booth at Stars and sell them ‘as is’.

And I just ADORE having this aqua shelf unit FILLED with white dishes!

And the white DO dishes sell VERY well like that.

Which is WHY I can so easily justify buying so many of them!

Finding a lot of matching dinner and side plates.  Funny how the colors look different in that picture?!?!  They really ARE the same color!

Making them into cake pedestals seem to be quite popular on etsy. 

And I do have a few of the cloche tops in my current stash.

What I always get ‘stuck on’ in regards to selling stuff like THIS on etsy, is the PACKING and SHIPPING though.  The pedestal plates WITH a cloche top won’t fit into the largest priority mail box with sufficient packing materials to ship and arrive fully in tact!

Same issue with the 2 tier ones like this.  Now I COULD take them to a FedEx or UPS store to be ‘packed and shipped’ . . . but THAT cost would be as much as (if not MORE!) than what I’d charge for the stand itself!  Plus, it’s nearly an hour round trip to the NEAREST facility for me; so I’d have to make the trip on my ‘regular errand day’ OR charge for gas.

I see quite a few of the ‘double decker’ plates, like this on etsy; without the base pedestal.  I don’t like them like this AT ALL.  It’s just not BALANCED.  It just looks like 2 plates stuck together.  Okay, I KNOW that is what it IS,  but it’s SUPPOSED to look like it was ‘meant to be’ . .. not just slapped together.  

I’d REALLY love to do a ‘set’ along these lines (but with white china dishes.  This set from etsy is WOOD; AND comes with a $50.00 SHIPPING cost on top of the $135.00 cost of the set!)  BUT with the aforementioned conundrum regarding the shipping issues, WHAT IF I offered it ‘UNassembled’???

I could certainly offer ‘more for the money’ selling them unassembled.  Less chance of breakage in transit too!  But the question is, will customers want to pay for a box of components that they have to put together themselves, for the sake of SAVING a significant amount of money???

I could take pictures that SHOW how it looks assembled.  I’d tell them what kind of adhesive to use on them.  And I could pretty much sell a set of FIVE unassembled pedestals for what it would cost to just SHIP one assembled 2 tier, or dome topped pedestal!  

The ‘hot market’ for these items seems to be wedding dessert buffets.  And it seems like there are a lot of brides on a budget these days then ever before.  And more and more are doing a lot of their own decorations etc . . .

Soooooooooooooo . . taking ALL THAT into consideration, should I give the ‘assemble your own’ listing a try???  (I’ve really got NOTHING to lose; because I can still use all the components elsewhere/otherwise if they don’t sell)  I just don’t want shoppers to look at the listing and think, “Well THAT’S a stupid idea!  If I want to MAKE it myself I’ll just go out and BUY the plates myself and save even more!”  

OR would they gladly pay for the convenience of the already matched and thought out set??   As opposed to spending a lot of their time searching thrift stores and estate sales for the right pieces.  

I’m really ON THE FENCE on this!  What do YOU think??

 

New pictures from Stars

SO, I had intended to get around to posting these pictures yesterday.  Alas, THAT post kind of went WAY out in left field (sorry for such a LONG rant!) BUT, writing it all down DID bring me some clarity and a few new insights to mention my next appointment.

Anyhoooooooooooooo . . .I was really short on time at Stars and had a lot I wanted to move around.  Got about HALF of it done!  Didn’t get ANY of the new product out, but at least the major stuff that I wanted to move, got moved.  So next week will be an easy trip.  Here are the new pictures:

Moved this shelf from the back right side of the booth, to the front; and moved some of the white dishes from the small booth to here.

This cubby shelf is just sitting on top of  the lower shelf; and holds all the crocks and dark ironstone.

White dishes moved from other space.

Also moved this cubby shelf from the small space.  It was on top of the big enamel table.  HOPING that if I clear some of the clutter off that table, that it will SELL!

Still a lot of white dishes in the smaller booth; just not as crammed in!

Put some lighter and more open and easier to move stuff on top of the table for now.

You can better SEE how big the table really is now.

I did get a couple of new items taken in; like this awesomely rusty metal corner shelf!

Little old step ladders are great display pieces!

I always seem to cluster the round tables together!  Never have enough ROOM to spread them out!

Old book love.

I’m always amazed at how much I can cram into such a small space!

Dessert pedestal plates.

Vintage rusty cart (with electrical outlet!) and vintage sweeper.

Bring mom in for a Mother’s Day shopping treat!