Saturday, August 20, 2016

My favorite places to find inventory

The carefree days of summer are quickly winding down around here. Little man started 2nd grade on Thursday and Baby Girl will start going to Preschool two days week next week. Which means I will have two days a week to devote to my business. Yay!

I plan on spending my first day stopping at my favorite coffee shop and then hitting the road to get in some much needed sourcing time! After running across this guide to summer antiquing on the invaluable website, I thought it might be fun to share with you where my favorite places to find inventory to sell on Amazon, Etsy and Ebay are.

Here are my 5 favorite ways:

Indoor Flea Markets- Right now I prefer Indoor Flea Markets to Outdoor ones for two reasons- I have a great place I go to that has 10-15 huge flea markets in buildings all lined up within 2 blocks so it's easy to walk from place to place without having to get the kiddos in and out of the car a bunch. I also prefer the indoor flea markets b/c both kiddos and I are very allergic to cigarette smoke and people usually smoke at the outdoor fleas, but not the indoor. You have to dig deep sometimes to get a good deal, but I pretty much always come away with a car load of items to resell. I go there often enough that I know which booths to hit up first to find the types of items I am looking for.

What I dig for at an indoor flea Market:
Vintage Photographs, ephemera and other paper goods

Goodwill Bins/Pay by the Pound
I'm not able to go to the bins very often because the closest one is about 2 hours away, and it's difficult to keep an eye on the kiddos while I dig. But I love the bins because I always find great items to resell for great prices! Even with a lot of other resellers there, I am still able to find something that will make money.

What I dig for at the Bins:

vintage kids toys, plush, blankets, sheets and clothing

Dumpster Diving (as long as you have permission)
When I was brainstorming some ideas for this blog post with my hubby, he started laughing and said I had to include dumpster diving. He was laughing because we had only been dating a few weeks when he got a call from me asking him to come to the house behind mine and help me get out of a dumpster! The house behind mine had a huge roll off dumpster in front of it because the elderly couple behind was moving to a retirement community building and their kids were throwing pretty much everything away (so sad!)

So, every night for about a month I would roll my wagon over to the dumpster and take out things I could fix up or use to sell. (I had permission from the owners to look thru the dumpster as long as I didn't make a mess.) Well, one afternoon I was able to get several large items, including a vintage baby crib, oak rocking chair, mid century modern metal TV stand, record player/stereo and 3 huge boxes of vintage books. I had so much stuff that I couldn't get it back to my house by myself and so my hubby, who was at the time my very new boyfriend, was introduced to dumpster diving.


Auctions
I live in a rural community and there are farm and estate auctions most weekends, especially during the summer. You can usually get the boxes of "junk" for really good prices because most of the people at the auctions are there for the farm equipment. I've been able to load up my SUV and the back of my dad's truck for less than $100. It's also a great way for me to spend some quality time with my dad. It's a win-win!

What I dig for at Auctions:

vintage glassware, hardware, tins, home decor, metal items, small farm equipment and vintage tools
craft and sewing supplies 


Tell Family/Friends
This is one you have to use with caution. I am careful about who I tell that I sell online. Sometimes people will want you to sell stuff for them. (see this post)  sometimes people will get offended that you sell things they give you. However, if you find someone who is willing to give you things to sell for little to no cost it can be a great way to get inventory.

What I dig for from friends and family:
I usually take whatever they offer me and pull out what I really want when I get home and donate the rest. But I am always on the lookout for books, any age, any topic, any condition. (I've had great luck taking old damaged books apart and selling the pages for crafting.) 

Need some more ideas about where to find great merchandise where you live? Be sure to check out 


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