December 17, 2024 • 18 mins
Transform your vendor booth into the star of the show with our expert guest's top tips for success. Discover how to scale your furniture, maximize vertical space, and create layouts that invite visitors to explore. Lighting plays a crucial role, and we'll guide you through using lamps, spotlights, and LED strips to elevate your booth's appeal. Mixing colors and styles is key to avoiding monotony, and we'll share strategies for sourcing unique items that you love, ensuring your booth stands out. Learn how to build valuable relationships with estate sale companies and other vendors to boost your sales and create an engaging shopping experience.
Navigating the resale market requires a keen understanding of vendor margins and shopping strategies, especially when dealing with antiques and decor. We'll tackle the art of sourcing inventory with patience, focusing on items that resonate well in different markets. Managing inventory across multiple booth locations can be a game-changer, and we discuss practical strategies for efficient management. Pricing is an art in itself, and we'll explore how to tailor your pricing strategies to local markets, considering factors like shipping and audience reach. Tune in for insights on negotiating deals, staying ahead of trends, and making smart decisions that lead to maximum profit or quick sales.
Sponsored by The Griffin Antique Mall
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
So today we're going to be diving into some practical
tips for our vendors.
So if you are a vendor boothowner and you're wanting some
practical tips on how to set upyour booth, he's the guy to talk
to.
He's really good.
So give me three tips on how toset your booth up if you're
brand new.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Okay.
So, depending on your size, youknow you really need to scale
your furniture.
So, like, if you have a smallerbooth, for instance, like you,
typically you want to govertical, so you're going to,
you know, go with narrowerfurniture, like we have a vendor
who you know did basically justwall shelves, so you don't have
any furniture on the floor,because you may have a smaller
space and you want to get asmany smalls in, because smalls
(00:42):
is what's going to basically paythe bills and that's the
easiest thing to continuallyreplenish and find.
And so I always like to thinkabout your um, you know, your
foot by intrigue them to come inbut not let them shop from the
aisle.
And so for me it's like if youhave a wider space where you can
(01:11):
put, like the back of abookshelf up against the walkway
to kind of force people to wantto come in and see what's on
the other side of that bookshelf.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Make it like a, c kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Make it where you kind of walk through.
Yeah, make it where you kind ofwalk through.
And again, it's like Ipersonally, the way I look at it
is I don't ever want to have tostep over things to get through
the booth and so keeping itclean and tidy in the sense that
you know you want to haveplenty of stuff but not so much
(01:41):
that either.
I don't love digging throughand moving a whole bunch of
items to see the thing that Iwant to look at.
So having things visible buthaving enough interest in there
where, again, people don't justwalk by, glance and say, oh, got
it and keep on going, I don'tsee anything I like.
And just fill the space, fillevery inch of the walls that you
(02:12):
can, whether that's with littlemirrors or hang rugs from the
wall to give some like textureand stuff inside there.
So my biggest things is figureout your space, go vertical.
My next biggest one is lighting.
You know a well lit space islike you know, moth to a flame.
You know.
So I always you know we'll put,especially in corners.
You know, if you have a normalkind of booth space in the
corners, I always put some sortof lighting.
(02:33):
I like to make it interesting,so I'll put, you know, lamps on
top of bookshelves or on shelvesIf you have access with a cord.
Um, you know, some people getthe little spotlights on my
amazon and kind of placethroughout, or you can do led
light strips, so lighting ishuge.
Um, and then I would probablysay my third tip is you know,
(02:57):
have a mixture of like furniturecolors and styles.
If you're doing furniture, youknow so like you wouldn't want a
lot of times.
If you're doing furniture, youknow so like you wouldn't want a
lot of times.
If you do solid patterns, youknow your eye just kind of
passes and they look like blocks, whereas if there's patterns,
you know it kind of goes, it cango with the flow of things.
So I like to mix, you know, dark, maybe dark leathers with some
(03:20):
lighter woods, or darker woodswith lighter tapestry type
material, covered chairs or um,you know.
So I like to mix my furniturecolors because it kind of
creates some interest and itdoesn't just look like a brown
furniture room, which I lovebrown furniture but um, it can
look in a space as small as abooth maybe, it can kind of just
(03:43):
look where it all blendstogether and nothing stands out.
And that's also another keyaspect with lighting is you can
also put it underneath furniturelike desk and kind of give it
some light under to show offlike if it has cool legs or
something.
So yeah, I think lighting isprobably the biggest.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Yeah, lighting is huge.
I've learned that, yeah, sothose are the three tips for
your physical aspect of yourbooth.
And then how to shop.
I am not a vendor.
I do not come from the vendorworld at all.
So, hearing you talk to vendorsand coaching them, you've said
some things that are pretty mindblowing.
So I want to go over that.
So, when you're shopping, whatare some key points?
(04:19):
And if you don't say it, thenI'll say it.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Okay.
So for me, buy what you like.
There's very few things that Ican think of that I've bought.
That wasn't something I wouldput in my home.
So for me it's always so.
If you get what you like andyou kind of know how and you're
pricing it right and stuff likeit typically is, that's the
(04:43):
stuff that's going to move.
You know, if you're buyingthings just because it's trendy,
you know you may get stuck withit, you may not, you know
whatever.
But for me it's always buy whatyou like and you know.
The other thing is be consistentin your hunting.
You know that's a big thing forme is you know whether that's,
oh, I only have 30 minutes or Ihave several hours, but it's
(05:06):
like being consistent with thelooking.
Um is kind of a big thing forme that you know people.
Just well, I'm just going to goon Saturdays because maybe
that's all work allows me to doand that's great.
But you know, if you can carveout out more time, you're going
to be more successful.
I guess is my thing, um, when itcomes to finding those deals,
(05:29):
um, and then I think the otherthing too is uh, you know,
develop relationships with,assay, cell companies, um, just
people in general.
Other vendors, you know they can.
Maybe they have some stuff intheir stores that they just
don't have room for and theywant to clear it out.
Maybe you can get a good dealon there.
But my favorite is, you know,to kind of start developing
(05:51):
relationships with these estatesale companies, thrift store
owners, you know, if they'reindependently owned thrift store
owners like, chat with thembecause they may do the estate
sale clean out and they may getsome of the things that you know
you would have liked to havegotten, but maybe you weren't
able to get to that sale.
Um, so you know, if you kind ofrelationship, they can just
text you and say, hey, I'mgetting a shipment in, here's
(06:14):
some pictures of the stuff, um,and then that that helps them
out, cause then they're nothaving to bring it in, sit on it
, price it, do all this otherstuff If you can go in there,
and they know you like rugs.
So they just hey, I got thesetwo, three rugs in.
I have some more in the garage,and so this is a very
(06:36):
relationship based business, andso I think it's also just as
important to have relationshipslike outside of your mall,
because that's how you're goingto get get those items in.
What's the thing that you?
Speaker 1 (06:53):
So I think my favorite thing you've ever said
is like you make your money whenyou buy.
Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
So the easiest way.
Cause.
It didn't make sense to mewhenever, because I first heard
this from a person who lives inEurope and they've been in
antiques for a long time andthey kept saying this and it
didn't really click with meuntil really getting into this
more and more and more.
Because when you buy somethinglike I'll just use, for
(07:20):
instances, you know if you'rebuying an item that you know you
can get a smoking deal on, butyou know the value is here but
like that person just needs itgone, or you're just a really
lucky, lucky individual, luckyindividual who can find that
that thing Lucky individual,lucky individual who can find
that thing.
You're making your money whenyou're buying that because the
(07:45):
profit margin is just so hugethat that's where you're going
to make your money later on.
If you're buying everything at20% less than what you're
selling it for, you're nevergoing to get ahead, you know.
And so you have to shop smarter, because that's where you're
going to make your money is, inthat, um, in that gap between
(08:08):
what you're buying and whatyou're selling, obviously.
But if you're thinking you knowwhat, what are my margins Like?
What is my commission to mymall?
What is my?
What do I want to make off this?
But you also got the.
You know there's sales tax whenyou're buying that item, uh,
most of the time.
And so you know you have tofactor in all these different
(08:28):
things and so and you reallyhave to be mindful of you know
what's what am I willing to payfor this?
Because also, I'm having to lugthis huge piece of furniture
and then having to clean it anddo all this other you know, glue
parts back on or whatever itmay be.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Even if it's like a small item, like a mirror or
something like you know, if it's$50, can you sell it for a
hundred?
Probably not, so you got tokeep that in mind.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Yeah Well, and that's where it's like a big thing
with, like you know, whetherit's auction lots or whatever,
because you may see, like youknow, again a brass candlestick,
well you know if you can buythe whole lot of things.
And then, but you really wantedthis.
You know two or three items butyou got everything in there.
It's like great, okay, well,let's just price everything
where we just want to move it.
But you know, once you sellthat one or two items that paid
for the whole auction.
(09:19):
Now everything else is profit.
So it's kind of being mindfulof you know, when you're doing
those bulk buys.
Okay, I know I can make all mymoney back on this one thing,
then everything else is profit.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
And so what is the margin that you follow, cause I
know sometimes you said liketimes five.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Yeah, is that it?
I mean.
So times three or times five isa great um, it's kind of just a
great barometer to tell whereyou are, because you know.
So if you buy something for $10, if you can't sell it, you know
and you can kind of pick what,whatever you want to do.
So if it's three times,obviously you won't be able to
sell for 30.
(09:55):
If you want to do five times,you know you sell for 50.
And so if you're able to getthe five X cause, again it
depends on your market, dependson kind of what the item is, um,
but you know, for instance,yeah, I mean, if you bought a
brass candelabra for $10, youknow all day you can sell that
thing for $48 or $50.
(10:16):
That's a great investment.
But if you are buying a brasscandlestick for $5 and you know
they only sell for eight,Probably not a great way to go.
Yeah, I mean, again, it's likeif you love it or you just want
to use it for this event andthen you want to be able to
resell it, like go for it, butthat's not where you're going to
be making your money.
(10:36):
And that's where some vendors,I think they struggle in some of
these areas where they'rebuying almost at retail and then
they're wanting to go in andthey're wanting other people to
cover their you know, covertheir margins, and that's just
not you can kind of tell whenyou're looking at those items.
(10:58):
And so that's just where, again, it's one of those things like
there's been tons of stuff thatI love, but the margins just
aren't there, so you got toleave it.
And so if you're not buying itfor your personal use or whatnot
, this doesn't make sense.
So sometimes you just have toleave those things behind and
hope you know hope for thebetter or a better deal down the
(11:22):
road.
And then, and again it's one ofthose things where you know I'll
scout out, you know, go to astay sale, scout them out.
A lot of them, at least in ourarea, they do on their last day,
you know, 50% off, or maybesome of them do 75% off and some
(11:45):
of them you know you can go inthere and maybe there's, you
know, a set of blue and whitedishes and different odds and in
pieces and you're like, heylook, I'll take them off your
hands for this.
They just want it gone yeah.
You know, because if not,they're going to do this, or
it's going to get donated orit's just going to go back to
the family and they're like, wedon't want it.
You know it's here for sale fora reason and so, you know,
throw in a couple other items,that's going to help the you
know, the company out by youtaking these things off their
(12:07):
hands, and then they're going togive you a deal by packaging
everything together.
You know so, don't together.
You know so don't.
Sometimes it's better just tonot cherry pick all your stuff
and say, hey, let me, I'll helpyou out, you help me, yeah, you
give me a deal on all thesethings and I'll take all of it.
You know, um, and so that'skind of my philosophies on
(12:29):
shopping and there's justpatience, you know, and I
typically I try not to buythings, you know, just because
like, oh, it's old, I'm going totake it.
You know, I try to really thinkthrough, like where am I
putting it?
Does this have a use?
You know, is this going to befor next, like Christmas decor?
Am I buying it now because I'mgoing to use it next year?
(12:51):
Or am I making sure that you'restaying neutral enough that,
whatever the Christmas trend is,you can maybe go along with
that.
Or it's things that you knowthat just repeatedly sell each
year Like brass candlesticksyeah, right now brass is hot.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Yeah, like brass candlesticks.
Right now, brass is hot yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
So what is some advice you want to give to a new
vendor or a vendor that'scurrently struggling with, some
advice you want to give them toeither keep going or there's
this need that you feel at leastI did whenever I go into it
where it's like I need all thesethings and then I need to have
backups to the things, so whenthey sell I'm ready to just
replace them.
So then you kind of end upoverbuying and then you're
(13:42):
feeling the need to go and get.
It puts more pressure on theselling side where you're just
like what sales did I make today?
What did I do today?
Because I need to go get morestuff or because I need to cover
the fact that I just spent allthis money on these inventory
and and it's just something thatyou learn over time but you
(14:05):
know figuring out what sells foryou in your mall.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
You know, and that's why a lot of vendors have
multiple malls, because thistown may sell really well with
these things and this towndoesn't and that's why I've
always said it's good whenvendors are in multiple malls,
because they can flip theirdecor and their stuff and it
usually works out better yeah,and if it's something that they
can, if they can mentally andphysically take on, that's great
.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
I think also, um, there's also something that's
like, if you know, like I loveEnglish antiques and furnitures
and decor, you know, then maybeit's like I'm going to go all in
on a location which is great totry them out.
So you know, maybe you havefour booths and then you can
kind of fill them out and see,you know, which one sells what I
(14:52):
like.
Yeah, instead of how can I fitinto this mall, how can I go to
a place that is me?
And so I think, by reallyfocusing on what it is that you
like, what you like to sell,what you like to source and
what's available in your area,you know, cause it may be super
(15:12):
hard to come across like here.
Anyway, it's harder and harderto come across like mid-century
modern, like good mid-centurymodern stuff, not just
Tupperware and those things, butlike nice quality furniture at
a price that you could resell atno-transcript.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
You know 998, probably not in oklahoma, you
know well, and some people come.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
You know they either come from other markets, like
you know, if you're coming fromCalifornia, you know we are very
different than California andpeople want different things.
And so, yeah, I mean, on thatpricing topic, you know I try to
really, you know, I'll look at,for instance, if you research
it and you're like, okay,there's 11 of them online,
(16:30):
here's an average price.
But again we're thinking okay,well, they're figuring in some
sort of shipping, they'refiguring in some sort of you
know they're marketing.
They also are, you know, withit, let's say, it's on first
dibs, they're marketing it tothe world, so they have a much
larger audience.
(16:52):
So a lot of times what people dois, you know, especially newer
vendors and stuff they may lookat.
You know they'll Google insomething oh, it's on eBay for a
hundred bucks.
Yeah, it's on eBay for ahundred bucks, but that's, you
know, there's a hundred millionpeople on eBay.
So if you're not going to be oneBay, then you have just your
market and your market is a lotsmaller than eBay.
And so, you know, then you gotto figure out what would someone
(17:14):
pay for this?
And so maybe it's well, you canonly sell in your area for $40.
And so kind of taking thosethings into account and don't
just looking it up and say, no,I'm going to use this, but use
some judgment, discernment on.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
And that goes back to when you buy it.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
Right, if you can't sell it for 40, then don't buy
it, you know, and so a lot ofthat too it's you know.
Then it's figuring out, okay,well, you know, yeah, do I, do I
market at something or a pricepoint where I want it Like I
want to get this out of it, ordo I want to move it?
Yeah, you know.
So sometimes you can kind oftake a little bit less if you're
(17:49):
just like
So today we're going to be diving into some practical
tips for our vendors.
So if you are a vendor boothowner and you're wanting some
practical tips on how to set upyour booth, he's the guy to talk
to.
He's really good.
So give me three tips on how toset your booth up if you're
brand new.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Okay.
So, depending on your size, youknow you really need to scale
your furniture.
So, like, if you have a smallerbooth, for instance, like you,
typically you want to govertical, so you're going to,
you know, go with narrowerfurniture, like we have a vendor
who you know did basically justwall shelves, so you don't have
any furniture on the floor,because you may have a smaller
space and you want to get asmany smalls in, because smalls
(00:42):
is what's going to basically paythe bills and that's the
easiest thing to continuallyreplenish and find.
And so I always like to thinkabout your um, you know, your
foot by intrigue them to come inbut not let them shop from the
aisle.
And so for me it's like if youhave a wider space where you can
(01:11):
put, like the back of abookshelf up against the walkway
to kind of force people to wantto come in and see what's on
the other side of that bookshelf.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Make it like a, c kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Make it where you kind of walk through.
Yeah, make it where you kind ofwalk through.
And again, it's like Ipersonally, the way I look at it
is I don't ever want to have tostep over things to get through
the booth and so keeping itclean and tidy in the sense that
you know you want to haveplenty of stuff but not so much
(01:41):
that either.
I don't love digging throughand moving a whole bunch of
items to see the thing that Iwant to look at.
So having things visible buthaving enough interest in there
where, again, people don't justwalk by, glance and say, oh, got
it and keep on going, I don'tsee anything I like.
And just fill the space, fillevery inch of the walls that you
(02:12):
can, whether that's with littlemirrors or hang rugs from the
wall to give some like textureand stuff inside there.
So my biggest things is figureout your space, go vertical.
My next biggest one is lighting.
You know a well lit space islike you know, moth to a flame.
You know.
So I always you know we'll put,especially in corners.
You know, if you have a normalkind of booth space in the
corners, I always put some sortof lighting.
(02:33):
I like to make it interesting,so I'll put, you know, lamps on
top of bookshelves or on shelvesIf you have access with a cord.
Um, you know, some people getthe little spotlights on my
amazon and kind of placethroughout, or you can do led
light strips, so lighting ishuge.
Um, and then I would probablysay my third tip is you know,
(02:57):
have a mixture of like furniturecolors and styles.
If you're doing furniture, youknow so like you wouldn't want a
lot of times.
If you're doing furniture, youknow so like you wouldn't want a
lot of times.
If you do solid patterns, youknow your eye just kind of
passes and they look like blocks, whereas if there's patterns,
you know it kind of goes, it cango with the flow of things.
So I like to mix, you know, dark, maybe dark leathers with some
(03:20):
lighter woods, or darker woodswith lighter tapestry type
material, covered chairs or um,you know.
So I like to mix my furniturecolors because it kind of
creates some interest and itdoesn't just look like a brown
furniture room, which I lovebrown furniture but um, it can
look in a space as small as abooth maybe, it can kind of just
(03:43):
look where it all blendstogether and nothing stands out.
And that's also another keyaspect with lighting is you can
also put it underneath furniturelike desk and kind of give it
some light under to show offlike if it has cool legs or
something.
So yeah, I think lighting isprobably the biggest.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Yeah, lighting is huge.
I've learned that, yeah, sothose are the three tips for
your physical aspect of yourbooth.
And then how to shop.
I am not a vendor.
I do not come from the vendorworld at all.
So, hearing you talk to vendorsand coaching them, you've said
some things that are pretty mindblowing.
So I want to go over that.
So, when you're shopping, whatare some key points?
(04:19):
And if you don't say it, thenI'll say it.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Okay.
So for me, buy what you like.
There's very few things that Ican think of that I've bought.
That wasn't something I wouldput in my home.
So for me it's always so.
If you get what you like andyou kind of know how and you're
pricing it right and stuff likeit typically is, that's the
(04:43):
stuff that's going to move.
You know, if you're buyingthings just because it's trendy,
you know you may get stuck withit, you may not, you know
whatever.
But for me it's always buy whatyou like and you know.
The other thing is be consistentin your hunting.
You know that's a big thing forme is you know whether that's,
oh, I only have 30 minutes or Ihave several hours, but it's
(05:06):
like being consistent with thelooking.
Um is kind of a big thing forme that you know people.
Just well, I'm just going to goon Saturdays because maybe
that's all work allows me to doand that's great.
But you know, if you can carveout out more time, you're going
to be more successful.
I guess is my thing, um, when itcomes to finding those deals,
(05:29):
um, and then I think the otherthing too is uh, you know,
develop relationships with,assay, cell companies, um, just
people in general.
Other vendors, you know they can.
Maybe they have some stuff intheir stores that they just
don't have room for and theywant to clear it out.
Maybe you can get a good dealon there.
But my favorite is, you know,to kind of start developing
(05:51):
relationships with these estatesale companies, thrift store
owners, you know, if they'reindependently owned thrift store
owners like, chat with thembecause they may do the estate
sale clean out and they may getsome of the things that you know
you would have liked to havegotten, but maybe you weren't
able to get to that sale.
Um, so you know, if you kind ofrelationship, they can just
text you and say, hey, I'mgetting a shipment in, here's
(06:14):
some pictures of the stuff, um,and then that that helps them
out, cause then they're nothaving to bring it in, sit on it
, price it, do all this otherstuff If you can go in there,
and they know you like rugs.
So they just hey, I got thesetwo, three rugs in.
I have some more in the garage,and so this is a very
(06:36):
relationship based business, andso I think it's also just as
important to have relationshipslike outside of your mall,
because that's how you're goingto get get those items in.
What's the thing that you?
Speaker 1 (06:53):
So I think my favorite thing you've ever said
is like you make your money whenyou buy.
Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
So the easiest way.
Cause.
It didn't make sense to mewhenever, because I first heard
this from a person who lives inEurope and they've been in
antiques for a long time andthey kept saying this and it
didn't really click with meuntil really getting into this
more and more and more.
Because when you buy somethinglike I'll just use, for
(07:20):
instances, you know if you'rebuying an item that you know you
can get a smoking deal on, butyou know the value is here but
like that person just needs itgone, or you're just a really
lucky, lucky individual, luckyindividual who can find that
that thing Lucky individual,lucky individual who can find
that thing.
You're making your money whenyou're buying that because the
(07:45):
profit margin is just so hugethat that's where you're going
to make your money later on.
If you're buying everything at20% less than what you're
selling it for, you're nevergoing to get ahead, you know.
And so you have to shop smarter, because that's where you're
going to make your money is, inthat, um, in that gap between
(08:08):
what you're buying and whatyou're selling, obviously.
But if you're thinking you knowwhat, what are my margins Like?
What is my commission to mymall?
What is my?
What do I want to make off this?
But you also got the.
You know there's sales tax whenyou're buying that item, uh,
most of the time.
And so you know you have tofactor in all these different
(08:28):
things and so and you reallyhave to be mindful of you know
what's what am I willing to payfor this?
Because also, I'm having to lugthis huge piece of furniture
and then having to clean it anddo all this other you know, glue
parts back on or whatever itmay be.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Even if it's like a small item, like a mirror or
something like you know, if it's$50, can you sell it for a
hundred?
Probably not, so you got tokeep that in mind.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Yeah Well, and that's where it's like a big thing
with, like you know, whetherit's auction lots or whatever,
because you may see, like youknow, again a brass candlestick,
well you know if you can buythe whole lot of things.
And then, but you really wantedthis.
You know two or three items butyou got everything in there.
It's like great, okay, well,let's just price everything
where we just want to move it.
But you know, once you sellthat one or two items that paid
for the whole auction.
(09:19):
Now everything else is profit.
So it's kind of being mindfulof you know, when you're doing
those bulk buys.
Okay, I know I can make all mymoney back on this one thing,
then everything else is profit.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
And so what is the margin that you follow, cause I
know sometimes you said liketimes five.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Yeah, is that it?
I mean.
So times three or times five isa great um, it's kind of just a
great barometer to tell whereyou are, because you know.
So if you buy something for $10, if you can't sell it, you know
and you can kind of pick what,whatever you want to do.
So if it's three times,obviously you won't be able to
sell for 30.
(09:55):
If you want to do five times,you know you sell for 50.
And so if you're able to getthe five X cause, again it
depends on your market, dependson kind of what the item is, um,
but you know, for instance,yeah, I mean, if you bought a
brass candelabra for $10, youknow all day you can sell that
thing for $48 or $50.
(10:16):
That's a great investment.
But if you are buying a brasscandlestick for $5 and you know
they only sell for eight,Probably not a great way to go.
Yeah, I mean, again, it's likeif you love it or you just want
to use it for this event andthen you want to be able to
resell it, like go for it, butthat's not where you're going to
be making your money.
(10:36):
And that's where some vendors,I think they struggle in some of
these areas where they'rebuying almost at retail and then
they're wanting to go in andthey're wanting other people to
cover their you know, covertheir margins, and that's just
not you can kind of tell whenyou're looking at those items.
(10:58):
And so that's just where, again, it's one of those things like
there's been tons of stuff thatI love, but the margins just
aren't there, so you got toleave it.
And so if you're not buying itfor your personal use or whatnot
, this doesn't make sense.
So sometimes you just have toleave those things behind and
hope you know hope for thebetter or a better deal down the
(11:22):
road.
And then, and again it's one ofthose things where you know I'll
scout out, you know, go to astay sale, scout them out.
A lot of them, at least in ourarea, they do on their last day,
you know, 50% off, or maybesome of them do 75% off and some
(11:45):
of them you know you can go inthere and maybe there's, you
know, a set of blue and whitedishes and different odds and in
pieces and you're like, heylook, I'll take them off your
hands for this.
They just want it gone yeah.
You know, because if not,they're going to do this, or
it's going to get donated orit's just going to go back to
the family and they're like, wedon't want it.
You know it's here for sale fora reason and so, you know,
throw in a couple other items,that's going to help the you
know, the company out by youtaking these things off their
(12:07):
hands, and then they're going togive you a deal by packaging
everything together.
You know so, don't together.
You know so don't.
Sometimes it's better just tonot cherry pick all your stuff
and say, hey, let me, I'll helpyou out, you help me, yeah, you
give me a deal on all thesethings and I'll take all of it.
You know, um, and so that'skind of my philosophies on
(12:29):
shopping and there's justpatience, you know, and I
typically I try not to buythings, you know, just because
like, oh, it's old, I'm going totake it.
You know, I try to really thinkthrough, like where am I
putting it?
Does this have a use?
You know, is this going to befor next, like Christmas decor?
Am I buying it now because I'mgoing to use it next year?
(12:51):
Or am I making sure that you'restaying neutral enough that,
whatever the Christmas trend is,you can maybe go along with
that.
Or it's things that you knowthat just repeatedly sell each
year Like brass candlesticksyeah, right now brass is hot.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Yeah, like brass candlesticks.
Right now, brass is hot yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
So what is some advice you want to give to a new
vendor or a vendor that'scurrently struggling with, some
advice you want to give them toeither keep going or there's
this need that you feel at leastI did whenever I go into it
where it's like I need all thesethings and then I need to have
backups to the things, so whenthey sell I'm ready to just
replace them.
So then you kind of end upoverbuying and then you're
(13:42):
feeling the need to go and get.
It puts more pressure on theselling side where you're just
like what sales did I make today?
What did I do today?
Because I need to go get morestuff or because I need to cover
the fact that I just spent allthis money on these inventory
and and it's just something thatyou learn over time but you
(14:05):
know figuring out what sells foryou in your mall.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
You know, and that's why a lot of vendors have
multiple malls, because thistown may sell really well with
these things and this towndoesn't and that's why I've
always said it's good whenvendors are in multiple malls,
because they can flip theirdecor and their stuff and it
usually works out better yeah,and if it's something that they
can, if they can mentally andphysically take on, that's great
.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
I think also, um, there's also something that's
like, if you know, like I loveEnglish antiques and furnitures
and decor, you know, then maybeit's like I'm going to go all in
on a location which is great totry them out.
So you know, maybe you havefour booths and then you can
kind of fill them out and see,you know, which one sells what I
(14:52):
like.
Yeah, instead of how can I fitinto this mall, how can I go to
a place that is me?
And so I think, by reallyfocusing on what it is that you
like, what you like to sell,what you like to source and
what's available in your area,you know, cause it may be super
(15:12):
hard to come across like here.
Anyway, it's harder and harderto come across like mid-century
modern, like good mid-centurymodern stuff, not just
Tupperware and those things, butlike nice quality furniture at
a price that you could resell atno-transcript.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
You know 998, probably not in oklahoma, you
know well, and some people come.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
You know they either come from other markets, like
you know, if you're coming fromCalifornia, you know we are very
different than California andpeople want different things.
And so, yeah, I mean, on thatpricing topic, you know I try to
really, you know, I'll look at,for instance, if you research
it and you're like, okay,there's 11 of them online,
(16:30):
here's an average price.
But again we're thinking okay,well, they're figuring in some
sort of shipping, they'refiguring in some sort of you
know they're marketing.
They also are, you know, withit, let's say, it's on first
dibs, they're marketing it tothe world, so they have a much
larger audience.
(16:52):
So a lot of times what people dois, you know, especially newer
vendors and stuff they may lookat.
You know they'll Google insomething oh, it's on eBay for a
hundred bucks.
Yeah, it's on eBay for ahundred bucks, but that's, you
know, there's a hundred millionpeople on eBay.
So if you're not going to be oneBay, then you have just your
market and your market is a lotsmaller than eBay.
And so, you know, then you gotto figure out what would someone
(17:14):
pay for this?
And so maybe it's well, you canonly sell in your area for $40.
And so kind of taking thosethings into account and don't
just looking it up and say, no,I'm going to use this, but use
some judgment, discernment on.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
And that goes back to when you buy it.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
Right, if you can't sell it for 40, then don't buy
it, you know, and so a lot ofthat too it's you know.
Then it's figuring out, okay,well, you know, yeah, do I, do I
market at something or a pricepoint where I want it Like I
want to get this out of it, ordo I want to move it?
Yeah, you know.
So sometimes you can kind oftake a little bit less if you're
(17:49):
just like
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