Do any of you resell for fun?

[Nevish]

I’ve been de-stressing by browsing hundreds of pages of eBay listings with vague search terms in hope of finding underpriced treasures. It’s super fun for me, and I found a couple of pieces that I LOVE, but I’ve also found several pieces that I really like, but not enough to replace something already in my collection. I also love hunting for pieces in person. I’m trying to be mindful of overconsuming—there’s only so much jewelry I can wear at a time! But with some of these little treasures I’m tempted to snap up and start up an Etsy store. Of course, that could take the fun out of it—and there’s also shipping and listing and other less fun steps in that process. I also know the fury reselling can inspire! To me it seems like snapping up pieces in physical stores and reselling online to reach a wider audience is less sleazy. But on the other hand, sourcing even from eBay or goodwill online takes an eye (and lots of time of mindless scrolling). Anyway, I just wanted to hear thoughts and anyone’s experience re-selling as a hobby!

 

[Nevish]

Also, ofc the Somebody’s Gotta Buy This Piece is a good outlet for this energy too! I did make a tiktok earlier today with most of my finds (except two that I’m gate keeping bc I want to buy them myself).

 

[Lisa Loves Shiny]

I haven't but I see the allure. A piece that is such a good deal that you almost can't resist. On Ebay there was a James Allen ring, a 1.67 pink, heated sapphire with .20 carats of diamonds in 14k for a buy it now price of $750, starting bid $500. It sold for $500. I was so tempted but I don't need any more pink gemstones and the ring wasn't my size. I thought I could re-sell it and a PS member would appreciate such a great deal. But selling comes with it's own challenges so I decided against it.

 

[nala]

I became a reseller of necessity. When my bling addiction began, I started reselling in order to upgrade my collection. There is definitely a learning curve. I don’t necessarily think it’s fun, lol. I love the hunt. It’s exciting to find treasures. I have gotten so good at knowing what I want that I rarely buy anything that I want to resell. I used to resell much more due to buying regrets/mistakes, but I have gotten to the point that the majority of my purchases are keepers.
I am fortunate that DH has an ebay account bc he sells comic books and so he handles the shipping. All I have to do is list and even that is time consuming so I rarely do it.
It is fun though, when a piece sells. I have some pieces that have been listed on ebay for over 2 years and suddenly they sell, lol. So patience is key. The right customer will come along if you are patient.

 

[Mreader]

I have re-sold and no it is not fun. I do it for the same reason @nala mentioned - all the $ for things I re-sell go to my bling fund. But selling isn't easy, Ebay takes more and more commission it seems, and buyers can be difficult. Like Nala I've had things up for years.

 

[RRfromR]

I sell only when I get to upgrade. For example, I had an old cut trilogy that was 1.2 ct and sold it because I upgraded to a larger ct one. I have an old mine cut solitaire that's a little under 1 ct and will sell it shortly, because I got an 1.2 ct one. Same with an unheated burma art deco ruby, I'm waiting for another one in the mail, so my current one has to go. I still have way too many earrings but I love those so much, they are my kriptonite.

 

[Mjay]

I did for a short stint before I had kids. Mostly lower cost antique pieces under 1k. I stopped because It became increasingly hard to find good deals and I had a return that left a bad taste in my mouth. The customer had it for a few weeks and then said it was lovely but just not her style. It came back smelling like saltwater. Now with two little kids I just don’t have the time or energy to deal with people.

 

[PinkAndBlueBling]

I've been selling because I was completely irresponsible and overspent on numerous stones that I will never set, or rings I just don't wear. I do not enjoy it one bit. It's frustrating for several reasons. I put a lot on Loupetroop, but I need to add items to eBay. Ebay fees and returns make it less attractive though.

 

[Dreamer_D]

Selling is a full time job. About a decade ago over the span of a couple years I collected and then sold a fair number of OECs, for the same kinds of reasons everyone else said. It’s just so much work to do it well so items sell quickly. The photography must be amazing, the descriptions take time to write, the communicating with buyers, the shipping… it’s all too much. I have a fantasy world where I do it because I see so many things that I think are a great find, but I know how much work it is and it’s not something I want to invest my time into.

 

[Nevish]

I think I’m enjoying that fantasy world too A big part of it is how much fun the acquiring part is, so of course I would love to be able to scoop up these treasures to resell them. But I don’t really come across things that are priced low enough to resell very frequently, and though I would enjoy the photography, I would not enjoy packing and shipping

 

[Lily Aldridge]

I've been thinking about it for a while, and I might resell some of my pieces that I don't like anymore.

 

[Bron357]

I buy on eBay and resell mostly on eBay.
I’ve used Gumtree for things, it’s free to use, but only for cheap things as you don’t know who is out there.
Auction house commissions are too much now and they charge the buyer as well plus having gone “online” you have to pay the hosting platform a fee as well and then a credit card fee is you use one. If you need money asap it’s the best way to sell but I’m in no rush. With eBay the fees aren’t cheap but the platform is pretty good and once you list it just stays there.
I have a very large collection of ladies manual watches and DH says no more unless I fund purchases from the sale of others.
I’m often buying things that upgrade from other things. I’ve a heap of rings that are too small and not worth resizing so I’m happy to use eBay for that. I’ve also sold some finer gold chains and bracelets I’m not wearing.
You really need to spend time browsing eBay to find bargains as well as “being there”. A classic case I recall, I wasn’t bidding as it was not something I liked but it did sell for less than I would have expected. I often “watch” to keep my finger on the pulse so to speak. However the winning bidder then didn’t pay and the under bidder declined as well. So the poor seller had to relist three weeks later and try again. Second time around it sold for about $2,000 more than the first time (and for more than I would have expected). So the seller was happy.

 

[RRfromR]

Did anyone here consign? If so, who did you use and how was your experience? I have some more expensive items (in the 3-4k range) to sell and I need help with them, as I don't sell enough to have an internet presence or reputation. If you use auctions, which one is the best for jewelry? TIA!

 

[lulu_ma]

Did anyone here consign? If so, who did you use and how was your experience? I have some more expensive items (in the 3-4k range) to sell and I need help with them, as I don't sell enough to have an internet presence or reputation. If you use auctions, which one is the best for jewelry? TIA!

I'd list them on Preloved first.

If that doesn't work out, I have heard good things about Gilded Lane. I have also had good experiences with Jewels with Stories.

I had a great experience with Grace with my 4.11 oec ring. I do have a couple of rings in the 6-7k price point that are listed with her right now, but they have been with her for several months.

 

[YadaYadaYada]

I had an Etsy shop a while back, my plan was to sell vintage and antique jewelry. Well my big seller ended up being vintage Strawberry Shortcake dolls! I did also sell some jewelry but the dolls were the bread and butter.

Etsy is kind of a bear to deal with in terms of fees and algorithm B.S. basically they will manipulate how visible listings are depending on if you are doing what they want. For example, when I had my shop, they wanted everyone to have free shipping so if you charged for shipping then your listings were on page 3 instead of page 1. Just utter nonsense, everyone knows shipping isn’t free especially on larger items or more delicate ones that require more care to pack for shipping.

I have sold on EBay, it’s a bear, people are ridiculously cheap and hey, I get it, I love a bargain too but man after you get done with all the fees you wonder why you even bother lol! I have sold quite a bit on Loupetroop, thank God I haven’t had any problems, people have been happy with their items so things have been smooth. I have a lot I need to unload still but I struggle with where to start, how to price stuff etc.

I sell more out of not wanting to have a huge hoard of things than anything else, at least now. In the past it was selling to buy the next better thing but now it feels like this is too much for an average person.

 

[RRfromR]

@YadaYadaYada that's why I don't shop on Etsy. Their algorithm is horrible, even for the buyer. If I search, for example, for an unheated sapphire ring, vintage, under 5K, I get pages and pages of loose stones and new stuff for 30K. Not at all relevant to my search.

 

[missy]

No, I do not like selling. I like buying haha
I did sell my first OEC ER to fund my upgrade to Bubbalah but it was sweet more than bittersweet because I sold to a friend and it made me happy to make her happy and it was a win win for us both

 

[Mreader]

@YadaYadaYada that's why I don't shop on Etsy. Their algorithm is horrible, even for the buyer. If I search, for example, for an unheated sapphire ring, vintage, under 5K, I get pages and pages of loose stones and new stuff for 30K. Not at all relevant to my search.

I have considered starting a thread on this asking why the Etsy search engine is SO BAD. It drives me absolutely nuts. I'll search for say, a platinum diamond ring, and get tons of white gold or gemstones. Then you have to wade through all of that to get to the items you are looking for. JUST WHY????? I find it so annoying that I hardly ever browse on Etsy anymore. EBay has plenty of faults but at least you can search and narrow down.

 

[Dreamer_D]

You really need to spend time browsing eBay to find bargains as well as “being there”. A classic case I recall, I wasn’t bidding as it was not something I liked but it did sell for less than I would have expected. I often “watch” to keep my finger on the pulse so to speak.

This is spot on and frankly just doing this takes so much time!

I have a bunch of saved searches and I check them every day. Save anything in the general categories I’m looking for, monitor the prices all the time. I shudder to even think about the amount of time spent just for maybe 2-4 purchase a year that meet my standards I love gems and jewelry so much but have a truly small budget and this is how I make it work. But the math doesn’t add up at all lol The hours I spend hunting surely are worth so much more than the savings. But I suppose it’s fun. Like running a marathon is fun — just horrifically horrifically painful and you want to quit constantly but the feeling when you’re done is just amazing. Humans are weird.

 

[Dreamer_D]

I had an Etsy shop a while back, my plan was to sell vintage and antique jewelry. Well my big seller ended up being vintage Strawberry Shortcake dolls! I did also sell some jewelry but the dolls were the bread and butter.

Why am I laughing so hard at this? We all running around loving on our precious gemstones and the real money is in strawberry shortcake dolls

 

[Dee*Jay]

I have considered starting a thread on this asking why the Etsy search engine is SO BAD. It drives me absolutely nuts. I'll search for say, a platinum diamond ring, and get tons of white gold or gemstones. Then you have to wade through all of that to get to the items you are looking for. JUST WHY????? I find it so annoying that I hardly ever browse on Etsy anymore. EBay has plenty of faults but at least you can search and narrow down.

The Etsy seller forms are absolutely FULL of these kinds of threads! As an Etsy seller (vintage glassware and dishes, not jewelry) I'm absolutely fed up with the search engine results too. Plus, the latest thing is that if you "favorite" something or put it in your cart you get INCESSENT pop-ups about buying it.

One tip I will offer is to sort by price. The results that pop up are based on "relevancy" (the most ridiculous misinterpretation of the word I've ever come across... ), but if you sort by price the results refine significantly.

Also, the more specific you can make your search term the better chance you'll have of getting something back that meets what you're looking for.

I have four pre-loved items that I'm thinking of selling and initially I considered putting them on my Etsy store (despite the fees) so people would be able to pay by credit card and have some level of comfort buying through an established platform rather than just sending money to some random stranger (even if we are all "family" here on PS!), but now... NO WAY. When I get around to listing them I'll put them on my own site and provide direct links.

Yada, you're 100% right -- "free shipping" my A$$! I do "free shipping" (in the Continental U.S.) only for the mental aspect. I.e., that way a buyer KNOWS what the ultimate price is, and doesn't put something in their cart and then have sticker shock over some crazy high shipping charge. But I build into the price what I estimate the most expensive shipping to the farthest reaches of the country will be.

RRfromR, we're all pretty sure the algorithms are written by drunk AI bots. Sometimes the results are so bad they're almost laughable. ALMOST.

 

[YadaYadaYada]

Why am I laughing so hard at this? We all running around loving on our precious gemstones and the real money is in strawberry shortcake dolls

It really is so funny. Even better, I had to become a fast expert on everything Strawberry Shortcake. I mean, still not a bad gig but not what I was expecting at all!

 

[Dee*Jay]

It really is so funny. Even better, I had to become a fast expert on everything Strawberry Shortcake. I mean, still not a bad gig but not what I was expecting at all!

I just put SS in the Etsy search for fun. Now I'm having a sudden desire for scratch 'n' sniff stickers!

 

[lovetodream]

I sell only when I get to upgrade. For example, I had an old cut trilogy that was 1.2 ct and sold it because I upgraded to a larger ct one. I have an old mine cut solitaire that's a little under 1 ct and will sell it shortly, because I got an 1.2 ct one. Same with an unheated burma art deco ruby, I'm waiting for another one in the mail, so my current one has to go. I still have way too many earrings but I love those so much, they are my kriptonite.

Ummm.... on the unheated burma ruby when you're ready to sell. I'd love to see it! #enabler

 

[Nevish]

This is spot on and frankly just doing this takes so much time!

I have a bunch of saved searches and I check them every day. Save anything in the general categories I’m looking for, monitor the prices all the time. I shudder to even think about the amount of time spent just for maybe 2-4 purchase a year that meet my standards I love gems and jewelry so much but have a truly small budget and this is how I make it work. But the math doesn’t add up at all lol The hours I spend hunting surely are worth so much more than the savings. But I suppose it’s fun. Like running a marathon is fun — just horrifically horrifically painful and you want to quit constantly but the feeling when you’re done is just amazing. Humans are weird.

Absolutely, that’s exactly what I do too! I spend so much scrolling through the thousands and thousands of ugly pieces to find one or two a year that are the right price for me and just sing to me. I find good buys frequently enough (as in, it’s priced lower than comparables
so a good buy for personal use) but it’s much rarer to find things that are priced low enough to make a profit on. The thing that started me on this daydream train was a pair of earrings that I thought would make a gorgeous pendant…so why not buy the pair and keep one and sell the other to subsidize my hobby except of course I know I have a lot more energy and enthusiasm in the “buying” part of the process and I won’t be nearly so energetic when it comes time to list and do all the boring things selling entails.

 

[RRfromR]

@Dee*Jay I also collect old ceramics, I love it, the more ornate, the better. My poor husband, who loves MCM and clean lines, is flabbergasted when I come home with my picks

 

[RRfromR]

@lovetodream here you go, some previews. I'll be cheap. It's certified unheated burma, old cuts. I'll try to get better pics for the listing.