Snooping On Etsy – Holiday Décor

Holiday décor is beautiful! I like buying decorations the day after Christmas and save them for next year. This practice has saved me hundreds of dollars, while allowing me to buy gorgeous stuff from expensive stores with a 75% discount tag. I am so thrifty! And I feel so proud when I get these deals! I almost feel like I am outsmarting the system, until I go to the stores and realize that a lot of the decorations I wanted are sold out. Darn! Catch 22, people, Catch 22.

While I wait for these discounts to happen, I indulge on Etsy. There is great Holiday décor on Etsy, and it is nice to know you are helping small businesses while you shop.

Here are some of my favorites Holiday decorations from this site:

Plaster Pinecone Decoration – Kuber Store – $16.64jestcafe.com-holiday-decor2Christmas Tree Decor – Reclaim The Shed -$25jestcafe.com-holidaydecor6Mistletoe Christmas Ornament -Fairy Folk – $16.50jestcafe.com-holidaydecor14Fir Tree Decoration – Flora Sense – $15jestcafe.com-holidaydecor16Bird Decorations – Prince Design UK – $21jestcafe.com-holidaydecor5Christmas Tree Table Top – Flora Sense – $14jestcafe.com-holidaydecor15Pastels Tree Decorations – Julie Collings – $12.95jestcafe.com-holidaydecor13Hardwood Snowflake Ornament – Timber Green Woods – $16.95jestcafe.com-holidaydecor10Reindeer Tabletop Decor – Lobelle shop – $20
jestcafe.com-holidaydecor11Wool Tree Ornament – Soft Tearjestcafe.com-holidaydecor12 Concrete Diamond Ornament – Ink Bandit – $19.53jestcafe.com-holidaydecor7 Cooper Ornament – Bookity – $20jestcafe.com-holidaydecor8 Polar Bear Ornament – Wild Whimsy Woolies – $28jestcafe.com-holidaydecor9 Dove Decorations – Prince Design UK – $14jestcafe.com--holidaydecor3

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Gift Guide For Men That Like Meat And Science

Buying something for my husband is extremely difficult. He is picky and uses the same t-shirt everyday. Here is a gift guide for men, in case you have one in your life that is as picky as my husband. Some of the items in this list are expensive, but there are also some that are cheap. Let me know if you have any other ideas!  Read more

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Etsy v/s Ebay

I decided to close my Ebay shop and keep my Etsy shop only. Why? For a variety of reasons that I will spell out below, but, before I do so, I want to come clean and let you know that my shop is super small. I opened it back in September and uploaded only 6 items on Etsy and 2 on Ebay. Since then, I have been adding to my catalogue slowly (up to 18 items now!), and I finally managed to sell some of them. So, am I the biggest expert seller on Etsy and Ebay???? Obviously not, but I can still share some of the lessons I have learned on this journey (Did you see the video where Ana Wintour writes down the word she hates the most? Well, it happens to be “journey” and here is the video. Before you watch it, I have to warn you, as smart as Ana Wintour is, acting is not her strong suit.)

In the beginning, I opened two shops, one on Ebay and one on Etsy. I wanted to see how I did in both of them. Which one sells more? Which one charges less? Which one gives me more visibility? Etc, etc.

Setting up the two shops was pretty painless I have to say. Now, uploading all the items and writing decent descriptions is a different story.  That was hard! For starters, you have to take good pictures, which wasn’t that difficult to do because I happen to have a proper camera. If you are taking pictures with your IPhone, on the other hand, you might have some difficulties. Now, writing those descriptions, filling up all the tabs, and getting the price right…, that was harder and very time consuming!

The good news is that people really liked one of my items in the Etsy Shop:  the Antique Hendryx Bird Cage, so it got named in a couple of treasure lists and it had a LOT of views, but guess how many sales… ZERO! On the other hand, my Ebay shop didn’t get a lot of views but I started to get inquiries right away. Here is that Bird Cage I was (am) trying to sell:

jestcafe.com - Etsy v/s Ebay

 

So, back to the list of PROS and CONS of Ebay and Etsy from the POV of somebody that has just started to open a vintage shop, and is doing so as a hobby:

Etsy v/s Ebay

What I like about ETSY

  • The site is beautiful and user friendly.
  • Fees are lower than on Ebay. Etsy charges $0.20 to post an item and 3.5% of your sale.
  • People are not constantly bargaining you down from your original price.
  • People are willing to pay more for items in this site than Ebay.
  • It has a maximum of 5 pictures to upload, so taking a bunch of photos to impress people is not necessary.
  • They give you stats on your views, demographics and search results.
  • Your item can be listed for longer than on Ebay.
  • They restrict what you can sell to handmade and vintage items. I like this because it targets certain clients only.
  • A sense of belonging to a community. It feels like a personal space to do business. There are plenty of support groups out there for Etsy sellers.

What I don’t like about Etsy

  • It has less traffic than Ebay.
  •  I sold less items than on Ebay in the same amount of time.

What I like about Ebay

  • After you write down what your item is (title), they suggest categories to use.
  • They suggest a price for your item, based on other similar items that have been sold at the site.
  • Traffic is huge and it results in more sales.
  • They help you figure out shipping price based on package’s weight and measurements.

What I don’t like about Ebay

  • Expensive (and hidden) fees. They charge you around 8-15% of your sale, way more than the 3.5% that Etsy charges. I felt you have to be an Ebay fees expert to know exactly what they are charging you when you post/sell an item. Depending on the type of post you do, or category you decide to use, you get charged different fees. This is not clear beforehand. They never tell you “if you post this, you get charged X,” so, at the end of the month, I got a bill for $25 dollars that I still don’t get.
  • Potential sellers are always trying to bargain you down from your original price. True, people are nice. True, I had great exchanges with people around the US, but, in the end, I lost money because I was asked repeatedly to charge less.
  • The site is just plain ugly, what can I say.

For these reasons, and the added stress of having shops in two websites at the same time, I decided to close my Ebay account: I don’t want to be bargaining with people constantly (I hate this kind of confrontation); I don’t want to spend all my earnings paying fees; and, I want my site to be beautiful. Aside from this, my experience has been great and I love having this little hobby of my own. Now, I really need to stock up the shop, so I will be forced to go to some Estate Sales this weekend!!!! Poor me.

If you have other insights on this topic, please, share! I would love to hear.

Here are some of my favorite items that are for sale in the shop right now. Cute, ha?

Vintage Jest Cafe Shop

Brass Bookends – $32jestcafe.com---Etsy-vs-Ebay7Pencil Drawing of Two Girls – $35jestcafe.com---Etsy-vs-Ebay1 Poppytrail Carafe in Teal  – $25

jestcafe.com---Etsy-vs-Ebay3

Antique Bradley & Hobbarb – $150
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Vintage Brass Swan – $20jestcafe.com---Etsy-vs-Ebay6

Jason Monet’s Drawing – $300
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Vintage Brass Planter – $28jestcafe.com---Etsy-vs-Ebay2

Audubon Print – $23jestcafe.com---Etsy-vs-Ebay8

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Snooping On Etsy – Woven Wall Hangings

Woven Wall Hangings are a thing. If you don’t believe me, look at these pictures.

jestcafe.com-wall-hanging3Decor 8jestcafe.com---wall-hanging2 Coco + Kelleyjestcafe.com-wall-hanging1Design Sponge
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Bohemian Diesel

Cute, don’t you think? A little rustic, a little sophisticated, and, a lot unpretentious.

It is not easy to find the perfect piece to decorate your wall. Pictures are obviously a good start, but you need to add other kinds of decorations to spice your home up. At least, that is why I like to do. A woven or macramé wall hanging is a great place to start. They are trending, they are beautiful, they can use a lot of wall space, and, they add texture to your home, which is something so many of us forget to do.

So, in my search for beautiful things around the web, I decided to look on my best shopping friend website, Etsy, where I found a lot of shops with beautiful handmade wall hangings, as expected.

Here are my favorite shops, if you know of another one, let me know! I would love to hear. A lot of these shops will customize a wall hanging to your needs, in case you want something more specific.

Of course, if you are up for a challenge, you can do your own woven wall hanging. Here is how.

Now, to that shop list:

The Wovjestcafe.com-thewovjestcafe.com-thewov1Astral Rilesjestcafe.com-astralrides2 jestcafe.com-astralrite Juju Just

jestcafe.com-jujujust1jestcafe.com-jujujust2Under the Oak Tree Shopjestcafe.com-undertheoaktreejestcafe.com-undertheoaktree2Hazel and Hunter
jestcafe.com-hazelandhunger1
Jamieepjestcafe.com-jamieep1Rowan Studios
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Craft & Folk Art Museum – Shop

One of my favorite things about a museum is the gift store. There, I said it. Consider me shallow, or just honest, but I love browsing through the beautiful things they carry, almost as much as I like looking at the art or bones. In these stores I find things that are different, beautiful, and interesting. Also, I enjoy buying books about the exhibitions I just saw, this helps me remember the exhibition like a hoola girl souvenir helps me remember Hawaii and enjoy it again later on.

Short detour: After two kids my memory has taken a turn for the worst, and I am afraid I will soon lose my mind. It seems that just forgetting my keys and cell phones is not enough nowadays; my brain now wants to punish me by making me forget names and stories I used to know and that made me feel smart. I blame the sleep deprivation. Is there anybody else out there losing his or her neurons? Or is it just me? Is my brain going to come back? Or, am I going to have dulled thinking abilities for the rest of my life? Please, let me know if you have the same issues. –End of the detour

In any case, buying books or beautiful things that remind me later of that particular visit to the museum, which otherwise blends and disappears into all the other visits to the museums, helping me stay engaged and connected with the art – or bones, I suppose, long after the visit.

A month ago, I went to the Craft & Folk Art Museum to see the Chris Francis shoe exhibition, which was amazing. Sadly, it has ended already so, if you didn’t make it, you missed your window of opportunity. In any case, after seeing the exhibition, I made my way to the shop, my happy place, and discovered one of the most beautifully curated museum shops in LA, and believe me, I know, as I have been in almost all of them several times.

It is a small shop, but it has handpicked items that go hand-in-hand with its mission of showcasing hand-made designs. They are beautiful, simple and a pleasure to look at.

Here are some of them, and, as you can see, they are not terribly expensive. What do you think? Do you have a favorite item?

Mt. Washington Blue Bell – $110jestcafe.com---museum-store Mt. Washington Pottery White Bell – $110jestcafe.com--museum-store-2 Brass Salad Servers – $45jestcafe.com--museum-store-3 Iringa Basket – $58jestcafe.com--museum-store-4 Telephone Wire Woven Basket – $190jestcafe.com--museum-store-5 Dani Ban Lotus Earrings – $76jestcafe.com--museum-store-6 WV Craftworks Indigo Stripe Coffee Mug – $30jestcafe.com--museum-store-7 Chan Natural Dyed Scarf – $58jestcafe.com--museum-store-8 Fait La Force Whale – $25jestcafe.com--museum-store-9 Wooldbuddy Neddle Felting Kit – $20jestcafe.com--museum-store-10 Tagua Nut Necklace – $80jestcafe.com--museum-store-11

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