Featured Finding and pricing antique/vintage items

I hear ya!

 

@clutteredcloset49 and @Marie Forjan - Thank you so much for your detailed answers. I'm capable of following a system, but creating one - phew. Handwritten is more my style, but I agree that it isn't the way to go.

Thank you both.

 

One way to make a small fortune in the antiques business is to start with a large one.

 

@LIbraryLady - I have used an Excel set up from the very beginning back in 2001.

Every year I copy the existing inventory list & then go through to delete all items that have been sold that year. The copied list is renamed as "Inventory 2019" & the old one becomes "Final Inventory 2018".

I have all of my inventories on my computer's hard drive (also on my portable hard drive in case of total meltdown ) so it is very easy to go back as many years as I need to to search & find whatever I am looking for at the time.

A lot of what I sell carries over from year to year because I buy a lot of multi-item lots. For instance it may take me a year or 2 or more to sell a complete set of dishes or glassware. I usually make my money back by selling a few pieces & the rest is technically gravy. So unlike Marie I don't start each year with a totally clean slate.

Since I had to provide a dollar amount of inventory on hand this made it very easy to do. I would just highlight the one column to give me the exact amount that was still here.

Column A - I assign everything an inventory number starting with 100. If it is a multi item purchase the numbers are followed by letters (100-A, 100-B, etc.). This was of more use when I had a booth & sold at shows, but it is just easier to keep the same format.

Column B - The date the item(s) were purchased.

Column C - A brief description of the item.

Column D - If it is a multi-item purchase the total price is written here. (A few years back I started to do these numbers in red until I had exceeded the amount I had paid. After I had made my money back the numbers were changed to green. I use to delete the original amount but doing it the new way helped me decide if it was time to cut bait on the items left without having to refer back to previous inventory lists to see how much I had made on the lot. It also gives me a little visual boost seeing lots of green numbers. )

Column E - This column is for individual pieces or the amounts assigned to multi-item purchases.

Column F -My original price for the item. (This column was more important when I had a booth. Now I just put in a number slightly over what I had paid or for the most part 4.99-E which is as low as I go on eBay. )

Column G - My actual selling price for the item.

Column H - The date the item was sold.

Column I - The difference between what I had paid for the item & what it eventually sold for in the end.

I also keep track of multi-item lots from year to year in the next couple of columns. This also helps me easily decide when it is just not worth hanging onto or trying to sell the last item or two.

Hope this helps out you or anyone else who needs to keep track of inventory.

 

Is that a large fortune or a large antiques business?

 

@bercrystal - I wouldn't have thought of keeping track of each year, but I can see the sense of it.
Thank you for spelling this all out.

 

You are very welcome. The system has served me well over the years. Hope it helps you set up your system.