anyway, i sold it is a little side project of mine where I walk through the finds, the research, and the final sale price of stuff I’ve sold online.

I got started selling on eBay by using my dad’s account (with permission) because I wasn’t old enough for my own, which I got in 2004 (and still have to this day). In 2006, when I was in college, I joined Etsy as an early adopter. My specialties were vintage and handmade jewelry.

I recently turned 40 (!), so by my calculations, that’s 24 years of developing an eye for what sells and how to research nearly anything. Over the course of thousands of items sold globally, I’ve learned a lot from all the sourcing and digging, listing and making sales, shipping and customer interactions, both online and IRL at markets, vintage shops, boutiques, and other venues.

Hitting up garage sales, estate sales, antique stores, and vintage shops has been a long-time hobby of mine, and I honestly can’t say how I got into it. I’m a collector, too. Much of my home decor is mid-century items I’ve picked up over the years, often for a steal of a price.

There are three things I enjoy most about selling: sourcing items, researching, and making a buck. I’m in it for all of these. In college, selling was a way to earn some much-needed side cash to complement my other jobs. Off and on, I’ve gone back to this as an intentional revenue stream when the moment called for it.

As a life-long learner, selling is a fulfilling, never-ending avenue for gathering knowledge about popular culture, material culture, trends, and history. Put 10 items from each decade of the 20th century in front of me and I can tell you approximately when they were made, by whom, for what purpose, and if they are worth selling.

I love to share my fun, interesting, and lucrative finds with people, from vintage to modern, one of a kind to mass produced, commonplace to strange. The especially exciting ones are things that most people (including myself) would simply pass up. People who find out I do this often have questions about my process, and tips for getting into selling.

Why a newsletter? Well, I already have one for my professional activities, but it’s heavily intellectual, high stakes, and not always easeful. I love to write, but I don’t have to be overly concerned about what I say here, and how. As a side project, it’s more of a creative experiment for myself than anything else. I want to see how much I enjoy it and if it resonates with others, and it isn’t in my plans to monetize it.

Each issue of anyway, i sold it features the story behind one item: Where I found it, why I decided to acquire it, what I learned by researching it, how I decided what it was worth, and what someone actually paid for it.

In 2015, I sold a vintage 90s Gore-Tex ski headband at auction for $125, which I purchased at a yard sale for a whopping 75 cents. That’s a 16,567% gross return (before eBay fees and shipping).

I almost didn’t buy it, but I knew it was vintage 90s and it was cheap, so I grabbed it anyway, and got to digging. Naturally I was pleasantly surprised after researching the item’s story and finding comparable sold items on eBay. The design of the headband was based on the expedition outfits worn by members of the 1990 International Trans-Antarctica Expedition.

The financial return from my selling hobby has been good overall, but I’ve made my fair share of bad decisions and annoying, time consuming, and costly mistakes based on assumptions, misinformation, lack of experience or category expertise, or just being a silly goose. Frustrating as that can be, they’re lessons that help me get more discerning and decisive. Maybe I would do it just for the money, but luckily it’s a lot more fulfilling than that.

Anyway, thanks for checking out my project. You might be a seller and want to sharpen your eye or learn a new category, or maybe you're curious about getting started. Or maybe you just like looking at strange old objects and finding out what they're worth, like on Antiques Roadshow. Whichever one you are, I hope you enjoy it.

Let me know what you think and if you have any questions or requests for future issues.

Amy