Finding Supplies on Etsy at Rock Bottom Prices

Shopping for treasures is sort of an organic, opportunistic process for me. Ok, it's kind of an obession. I have found the most fantastic lots of rhinestone jewelry, swarovski crystals and vintage chains on the internet at the absolute lowest prices. My supplies primarily come from Etsy, eBay and occasionally off Craigslist. Basically I run some back-door searches where I find odd lots from people who normally sell unrelated goods and do not know the value of what they have or how to list them. I also find sellers with excess stock who just want to free up space in their studios or have changed their artistic direction and no longer need the supplies they have.

Some of my favorite Etsy keyword searches for finding jewelry supplies and vintage jewelry stashes are: destash, junk jewelry, jewelry lot, estate, single earrings, vintage, harvest (ing), repair, reclaim, costume, rhinestone lot, watch movements or parts lot, and jewelry destash lot. Bits and Bobs is another favorite.

You can combine these keywords in any number of ways, for instance, single vintage earrings will bring up a mix of finished jewelry pieces but it will also bring up the odd lot of vintage finds. Rhinestone destash jewelry is another of my favorites! In fact, I'm actually surprised with myself for sharing my most valuable techniques.

I would also recommend searching "All Items" instead of just "Supplies" or "Vintage". Sometimes people mislabel their listings and I like to catch those too!

And last but not least, the subject of sorting. I search so regularly that I am familiar with all the recent listings, which is the sort order that comes up by default, but I also sort by lowest price when running a search I do not do regularly. I try to make those searches as specific as possible soI don't get too overwhelmed with results. For instance, if a trend toward enamel flowers catches my eye, I will try all the search terms I mentioned earlier with the words "enamel flowers" and also try terms specific to the source like "enamel flower brooch", "retro enamel pins", etc. I look at the first few pages of "most recent" and then also sort by "lowest price" and scroll through until I've seen all the results up to my price range. Don't forget to check shipping charges too. I don't mean to say that people gouge on shipping to make up for the low selling price, but it does happen sometimes and is very disappointing once you've already put it in your shopping cart and are whacked at checkout time.

When you've found what you are looking for, make sure to save the seller and check periodically for more if you think they may post similar listings in the future.

In my mailbox: One Serious Pile o' Bling

I couldn't believe my eyes as I opened the packages that arrived in my mailbox today. I ordered some "destash" lots on Etsy. These are the best of the best, but there's much more! I have some barely damaged pieces and some harvest pieces that I will work with later to restore as many as I can to their former sparkling beauty.

Soon I will post my secrets to finding Eye Candy for Reclaimed and Junk jewelry on line, along with general shopping tips, so you know what to look for at brick and mortar stores.