In addition to selling collectibles antiques on EBAY, have any of you selling used rented booths??

[designforyou]

Have sellers here used both Ebay and rented space at Antique malls for selling??  Curious as to what was or is your experience, costs, pitfalls in doing so at a mall??

[angelono]

Depends on your location. We use 2 antique malls for furniture (mostly) in ne Ohio.  Some months it’s good and some times we are paying storage fees basically. If it’s a good mall with decent rent and traffic you would do ok.  Best deal for my dad was to work a day in a local shop in exchange for booth space. Also has the benefit of people selling to you on those days.

[ersatz_sobriquet]

It can be lucrative, but things "disappear" often, or glass ends up with big chunks taken out of it. Worst case scenario is the mall getting robbed  of jewelry and coins, that happened at one of mine. Another is the switcheroo on your pricing label. It's a lot of work stocking, cleaning up, just keep this in mind when you come back two weeks later and your booth is a mess, items are missing, glass or other items are broken. I fled the malls after several years, it's much less work to sell locally on social media, items are protected in your own home. 

[fern*wood]

Whenever I get down about my sales here, I recall my days in an antique mall and immediately feel better.  I wasn't good at it.

[thecollegefund]

When we did a local move, I used an antique mall space instead of storage for my inventory of vintage items, antiques and collectibles. I knew I couldn't attend to my Ebay selling like I needed to during the move and it was a great way to earn money and not have to pay for extra storage.

I found that you need to keep your space well stocked but not over stocked. Sometimes "less is more". I added to, and rearranged my stock at least once a week.

Keep track of your inventory. There were a few times when I had some items missing  and sometimes found that my items were just misplaced in someone else's booth/space. Maybe take photos of your stocked space from time to time.

Some antique malls have locked cases that you can rent for high dollar and/or high theft items.

[squinkercat59]

I've been in antique malls steadily for about 35 years, since the mid 1980's when they first started popping up. I was in four at one time, back then, in the Chicago area. Different things sell well in different areas. I am now only in one, here in Colorado, and I love it. I've always sold vintage clothing and hats and related, and I put all of that stuff in the mall because A) people can try things on, and are more likely to buy, and B) all sales are final. I haven't ever had a big theft problem, but I do put jewelry and more expensive items in locked cases. The store I'm in is on a whole block full of Antique Shops in a larger city, so we get a lot of traffic. I do keep careful records, and I do clean and rearrange frequently, but I sure would hate to not have that extra income.