A Tool for Finding Estate Sales

There's always a lot of interest on eBay, Etsy, and other sites for vintage items. Sometimes you can stumble upon this sort of stuff in thrift stores, but a lot of the best items are at estate sales. If you're series about going to sales, you're going to want to stay on top of the best sales in your area--and then go out with a list of sales to visit. Here's a website that's designed specifically to help you find estate sales: http://www.estatesale.company.

I really like the idea of a site that focuses specifically on estate sales because they really are a different type of sale, and to find them on more generalized sites like craigslist, you've got to scroll through a lot of listings. The site has a featured sale page, which contains sales from established estate sale companies known to the admin of the website.

The other cool thing about this site is that it has other content as well, such as the Collectors Corner page which offers tips on finding and identifying valuable items. Recent posts in the Collectors Corner include advice on collecting antique maps and suggestions for identifying genuine Roseville pottery.

I have to admit that I've been slow about visiting estate sales lately, and this site is inspiring me to get back to it. In addition to vintage and collectible items, you really can find anything and everything at an estate sale. I found a Dole pineapple recipe card once for under a dollar that ended up selling for $15, so you just never know!

Introducing MyMisi, A Site for Buying and Selling Handmade

I'm always interested to learn about unique venues where people can buy and sell products online. I recently heard about MyMisi, a site where the goal is to create a marketplace for buying and selling handmade products where people also feel a sense of community.

One thing I liked about the site right away is that it's easy to navigate, with a menu across the top which links to different categories on the site. Looking at the categories, I like that there's a special category for personalized items. You can sort items in a category to narrow the results--for example, you can narrow your search to view only "made to order" items. I think these are some cool features which would allow you as a buyer to partner with an artist/craftsperson to find just the right item you want, and as a seller, you would have the chance to set up shop and do small commissions within the framework of a larger marketplace (which, let's face it, always helps in bringing in more customers!).

Here are a couple of examples of products I saw on MyMisi. First, here's a hand-carved jewelry piece that I thought was pretty impressive!

And in the baby and child section, I found a lot of very sweet knitted items. Who could resist these little bunny slippers?

I think it's great that more sites are coming on the scene to help buyers and sellers find each other online. I will be keeping an eye on MyMisi to see how it continues to grow!