How Much I've Made Reselling Vintage Since January 2024
Today we are going to deep dive into my 3 year long vintage resale journey, how much revenue I've made, the top items I've sold, the number of items sold, and more!
People often ask me questions about vintage resale, to name a few:
How did I get started reselling?
How much do I make reselling?
Where do I find all these items?
How do I know which items are good?
Honestly these questions were a big part of why I started this Substack. There’s far too much to cover at once! So, today I will share the full journey of how I got started, and then we will deep dive into my top selling items, total revenue since January 2024, and much more!
I will be posting a breakdown of my reselling business every single month. I’ve learned more and more that good strategies can be the difference between saving 10 hours per week or doubling your sales. So, you can also expect stories, lessons, and real numbers in each month’s post. If there’s a topic you’re particularly interested in, I’d love to hear from you!
⛰️ My 3 Year Journey In A Nutshell
My journey into resale happened naturally and evolved much faster than I had anticipated. I started off by selling on Facebook Marketplace, and would have never guessed I’d be writing a newsletter about it. I’ve always loved thrifting and thought that it could be a good way to make some money on the side while I figured out what else I wanted to do.
How it all began
Back in August 2022 I sold some vintage furniture that had some negative memories associated with it, and I made a quick buck doing it. That’s when it hit me — I could do this all the time.
I started to follow local resellers, my favorite antique stores, and began to realize that a lot of the things I saw on their Instagram accounts and in the stores were things that I came across at thrift stores regularly. A cute frame, handmade studio pottery, a vintage print, all aesthetically styled on their Instagram accounts.
So I figured why not give it a shot, and I started to sell on Facebook Marketplace. I created a new Instagram account (@autumn.vintage.shop), shopped for some items, took product photos of those items, and shared them to Instagram. Every so often, I’d have an Instagram drop, where I’d post several items to my feed and ask people to write SOLD in the comments if they wanted to buy it.
And what a rush that was!
I remember staring at my Instagram for hours (I still do 😅), hoping with everything that someone would comment SOLD. I’d also double post to Marketplace, just in case anyone didn’t want to buy on Instagram. But all I wanted was to see a SOLD comment on my feed.
My first “SOLD” comment? It was the little proof I needed that I could keep going and turn this into something.
Taking things to the next level
By this point I had started to develop a small following on Instagram. Local resellers were beginning to recognize me, and I started to realize that I really loved the process of making content. I didn’t want to keep posting drops and products to my feed among the fun videos that I was beginning to create. So I set a goal to get accepted into a local antique mall.
On May 1, 2023, I officially moved into my first shelf in the basement of Eclectique’s Antique Mall - the antique mall I dreamed of vending in! Not only did I get a shelf, but I also ended up working there and managing their social media for a little over a year.
In just a few months, I was lucky enough to have a shelf open up directly next to mine. And since I was having good sales, the shop owner offered the shelf to me!
After moving into those first shelves, I learned so much SO FAST. Every week revealed something new: how small changes in layout could increase visibility, stocking items that encouraged people to shop longer, and how store traffic patterns could make or break sales.
By the time I got my first booth in the basement on June 21, 2024, I already knew what was selling, what wasn’t, and which days my customers actually bought things. Then I moved to a different booth in a better location on July 31, 2025. It’s upstairs, right next to the front door, and almost impossible to miss. It was a huge step up for the booth, but I also consolidated and moved out of my shelves, so the move didn’t automatically mean more sales. That’s where the numbers really started to tell the story.
📊 The Numbers Behind the Business
This is where the paid side of the post begins — where I open the books and show what actually happened. I’m talking real data:
How much revenue each booth produced month by month
Which items carried the year (and which ones just looked good on camera)
What 2025 did differently from 2024 even though I worked fewer hours
Which months were the strongest, and which ones tanked
The price points that account for more than half of all my sales
Why one booth location outperformed another by more than double
This isn’t a “here’s how to make $10K a month” kind of breakdown.. it’s the story of a real part-time business that’s been optimized to run in under 10 hours a week.
If you want to see:
The charts of revenue by month
The top 5 items by quantity AND by total dollars
The comparison between 2024 and 2025 (and how I increased revenue while cutting hours nearly in half)
And the exact systems that make it possible to generate my revenue
…it’s all in the subscriber section below.
The rest of today’s breakdown focuses on the real numbers — revenue trends, product mix, and lessons that only make sense once you see them in context. If you’ve ever wondered what a small but steady vintage resale business actually looks like behind the curtain, this is the part you’ll want to read.
Everything I’ve Made Since January 2024
Okay, deep breath 😮💨 I’m about to show you all the numbers. And I mean all of them: