Yes, you read that right.
If you've been selling refinished furniture for a little while, you've probably noticed that sometimes the market just ....slows to a crawl. Obviously, there are a LOT of factors here: where you list your pieces, HOW you list your pieces, where you live, your prices, your quality, etc. But the fact of the matter is that this is just something that happens!
I sell almost all of my pieces to people in my area in Northern California through listings on Facebook Marketplace. Every now and then, for one reason or another, I end up with a workshop full of finished pieces and nobody to buy them.
While you may be tempted to lower your prices, DON'T! Your time and skill are valuable. The right buyer will come!
Let's take a look back at April 2021 to see how I sold SEVEN pieces in just one weekend—and how you can do it too!
Two weeks into the month, my business was SLOW. And my visibility on Facebook was way down (again with the algorithms). This was the first really, truly slow period I'd experienced in the last couple of years, so I thought it would be a great opportunity to try something new: a one-day pop-up sale from my workshop.
Think yard sale setup for boutique quality goods.
Here's something important to note - I didn't discount or reduce my prices from the original listings.
And by the end of the weekend, my entire inventory of 9 pieces (for a grand total of over $3,500!)
So.. ready to know how I did it?
I made a simple flyer in PicCollage—but you can also use Canva—for a one-day furniture sale in my workshop. For a little more privacy and security, I didn't list my address on the flyer. I did list my address on the Facebook ad, but if you're not comfortable with this you can ask people to DM you for the address (this is also a sneaky way to up your engagement and make connections with potential new customers).
I created listings for my sale just like I typically do with furniture on Facebook Marketplace on the Friday before the event. I even posted it as an item for sale and used my flyer as the listing photo.
As I went through the post, I just added information that applied to the majority of my inventory. So, for the price, I did $123—this has become pretty universally known on Facebook Marketplace as the indicator that someone is advertising multiple items in one post. For the category, I chose Bedroom Furniture since the majority of my pieces were dressers. I always choose Used-Like New when I'm listing furniture because while they're essentially new now, they have been previously loved. I don't include a brand name, but since all of my pieces are made from solid wood, I do include that. That's a great selling point!
Now, the description is key here. I wanted to clarify for people what I was selling (furniture), when (one-day pop up on Saturday 4/17), and where (I did list my address here).
Here's what my listing info looked like:
Title: Furniture Sale
Price: $123
Category: Furniture - Bedroom furniture (most of my inventory fell into this category)
Condition: Used-Like New
Brand: *blank*
Material: Solid Wood
Description: One-day pop up shop. Furniture sale. Furniture Only. Address (I listed my address).
If you've listed pieces on Facebook Marketplace before, then you know what to do from here! Hit next, then check any groups that are in your area that you'd like to include.
To take your post one step further, you can also choose to boost it. I love this feature and find it is definitely worth investing a little bit of money in. As you'll see in the video, at the time of recording I had one boosted post with 590 listing views. In contrast, a non-advertised post that had been up two days longer only had 101 views!
My suggestion for boosting posts is to do a 3-day advertisement with a budget of about $15.
Setting Up Shop
On pop-up day I really didn't do much to prepare! I put a cute sign in our yard that my husband made for me to direct people back to my workshop. In my workshop, I just set out all of the pieces I had for sale.
Tip: Make sure you leave room for drawers to open and to get a good view of each piece.
Two of the pieces weren't even finished! I set them aside as customizable pieces that customers could reserve, select their finish, and pick up when it was done.
I also used this nice little setup to get as much content as I could throughout the entire week before my sale. I took videos, posted stories, and chatted on Instagram Live—anything I could do to get the buzz out to local potential customers. I will note—I didn't share my address on any posts outside of the Facebook ad. I asked people to DM me for the address and it worked great!
The Results
Now let's talk about results. You may have noticed that I set this up as a one-day sale, but I didn't actually sell everything during the pop-up!
- Before the sale, I had inquiries come in from people who wanted pieces but weren't able to make it to the sale. From those inquiries, I sold 2 pieces before opening.
- On the day of the sale, I sold 4 pieces within the first HOUR!
- By the end of the day, I'd sold another 2.
- The following day, I got a message from a woman who missed the sale and bought the remaining piece!
By Sunday evening, I'd sold 9 pieces for a grand total of about $3500! And I cleared out my inventory to make room for new pieces!
Want to learn more about how I price my pieces, utilize Facebook Marketplace for sales, and increase my productivity? Check out my membership group—The Barnyard! You'll gain access to a great community of furniture artists, weekly lives with me, and tons of resources for your art and business.
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