Social media helps shoppers turn thrill of hunt into income
Some people shop at secondhand stores to save money.
Savannah Ward scours thrift shops to make money.
Since April, the 24-year-old has spent dozens of hours walking the aisles of Volunteers of America locations and scrolling through Craigslist ads to find vintage furniture for Little Hawk Shop, her online resale business.
“I think it’s so important for people to have vintage in their home without that high price point,” said Ward, an Olde Towne East resident, “because if we want to create a place where sustainability is trendy, we can’t say, ‘Here’s this 30-year-old pillow for $90.’ ”
Buying up others’ cast-offs is nothing new, but social-media platforms have given savvy shoppers the power to generate entrepreneurial income.
The Marketplace feature on Facebook makes the search for hidden treasures easy, and Instagram’s photo-forward setup allows buyers to easily see what they’re getting.
Ward, who sells primarily through her Little Hawk Shop Instagram page, heard from many potential customers as soon as she started posting photos of rattan chairs and wicker bookshelves.
“I changed my phone plan to unlimited data because I was getting so many messages a day,” she said.
Specializing in Persian rugs, wicker furniture and vintage mirrors, she said, she makes anywhere from a 200 to 2,000 percent return on her original purchases, which supplements her income as a teacher at Heritage Middle School in Westerville.
But she also works to make her pieces affordable for buyers, she said, rarely selling items for more than $150.
In recent months, Kaiti Burkhammer has bought a gold mirror, magazine rack and large woven planter from Ward.
“I really love thrifting on my own,” said Burkhammer, 25, also of Olde Towne East, “but the problem is I work really long hours and I just don’t have time to go hunt for things like I wish I could.”
Jolie Ankrom has heard similar stories from the customers of Seams Like, her online clothing-resale company.
Many mothers of young children had told the 31-yearold Worthington resident that thrifting would help them financially but that they lacked the time and energy to haul their kids to Goodwill for hours.
Thrifting has long been a part of her Ankrom’s lifestyle — during her childhood, she and her mother haunted estate and garage sales for bargains — and she often sold her own castoffs to her 12,000-plus Instagram followers. (Ankrom also runs the stationery company Brim Papery, which has given her a sizable following.)
In September 2017, she put her first batch of thrifted attire online and, within hours, sold most of the items.
She typically shops at Ohio Thrift stores on the last Wednesday of the month, when all items sell for half off.
Customers tell her that she has incredible luck, but Ankrom credits perseverance.
“It really is about the digging,” she said. “There are times when I go through every single pair of shorts and find nothing, and there are times that I find four vintage gems. It’s all the luck of the draw.”
Most items — she focuses on blouses and skirts for easier sizing — sell for $8 to $15, with Ankrom making between $500 and $600 per weekly sale.
She photographs and writes a description for each piece and schedules them to go live on the Seams Like website at a set time each week.
Occasionally, she also finds new clothes for herself.
“My theory of marketing is your best bet is to go with what is natural and authentic for you, and you’ll find your crowd,” she said. “So it’s better for me to shop for what I personally enjoy and think is stylish.”
Her mantra has proved valid: In the next few months, Ankrom plans to open a Clintonville storefront for her thrifting business, which she recently renamed Marigold.
When Dayton-area resident Maggie Leadman started selling vintage clothing on eBay in 2005, she put in 80-hour weeks meticulously photographing, tracking, packaging and shopping for quality pieces.
She later transitioned her Noir Ohio brand to the online craft-sales site Etsy and, more recently, to Instagram. And, instead of thrifting solely at Goodwill sites near her home, she now travels to estates sales throughout the country.
The stakes are higher — she has nearly 30,000 Instagram followers — but the commitment remains the same.
“I think a lot of people don’t want to put in that effort or amount of work,” Leadman, 35, said of secondhand shopping.
While on the prowl, she has discovered Chanel and Louis Vuitton handbags, a 1920s flapper dress and a silk Valentino gown. Even though she doesn’t get to Goodwill as often, she can’t resist the allure of hidden treasure.
“I definitely still enjoy the hunt, going through racks and racks of clothes,” Leadman said. “That’s never going to change.”