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Jess runs a vintage book shop on Etsy – Pretty Old Books – and her mission is to offer an entertaining and transparent book discovery process. She does this using a variety of unique methods, including Instagram and YouTube.
In our convo today, we talk all about the different selling methods she uses and how she has found ways to make selling vintage and one-of-a-kind (OOAK) items not only more fun, but also done so using repeatable processes.
If you sell vintage goods you’ll immediately understand the pains associated with selling OOAK items and the hurdles we have to overcome that sellers who have set product lines don’t necessarily have to.

Vintage Seller Tips & Topics Discussed
- Using email lists to host book sales
- Branching out to Shopify and creating a customer loyalty program
- How Jess uses social media, specifically Instagram and YouTube to drive additional sales and build a community beyond Etsy
- Working in batches to streamline work processes
- Figuring out how to maintain a comfortable level of on-hand inventory
- Sourcing at estate sales – do’s and don’ts
- Future plans for Jess and her Pretty Old Books brand
- And really so much more…



Resources Mentioned:
- VSCO app – for editing photos on a smartphone
- Hobby Lobby – this is where Jess bought the poster board she uses for her product shot backdrops
- EstateSales.net – resource for finding local estate sales in your area
- Craigslist – repository of classified ads
- Shopify – website-building platform
- Klaviyo – email marketing system specifically designed for Shopify (and ecommerce) sellers
- Etsify – app for cross-listing products between Etsy and Shopify
- Tailwind – scheduler for Instagram and Pinterest posts
- A Color Story – app for adding filters to product images; photo editing app
Connect With Jess
- Etsy shop: Pretty Old Books
- Website: PrettyOldBooks.com
- Instagram: @prettyoldbooks and @bookshopschool
- Email: Jess [at] prettyoldbooks [dot] com
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Connect With Me:
- Instagram: @EtsyConversations
- Twitter: @ConvoMePodcast