Some of my stock sells within days, others could take years before making their way to a new home. There are a wide range of preferences within the world of people interested in old window glass (including stained glass), but I find that the items that I put up for sale that sell the quickest are often the smallest. This can be spare parts for stained glass artists and leaded lights makers, top light windows that can be installed to let light into a room or used for decoration, and those which are “above door” size and round windows.
Pieces I acquired in earlier years eventually come to the attention of someone who is looking for them. Part of the value of my business is having a large range of glass for customers to explore online, so that they don’t need to choose only from what an individual happens to be selling on third party platforms like Facebook Marketplace or eBay.
Waiting patiently for its new home
I thought it might be of interest to highlight one of those long shelf life items that I’ve had for years, and (after a browse through the stock on my website) have settled on this set of four mostly purple leaded windows which I rescued from the stairwell of a house in Chingford, June 2021…
It’s clear to me that the reason this set hasn’t sold yet is because it’s large, and a set of four that depends on the pattern connecting. As you can imagine the cost to ship internationally would be considerable. Talking of ships, this took just over one year to set sale…
Quickly off the (virtual) shelves
Stock that sells more quickly are often smaller windows that could be used for multiple purposes – as decoration on a wall or as an internal partition, as well as replacing external windows. An example of a window that’s sold quickly recently is this geometric pattern, with four leaded lights in a wooden frame. It sold, to a customer in the USA, within a week of my listing it on the website. It’s small, colourful and compact, and it is flexible in that it could be placed vertically or horizontally. I photograph glass in both orientations whenever this makes sense.
Another feature that’s great for shipping is that because the frame is divided into multiple parts, a board can rest on the surface with greater support, thus reducing the possibility of it touching the glass if under pressure.
Old glass in short supply
Other glass I stock, which I often don’t keep for too long, is replacement parts used by stained glass artists, leaded light makers and glaziers. This could be roundels, figure rolled panes and all sorts of other glass! If you’re trying to match glass when repairing a window with cracks, then finding the right replacement glass can be tricky when the glass stopped being made decades ago. Or if you’re a creative making a new window from scratch, then you might not want to use the same bland range of machine-made products from China, often referred to as “hobby glass”.
Sometimes I have quite a selection of a particular glass in stock (such as Small flemish); whereas other (rarer) glass that I put on the website usually sells immediately. An example of this is cut glass glory stars – at the time of writing I only have eight available. People often ask if I have more and if I’m feeling witty I might say, sorry I’ve checked down the back of the sofa, nothing there!
Pricing to sell and to make a profit
I can’t ignore the fact that, at times, it is glass that I have priced higher that can take longer to find a customer. Pieces such as these are beautiful art works which deserve to be valued highly, in addition to me needing to make a viable income. So I accept that they need to wait in my possession until the kind of person who wants to invest in stained glass art discovers them (while always thinking of ways to try and get the word out).
Portability and packagability
It makes sense, theoretically at least, that an item is more likely to sell quickly if it is available to the widest range of people. The difficulty with this, with the product I’m selling, is that it doesn’t always make sense to make glass available for delivery anywhere in the world. If a window is small and can be packaged efficiently and shipped safely, then I am happy to sell it to anyone, wherever they are – with a delivery charge on the listing or working out a price on an individual basis.
For larger pieces of glass, particularly those which are frameless, it often isn’t worth the risk of offering to ship, as packaging them safely would involve a custom made wooden crate with a pallet base. That type of packaging is often costlier than the value of the glass, if the customer only wants one piece. Most people aren’t willing to pay that unless buying in multiples. It makes more sense to wait for a customer who can come and collect, or (if within Great Britain) who wants to pay for me to make a personal delivery.
Conclusion
I literally take the view…
… that it doesn’t matter how long pieces take to sell. That’s because I have the luxury of being able to change the view from my window if I get bored.
