WEBVTT
00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:01.280
Picture this.
00:00:01.520 --> 00:00:08.720
An elderly woman with an updo, support hose, and orthopedic shoes, and a ruthless stone-faced redhead.
00:00:08.800 --> 00:00:10.480
What do these two have in common?
00:00:10.640 --> 00:00:19.359
They are both characters that my special guest, Kira Hartley Klinger, has encountered at auctions, and she's got some great stories for us.
00:00:21.359 --> 00:00:25.519
Today's guest is Kira Hartley Klinger.
00:00:26.320 --> 00:00:32.640
She is an author, internet reseller, and self-described frequent auction offender.
00:00:32.799 --> 00:00:42.079
For over 20 years, Kira has been running her Etsy shop, Dodd Oddity, selling vintage fabrics and textiles with over 17,000 sales to date.
00:00:42.320 --> 00:00:55.200
But her real claim to fame is her book, Fabric Wars, which chronicles the wild, hilarious, and sometimes cut uh cutthroat world of estate auctions, from dealing with fabric thieves to battling ruthless competitors.
00:00:55.439 --> 00:01:00.079
Kira has seen it all, and I'm so excited because she's here with us today.
00:01:00.240 --> 00:01:02.079
Hey Kira, how's it going?
00:01:03.039 --> 00:01:04.079
It is going well.
00:01:04.239 --> 00:01:05.200
How are you today?
00:01:05.519 --> 00:01:07.200
Not too bad, not too bad.
00:01:07.280 --> 00:01:14.480
I'm excited because we are um going to get a little bit of your uh background here.
00:01:14.640 --> 00:01:17.760
Tell me more about your reselling business.
00:01:18.400 --> 00:01:25.200
Um, I got started in resale 2003, is when I first opened up my eBay account.
00:01:25.280 --> 00:01:28.959
And it was a few years before I really started selling full-time.
00:01:29.200 --> 00:01:32.079
Um, but yeah, it kicked off then.
00:01:32.159 --> 00:01:34.159
It became my full-time job.
00:01:34.400 --> 00:01:41.359
Gosh, I guess about 13 years ago, I finally quit all the other side hustles and it was just involved with buying and selling.
00:01:41.519 --> 00:01:44.560
Um, but it was a way to make extra money.
00:01:44.640 --> 00:01:52.400
You know, I got thrown into single parenthood at 40 and needed to come up with something clever and in a hurry, and why not?
00:01:52.480 --> 00:01:55.359
You know, I could buy things for cheap just to see what would happen.
00:01:55.680 --> 00:01:56.400
That's amazing.
00:01:56.560 --> 00:02:02.560
It's nice when a side hustle can turn into a full-time job and you can just throw yourself into it.
00:02:02.799 --> 00:02:03.519
Yeah, I love it.
00:02:03.760 --> 00:02:04.640
100% agree.
00:02:04.719 --> 00:02:08.159
Yeah, didn't expect it, did not expect it, could not have predicted it.
00:02:08.319 --> 00:02:10.080
So that's that's fantastic.
00:02:10.240 --> 00:02:21.759
And what um is so interesting is that because you go to auctions, um, you encounter a whole bunch of different characters.
00:02:21.840 --> 00:02:50.080
So I I feel like the stereotype with auctions is the auctioneer, the going once, going twice, the fast talking, but the real chaos is with some of the competitors that you encounter there, and you have some fantastic stories for us, including uh, let's see, our our first our first fantastic character, an elderly woman with an up to support pantyhose, orthopedic shoes, thieving Thelma.
00:02:50.240 --> 00:02:54.159
Sounds like the last person who would be stealing anything, but she she is.
00:02:55.280 --> 00:03:00.159
Oh my gosh, the whole nine yards did not expect that to happen.
00:03:00.319 --> 00:03:03.840
And this was early in my buying and selling.
00:03:03.919 --> 00:03:06.400
I didn't sell fabric since the beginning.
00:03:06.560 --> 00:03:07.759
That happened accidentally.
00:03:07.840 --> 00:03:21.919
So this was in my early acquisitions of fabric, and not much has changed from then until now to where if I find an auction that has fabric, I want to buy all of it, and I I typically do buy all of it.
00:03:22.159 --> 00:03:24.560
Very few occasions that that that I don't.
00:03:24.800 --> 00:03:31.840
So I went to this auction and auctioneers could not give a flying fig about fabric.
00:03:32.080 --> 00:03:37.759
Fabric is something that is in the backyard, stuffed in boxes, it's an afterthought.
00:03:37.919 --> 00:03:45.919
You know, there's this thing at auctions called row lots, and row lots are all the boxes that sit in rows in the backyard.
00:03:46.240 --> 00:03:47.520
It could have anything in it.
00:03:47.680 --> 00:03:50.639
It's it was the stuff that the auctioneer said, eh, put it in the back.
00:03:50.719 --> 00:03:52.240
You know, this is not worth money.
00:03:52.400 --> 00:03:55.360
Um, the stuff that's worth money, I call it the big bucks table.
00:03:55.439 --> 00:04:01.120
You know, they've got the big canopy tent for the people that spend the most money, and the stuff in the backyard is always last.
00:04:01.439 --> 00:04:09.520
So there were lots and lots and lots of totes of fabric in the backyard, and most of them were in the same row.
00:04:09.840 --> 00:04:13.919
But off to the side, in another row, was one other tub of fabric.
00:04:14.000 --> 00:04:16.560
And these are these big, giant plastic tubs of fabric.
00:04:16.639 --> 00:04:18.000
There's a lot of fabric, you know.
00:04:18.079 --> 00:04:21.279
Yeah, uh, so they run a strict schedule.
00:04:21.439 --> 00:04:26.079
They say, okay, we're gonna sell outside from this time to this time at noon.
00:04:26.240 --> 00:04:33.360
We're gonna go inside the house and we're gonna start selling the stuff in the house because then they warm up to the big finale, hey, we're gonna sell the house.
00:04:33.519 --> 00:04:39.920
And then after they do all the big ticket items and people go home, then they get back to the stuff that's left in the backyard.
00:04:40.079 --> 00:04:42.399
So they're cruising along in the backyard, right?
00:04:42.560 --> 00:04:47.439
I bought every single box of fabric there was, and I'm just building this pile off to the side.
00:04:47.600 --> 00:04:53.439
We do that, we build stacks and piles, and normally people respect it, not always true, lots of stories there.
00:04:53.680 --> 00:05:04.000
But um, so I'm building this pile, and it gets to the point where there's just that one box of fabric left, but now they've decided we're going inside.
00:05:04.160 --> 00:05:08.079
It's like, oh, come on, there's just one box left, you know.
00:05:08.399 --> 00:05:11.759
But they stick to a time schedule, so alright, fine.
00:05:11.920 --> 00:05:19.759
So, of course, there's things in the house I'm interested in too, and up on the third floor in the attic in this cramped, dank, dark space.
00:05:19.920 --> 00:05:22.079
Um, there's also fabric stuffed in the Eaves.
00:05:22.160 --> 00:05:24.800
So I'm like, okay, well, I gotta go pluck that stuff out of the Eaves.
00:05:24.959 --> 00:05:26.079
I have to buy that too.
00:05:26.240 --> 00:05:27.680
So we go inside.
00:05:28.160 --> 00:05:40.959
So, as I mentioned, there have been instances where people have sherry picked from other people's piles after they bought it, and so I would kept going back downstairs or looking out windows trying to make sure that my pile was okay, you know.
00:05:41.120 --> 00:05:46.240
So on one of my trips down, um, that box of fabric was gone.
00:05:46.480 --> 00:05:48.720
And I was like, oh my god, where did it go?
00:05:48.959 --> 00:05:52.480
You know, and I I knew that they didn't sell it, but it's like, what the heck?
00:05:52.720 --> 00:05:54.560
You know, so I started asking around.
00:05:54.639 --> 00:05:58.639
I'm like, okay, has anybody seen what happened to this box of fabric?
00:05:58.879 --> 00:06:03.199
And there was this young kid that came up to me, and I I say young, I'm 58.
00:06:03.279 --> 00:06:06.319
Anybody that's under 35 is gonna be young to me, you know.
00:06:06.399 --> 00:06:15.040
But he's this like strapping young man, and he comes up to me, he goes, Yeah, you know, that lady over there told me she bought it and asked me if I'd put it in her car.
00:06:15.279 --> 00:06:17.920
And I was like, Oh, seriously?
00:06:18.240 --> 00:06:21.600
So I look, and it is, it's this little old lady.
00:06:21.759 --> 00:06:26.240
I mean, she's got the skirt and like you said, the updo and the orthopedic shoes.
00:06:26.319 --> 00:06:28.639
I mean, old lady to the hilt.
00:06:28.800 --> 00:06:30.000
I'm like, oh my gosh.
00:06:30.240 --> 00:06:37.439
So I was I I went back all the way up to the attic because they were in the attic, and I told the auctioneer, I said, Look, I said, This is what's going on.
00:06:37.680 --> 00:06:40.399
And and the kid followed me up the stairs.
00:06:40.480 --> 00:06:46.959
We're, you know, trekking it up the stairs, and he comes up behind me and he's nodding and verifying everything that I'm saying because he doesn't want to get in trouble.
00:06:47.120 --> 00:06:47.839
He didn't know.
00:06:48.000 --> 00:07:00.879
And this little old lady is hot on our heels, you know, three flights of stairs, and she's like right behind us, and she's pleading her case to the auctioneer, and she's calling him by name, and she's saying, You know me, you know what I bought.
00:07:01.040 --> 00:07:05.680
I only bought flowers and I only bought crafts, and you know what I bought, you know me.
00:07:05.839 --> 00:07:08.000
And she's like begging, you know.
00:07:08.639 --> 00:07:17.920
So they stop the auction, and they go downstairs to see what it's all about, and everybody that's up in the attic, their interest has piqued.
00:07:18.000 --> 00:07:19.920
They're like, Oh my gosh, is this for real?
00:07:20.079 --> 00:07:32.000
So everybody goes outside and we go down to the yard, and she is again, she's keeping up with everybody, and she's right there in his face out in the yard, continuing, you know, I didn't do it, you know, this is all I bought.
00:07:32.079 --> 00:07:32.879
You know who I am.
00:07:33.040 --> 00:07:36.079
We've been, you know, through auctions forever, whatever.
00:07:36.319 --> 00:07:40.319
So they walk out to her car with her, and there it is in the backseat of the car.
00:07:40.480 --> 00:07:41.439
I can't believe it.
00:07:42.000 --> 00:07:43.360
And then she gets mad.
00:07:43.600 --> 00:07:43.839
Okay.
00:07:45.680 --> 00:07:48.240
I describe it as the five stages of grief.
00:07:48.399 --> 00:07:51.120
So now she's in the anger phase, you know.
00:07:51.360 --> 00:07:57.360
And so she turns on me and she points at me and she's like, She's buying all the fabric.
00:07:57.600 --> 00:07:59.439
I can't get any of the fabric.
00:07:59.839 --> 00:08:02.079
She's like, oh my gosh, now it's my fault.
00:08:02.319 --> 00:08:03.600
Yeah, it's my fault.
00:08:03.680 --> 00:08:05.680
You stole my stuff, okay.
00:08:06.879 --> 00:08:17.920
So they threw her out, and this is an auction, like the the yard was fenced off, and so they put her on the other side of the fence, this chain link fence, and locked it and shut it.
00:08:18.079 --> 00:08:23.279
And she's on the other side of the fence saying, You can't do this to me, you cannot throw me out.
00:08:23.439 --> 00:08:29.839
And the the daughter of the estate, she comes up to the woman and she's like puts her hands on her hips and she says, Oh, yes, we can.
00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:32.480
You know, she's like, Oh my gosh.
00:08:32.720 --> 00:08:34.080
Yeah, it was wild.
00:08:34.240 --> 00:08:35.039
It was totally wild.
00:08:35.600 --> 00:08:46.960
And like a little little old lady, like the last person that you would expect it from, and she pulled all these manipulation tactics and you're crafty, you know.
00:08:47.840 --> 00:08:52.399
You just oh, yeah.
00:08:52.559 --> 00:09:02.240
I mean, I am used to annoying, you know, the little old ladies because there's a lot of grandmothers and quilters and people that show up hoping to get the fabric for cheap.
00:09:02.399 --> 00:09:06.720
And I admit that I kind of have I'm a little ruthless, I kind of want it all.
00:09:06.799 --> 00:09:09.360
But I don't come across fabric collections that often.
00:09:09.440 --> 00:09:14.159
So when I find it, it's like, well, sorry, it's I I do my job, my business, whatever.
00:09:14.399 --> 00:09:15.200
Yeah, no, exactly.
00:09:15.519 --> 00:09:18.080
But if you want some fabric, they can just buy it off you for Metsy.
00:09:18.240 --> 00:09:18.960
There you go.
00:09:19.279 --> 00:09:19.600
Right.
00:09:19.759 --> 00:09:22.000
And I should I should have given her a business card.
00:09:22.639 --> 00:09:23.679
Missed opportunity.
00:09:24.639 --> 00:09:25.679
Miss Opportunity.
00:09:26.000 --> 00:09:27.120
Missed opportunity.
00:09:27.440 --> 00:09:55.120
But it's funny because sometimes it's like the the people that you least expect, like speaking of like older ladies, like I remember I was um uh there was like a table of older ladies that had come in for lunch, and one of them had ordered, she told me it was like chicken and a Caesar salad, and so I brought out the chicken and the Caesar salad, and then um my boss was there actually that day, and then she's like, I didn't order this.
00:09:55.279 --> 00:09:59.200
I'm like, no one, you said chicken and Caesar salad.
00:09:59.360 --> 00:10:03.679
She's like, but I said fries, and I'm like, and you can just see it in their eyes.
00:10:03.759 --> 00:10:05.440
I'm like, what are you doing?
00:10:07.919 --> 00:10:13.600
There's a big difference between fries and chicken and yeah, and Caesar salad, but you know what?
00:10:13.679 --> 00:10:16.559
It's just I guess the the nature of things.
00:10:16.720 --> 00:10:23.759
Maybe as you get older in that age, you feel like, hey, maybe I can get away with some stuff, no one will suspect it.
00:10:24.480 --> 00:10:25.440
Right, exactly.
00:10:25.600 --> 00:10:26.960
Who's gonna suspect me?
00:10:27.200 --> 00:10:28.240
You know, exactly.
00:10:28.559 --> 00:10:30.559
I mean, I would have never picked her out.
00:10:30.879 --> 00:10:31.759
That's crazy.
00:10:32.399 --> 00:10:34.080
Oh, you're crazy.
00:10:34.399 --> 00:10:44.960
But um, like I said, the chaos at auctions, and there is another character that earned two chapters in your book.
00:10:45.200 --> 00:10:46.080
That's incredible.
00:10:46.159 --> 00:10:48.240
This must be quite the individual.
00:10:48.399 --> 00:10:50.720
I'd like to talk about Krabby Patty.
00:10:50.960 --> 00:10:53.120
I love that name took SpongeBob.
00:10:54.559 --> 00:10:56.320
I want to hear all about her.
00:10:57.600 --> 00:11:00.320
Now, she's one of those people that I didn't expect.
00:11:00.399 --> 00:11:05.519
You know, usually, like I said, I don't have that much competition with the fabric, nothing that I can't handle.
00:11:05.919 --> 00:11:08.080
And um, I showed up at this auction.
00:11:08.240 --> 00:11:11.120
It was supposed to be a two-day event.
00:11:11.519 --> 00:11:13.679
They're like a week apart or something, I don't know.
00:11:13.919 --> 00:11:18.639
Um, and yeah, like half the room was full of tables of fabric.
00:11:18.799 --> 00:11:19.840
It was it was everywhere.
00:11:19.919 --> 00:11:20.960
I was like, oh my gosh.
00:11:21.120 --> 00:11:27.120
And of course, I see people that I recognize and they see me, and there's the usual, like, oh, she's here, you know.
00:11:27.279 --> 00:11:30.799
Um, so but I again I went into it, I was not that concerned about it.
00:11:31.039 --> 00:11:34.799
So my positioning at an auction is that I have to be up front.
00:11:34.879 --> 00:11:43.200
I want the auctioneer to see me from the first time I bid and to remember me and to look at me to make sure I'm done beating before they quit.
00:11:43.279 --> 00:11:45.440
You know, I need to be in their face.
00:11:45.759 --> 00:11:51.039
So I'm right up there when it starts, and really not even again thinking twice about it.
00:11:51.360 --> 00:12:01.919
I typically can expect to pay nowadays anywhere between$50 and$75 for a box of fabric, that's usually my comfort zone.
00:12:02.480 --> 00:12:14.639
So and I don't I'm sure other people do this as well, but another tactic I use is that usually the first round, I will pay whatever it takes to get that box of fabric to get my choice.
00:12:14.799 --> 00:12:22.960
What they do is they set up the table or the area, maybe there's a dozen boxes, and whoever has the highest bid can pick as many as they want times that bid.
00:12:23.200 --> 00:12:23.519
Okay.
00:12:23.840 --> 00:12:34.399
So um, you know, I I aim to have the highest bid first, so that the second round, people are like, Well, we know where she's gonna go, forget it, and they bow out.
00:12:34.559 --> 00:12:34.799
Okay.
00:12:34.960 --> 00:12:37.120
It's effective price 75% of the time.
00:12:37.200 --> 00:12:38.480
Sometimes there's a monkey wrench.
00:12:38.559 --> 00:12:40.240
So Krabby Patty was a monkey wrench.
00:12:42.080 --> 00:12:49.200
You know, I'm there in my jeans with holes in the knees, my Converse tennis shoes, my Harley Davidson t-shirt.
00:12:49.360 --> 00:12:51.039
I have a ponytail, you know.
00:12:51.279 --> 00:12:52.960
She's dressed for church.
00:12:53.279 --> 00:12:56.240
You know, she's got this shortcut red hair.
00:12:56.480 --> 00:13:00.320
She's probably a little younger than me, but she's she's looking nice.
00:13:00.480 --> 00:13:04.000
You know, I mean, I'm just I'm there to get dirty.
00:13:04.240 --> 00:13:07.200
Um so she's bidding against me.
00:13:07.279 --> 00:13:10.000
And we get up to that$50 mark, we're still going.
00:13:10.080 --> 00:13:11.120
I'm like, huh, okay.
00:13:11.200 --> 00:13:15.039
We get up to that hundred dollar mark, and everybody else is just like watching right now.
00:13:15.120 --> 00:13:18.000
They're in the background, kind of going, ooh, you know.
00:13:19.440 --> 00:13:21.759
We get to$125, still going.
00:13:22.240 --> 00:13:24.960
It took to like$200 to get that first bid.
00:13:25.039 --> 00:13:26.399
And I'm like, oh my gosh.
00:13:26.559 --> 00:13:30.399
It's like I've never spent this much for a box of fabric in my life.
00:13:30.639 --> 00:13:31.919
So now I gotta pick.
00:13:32.080 --> 00:13:38.639
Now I've been like, okay, maybe there was just one box that she was like attached to for whatever reason, you know.
00:13:39.120 --> 00:13:42.320
But I want to pick that box so that she doesn't do this to me again.
00:13:42.480 --> 00:13:44.159
But I don't know what to pick, they're all good.
00:13:44.240 --> 00:13:47.679
Yeah, so I'm just like, all right, forget, I just I just pick a box.
00:13:47.919 --> 00:13:50.080
And I'm not picking all, no way.
00:13:50.879 --> 00:13:54.320
So they start the bidding again, it goes up just as high.
00:13:54.480 --> 00:13:56.879
I'm like, oh my gosh, you've got to be kidding me.
00:13:57.120 --> 00:14:05.200
And so it went back and forth and back and forth, and she was winning some and I was winning some, but the tally in my brain was like, ka ching, ka ching, kaching.
00:14:05.759 --> 00:14:08.080
Oh my gosh, how am I gonna pay for this auction?
00:14:08.320 --> 00:14:08.799
Yeah.
00:14:09.440 --> 00:14:13.279
So there are these people that they hire at the auction.
00:14:14.000 --> 00:14:15.200
I don't know why he keeps doing that.
00:14:15.279 --> 00:14:16.799
There's these people that they hire at the auction.
00:14:16.960 --> 00:14:18.399
I call them the henchmen.
00:14:18.559 --> 00:14:18.720
Okay.
00:14:19.039 --> 00:14:22.720
And they are their they're the helpers to the auctioneer.
00:14:23.039 --> 00:14:32.639
And when there are people that are bidding hot and heavy and buying a lot of things, they don't want to interrupt the sale for that person to go put their stuff in a pile.
00:14:32.879 --> 00:14:39.279
So the henchmen will start taking people's things and they'll start a pile for that person, and that becomes their job.
00:14:39.519 --> 00:14:39.840
Okay.
00:14:40.399 --> 00:14:42.159
I don't trust the henchmen.
00:14:42.240 --> 00:14:44.960
I don't think they really care whose pile it goes into.
00:14:45.120 --> 00:14:45.519
Oh my god.
00:14:45.679 --> 00:14:50.240
Um so there's always a little bit of skepticism on my part.
00:14:50.399 --> 00:14:56.399
Um, so there's this perpendicular wall, and my stuff is stacked on one side of it, and her stuff is stacked on the other side.
00:14:56.559 --> 00:14:59.679
Not one other person bought anything in the fabric department.
00:14:59.759 --> 00:15:00.960
It was me or her.
00:15:02.080 --> 00:15:05.679
So we get through the fabric and they go off to sell yarn.
00:15:05.840 --> 00:15:07.840
She goes with them to buy yarn.
00:15:08.000 --> 00:15:10.480
I don't care about yarn, that's not my thing.
00:15:10.720 --> 00:15:14.399
So I'm just kind of walking around and going past her pile.
00:15:14.559 --> 00:15:15.919
I'm not touching.
00:15:16.080 --> 00:15:18.559
That's like you don't touch each other's stuff.
00:15:18.720 --> 00:15:19.279
I get it.
00:15:19.440 --> 00:15:24.720
You know, I'm just I'm looking because I want to make sure that nothing of mine is in her pile, you know.
00:15:25.200 --> 00:15:27.679
You paid like$200 for it.
00:15:27.919 --> 00:15:28.879
Yeah, exactly.
00:15:28.960 --> 00:15:30.639
It's like I just make so much money.
00:15:30.720 --> 00:15:33.440
If I want to make sure I get everything I paid for.
00:15:33.840 --> 00:15:37.840
So I'm just casually strolling past her pile, you know.
00:15:38.159 --> 00:15:41.919
And all of a sudden, from across the room, I mean, this is a big building.
00:15:42.000 --> 00:15:43.120
She's clearing the other side.
00:15:43.200 --> 00:15:51.120
I hear, hey! And I look, everybody looks, and she's like, I don't appreciate that.
00:15:51.279 --> 00:15:54.320
I was like, appreciate what?
00:15:54.879 --> 00:15:58.240
You know, and I was I was like, I was just looking.
00:15:58.799 --> 00:16:09.840
You know, and so I kind of like slink away, and there's this group of women that are sitting in chairs, and previously they did not like me, and they did not like her because they were not getting anything, you know.
00:16:10.080 --> 00:16:27.279
But now I've just been scorned by this redheaded lady who skipped church to come to an auction, and I I sit down in the chair with all these other women, and I'm like, you know, who peed in her Cheerios, and all of a sudden, you know, we're like all friends, and all of a sudden they're on my side.
00:16:27.360 --> 00:16:28.639
Yeah, what's wrong with her?
00:16:29.679 --> 00:16:34.480
So I spent like a record amount at this sale.
00:16:34.559 --> 00:16:42.159
I spent so much money, and so all the way home, I'm going over my head, and I'm like, oh my gosh, I cannot go back to the next sale.
00:16:42.240 --> 00:16:43.840
I can't, I cannot spend any more money.
00:16:44.080 --> 00:16:48.720
I just can't, and then it's like, but if I don't and she does, she's gonna get it all for cheap.
00:16:48.799 --> 00:16:51.120
And it's like, I gotta go back to the next sale.
00:16:51.919 --> 00:16:53.279
Gotta stand your ground.
00:16:53.840 --> 00:16:54.720
I know.
00:16:55.600 --> 00:16:58.799
So I come back to the next sale, and this is the next chapter.
00:16:58.879 --> 00:17:02.399
We have Krabby Patty, and then the next chapter is called Honest Abe.
00:17:02.960 --> 00:17:06.240
So I come back, and it's and it's the same thing all over again.
00:17:06.400 --> 00:17:10.400
The only thing I can say is I think that each of us showed a little bit more restraint.
00:17:10.559 --> 00:17:14.000
I think we were both a little wounded after the first time, you know.