Flea markets are hot — should you be selling there?

re: Flea markets are hot — should you be selling there?

tomrodgers723 — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 00:14:37 GMT

I set up at a flea market several week ends each month to help generate revenue for my non profit organization. I do generate some revenue.

But you will not get rich at a flea market and it does require a good deal of work.

But I also pass out flyers and information about what I do in my agency. This allows for clients to contact me directly and it does generate some residual income.

re: Flea markets are hot — should you be selling there?

a110 — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 16:09:00 GMT

I am looking at putting up a garage on my property, since my business is homebased. I repair appliances, mobile service. Only problem is, if I put up a new garage and use it for selling appliances, mainly used appliances, city may not approve it. Then I couldn't sell my appliances from my home. I was thinking of flea markets or something along this manner, but appliances are heavy and not easy to tote, usually takes two people. So, transporting them to a market might be hard. Any ideas on this selling delema.

re: Flea markets are hot — should you be selling there?

a110 — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 16:04:56 GMT

Seems my area has changed rules for building new structures. They want to know if it's for commercial use or not. So, if I started selling appliances from my garage, the city might not like it. So, I was thinking of flea markets, only problem is, appliances aren't light. There heavy and require at least 2 people to tote them. Any ideas on this subject.

re: Flea markets are hot — should you be selling there?

Fredh — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 12:20:36 GMT

We started selling cosmetics in flea markets here in nj and are making selling over $500 a weekend at a 40% profit. It's a lot of work out there in the sun but it's cash and kinda fun. A couple of old timers taught me to get out there and pull the people in like a carnival and believe it or not I wouldnt sell paractically anything if I werent on my feet engaging the public.

re: Flea markets are hot — should you be selling there?

Rieva — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 02:40:08 GMT

When it comes to pricing, there is no magic formula for selling at flea markets. You need to charge enough to make a profit. First ascertain if anyone else at the flea market is selling what you sell and how much are they charging. You need to be in the same ballpark, unless your products are far (and obviously) superior.

And please understand that one of the primary reasons people go to flea markets is for the thrill of bargaining, so very few customers are going to accept your suggested price. Keep this in mind when you determine your prices.

re: Flea markets are hot — should you be selling there?

v76nguyen — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 04:10:33 GMT

Rieva, thank you for your posting.

My wife and I started flea market in 2007, the first is year i completely lost nobody is buying anything. only window shopping. Many customer told me that the like my products, they are very uniqued. we were frustrated, because we don't make enough to cover the lease. second year in busines, did a little better, make a few dollars for a hamburger for my wife and me. but we only work for 3 month because the our new born is way too young. no babysit no business, no money. business stop until now. we decided to try again at another flea market. we bought a business back from an vendor, this is a indoor outlet mall with an outdoor flea market in the weekend, that run 5 days week. we start almost a month. still failed no business. we don't know what we did wrong. the only that i see is that everybody is selling very much the same items, but none are like us. we carry fashion jewlery handmade and imported from our country and hand crafted motocycle and bicycle.

This is my experience in flea market, i like to share it with you.

i do have a question to ask may be you could help me. How do you put price on a products? pricing to high then nobody buy it, and if it's too low then it will cost me an arm and a leg.

How do you price it right so people would buy it without negotiating?

thankyou so much!

Vinh