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Flea Market/Swap Meet

by Bill_Lawrence
11 replies
I want to start a flea market/swap meet business. I'm wondering if anyone here has ever tried this. If so, what kind of products should I sell? Please advise.
#flea #market or swap #meet
  • Profile picture of the author P1
    This is what one of the people on Storage Wars do, there's a start.
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  • Profile picture of the author ImDanHoward
    You want to make sure it sells, do some research on what products are selling on ebay and for how much. Make a list, so when you come across these for a better price pick them up when you know you can make a profit on them.

    You can also, start going to your local lien sales/storage auctions and get a good score on some units to get you started.
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  • Profile picture of the author localvseo
    1) Do your research. See what categories are hot at the markets you are going to.
    2) Find products to sell that are similar, but nobody else is selling at the market(s) you are targeting (become the go-to vendor for the product you chose)
    3) Go online and find wholesalers who sell pallets of closeout and returns for the niche you chose
    4) Do a small test buy to see if you picked the right products to sell at your market (maybe a case to start if possible)
    5) If it moves well scale it up and start buying larger quantities
    6) If not, consider going back to step 1 and finding other products to test (or if you want to move faster, focus on a few test niches to start at the same time)
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  • Profile picture of the author startup
    it's very easy... we owned a surplus merchandise liquidation business and you can sell almost anything at a flea market that you can find in any retail/discount store... ths is not IM .. just get started.

    I have seen everything sold from furniture to soda pop to clothes, DVDS, coffee pots and old books.... the only limit is your imagination.... of course if you live in Miami don't haul out winter sweaters in August... just use common sense

    Find companies that have unwanted excess inventory in your town... you can do this from home using a manufacturers directory or even the phone book... just make sure that you BUY DIRECT from an original owner and not someone who is acting as a middleman or bought up the goods and put them in his warehouse.... that's the position YOU want to be in
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    • Profile picture of the author Deidra Renee
      Originally Posted by startup View Post

      it's very easy... we owned a surplus merchandise liquidation business and you can sell almost anything at a flea market that you can find in any retail/discount store... ths is not IM .. just get started.

      I have seen everything sold from furniture to soda pop to clothes, DVDS, coffee pots and old books.... the only limit is your imagination.... of course if you live in Miami don't haul out winter sweaters in August... just use common sense

      Find companies that have unwanted excess inventory in your town... you can do this from home using a manufacturers directory or even the phone book... just make sure that you BUY DIRECT from an original owner and not someone who is acting as a middleman or bought up the goods and put them in his warehouse.... that's the position YOU want to be in
      I agree..the flea markets here sell EVERYTHING! From purses, furniture,dvds,etc..you can sell anything you can think of at a flea market..and also think about renting booths to other ppl to make more money..good luck!
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  • Profile picture of the author chrisjenva
    I had a friend do the flea market/swap meet thing years ago and did pretty well. What he did was go to the meets, see what everyone else was selling and get an idea of what people were mainly buying. This gave him ideas on what to sell and he also was able to sell things no one else was selling. He purchased most of his stuff from normal auctions(not storage units).
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  • Profile picture of the author GettingBetterAtIt
    tools, tools, tools - bins of assorted cheap tools. A family friend started with imported tools at swap meets and within 7 years had 3 brick and morter "liquidation stores"
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  • Profile picture of the author Bill_Lawrence
    I dont know where I can find tools for cheap. I see them selling all the time
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  • Profile picture of the author BrandyM
    after watching storage wars, I wanted to do the same thing. We have a friend who is also in the Air Force who started going to local storage auctions. He hasn't paid more than $80 for a storage unit, turns around and makes about $600 or more on the unit. He started out just doing garage sales but his garage got too full, now he has a store front and is making really good profit.

    We happen to live right down the road from a flea market and we walked every single isle to see what people were selling, I started noticing a pattern of people selling the same kind of stuff over and over. If you can think outside the box and provide what's not being sold it will sell.
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    • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
      Here's 1 place to source items that sell at flea markets...

      bargain buys 2rd -- index

      Pick smaller sized items to save on shipping costs.

      Best,
      Ewen
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  • Profile picture of the author gjabiz
    Originally Posted by Bill_Lawrence View Post

    I want to start a flea market/swap meet business. I'm wondering if anyone here has ever tried this. If so, what kind of products should I sell? Please advise.
    Bill, here is a starting point.

    Tools items in Tools and Gadgets store on eBay!

    This is for Gadget Bob. Although he has only sold a few thousand items...Bob used to publish a monthly newsletter on Swap Meets...and he routinely made 500 bux a day when he was doing it...he's in his 80's now...but look over his store...shoot him an email and maybe he'll help you out...

    And don't be afraid to buy a few things...it is the kind of stuff Bob would sell at Flea Markets and Swap Meets..

    Go and talk to someone who has actually done it...and Bob had 500 dollar days for decades.

    Good luck.

    gjabiz
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