Flea Marketing - share your thoughts! (furniture, socks, price, stores)

[lunetunelover]

My husband and I would like to have a little side business selling stuff at flea markets. We did this when we lived in PA with a bunch of old items that were in storage for years. Made a few $$ and got rid of a lot of stuff. It worked out great!


We learned that there were a lot of people who were buying stuff from other vendors to sell in their spaces, and that there were a lot of people who bought from wholesalers to sell.


Husband wants to buy clothing (t-shirts, sweatshirts) from bulk wholesalers and sell it. I'm okay with that but there is a minimum investment to begin with.


I also think I can sell some handcrafted items too, even though I would barely break even on the materials costs.


So, I'm wondering, what kind of items do you look for or would you purchase at flea markets?

[Mattie]

I'm not sure if you have this option where you are, but it's common in the south. There are "permanent" flea markets, where people rent a booth in a huge store and display whatever they want. The price depends on the size of your booth, but it starts at around $60/month. Originally they only sold antiques, but now you can pretty much find anything you want there.
The store collects the money from the sale and keeps 10%, so except for organizing and restocking, you don't even have to be on the premises.

I know people who have been quite successful at it, and now have 3+ booths. And they pick up their merchandise at thrift stores, where they volunteer on a weekly basis to get first dibs on the donations. Old records, vintage furniture (not really antique), kitchen wares, etc sell very well.

[lunetunelover]

Thanks for the ideas, Mattie.


We just moved to Florida and have started to visit some of the local flea markets. They definitely have a better set-up here than the ones we were used to up north.

[calnbs]

For you to make money, you need to sell something that is completely different from everyone else and no one or few are offering it. Over saturated things at Flea Market with too many vendors: T Shirts, socks, cheap sun glasses.

For example, one of the most successful vendors in my area was a selling those Mexican drinks. No one else was selling it except them. Oh goodness, that vendor makes money. The waiting line is endless. People after people just taking orders. No competition. If you want it, they are the only place to get it.

You have to be unique. Selling the same crap everyone else is selling won't cut it, you'll be wasting your time. I think you are better off selling use items vs new items if you are going to sell the same thing everyone else is. For example, in my area, thrift stores goes half off during holidays, for someone who wants to flip, its a good time. Another thing you can do is, buy used furniture and fix it up and resell it for more....for example, dinning table that needs to be sand and re stained. Buy it for $80-100. Resell it for $200-400 bucks.