Enough with Ebay? I want your thoughts on Something Else ...

Ok, everyone of us is *WELL* aware how competitive and oversaturated the market on Ebay is. Yes, you can make money. Yes, you have to spend many an hour of work and research. And finally, yes, you need to have the right product & market it at the right time.


Well folks, I am done competing with Ebay. I make a few bucks dropshipping, but have decided to USE ebay to supply my non on-line retail.

So, since I have your attention (I hope ;-) ) What are your thoughts and experiences with flea markets and swap meets?

*ANY* advice or thoughts are GREATLY appreciated.

Thanks again!

Matt
UofAguy0507

Ive never been to one but I hear most people get stuff off from ebay and go to the flea market and jack the price up and sell. so the stuff still comes from ebay.

My experience in flea markets is ok. Lets see , My wife makes me walk thru them.... Takes forever. We see alot of as seen on tv crap and alot of really wierd stuff I would never add to my home decor. And well alot of cheap stuff and swords.

Last time I was there I asked a lady about some stupid REAL CHEAP dollhouse my daughter saw and wanted. BTW Ive seen the exact same one selling during christmas season at walmart in the kids $9.99 Isle. I figured she might sell it cheaper.
Well yeah she told me $65.00. I asked her why It was so High and she told me that was what her supplier charged for it and she was selling it to me at cost. I was laughing so Hard That I pulled the homemade price tag off the box that was concealing the $9.99 price that was put on by the manufacturer. Then I said Either Your full of crap Or well your full of crap :D

Havent been to a flea market since lol

yeah see. haha people just sell crap thats way over priced. so you might do good there. get some stuff off ebay and sell it over priced there :-)

Ok, let me ask you guys something. WOuld you guys buy designer stuff such as Lacoste Polos for $30 or spend 100+ on a pair of designer sunglasses.

The lacoste polos would be replica, however the sunglasses are authentic.

Havent seen too many of these items at the markets in my town and was wondering if its becuase sellers dont bother or that it wouldn't sell.

Your thoughts are appreciated!

I live in California and and they called them swap meets, and my experience with swap meets is, if you have something cheep like a buck or you sell t-shirt, socks, because anything else won't sell. I've tried to sell computer flat screen and telephones and took some house hold items and sold the cheep household items but not the good stuff....I think that people don't bring a lot of money to a swapmeet. Swapmeets are a wasting of time & money...most cost about 25.00 to 40.00 a day and you'll be lucky to make your rent.

John

Thanks for your thoughts everyone, I appreciate it!!

Mate,

Have a look at affiliating and internet marketing....

Check out my signature under the post for details :D

hello, i think this is my first post, but i joined salehoo to find stuff for my flea market booths. You will have to get around the ebay mentality at mostof the sites you will find. but I have found some things that sell pretty well at the flea's. on the other hand one of the best ways for me to replinish stock is Garage sales. Storage Auctions are a winner to. at the same time i find stuff that is worthy to put on ebay. believe it or not used vhs movies are a hit both at the flea markets and ebay. you can find them at garage sales for $.25-$.50 and usually sell them $5-$6. yea it is not making a huge amount of proffit off each item. but which is better $50 proffit of 1 item or $5 proffit off 50 items? plus repeat customers that come weekly to see if you found anything new?
well that is my .018765 cents. oh yea i cannot spell worth a darn, so i know that there is at least 5 mispelled words in this post......... :roll:

Hey dr-red, heres another great idea that I use. Find the nearest college to you that has housing. When school lets out for the year, bring a van, truck or what ever to the school and start packing it up with the stuff the students just do not want to take with them.

Also, Flea markets are great. But you guys are going about it sort of wrong. Well thats my opinion anyways. First thing to do is goto the flea market, not to sell, but to do research. Look at what people are selling, look at where the customers are congregating, talk to the vendors (no they wont tell you where they get their stuff so do not ask), make notes. See what is lacking.

Different people will tell you different things. For example, you have one vendor that says online to sell what people want and stay away from needs, while others may say the opposite. It all depends on what people seriously want, what type of flea market it is, is it outdoors, indoors, whats the weather like, whats the area demographics. Go to a few different flea markets and do the research.

It took me 10 different flea markets at different locations this year to figure out what sells well at 1 particular flea market. I watched it, researched it and will be implementing it myself once I find a reliable supplier for what I need.

I am sorry that one of you had a bad experience with the dollhouse and all, but don't knock all flea markets because of 1 day of bad experiences. They can be fun if you find the right ones.