Best and most salable flea market products

jrobinauctions

Hey guys, for all here on SaleHoo who have achieved success at Flea Markets.... what are your top 3 products that brought in the most cash?

richelle_salehoo1

'what are your top 3 products that brought in the most cash?' That's probably the #1 question everyone's asking themselves, whether they're trying to sell online or in flea markets.

There are actually a whole lot of products you can sell and may sell well in flea markets. But you have to take into consideration the needs and even the wants of the crowd that will be going to your flea market. A top selling product in the east may not sell as well in the west. Sometimes, you'll just have to try it out to find out what really does sell :)

Here's an article I found, please have a read you may find it helpful:

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Anyone out there who has had any experience selling in flea markets? Care to share a tip or 2? You inputs will be much appreciated!

Cheers to all :)

dreamcatcher

JROBINAUCTION, HI

While just like ebay, their is no magic answer to your question. but speaking as a booth owner at web road flea market in salsibury north carolina ( you can visit them online) i can tell you my most profitable item is airsoftguns. in fact thats all my booth sells. guns ammo and accesories

during the christmas buying season, man it all i can do to keep up!

pm me for a couple of good leads.

vesperas

A friend of mine buys second hand toys, cleans them up, repackages them in cellophane and resells them.

She makes a KILLING and is famous in our town. Markets here offer her a free stall because she attracts so many people to the markets.

fm1234

Toys and quality kids' clothing tend to be big, off-season seasonals (Halloween costumes in July, Christmas decorations in August etc.) tend to be big, non-perishable grocery items tend to be big. But there are few universals; if you want to see what's hot at flea markets in your area, visit them and look around. Especially at the people who are in premium spots. You can't copy them directly, but you can go into similar or complementary markets, or do what they're doing in a different venue.

Frank

fm1234

Also, you can ask large suppliers of flea market-type merchandise, such as Via. Most of them will be happy to make recommendations based on what's selling.

Frank

fudjj

Hard for me to make any suggestion of serious reference. I think it's going to come down to the market demographic you are selling in, and that can vary wildy within the same general location.

What is popular at one market may not be selling well at a market 10 miles away. Of course even though it may not be selling on that weekend doesn't mean that it won't be selling next weekend neither.

If I had to put my money on a product that sold just about everywhere, I would be backing coffee/food. That's about all I would be confident about if I was doing a selling world tour of markets.

You know these types of markets also catter for niche products, so do some research on your local market. See what booths do get the most traffic over a month or so, then see if you can hone in on developing a niche to cater for what they are already buying.

If plants are big sellers, see if you can sell plant food, pots, that type of thing, and so on. One product will usually lead to another product, and finding a niche market is all about looking for a link in that product chain that is not being catered for.

Just be careful not to try and research seasonal items, because those types of market products are always going to be popular within season, but may well suck after season.

For example, Christmas. Of course market stall related to to the season will be popular within that season, but unless you are wanting a short gain, including them in your research is only going to give you unrelaible data for a long term strategy.

waysofthewong

We have a couple booths at my local flea market and we sell all replica brand name items like Ed Hardy T-shirts, True Religion jeans etc.

I find the sales to be pretty good and the authorities don't give you much hassle because its just a flea market.

fudjj

Mind me asking what customers are paying for fake Ed Hardy products, and how popular they are?

If you ever do decide to go legit just yell out, I can supply you with genuine gear

: )

fm1234

fudjj

I hate to dredge up an old post, but as you touched on a point I had made before -- my experience with seasonals is directly opposite of what you're suggesting. In the couple of months run up to the holiday and the month after, sales of seasonal decor and items in flea markets has been huge for me, year in and year out going back to 1999, and in a variety of markets. ie. Christmas in October, November and January, but not December. The problem, especially with Christmas, is that big retailers push all of their stuff closer and closer to the cash registers as the holiday gets closer, encouraging impulse buys to help them clear out inventory. So when people are doing their weekly grocery/Wal-Mart run they also pick up that item, saving a trip and often at a good price to boot.

One of my good friends runs a Christmas-year-'round retail store in a great traffic location. He's been there for nearly twenty years and has always maintained that the worst time of year for him has always been the month between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

I'm sure there are exceptions, but it's always been money in the bank in my experience to buy like a Rothschild right after the holiday, when prices are at their absolute lowest, and mothball the goods until before the season begins. This has been especially true with Halloween costumes and decoations and Christmas decorations.

Speaking of seasonals, an experiment we tried last year that might be worth repeating for some in the US: after Independence Day 2008 we picked up a ton of 'patriotic' stuff, paper plates and napkins and streamers and disposable flags etc. etc. etc. for super cheap from party stores, stored them and then whipped them out just ahead of the 'patriotic holidays' in the US (Presidents' Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day and Veterans' Day) in 2009. This did pretty well on the local level; I wish we'd had more inventory to do a better sample though. But the merchandise in question is cheap and not prone to degrade in storage, so perhaps worth giving a shot this year for someone.

Frank

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