What is the best/worst you've done when selling at a swap meet?

[kiwigtx]

Quote of the day from the vendor next to me..."I always knew Mitchell was a thief but I didn't know he was a pickpocket too"

Latest ebay pricing suggests that the trait has been passed on down

 

[Kern Dog]

What is wrong with this picture…?

This sign was posted at the show today.

The Bay Area prides themselves for being “educated” and supposedly a step above the unwashed masses yet these guys still can’t spell any better than the average Rio Linda tweeker.

 

[Sixpactogo]

But bargaining is part of the deal. No matter what price you put, people will try to bargain it down - it's just the nature of the game.

I guess you are right. It looks like I should have asked full price for my stuff and settled for half instead of asking half and settling for a quarter. Oh well, I never like dickering anyhow so glad I'm done with that. Better for me to stick with the fun stuff.

 

[Charles Cook]

You get it....thanks.

I feel like sometimes I would rather throw my stuff at the dump than try and deal with losers who want everything for nothing. I have actually been doing that lately, and now that the cost of my surplus storage unit just went up about 10% today, I'll be heaving a lot more out. I don't care anymore what it's worth. I won't use it, so out it goes.

Anything for a 70 Plymouth B body? If so throw it my way. Lol

 

[Kern Dog]

If I see a fair price, I don’t even bother offering less. I like it when customers do the same.

 

[kiwigtx]

Anything for a 70 Plymouth B body? If so throw it my way. Lol

This is not a classified advertising forum.

But, yes.

 

[Sixpactogo]

You get it....thanks.

I feel like sometimes I would rather throw my stuff at the dump than try and deal with losers who want everything for nothing. I have actually been doing that lately, and now that the cost of my surplus storage unit just went up about 10% today, I'll be heaving a lot more out. I don't care anymore what it's worth. I won't use it, so out it goes.

Exactly! I have been doing that as well. My wife has been after me to thin out my collection of what she calls "junk" so I have a new plan of sorts. Since for sale ads on here are free, I think I will try adding a few things here and if they don't sell in a timely manner, the scrap yard is the next stop.

 

[Charles Cook]

This is not a classified advertising forum.

But, yes.

 

[Charles Cook]

This is not a classified advertising forum.

But, yes.

I did say throw.

 

[cosgig]

I have so much fun swapping with my brother, and we’re constantly interacting with the patrons. You may have heard of our famous “buy it even if you don’t need it” sale, or maybe our “buy one, get one” sale? I typically net over $2k at most swap meets, a lot of it from $20 items, and in the ring I’m known as “cheap parts guy”. I guess a memorable sale I had was a 130 tooth flywheel. It was given to me so I had nothing into it, and my buddy had written “130” on it to mark the tooth count. It was on the end of the table and a guy comes up, looks at it, and says…”will you take $125”? I said sure and away he went. Then, I realized that he thought the tooth count was the price, and I had to give a little laugh. I was gonna ask $50 for it.

Here is a pic of my swap spaces at the WPC, it made the article about the health of the hobby and used parts. I was surprised to see it, and didn’t even realize it was my spot until I looked at the grilles a little closer. Also a pic of some fun we were having at the Nats with my son and some parts. It’s been a lifetime of great memories for myself, my brother, and now my son.

 

[Krooser]

We ran my own local swap meets here in central WI for four years. My wife and I did a spring swap in April and a fall swap in September.

We rented a 25,000 sq. ft expo center that housed an ice rink. The early swap was the first event held after they took the ice out...the fall swap was the last event before they put the ice back in.

Our events were very successful right from the start. We had indoor and outdoor spaces. Our vendors had a mixed bag of products from hot rod parts to off road to '79 Camaros.

I believe the spaces sold for $20 to $35 depending on inside or outside... had somewhere around 200 spaces available. The door admission was $3. We had 600 come thru the front door.

We made a deal with the hockey club that owned the building. I had no idea if the first event would fly so I offered $600 rent and they could run their concession stand.

IIRC they sold $900 worth of food that day...best they had ever done for any event.

My insurance was around $500. My family and friends volunteered to setup and work the show.

My wife and I attended over 90 shows the previous fall and early spring promoting the event. We handed out over 5,000 flyers wherever we were allowed to work. Many of our friends distributed flyers for us at the shows we missed .

We were at the MSRA Back to the 50's, Good Guys events, National Street Rod Assoc. shows...

We did radio advertising. And print ads. We did press releases to the local print, radio and TV outlets. Gave away tickets on local radio and to give away at local car shows and cruises.

It was fun but a ton of work. We did all of our own printing on our copy machine. I did the flyer handouts. We had a thousand large four color posters printed and distributed.

After the show we "paid" our help with a great dinner at a local restaurant. Drinks included.

After every bill was paid we cleared, before taxes, about $1100 as I recall. It was worth it.

The next year we had a different guy handling our rental agreement. The rent went up. And up. And up.

After year four we cleared $80 after all was said and done.

That's when we quit.

We had promoted stock car racing at two tracks prior to this deal. We knew how county fair boards negotiated. From the outside people thought we were getting rich...they had no idea how much work went into these events.

Later on I worked full time for a large automotive event promoter here in WI.

Then, in '09, I started a traditional hot rod show at a really cool joint in a tiny Wisconsin village. Stayed two years. Brought in a partner because my health was beginning to fade just a bit and I needed some younger help.

Big mistake. I have never been a fan of partnerships... I sold out two years later rather than face a first degree murder charge.

I just couldn't get enough abuse so we did another hot rod show at a different venue a couple years later. Brought in some 20 bands. Did a drive-in movie deal. Had a great turn out.

Then I decided to get back into the stock car bidness.

I can now write the book on how to lose $28,000 in five weeks!

That racing deal killed the hot rod show.

Geez...did I write all this? Sorry for the rambling.

 

[cosgig]

We had a “Mopar Garage Sale” here at my house when I first built my garage. No charge, told all my buddies to come and set up their own spots if they wanted, had a car corral, and hog dogs, chips and pop or water, all free. We had a huge turnout from all over the state, and I sold a ton of stuff, as did everybody who came to set up. My brother sold his R/T Challenger, and we got to see tons of friends and Mopar folks. We had a ball as usual, and I always thought we would do it again, but the garage is a mess and need cleaned out, mostly parts, but a lot of household in there from cleaning out 2 estates. Maybe someday soon I’ll do it again, my brother still has the Pentastar road signs we posted all over our area!

 

[1967coronet]

My brother and myself sell at one meet each year but go to at least 2 more.
One year I damn near caused a riot by giving a kid a fishing pole .
He and I figure 2 or 3 siblings plus mom and dad had stopped at our spot.
Along with car parts I had a 5 gal. bucket with a few old zebcos and rods in it.
Kid asks his dad if he can get a fishing pole. Dad said he was not wasting $3 on any fishing pole. So me being me I gave each one of those kids a pole and reel.
That's when things took a turn.

 

[cosgig]

My brother and myself sell at one meet each year but go to at least 2 more.
One year I damn near caused a riot by giving a kid a fishing pole .
He and I figure 2 or 3 siblings plus mom and dad had stopped at our spot.
Along with car parts I had a 5 gal. bucket with a few old zebcos and rods in it.
Kid asks his dad if he can get a fishing pole. Dad said he was not wasting $3 on any fishing pole. So me being me I gave each one of those kids a pole and reel.
That's when things took a turn.

No good deed goes unpunished!

 

[440 4 speed]

We ran my own local swap meets here in central WI for four years. My wife and I did a spring swap in April and a fall swap in September.

We rented a 25,000 sq. ft expo center that housed an ice rink. The early swap was the first event held after they took the ice out...the fall swap was the last event before they put the ice back in.

Our events were very successful right from the start. We had indoor and outdoor spaces. Our vendors had a mixed bag of products from hot rod parts to off road to '79 Camaros.

I believe the spaces sold for $20 to $35 depending on inside or outside... had somewhere around 200 spaces available. The door admission was $3. We had 600 come thru the front door.

We made a deal with the hockey club that owned the building. I had no idea if the first event would fly so I offered $600 rent and they could run their concession stand.

IIRC they sold $900 worth of food that day...best they had ever done for any event.

My insurance was around $500. My family and friends volunteered to setup and work the show.

My wife and I attended over 90 shows the previous fall and early spring promoting the event. We handed out over 5,000 flyers wherever we were allowed to work. Many of our friends distributed flyers for us at the shows we missed .

We were at the MSRA Back to the 50's, Good Guys events, National Street Rod Assoc. shows...

We did radio advertising. And print ads. We did press releases to the local print, radio and TV outlets. Gave away tickets on local radio and to give away at local car shows and cruises.

It was fun but a ton of work. We did all of our own printing on our copy machine. I did the flyer handouts. We had a thousand large four color posters printed and distributed.

After the show we "paid" our help with a great dinner at a local restaurant. Drinks included.

After every bill was paid we cleared, before taxes, about $1100 as I recall. It was worth it.

The next year we had a different guy handling our rental agreement. The rent went up. And up. And up.

After year four we cleared $80 after all was said and done.

That's when we quit.

We had promoted stock car racing at two tracks prior to this deal. We knew how county fair boards negotiated. From the outside people thought we were getting rich...they had no idea how much work went into these events.

Later on I worked full time for a large automotive event promoter here in WI.

Then, in '09, I started a traditional hot rod show at a really cool joint in a tiny Wisconsin village. Stayed two years. Brought in a partner because my health was beginning to fade just a bit and I needed some younger help.

Big mistake. I have never been a fan of partnerships... I sold out two years later rather than face a first degree murder charge.

I just couldn't get enough abuse so we did another hot rod show at a different venue a couple years later. Brought in some 20 bands. Did a drive-in movie deal. Had a great turn out.

Then I decided to get back into the stock car bidness.

I can now write the book on how to lose $28,000 in five weeks!

That racing deal killed the hot rod show.

Geez...did I write all this? Sorry for the rambling.

My Grandfather said ( A partnership is a poor ship to sail in). I found that out in a very small way. Didn’t last very long.

 

[skicker]

I used to set up at Carlisle...When they started the tax number bullshit I quit...

I've always done well at it but I never have high end stuff to sell...

 

[erickson]

I’ve been doing swamp meets since 1981. I’ve had good days and not so good. I’ve had to deal with a lot of cheap people trying to jew me Down on a part. More than a few times I’ve smashed or destroyed the part in front of them. I didn’t make any money but had more fun watching there faces over a $20-$50 part. I’ve made a lot of great friends over the years swapping.

 

[HawkRod]

I used to set up at Carlisle...When they started the tax number bullshit I quit...

I've always done well at it but I never have high end stuff to sell...

They pushed that for a year or two - and then I think they got wise and realized it was stupid. I haven't heard about it for the last several years.

 

[ACME A12]

I have only actively sold stuff at one swap meet. Shared a space with my buddy at the Moultrie, GA swap meet back in 2021. Loaded up the bed of my truck with a bunch of stuff - mostly sheet metal that was taking up too much space out in the toy box. Got rid of some '67 Chevelle parts from a project a few years back. Even managed to sell a Chevellle deck lid that I had seriously considered scrapping previously, but most of it ended up coming back home with me - including a YO A12 RR hood that I wasn't giving away for pennies on the dollar. Ended up being more work than it was worth. I much prefer walking around, buying stuff, and downing a few adult libations along the way...