Flea Market Selling

Here in Florida everybody is looking for $1 stuff at flimarkets.I tried to sell my shirts at garage sale/craft show but it was waste of money for me,because my shirts are kind of expensive and I couldn't go lower then $16 so I sold only 6.People were looking for cheap stuff there...I would say :try to go once and then you will see how it works for you I'm going to try to sell at craft show in more expensive part of the city.

I must admit that I have have seen mostly knock-offs at flea markets. ...or stuff from 5 seasons ago.

hi i sell at a flea market in Tenessee but i do only custom work no pre made designs. i also do sublimation license plates /frames /dogtags etc. business is terrible .i have all my equipt. stored in an enclosed section of the market i pay a little extra but i am working towards building a customer base so i can work from home then ultimately a storefront. i always say if u dont try it u will never know.

Well the flea market near me is kind of for very cheap stuff and not well made. I would recommend something like a kiosk(little stand) within an actual mall. I know far more people go to the mall near me then the flea market. It also depends on your target market because i dont know to many kids going to flea markets but there are alot going to malls.

tell me how it works out for you tho

I am in NY NJ area and just started my business with my own t-shirt design. I did flea markets and they were horrible, people were looking for $1.00 deal. I then concentrated on Craft Fairs, did ok but some of the vendors did not have their own "craft" products. I have to do a lot more research in terms of attending the next craft fair. Like I said I just started this season.

We set up at a flea market every Sunday. We only show printed samples & take orders.
We then bring the printed item back the following week for the customer to pick up.
We can do anywhere between $300 - $700 depending on the day.
Plus you end up with alot of repeat orders & orders from the customers friends who
have seen the item.

Winger61 said:

Being business is a little slow for us, I was thinking about selling at one of the large Flea Markets.
My questions are has anyone sold there designs at a Flea Market?
What would be a fair price to sell a tee shirt for?
Any other pro's and cons would be appreciated to know.

thanks,
Steven

Click to expand...

Steven,

Just my take on this...

If you're looking to offload surplus and okay selling for less than what you normally sell for, a Flea Market may be a good move.

If you're looking to make your full price on your product, then this may not be a good move and you may want to utilize other resources, even those that are free.

I personally think that if you're doing custom work on the fly as done at malls then Flea Markets may work well. But, if you're trying to sell a brand that you've grown and charge a nice penny generally for your product, selling at a Flea Market could reduce your product's worth to a buyer.

One thing I've noticed recently about some popular tee brands (i.e., Johnny Cupcakes) are that they now have eBay accounts to auction off surplus apparel. They can lose by auctions ending low, or, they could get more than they would generally sell for at retail if the auction soars!

dim116 said:

We set up at a flea market every Sunday. We only show printed samples & take orders.
We then bring the printed item back the following week for the customer to pick up.
We can do anywhere between $300 - $700 depending on the day.
Plus you end up with alot of repeat orders & orders from the customers friends who
have seen the item.

Click to expand...

I think this is a great idea and it looks like it works for you. I had tried selling out in front of my shop on weekends and holidays. That always seemed to work well usually I could make 500 or so getting rid of my misprints. I had never tried the flee market. That seems like a good place to sell misprints also.

Hi,

A new flea market has opened in my area and I believe it's going to be huge, alot of traffic.

I recently bought a heat press and have accounts at the major wholesalers.

My question is what type of deigns to sell?

Marc

Marc, that depends on the demographics of the market. I would walk the market and try to see what is selling, and who you would be selling to. Remember you will be competing with some counterfeit goods.

wherever you can sell your shirts is a good place to sell your shirts

I think most of the stuf you find in flea markets (at least the ones I've been to) is cheap and nasty. So you might be better off looking at art and craft fairs and places like that (unless your target market is cheap and nasty)

BanTshirts said:

I think most of the stuf you find in flea markets (at least the ones I've been to) is cheap and nasty. So you might be better off looking at art and craft fairs and places like that (unless your target market is cheap and nasty)

Click to expand...

Why do some people think that flea market goods are all cheap and nasty? I've been involved with flea markets on and off for over 30 years and that is just not the case. In fact, there is a brand new one set to take over an old mall here on the east side of Columbus starting in Sept. and we will be one of the 600 vendors that will be doing business. It will also have a first run Movie theater, which we will be right around the corner from, and a food court. Flea markets are the common mans place to shop.

well i jus started to go to fleamarkets and my frist day was ok but my second time kinda suck.but all and all i think it's a good place to network, and hand out biusness card and stuff like that.so if not for nothing els if you don't get any, sales you can at less promote. jus my thoughts

We do fleamarkets 6 mo. out of a year, and do
a lot of sales.
Our products are all NEW and people that live to far
from our store come looking for us at these markets,
or they go online to order.
We pass out lots of cards, and it works.
So you can see that cheap is not always a key word at the markets.

This is true. At the market I use, all vendors must have quality goods to sell. No junk is allowed.
When you do have a slow day give out more cards or flyers/price lists. I have people that come just to look for me also. I have also had people order from me that had picked up my card up to a year before at the market, so it does work. Many, many repeat orders as well.

I am seriously considering set up one week end at the local flea market / swap meet. I really have nothing to lose. It only cost about $20 to set up anyways. I am in the planning stages right now i want to make sure i have everything ready business cards/ fliers / samples.

dim116 said:

This is true. At the market I use, all vendors must have quality goods to sell. No junk is allowed.
When you do have a slow day give out more cards or flyers/price lists. I have people that come just to look for me also. I have also had people order from me that had picked up my card up to a year before at the market, so it does work. Many, many repeat orders as well.

Click to expand...

I agree that the whole thing relies on setting up at a high class flea market. The one that we will be doing every weekend is brand new. And they have invested a lot into remolding the mall that they are going to use. Plus having a movie theater that will be running first run movies as well as a food court and a kids fun zone will add to the attraction for people to check it out.