I need to give a gift to someone by the rule that it must be a fake designer item (its sort of a game). So i was wondering if I could find like a fake designer bag at a flea market.
yeah
hope i helped =]
Here’s a list of just a few places that you can get your flea market items. These places are mainly closeout type places so they will have a variety of products.
You will have to check them out to see if they have anything you are looking for. Use this as a starting point.
BlueRibbon Closeouts
www.blueribbonclosesouts.com
Overstock and returns shipped from the source direct to you. All kinds of items including: clothing, toys, electronics, domestics, housewares, and much more.
Hakim International Trading & Marketing, Inc.
www.hakiminternational.com
They buy and sell closeouts. General merchandise, apparel, housewares, electronics, health and beauty aids, and dollar store items.
Premier Products International
www.hotbuy4u.com
Electronics, radar detectors, and digital cameras.
Smart Surplus Inc.
www.smartsurplus.com
Worldwide distributor of quality surplus and closeout products.
Now that we have a good handle on the types of products to sell at flea markets, let’s look at how to price them. Flea market pricing can be a tricky process. But don’t let it throw you or bog you down. The great thing about price is that it is totally up to you and within your control. Ultimately, the customers determine the price at which they are comfortable buying at. All you have to do is to figure out what that is, but it’s not that hard. Let’s take a look at several pricing strategies for your flea market items: mark up, competitor, and negotiated.
Mark Up Pricing
Mark up pricing means starting with the cost of the item and adding usually a percentage to that to come up with the price. If a flea market item costs $1 and you mark it up 100%, the result is a $2 selling price. The advantage of this method is that it is easy to do. It is a relatively simple mathematical formula and exercise. The disadvantage of the mark up method is that it can be difficult to know what percentage to use when pricing products. I mean, is a 100% markup a good markup, will customers buy at that price, will I make any money at that price? These are all very good questions.
To answer these questions, consider using the mark up method as just one part of the way to determining price, just one tool in your flea market tool kit. You will see as we move along our discussion of flea market pricing, that it is best to use several methods to determine price of your flea market items. Let’s look at competitor pricing next.
Competitor Pricing
Competitor pricing is simply pricing your flea market items close to similar products that others selling those same items are selling at. Remember there is nothing wrong with using the information that others have used and the experience others have experienced to help you in your decisions. If more than one vendor is selling at or near the same price, it is a good indication that they have found the proper price.
Competitor pricing is typically the best and quickest way to do research on pricing. Simply walk a flea market, make note of products that you might be interested in selling, also note their price, and then try to find a supplier of that product so that the cost is such that it will provide a profit at the price you noted.
There is a time when I would not use competitor pricing. And that is when the price a competitor is using is below the cost of the product. This would mean you are losing money on each sale. Either the other vendor is buying at a lower price than you or he is losing money on the sale. Either way, reconsider your price at this point.
As you might have guessed, mark up pricing and competitor pricing should be used together to best determine the proper pricing of flea market wholesale items. One last pricing method should be used as you sell your products and that is negotiated pricing.
Negotiated Pricing
Negotiated pricing is pricing that is determined at the time of the sale. We use negotiated pricing when buying a car. Negotiated pricing is less formal that the other two methods, but is still very useful. Always be open and willing to negotiate. However, don’t feel bad about holding your ground with what you consider your lowest price to be. Try to upsell when people start negotiating. I mean try to get them to purchase more in return for giving them a break on price. See if you can always get something for your decrease in price like more sales.
The amount of negotiating that you do will depend upon the kind of flea market items you sell. Higher priced items leave more room for negotiation so you will do more negotiation with them. That being said, most of the time, you will not have to negotiate and people will pay the price that is marked.
Keep in mind that negotiating can start with you, it doesn’t have to start with the customer. When someone is interested in your product or products, they might need just a bit of a deal to get them to buy. You will have to be aware of their actions and possibly suggest a deal to them if you feel they might walk away without buying.
Negotiating is definitely a skill you will learn. There will be times when you may have gone too low on price. That’s ok, just learn from it and don’t do it again. If I told you all the mistakes I have made since getting into business for myself, I could write another 100 pages. But the key is to learn from everything you do.
As you may have determined, pricing entails using sometimes all three pricing methods, mark up pricing to make sure you make enough profit, competitor pricing to ensure you are competitive with others, and negotiated pricing as the deal is taking place. The great thing about price is that it is totally within your control so you can adjust continually if needed.
After you read this short article, you will feel more confident about starting your own flea market business. As you read down the page, you will gain an understanding of the basic steps that you should follow as you start your flea market business.
Before actually starting to sell your own flea market items, visit several flea markets in your area that you could eventually sell at. Obviously, gather the vendor information from the managers of the flea market. This will include the costs to rent a space, the days and hours they are open, any restrictions on what you can sell, and their policies and rules. You should be aware of all these before signing up for a particular market.
When visiting the flea markets, take a notepad along so you can write down any thoughts that you have about that particular market. Also note what the vendors are selling. Sometimes flea markets will have a vendor directory, make sure you pick up one so you know who is there and what they are selling. Also take note of how busy the market is in general and how busy (or not busy) certain vendor booths are. You will need this research when you begin to think about what flea market items you are going to sell.
Carefully evaluate the products being sold. I can’t stress this enough. You will need two main ingrediants for a successful flea market business: 1) traffic (potential customers) and 2) products those potential customers want to buy.
You must have traffic, so ask the managers of the flea market for some attendance figures and compare the different markets that you research.
You must have good products, so if you are just starting out, sell flea market wholesale items that other vendors are selling. Don’t try to discover an un-met need, this will come later on. For right now, sell flea market items that others are successfully selling, you can get fancy later.
We will discuss the next steps in my next post, so stay tuned . . . .
First of all, as part of your flea market business, you gotta have flea market items, right? You bet. I’ll break down products into 3 categories: purchased, home made, and food. Now before going out and just buying some flea market items or making some products and turning around and selling them, you need to seriously think about the kind of flea market items you want to sell.
Consider if you have any particular interest in a category of products. Think about if you have a skill at making a particular kind of product. Maybe wood working is your specialty, maybe sewing, maybe making jewelry. There are many categories of flea market items and I can tell you that focusing in a particular kind or products will benefit you by more customer interest at your booth. Below I have listed several different categories of flea market wholesale items that you might consider.
Baby Items: Accessories, apparel, toys, diaper bags, health care items, feeding items, furniture, handmade blankets.
Hardware: Tools, hardware, painting tool & supplies, auto tools & supplies, gardening, pet supplies, electrical tools & supplies.
Household: Kitchen tools & supplies, dining, bedding, linens, curtains, bathroom, cleaning, cookware, food containers.
Leather Goods: Belts, purses, wallets, knife sleeves, hats, vests, cell phone cases, eye glass cases, watch bands.
Stationery: Books, gift cards, party goods, office supplies, school supplies, art & crafts, gift wrap.
Again, I really want to stress that you need to select a category of similar flea market items. If is a food vending product, you can widen your scope of product offering to better round out your selections.
Flea Market Wholesale Items
The internet offers a number of options for purchasing flea market items wholesale. These are typically called flea market wholesalers or flea market liquidators and are usually located on either the east coast or the west coast, with some located in the Midwest. Make sure you’re dealing with a reputable company before buying. Check with the online Better Business Bureau to see the status of the company you’re considering.
To find these companies, just do an internet search for any of the following:
- wholesalers
- liquidators
- flea market wholesalers
- flea market products
- flea market items
That should give you enough to go on. Believe me once you dig a little, you will begin to find a lot. These flea mareket wholesale companies each have their own minimum order quantities, payment methods, and shipping requirements. Most take credit cards as payment and the buying process is very similar to other online buying like Amazon.com and others. Once you start, it is kind of fun to select the items you want to sell. But that brings up the question of which flea market items sell the best? How do you know what you buy?
There are 3 sources for the answer to those questions. First of all, your own judgement will typically be correct. I’m assuming you are an average person like me. You generally like what most people like. For instance, if you are interested in tools and hardware, you probably know what most tool and hardware enthusiasts like. Start with those types of flea market items that you would find interesting and useful.
The second place to look for the answer to those questions is other flea marketers. Believe it or not, most flea marketers are willing to share at least some of the information about their products. If they have a winner, they typically like to talk about it. Pose as a potential customer and talk with them about what is popular and what is selling. Also, actually watch what customers are buying at other flea marketers booths. Customers tell the truth with their wallets, watch what they buy.
The third place to find out what flea market items sell best is to simply ask the suppliers of your products which products are selling for them. That usually indicates which flea market items will sell for you. Be careful of regional differences throughout the country. What sells in one part, may not always sell in another part of the country. There are a lot of flea market items that do sell well in all parts of the country, but just be aware that regional differences exist. Also, take a trip to your local dollar store and see what they are selling. If they are selling it, chances are you will sell it too.