Start Your Own Flea Market Business
you craft or bake get together a nice array of offerings for your flea market customers, rent a booth and begin selling. Make sure you have the required licenses for selling in your county and state. If sweets and other foods are your wares consider making up a few individual servings for those walking around the market, then some “family size” items for those wanting to take something home. Some ideas for food items are cakes, pies, cookies, candies, donuts, biscuits, trail mix, potato salad, macaroni salad, and cold drinks. Make sure you check with the individual flea market to be sure they allow vendors to sell edibles and drinks. Some flea markets have a food booth and prohibit others from selling food and drinks.
Many flea markets have indoor booths that will keep you out of the heat and the cold. This is the best idea because heat and cold can damage some of your goods. If you’re serious about starting a flea market business pay for a year in advance. You’ll save money and reserve the spot of your choice. And some flea markets have doors they can lock after hours so that your wares remain safe and you don’t have to cart them back and forth. Others offer storage buildings, besides the tables, anotoption.
One good way to accumulate lots of flea market items is to visit yard sales, towards their closing, and ask to purchase what’s left for a reasonable amount. Many people will be happy to sell the leftovers if only to prevent having to drag it all back inside and put it all away again. Another way is to go to clearance sales particularly after Christmas or Easter. Even if the merchandise doesn’t attract many customers, some of the items will sell the following year.
There are a few places online where you can purchase novelties and collectibles at a wholesale price. Make sure you’re dealing with a reputable company before investing. Check with the online Better Business Bureau to see the status of the company you’re considering. Also online are bulletin boards where people who are moving or just cleaning out closets will offer great deals on new or used merchandise. Before purchasing ask if the seller has feedback from online auction sales. This will give you an idea of how well they’ve treated former customers. Online auctions have literally thousands of great deals where you can be the winner of the item for a buck or so. Be sure and check shipping prices before bidding as well as the sellefeedback.
Holidays are especially popular times for flea markets. People seeking good deals on gifts and food flock to the flea market. Consider putting together Easter baskets, Christmas stockings for pets, Valentine balloons or other seasonal merchandise. Dollar-oriented stores are a perfect place to get everything you need and you don’t have to be an expert crafter to arrange it all in a basket.
rket. If you can save people fifty cents, or even a quarter, off the price of items at the grocery store, they will purchase it. Make sure you know the rules at the grocery for doubling or tripling. Sometimes they limit how many coupons you can use, how many of each product you can purchase, or they have a minimum that you must spend before allowing you the double or triple coupon savings.
Finally, be sure and ask friends and family members if they have items they’d like to sell or donate to your new business. You’d be surprised at what others want rid of, yet someone else would love to have. Take the time to clean everything well and even enhance some items for better selling. Something as small as a rub-on applique, applied to glassware, can double the price you’ll get for it.
