Looking for new items to sell

cyberdan

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Dec 12, 2006
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There is a swap meet I go to. Not a lot of vendors so nobody steps on each others toes by selling the same products. One guy sells tasers and crossbows. Both of which I was thinking of selling there. Another sells pocket knives or tries to, very few sales. Any body sell at swap meets have good experiences selling an item that has a good markup?
 

Beans

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May 31, 2008
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My son buys good converse shoes, no more than 5 bucks for them. Cleans them up and sell for 20 and up.
 

Rawhide

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Nov 17, 2010
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Could send you some samples for you to try? PM me.
 

hvacker

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Aug 18, 2012
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I knew a guy that made runs to a port in Ca. to buy Chinese tools and truck them here to NM and sold at a big market.
Today though, Chinese tools are all over.
I knew another guy that would take the summers off to sell stuff at fairs. He told me at the time the sale price has to be less than $15 or it won't sell. Kind of a price that is within some psychological limit. This was some years ago but in my mind not so different dollar wise. What he sold were things like personal security items like mace and meditation balls. What he chose to sell were impulse purchases. Things a buyer didn't have consciously to think about.
The knife guy you mentioned probably might have had sales problems because anyone who ever watched the knife show on cable knows how little really nice looking knifes cost.
Jewelry is an impulse sale that has a great markup. You need to be very aware of trends though. Markets change. Observe and see what's is selling.
You might want to consider finding a more successful market. A small market = small sales. Sales are always based on probability.
The larger the crowd the more probability of sales. Just sayin.
I would pick jewelry only because my wife knows and has worked in the industry, has access to wholesale supplies, and knows trends.
Women around jewelry are like guys around tools. Women like clothes too.
Here, being close to Mexico I see sellers with all kinds of over-the -counter pills from Mexico. I have no idea if there's any money there but she is busy.
 

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cyberdan

cyberdan

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Dec 12, 2006
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1) Jewelry is an impulse sale that has a great markup. You need to be very aware of trends though.

2) You might want to consider finding a more successful market. A small market = small sales.

1) I know about jewelry. I literally have about 50-60 pounds of it. It is a good seller.

2) only 3 markets is my small town of 6600. two are "farmers" markets that only allow produce or personally hand made items. The saturday one is always crowded. The wednesday one is never crowded. The last one is where I am looking for things to sell, it is a real flea market. But not crowded. Space rent is $10 a day.
 

AlienLifeForm

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Load up on those ridiculous "fidget spinners" and blow them all out before the fad ends. That is one pile of dead stock you don't want to get stuck with. Think "pogs" of the 90s - red hot outta the gate but literally worthless now.
 

Beans

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Here was a surprise for me this weekend. I set up at flea market. Had a nice Howard Miller clock major discount price. Across the isle was a guy selling old stuff. They spent some time looking at the clock but decided to buy an old ringer mop bucket from across the isle instead. I guess I did not know my market. Old stuff was the way to go.
 

Keppy

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There is a swap meet I go to. Not a lot of vendors so nobody steps on each others toes by selling the same products. One guy sells tasers and crossbows. Both of which I was thinking of selling there. Another sells pocket knives or tries to, very few sales. Any body sell at swap meets have good experiences selling an item that has a good markup?
Knives are not a good seller the reason is two many people have them for they are cheap to buy in bulk ..
 

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cyberdan

cyberdan

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Dec 12, 2006
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Load up on those ridiculous "fidget spinners" and blow them all out before the fad ends. That is one pile of dead stock you don't want to get stuck with. Think "pogs" of the 90s - red hot outta the gate but literally worthless now.

As soon as I started reading your post I started thinking POGS. I was in the printing business and remember POGS very well. My company got in on the ground floor (in SoCA) when they first started. We made many millions. I kept a bit of everyone that I noticed were ready to ship. I tossed them in the dumpster many years ago.

Any of you dumpster divers pull them out? Dumpster Diving
 

Xraywolf

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Feb 28, 2005
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Fidget spinners sell but it has to be the right circumstances, I doubt if a county market is it.

Light up ones by far sell the best, but they are also hard to find cheap. I bought a load of 500 of them for $2 each [very cheap, even on ebay/amazon they go for $7-$10 and more], I sold a batch of them at fireworks earlier this month they sold like hotcakes. I was happy to get $5 for them, my nephew was selling them for $10 each and sold almost as much as me. But it has to be towards dark, and there has to be alot of kids with parents. They see them, they are mesmerized and the parents are literally trapped into having to buy them.

But non light up spinners at a swap meet I doubt would sell well at all unless you were practically giving them away.
 

What Me Worry?

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Jun 23, 2017
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Coolers. Styrofoam, Colemans, any type. Easy to find at garage sales and flip. Never have to pack them up at the end of the day because they will be gone.

Fishing anything. Always sell and again, something to look out for at rummage sales or other peoples booths. I've once bought some tackle boxes from another vendors booth early in the morning with many items inside. Broke 'em out and sold them all before the day was done.

Oh, and since it's back to school season, one year I just took advantage of the sales at my local dept stores and flipped them. Paper, folders, pencils, calculators, etc. Buy a folder for .10 cents and flip it for a quarter or whatever. The cents add up and they're always a great impulse buy. Ya know, I should be on the lookout for this year round and blow them out during the BTS months.
 

Shorty Buckshot

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Aug 19, 2012
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I go to a couple of auctions a week, every week...one of which is a regular Thursday auction where many of the items are consigned for sale....been doing it for some time now and its funny how the trends change....something that brought decent money 6 months ago won't sell this week....Lately I have been having good luck with video games....I usually get them pretty cheap and they don't have to be the latest and greatest game....I have sold quite a few PS2 games or bundles of games over the last month but most any games will work....xbox, Nintendo, PlayStation etc.....there are a few select games no matter the game system that will bring hundreds (or more) especially new and sealed.....My best so far is Rule of Rose for PS2...$250.00 and it was used. It was in a box of 11 games I bought for $8...you never know...
 

dirtdigginfool

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Mar 8, 2014
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A LOT of great ideas here...every spring, our fairgrounds (yep-the only one in the state we're not allowed to detect...)...but anyway, sorry-I get ALL flustered every time I think about it...or drive by it...but every spring there's the old car show...I had a PILE of car stuff just begging to be sold, so a buddy and I forked out the $15 rent and sat all our stuff out. I had a slew of nice, shiny, car-related widgets...but lo and behold...people were literally fighting to root through the nasty, dirty, greasy parts...and they all sold!! I packed home about 75% of the newer stuff...go figure! Ddf
 

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