# Having a booth in an indoor flea market or antique mall



## thesedays

Let me know if the topic isn't appropriate for this forum.

Does anyone do this? I'm asking here because I don't know anyone personally who does this (that I know of). I was thinking about opening a bookstore that sells used books and other media, but I'm also very aware that those entities are kinda sorta on their way out and that the investment of time and money would be huge, and came up with this alternative.

What kinds of things do I have to do? Do I need to incorporate, have a tax ID number, get insurance? Finding stock would be NO problem, trust me on that!

I realize it's probably not something I could make a sole living at unless I had a lot of booths, but it could potentially be a "hobby" business.


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## clovis

I have booths at indoor flea markets. Along with some eBay, it is our sole source of income.

The flea market makes up the majority of our income.

Selling at a flea market can be very lucrative, especially if you are working it as a hobby business. 

For a while, I had a booth selling new remainder books. We did pretty well.

No need to incorporate. 

You may need to get a tax ID number; much of it will depend on your mall or flea market. Most of the malls and FM's here collect the sales tax from the customer, and file and pay the state. If that is your case, you won't really need one. You might need a TID if you are buying books from a distributor...they will probably require you to have one to open an account with them. 

The FM or mall will have insurance to cover you.

Really, in a nut shell, once you've talked to a mall or market, all you need to do is plunk down your $150 in booth rent, and load the booth with books. It really is as simple as that.


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## Ceilismom

My dad did this as a hobby when I was in high school. In this state (assuming you are renting a booth, and not the owner of the flea market or antique mall) you'd need a tax ID # and that's about it. I doubt that he ever gave insurance a thought, but that was 20 years ago. It helped pay for his Antique Pox, but it certainly didn't contribute anything to the family income. He really enjoyed spiffing up his treasures and displaying them for sale.


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## clovis

A few more thoughts on selling books:

*If you are selling books, _take the time to invest or build *good* shelves._ This will pay off in spades.

*The more you have in stock, the more people will think you have.

*Work that booth. Once a month, move the books around some. This isn't rocket science, but will reward you with more sales. Don't get crazy moving it around, but condense and change a few shelves up. 

There are people that walk the FM or AM every month, week or day. If your booth, even a little, looks stale or unchanged, they won't even step into it. Trust me on this. 

*Make signs, even if handwritten, that say "NEW BOOKS JUST ADDED", "NEW PAPERBACKS IN STOCK NOW" and "CHECK OUR GARDEN BOOKS". Don't forget to change these signs every time you are in the mall.


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## thesedays

clovis said:


> I have booths at indoor flea markets. Along with some eBay, it is our sole source of income.
> 
> The flea market makes up the majority of our income.
> 
> Selling at a flea market can be very lucrative, especially if you are working it as a hobby business.
> 
> For a while, I had a booth selling new remainder books. We did pretty well.
> 
> No need to incorporate.
> 
> You may need to get a tax ID number; much of it will depend on your mall or flea market. Most of the malls and FM's here collect the sales tax from the customer, and file and pay the state. If that is your case, you won't really need one. You might need a TID if you are buying books from a distributor...they will probably require you to have one to open an account with them.
> 
> The FM or mall will have insurance to cover you.
> 
> Really, in a nut shell, once you've talked to a mall or market, all you need to do is plunk down your $150 in booth rent, and load the booth with books. It really is as simple as that.


I was going to start off by going around to garage sales and getting the choice items. You'd be surprised what people will offer at the end of the sale, too and what might remain. Our local library booksale also allows vendors to come in to a pre-sale before they open to the public, and they make a LOT of money off this. Many of those vendors sell the books on Ebay, and they also have people who purchase DVDs, vinyl LPs (we have a store in town that sells this on one side, and vintage clothing on the other) and other items.

Just last week, someone dumped a bunch of women's clothes in the laundry room trash can in my apartment building. Because all of them were still in usable condition, I "liberated" them and washed them, and since they weren't my size or styles I would wear, took them to a consignment shop. The ones they wouldn't take will go to a shelter my church supports.


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## clovis

Yes, we've done well with garage sale books. You can buy great quality for pennies on the dollar.

FWIW, the best selling books for us are cookbooks, how-to, and military/war. Garden and plant books do okay in the spring.

We've done well with used vinyl...most of what we get is what I consider junk vinyl, but we sell them cheap. Some folks do VERY well with higher quality vinyl, but that is their thing, and they know old records. Old country and 70's/80's rock sell well for us when we can get them.


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## thesedays

Vinyl is making quite a comeback, especially with teenagers and college-age young adults. Never thought I'd see THAT happen, because it was being phased out when I was that age.

I stopped by an antique mall near my house this afternoon, and they didn't have any booths open and have a waiting list. A large booth rents for $188 a month and smaller booths are about half that. I didn't stay very long because it's 100 degrees here today and the main room wasn't air conditioned.


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## clovis

I'm sharing random thoughts as they come to me, and as I have the time...I hope that is okay:

One pitfall that you want to avoid is buying junk books, just because they are super cheap or free.

You want to be selective with the books you stock, if you can, because copies of _Learning To Microwave Hot Dogs, Bacon, and Other Fine Meats_ from 1981 will do nothing but turn customers away.

Focus on better quality stuff...it will pay off in dividends.


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## thesedays

clovis said:


> I'm sharing random thoughts as they come to me, and as I have the time...I hope that is okay:
> 
> One pitfall that you want to avoid is buying junk books, just because they are super cheap or free.
> 
> You want to be selective with the books you stock, if you can, because copies of _Learning To Microwave Hot Dogs, Bacon, and Other Fine Meats_ from 1981 will do nothing but turn customers away.
> 
> Focus on better quality stuff...it will pay off in dividends.


I'd like to have a few things like that on hand for historical or even comedic effect, but you are right. I know that recent best-sellers, classics, and other items in good condition will sell the best. My experience from library booksales is that children's books in good condition also sell well, although IDK how they would sell in a place like that because most parents are not going to take children into them. Guess I could find out!

As for shelves, I have a ready-made source for them because I volunteer at a Habitat ReStore (most of the time; the building isn't air-conditioned and I'm not doing it this summer) and I would have no trouble finding good ready-made shelves.


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## Marshloft

thesedays said:


> Let me know if the topic isn't appropriate for this forum.
> 
> Does anyone do this? I'm asking here because I don't know anyone personally who does this (that I know of). I was thinking about opening a bookstore that sells used books and other media, but I'm also very aware that those entities are kinda sorta on their way out and that the investment of time and money would be huge, and came up with this alternative.
> 
> What kinds of things do I have to do? Do I need to incorporate, have a tax ID number, get insurance? Finding stock would be NO problem, trust me on that!
> 
> I realize it's probably not something I could make a sole living at unless I had a lot of booths, but it could potentially be a "hobby" business.


 If in an indoor flea market, you want people walking by and stopping to see what you have.
Insurance that you will have plenty of walk by's. 
Homemade brownies,,peanutbutter bars,,cinamon rolls,, fresh brewed coffee.
Either rent out the booth next to you and do this yourself for extra income, or see to it someone else does. 
My sister and her husband supported a family of four for a year doing this.
Drinking a cup of coffee and eating a cin.roll while looking at your books. 
Just a thought.
GH


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## thesedays

I'm going to meet with someone from Free Small Business Advice | How-to Resources | Tools | Templates | SCORE and see what they have to say.


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## thesedays

I visited a local antique mall today, and while there were no open booths, there was one booth that I just couldn't believe they allowed to operate; it was a toy booth and the items were piled waist-deep throughout the booth. It looked like a "Hoarders" outtake; how do people expect to make money when items are "displayed" in a manner like that?


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## clovis

thesedays said:


> I visited a local antique mall today, and while there were no open booths, there was one booth that I just couldn't believe they allowed to operate; it was a toy booth and the items were piled waist-deep throughout the booth. It looked like a "Hoarders" outtake; how do people expect to make money when items are "displayed" in a manner like that?


They most likely don't.

In my experience, the booths that are literally piled up with product don't last very long. Booths need to be somewhat organized, and inviting to step into.


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## Bandit

thesedays said:


> I visited a local antique mall today, and while there were no open booths, there was one booth that I just couldn't believe they allowed to operate; it was a toy booth and the items were piled waist-deep throughout the booth. It looked like a "Hoarders" outtake; how do people expect to make money when items are "displayed" in a manner like that?


 My wife has a friend that her booth is like that with small tables , old windows , all styles of ladies clothing , pocket books and hats , plus what ever else old she can find for free or CHEEP . We have " cleaned / organized ? " twice for her in the last year or so . 
Last time we filled our Dodge maxi Van to the roof , with the seats out , to take away Her "Overage " that spilled into the isle , with the owners approval and Help . 
The owners don't really care as she is able to make the rent most months . 

We can find something for $ 5.00 /$ 10.00 , leave it with her and get $ 30 to $ 50 next time we see her , so it works for us.
Bandit


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## How Do I

It seems like the market near us always has the same thing. And always in the same place. Except for the books. lol I honestly don't see _how_ they make money at it. We have one vendor that has tons of books, but they are so mixed up it is hard to find what you are looking for unless you have a few hours to look. I'd at least try to sort them somehow, but I can understand how shoppers are always moving books so I guess that could turn into a full-time job in itself. As a shopper I do appreciate a half-way organized booth.


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## clovis

One thing we did when we were selling books was to add a chair and a an end table, since we had plenty of room in the booth.

For us, we used vintage wood folding chairs, and an up-ended crate for a table. It looked nice and inviting, and was used more than I expected.


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## GoldenCityMuse

One of the better ways to make money is to RENT spaces in flea markets /antique malls.

It is much harder to make money selling.

Your best months will be the first 2 or 3, then all you good stock will generally have gone, & you are left with the dreck that does not move.

Just be aware of this.


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## thesedays

I'm not just going to set up the booth and leave it there. I'll stop by periodically to rearrange and update it, in addition to picking up my money (assuming I end up doing this, of course).


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## thesedays

Update: I spoke to a man from SCORE this morning, and he thinks I have a viable idea. :clap: He gave me some paperwork to fill out, and a list of phone numbers, and told me to come back next week, when he will be there again, and he can advise me further.

There was another person in the room, a young woman who wanted to start an organic food co-op, and she clearly had NO idea what she might be getting into, but that's what SCORE's there for.


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## Irish

I have two booths in a local consignment store. The owners have the tax number and insurance, all I have to do is pay my rent(s) each month. 

Like the others have said, I change my booths up all the time. Put things in, take things out and hopefully sell things.  I'm making my rents plus some more. Yay! 

I also advertise on my local Craigslist, just to let the tourists know I'm there!! You'd be surprised how many tourists look at CL to get ideas of what's what in your town! Also, a FB page, which I haven't figured out. I'll learn though, believe you me! 

One thing I heard recently on the radio, was you have to market yourself like mad nowadays. So, since I've never done a bit of marketing, I'm teaching myself how to market, how to get attention from the public. Sales, freebies and my website (below). I don't actually know if I'll sell anything from my website but it's cheap advertisement. The anchor we have for sale, it brings us a lot of publicity, so worth what we paid for it. 

Actually, I like being in business this way. Suits us just fine!


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## thesedays

Got my booth set up! :clap: What I brought with me wasn't enough to make it look well-stocked, so I stopped (again) at the retirement village down the road, which was having the 2nd day of its rummage sale, and offered them $10 for all the books that looked resalable. I skipped the ones with the broken spines, and also got some CDs as well. I bought all their VHS tapes yesterday; they were priced at 10 cents.

The mall owner thought I priced my books a bit low, so the second crop got priced higher. I will go back there tomorrow and stock these too.

The booth came with a bookshelf that a previous renter left behind, and I brought other fixtures.

Thing is, both of the antique/craft malls in my city are booked solid (one has a waiting list 40 names long) and this one is the closest one I found....in a town 50 miles away. But this town gets people who come into town on chartered buses to do antique crawls, so I got in at the right time, for more reasons than one. The owners are running a special, so my August rent will be free. :happy: They also cut checks twice a month, just like a real job.

I'll keep y'all posted!


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## clovis

That's great!!!! 

A few other thoughts:

I'm sure that you spread those books out to make it look inviting, yet full.

Don't forget to make those signs, even if they are handwritten.

One cool thing that I saw in a book store once was the use of post-it notes on select books, and is something that we did too. For instance, I had a book called the _Arms of Krupp_. On the cover, I put a post-it note that read "The Arms of Krupp is one of my favorite books. If you've ever wondered about the German War Machine, this book is a must read~$8.00". On a vintage Betty Crocker Cookie book, "My wife's favorite cook book~$9.00" All the books that had post-it notes always sold!!!!

If you ever see Time-Life books: The Wild West, The Civil War, and WWII series always sell fast when priced at $5. I've only had one partial set of the Aviation series, and it sold well too. One of the best book scores that I've ever had was at a Half-Price Books. They had 45 volumes of the WWII series, marked $1 each, and I sold them for $5 each in my book booth.

Good luck!!!!


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## Irish

I have found great deals at Half Price Books, also. Neat place. 

Also, (I got this from my former horse trading days), we find out for what an item is selling and then price a bit under that. We check on ebay and amazon too. We don't try to make a killing on one great deal, but, make a bit on each sale. Works very well that way.


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## clovis

Irish, we use the same strategy, and it works wonders.


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## thesedays

This morning, I was at the gas station and complimented a woman on her dress, and in the following conversation, she asked me if I was interested in antiques. It turned out she was on her way to work; she and her husband co-own an antique mall here in town that I didn't know about, and they even have an open booth with fixtures!

:bouncy: :goodjob:

I'll probably go back tomorrow and fill out the paperwork to rent it too. I will keep the one in the other town as well; I should get my first check from them (I hope) any day now.


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## thesedays

I got my first check from the first place I rented, the one 50 miles away.

It was for 90 cents.

:bouncy: :goodjob: 

Yeah, I know these things take time, but I was kind of disappointed.


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## clovis

I have found that it takes time to build a following and a customer base.

From where I am sitting, I'm guessing that you need more stock. That booth needs to be very full, but not cluttered.

It is also going to take a little while to figure out what your customer base is looking for. Books about war, military, history, collector guides, woodworking, decor, cookbooks, old novels and classic lit is what I would use to stock an antique mall.

A flea market...at least what I've found, can be a totally different market. We do well with all of the above, but kids books and low priced paperback novels are probably our best sellers, mostly because they are cheap and plentiful.

I'm not sure any of this makes sense, or applies to you, but it works for us, and yes, I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express back in June.

Keep your chin up...trial and error is the norm for finding out what sells the best for you.


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## thesedays

This particular mall has a mostly female clientele, and I do have a lot of "women's" books. I brought more today, along with a suitable shelf I acquired this weekend. The owner also suggested I use some shelves a previous client left behind, and they were much more useful than the ones I brought with me. The booth looked a LOT better when I was finished.


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## Irish

I don't sell books but I can say, if you put stuff in your booth, make sure everything can be seen and the customers don't have to climb (figuratively, maybe literally) over things to get what they'd like. Very full but not jam-packed. Since I look at stuff all the time, I can 'see' things but customers are sort of cruising through and go over the top till something catches their eye. I saw a shelf system today of another vendor and she had the books all facing outward, not side-by-side. Easier to see, I thought. Hope this helps!! 

Market yourself and books through craigslist and Facebook, too.


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## Terri in WV

I don't have a booth(but have thought about it), but I do shop at the Peddler's Malls that are around here.

I buy a lot of books, as I'm an avid reader. If the books are sorted by author or type, I'm much more likely to spend more time looking and buying. My most recent purchase was 25 true crime books that were together and another 25 at a different booth that were sorted by author. I buy more when they're sorted. If I have to look through dozens of shelves and they're all mixed up, I'll keep walking if one doesn't catch my eye quickly. I hate having to look through hundreds of romance novels to try to find a good book.

Besides books, a couple of other things that I always look for is glass baskets and tupperware.


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## thesedays

My books are shelved separately by genre, and further sub-classified in the author's alphabetical order, and the titles are alphabetized if I have more than one by a given author (John Grisham, Danielle Steel, Faye Kellerman, etc.). I also have the DVDs, VHS tapes, and CDs alphabetized by title or artist as well. Numbered romance series are filed accordingly too.

Now, if only I can get more people to buy my books! :help:


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## thesedays

So far, I've barely brought in enough money to pay for my gas, but with the mall owners' permission, I put ads on Craigslist and that's helped somewhat. One of the first garage sales I hit up had a motherlode of homeschooling supplies, and people have been coming in looking for those. :thumb: And today, I was at the closer booth doing some rearranging and restocking, and a woman bought 5 of my DVDs while I was standing there. :banana:


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## clovis

I'm glad you still giving it a go.

August is always our toughest month, being back to school month. People are shopping and spending at the malls...not walking around antique shops and flea markets.

Good for you on the DVD's! We always try to speak and chat with people shopping in our booth, and generally speaking, it helps sell stuff.


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## thesedays

The woman who bought the DVDs noticed that I charged $4, whereas the other vendors charged $2, but she had noticed that the other vendors' DVDs were often scratched or had other damage. I inspect EVERYTHING before I put it on the shelf.


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## clovis

That is a good way to do business.

I try to test everything that can be tested, especially electrical stuff. Then I add a second tag that says "Tested and works perfect" or something like that.

I believe this helps sales...and for me, generally takes just a few seconds.


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## thesedays

I rented a table at a craft fair that will be held tomorrow. Hope this brings in some money!


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## thesedays

I ended up not going to the craft fair. I woke up panic-stricken in the middle of the night beforehand, and the feeling was strong enough that I thought it would be best if I didn't go. No money lost, either because I would have paid when I got there. This fair's Facebook page later said that turnout was very poor, and implied that there were more vendors (about 40!) than customers.  Because it was 30 miles away, I'm glad I didn't go.

I plan to not renew the first booth I rented when the lease comes due at the end of January, but the second booth is doing relatively well. I also started a half.com account last week; haven't sold anything yet but I know this takes time. I met someone last week who's done this for 12 years, and he told me I was doing everything right.


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## PD-Riverman

I started to not post on this subject but decided to share with you. In my area seems the ones that make the money is not the one that rented the booth but the owner that rents the booth out. I wanted to make some money so I started selling at a outdoor Flea market(FM) on the weekend when the weather was good---(yea had to set-up every weekend I sold). I learned the FM selling quick. I sold for a year and half and setting up about 2 to 3 times a month average and sold Mega Thousands of dollars of items. I then rented a 6000sqft building in what I thought would be a good location--rent was $1000/$1200 per month but no more setting up and if it rained it helped my business. We sold every weekend(fri, sat and sunday) as a HUGE INDOOR YARDSALE. No sign on the building until sale days. We sold $1000 and $1000 per Month. We had to buy trailer loads per week to resale when we had the store and we about sold out every weekend we sold at the FM and had to buy another trailer load for the next week. 

I will say this---if you got the Right things on your tables/shelves and got it priced right---you should about sale out every week. When we were running the Store/indoor yardsale---there was 2 Huge indoor Flea Market with in 3 miles of our store in both directions and they were almost dead on the weekends hardly no customers and at the same time there were times we had to get someone to direct traffic at out store, with 3 head working at the counter sometimes we had customers waiting to check out in lines.

I just feel bad for some of you that go through time setting up your booth, spending your money on rent just to break even, go in the hole or make a few bucks. I know a Guy that just set-up a big consignment shop---had all the booths rented in the first month---only problem is He is the only one making any money. I have been in it twice and passed it many of times since it opened a few months ago and there is rarely any customers shopping there. It will fold too as soon as the People renting the spots/booths get tired of paying more rent than they are selling.

If you are going to spend your money on items to resale and pay rent, and spend your time, be """"different""""than most setup around you like we were. Take Items That The buyers Are Looking For then you will almost sell out every week. Why keep things on your shelves for weeks and weeks, and weeks, and weeks, and months and months etc, etc that are not selling??? Get rid of those things so you can free up space for items that will sell. What Items Do I Need to get---I am sure is a question in your mind---that would be your job to find out what will sell in your area. Example---In my area--I can load a big trailer load of antique horse drawn plows, old saws. old tools, antique tables and chairs, old dolls, cast iron items, single trees, nice old stuff, etc, etc and take that trailer load to the Flea Market this weekend and I will Bet you I will have to bring 90+% of it back home. I will also bet you that if I take that same trailer with some good used kitchen items like a microwave, coffee maker, towels, good clean sheets and spreads, a good selection of GOOD clean clothes etc, etc, etc that I will about sell out. 

I want everyone of you that is reading what I have typed to understand I am in No way Bragging, I would from the bottom of my Heart Love to see/hear everyone of you that are selling----making good money for your time and My True Proven feeling on this is I know you can if you take/get the right items to sell. I wish all of you selling the very Best.


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## thesedays

I met with an accountant yesterday, because we're going into a new quarter and he also does free consultations, and he also told me that I'm doing everything right and also do not have any unrealistic expectations. He told me to come back in early February and he would file my tax return.



I rented a table at my church bazaar this weekend. We'll see what happens!


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## thesedays

We had the bazaar yesterday. Attendance was disappointing, and I made a total profit (after booth rental) of $2.75 :dance: but hey, at least I took home one box less than I brought with me. I found that the best sellers were children's books, so if I do this again next year, I will bring more with me.

I even sold two VHS tapes, which surprised even me. But the woman had a VCR and her preschool-aged grandson with her, and I had two tapes she knew he would enjoy. I also sold a complete box set of the "Little House" series to a woman who said she was purchasing it for her grandson, but told me that she hadn't read them herself and wanted to. :kissy:

In any case, I still had a good time.


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## shannsmom

It sounds like you are doing well and hanging in there. Some days you just have to count having a good time as your main benefit. We sell at an outdoor flea market every Saturday (and most Sundays in the summer), and can support our family with that. We sell video games, but the principles are the same...have what people want and make other things attractive enough to make people want them! We have found that a good display and friendliness can sell almost anything. In our state you have to have a tax id number and pay quarterly taxes on your sales to the state, but that's not that big of a deal. And though you may not be making much money right now, remember that you are establishing yourself and that the biggest shopping season of the year is just beginning, so you will do even better! Good luck! It's great to be your own boss!

I found it funny what you said about skipping that sale because you felt wrong about it...we were going to skip our regular booth and go set up at a school fundraiser sale, several of our neighboring vendors did, but we felt wrong about it, so we just let them keep our booth fee as a donation. The other vendors didn't even make back the $20 they paid for the booth because there were 3 shoppers all day! We made over $300 at our regular booth that day, so we know to always go with our gut now!


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## thesedays

A couple weeks ago, I bought a box of handmade Christmas ornaments, most of them made with plastic canvas but some were counted cross stitch, and almost all of them in mint condition, for $2. I tagged each of them, and sold just one at the bazaar, but I'm going to take them to my book booth that's losing money and display them there. I actually think they'll sell fairly well because that's advertised as a craft mall. In any case, I don't have anything to lose.


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## lathermaker

never mind


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## thesedays

Had another show today, and did fairly well. Not enough that I could make a living at it, nothing like that, but I sold some books and had a great time. I plan to keep this up.


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## thesedays

I had another show today, and this one did VERY well. :clap: My first customer was before we opened; he was the teenage son of one of the other vendors, and he apologized profusely for buying all my classical CDs. I replied, "That's what I brought them here for in the first place!" We later got to enjoy them, because he played some of them on his mom's laptop.


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## clovis

Congrats!!!! 

Keep up the good work!!!!


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## Elizabeth

I had a booth at an antique/flea market mall for eleven months, up until the end of October.

I started out trying to sell boutique children's clothing- that bombed.

Then I added honey, thinking it would be a great seller to the tourists- nope.

Then I added books, tools, cd's/dvd's/video tapes, and odds and ends. Those items sold steadily, but not enough to pay the rent. In fact, the market was 55 miles from home, and many months I did not even make my gas expense  I had to work three four-hour shifts a month in addition to paying the rent.

Then, finally, about the 8th or 9th month I was there I started buying garage sale "treasures" to resell in my booth. I finally made some $$$. Right about the time I figured out what would sell for a profit, the market owner announced that she would be closing the business.

I enjoyed having the booth, but don't know if I would do it again. It took a lot more time than it was worth. Now I am back to selling clothes and books on ebay, which still takes a lot of time, but I can work at it from home in my "spare" time.


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## thesedays

It's an ongoing learning experience for me too. I got a check today from the booth that's not making money - $5.40 for 2 weeks. That's the one I will shut down in January.


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## thesedays

I let the owners know that I wanted to shut the booth down at the end of the month, when the lease expires, and one of them called me today to ask if I would consider a smaller booth. I actually might, if it wasn't in a city 50 miles away.


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## joe&katie

I have in the past had booths in several different antique malls. Never sold antiques, tho. I sold hand crafted, artisan type items - baskets & gourds (I'm a basket maker and gourd crafter), and had other artisans who made pottery, word carving, wood turning, quilted, and handwovens, who placed their items with me on consignment. Also had specialty coffees, jams/jellies, and soaps that I bought from wholesalers. 

I did best in antiques malls that didn't allow people to cram their areas full with stuff piled on the floor, and also didn't put up those cheesy, particle board dividers, but where the vendors would use furniture to define their spaces. 

Right now, I don't rent space, but have my stuff on consignment at a primitive shop, an art gallery, and a nice antique shop where she has a classroom in the back where I can do classes.

One thing I believe helps sales is that people have enough to look at and pick from, it is organized in some way, displayed to appeal to the senses and encourage them to pick up the items, and also roomy enough so that their eyes have a chance to "rest" in between items. Every inch doesn't have to be covered with stuff!


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## thesedays

Just today, I stocked my booth that's doing well with some books that I know will be useful for homeschoolers, and also books that will be on high school and college reading lists, and have also put ads up on Craigslist. They've had responses from this.

More than one person has expressed surprise at finding something like this at an antique shop. FWIW, I also have some old classic books, 78 albums, vintage magazines, etc. in that booth too.

I did take all the CDs out, because those just aren't selling, and will take some of them to an all-purpose consignment shop in my neighborhood. I got most of those CDs for 10 cents each, so no big loss if they don't sell there.


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## thesedays

The lease for the first booth, the one that wasn't making any money, will expire on Thursday, and I went there today and emptied it out. I did it today because we're supposed to get heavy snow tomorrow.

I'll try to sell those books at the fairs I go to this spring. We'll see what happens!


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## MoniqueA.

deleted, duplicate


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## MoniqueA.

thesedays said:


> Let me know if the topic isn't appropriate for this forum.
> 
> Does anyone do this? I'm asking here because I don't know anyone personally who does this (that I know of). I was thinking about opening a bookstore that sells used books and other media, but I'm also very aware that those entities are kinda sorta on their way out and that the investment of time and money would be huge, and came up with this alternative.
> 
> What kinds of things do I have to do? Do I need to incorporate, have a tax ID number, get insurance? Finding stock would be NO problem, trust me on that!
> 
> I realize it's probably not something I could make a sole living at unless I had a lot of booths, but it could potentially be a "hobby" business.


I know many who do this. Our local Lyons? or whatever club has their clubhouse used as a Flea Market once a month. It's called the Grange Hall, it's just 1/2 mile from us. 

They've went back to holding it just once a month. Sellers complained because twice a month was too often. And it seemed they had no time to get new inventory, we'd see the same stuff. Now it's fresh.

They only charge $10 a table, or $10 a spot outside. What I like is they do not ask for a tax id# I think it's a great idea if the price is right and traffic is steady. Our flea market attracts low income folks for whatever reason, so most of the Sellers do not have expensive items. Much of it is antique, movies knick knacky items. It might be easier for you to offer a club to organize a sale once a month and you get a commission. The lady here who does it gets $5 a table and each weekend there is an average of 10-15 tables. She also has her own booth. I know she started out asking them to let her use it for free (at first) then it turned into a fundraiser for them. Just a thought


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## thesedays

I live in the upper Midwest, so there won't be many flea markets or craft fairs until spring rolls around. I also plan to participate in some group garage sales - the kind where they rent tables to multiple people, and you get to keep all your money.


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## MoniqueA.

thesedays said:


> I live in the upper Midwest, so there won't be many flea markets or craft fairs until spring rolls around. I also plan to participate in some group garage sales - the kind where they rent tables to multiple people, and you get to keep all your money.


 Oh ok. This one is year round, weather makes no difference except there are no outside booths. It appears there are 15-30 booths normally, I miscalculated. Hope it all works out, whatever you do :thumb:


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## thesedays

Saw an ad today for a flea market on Saturday, and I called the place where it's being held, and they had one space left over! :dance: It's a fundraiser for the non-profit organization that owns the building; all the other vendors are people who are involved with this group, but they said I was welcome to participate. So, I'll just take all the books and videos that I emptied out of my non-money making booth to this event, and if I'm lucky, I will not bring most of them back with me, and bring back plenty of cash to boot. We should have good weather on Saturday, and the lady I spoke to said they had an excellent turnout last year. I got the impression that most of them just use it as their annual garage sale.


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## thesedays

I got the same bad feeling about the flea market this weekend that I got about the show last fall, so I ended up not going. However, the antique store where I have my booth had someone pull their things out, so I'm going to have a second booth there, and for only $20 a month more! I'll go there tomorrow and stock it.

:rock:


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## thesedays

Update: I just rented a booth at a huge, well-patronized mall in a nearby town that I found out about via a flyer at my regular store. I have since discovered that some of the vendors have multiple booths, and my regular store even has a booth of their own! :goodjob: You know you're in a good place when the competition does business with them.


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## MJDC

This is a great thread! I am learning a lot and getting ideas-thanks so much everyone who contributes!!


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