Should we have a garage sale or go to a big flea market?

January 4, 2010 10:40 AM

Should we have a garage sale or go to a big flea market?

We are decluttering our house and want to either have a garage sale or go to Pevely Flea Market (south of St. Louis) in the spring.

We live in University City, MO, in the outskirts of St. Louis, so we would definitely get lots of visitors at a garage sale... but we are wondering if a busy flea market attracts more serious buyers, and in larger numbers. Also, we are thinking that at the end of the day we would be able to sell off anything we have left to a regular vendor at the flea market for a flat fee.

We've never been to Pevely but according to the wiki, it's the largest flea market in the Midwest.

Of course our goal is to sell as much stuff and make as much profit as possible. Our stuff includes books, kitchen items, CDs, some toys, some home items, and misc. No clothes.

Any advice?

posted by kdern to home & garden (8 answers total)

Your overhead at the market is going to be much higher. Booth rental + transporting all the stuff (will you need a truck?) + materials for display at the market. Also, although their vendor site doesn't say it, I'd bet you need some kind of state vendor license or other small business certification & will need to pay sales tax (in my state this is true for all market vendors; your state may be different).

I think you'll do fine with a lawn sale.
posted by anastasiav at 10:51 AM on January 4, 2010

One other option: the annual Gypsy Caravan Flea Market in St. Louis? Any thoughts?
posted by kdern at 10:51 AM on January 4, 2010

Outdoor spaces at Pevely are only $15-20.

We probably would rent a small UHaul van for the day - prob less than $50.
posted by kdern at 10:57 AM on January 4, 2010

I'd do a yard sale because you can advertise online and on telephone poles without spending anything and just leave anything that doesn't sell out on the lawn with a "free to good home" sign on it. I'd hate to spend the money on a fleamarket and then possibly have to shlep half the stuff back home afterwards.
posted by bonobothegreat at 11:21 AM on January 4, 2010

One thing to be aware of if you do go to the larger market: the pros will overlook your stash and strip you of the choice items first. If you are swarmed immediately when unpacking, those folks are the dealers cherry picking your stash.
posted by effluvia at 11:28 AM on January 4, 2010

Outdoor spaces at Pevely are only $15-20. We probably would rent a small UHaul van for the day - prob less than $50.

Right, but: That's $25 - $70 in overhead right off the top. That's money you'll have in your pocket if you do a garage sale. A well advertised garage sale is going to make you just as much money as the flea market (perhaps more, if the items are clean, tagged, and well displayed). We're not talking big margins here; unless you have some really choice stuff you'll probably not make more than $200 - $300 in either venue. That overhead amount (table space + van) is a big chunk of your profits.
posted by anastasiav at 11:41 AM on January 4, 2010

I'm not sure about St. Louis, but most vendors at flea markets in my city are closer to a bunch of little stores. One vendor sells mostly books, another sells mostly electronics, another sells mostly antiques, another sells mostly music, etc. The vendors that look like they just trucked over their yard sale often have common goods which are over-priced (in order to compensate for the rent and overhead costs). Similarly, since you're just selling yard sale items (common items other specialized vendors likely have), you'll be competing with the other, better-known vendors who've been around for a while.

However, if you do have a large collection of a particular type (100s of CDs, lots of antiques, etc.), a flea market might get you more money. At a yard sale you'll get a guy offering you $2 for your mint antique typewriter so he can use it as a boat anchor. At a flea market, you'll get someone looking specifically for antique items and probably willing to pay better for them.

To sum it up:
Yard sale = here's my junk, please take it, give me a couple bucks and get off my lawn
Flea market = here's my collection that's gotten way to big, I want a decent price and I'm willing to wait until I get it, please come again next week

Again, this is what is very common in my neck of the woods (Canadian city), so YMMV.
posted by Kippersoft at 11:57 AM on January 4, 2010 [1 favorite]

It depends on you and your stuff, I should think. If you haven't been to the former flea market (or the latter), how do you know your wares will fit the general tenor of the market or that you'll reach the best market/shoppers for what you have? Or that you have the temperament to deal with the flea market shoppers (we...I mean, they...are a special breed)? ;)

So, what Kippersoft said, on preview. Whaddya got? Have you looked at it all and priced it roughly and do you know what you have there and is it worth any extra effort?

And, what's your exit strategy? If you don't sell it all in one day at a market, where is it going to go? At a yard sale, you can put it out for the taking or Freecycle or on Craigslist at the end of the day, and most of it disappears with minimal effort. At the end of a long day, packing it up and bringing it somewhere and then returning the vehicle...most people are tired and in no mood, as was said above.

Because when dealing with low-end items on the secondary market, the more hands they go through and time it takes to sell, the more that's lost. The object is to make money, right? It seems like easy money, but if you had to pay yourself...

Aside from the table, and the truck rental, what about your time picking it up and returning it, and travel time to and from the market and the table rental, and the pricing and packing time? And the food and drink you'll consume there or stuff you'll be tempted to buy? Or what might be lost to breakage? Have you walked through a local thrift store to see what comparable items are priced at or comparison-shopped Craigslist for your quality items? (And paid yourself for that time too?) It could end up costing you money if not much sells, and even if you had fun, you don't get that time back.

For example: I've done both, but that's my job, and I've spent years getting my yard sale down to a science. I have a yearly yard sale on a weekend before people get busy with their summers and make anywhere from $350-500, mostly because I have good vintage stuff that people around here like and now have repeat buyers. I also sell stuff I've found at estate sales and small, out of town flea markets to certain dealers all year long - but this yard sale is for items that local dealers don't usually buy, contemporary household stuff, books and music and lots of our outgrown kid things. All year long, as I decide to let things go, I put a price on it and put it in some large plastic tubs under the basement stairs, unwrapped and clean so it's ready to go if it's deemed "saleable". Other small items go in cardboard fruit flats, to be sold at 25 cents or $1, with bulk prices. Teeny kid things go into $2 paper grab bags, assembled in mini-clean outs as part of regular housework. Clothes get donated to shelters, handed down or turned into rags, not saved for sale; and unless they're better than what's at the Value Village around the corner, I'll not get more than a dollar or two a piece unless it's vintage - so I don't bother. A week before I start with the Craigslist and Kijiji and local newsgroup ads (with pictures), two days before I put up signs, especially around the brunch places and coffee shops in the neighbourhood on my way around school and work. The morning of, first I post my "Early birds will be cheerfully ignored until the stated time" sign, and I haul out a collapsible clothes rack, any furniture plus a smalls table or two, throw tablecloths on them and set up the stuff - I'm usually ready in half an hour, so though I have a 9 am start time, it seems like I'm being nice by starting earlier. By noon I'm usually nearly sold out, by two the free stuff has been noted on Craigslist and Freecycle accordingly and left at the curb in the trays (if not gone by the next morning, we live less than a block from a place to donate them)- and one tub goes into the other two, and only items that are appropriate for the school's rummage sale in October go back in it, still priced for that sale. Then the cycle starts again. Having knowledge of resale item prices is something I do anyway - but otherwise, I spend less than two hours preparing for or breaking down the sale intensively, and three-ish hours selling. Over the course of the year, a minute here or there. That's a nice chunk of change with minimal effort.

So, I'm going to suggest a yard sale, because online advertising for them attracts as many buyers as you could hope for, especially dealers. Have it early so they can shop on the way to their businesses, or consider having it on a Friday too if you can muster it. And flea markets attract mainly browsers, or people looking for specialty items, and tend to operate more like small businesses - if your object is to sell and get out in one day, a garage sale is for you.
posted by peagood at 12:55 PM on January 4, 2010 [4 favorites]