Anyone selling in a Antique type store/flea market, etc

[Cactuspies]

Just looking for some quick opinions on an opportunity I have to expand my selling of really just about anything including some cards.

There is a local "Store" right down the road from me. I never went in until this weekend after a neighbor of mine finally convinced me to go and take a look around. There are over 200 booths which include actual booths, locked glass cases and bookshelves.

There is a lot of what appears to be just people cleaning out their homes with silverware, plates, china, cups, crystal, clothes, books, dvds, etc. My neighbor said he had a really good winter. He makes his own little bird type sculptures out of wood plus he like to be a "picker" and sell that stuff too.

He put it to me as a storage unit where you can sell what you have and you don't have to worry about it being in your apartment as this place has lots of security and cameras and people walking around there.
You don't have to be there which is a plus.

The basics are $50/month for a large glass case, plus you pay the credit card/debit card fees and they take 10% from your sales.
A booth is around $2.40/sq ft, but you will have to supply any tables or cases you need.

I have some stuff my wife's mother sent us that I just don't have the time to sell online (precious moments figurines - unless captainbohica takes them all from me) I have some star wars and x files items I was consigning for someone that I don't have the time to sell online, and I know I can find plenty around the apartment to add. I also feel that I could just bring out some low end or common cards and try to move them in there. I saw one guy selling cards, some pretty new, some old, and many just over priced (all AZ Cardinals and Diamondback cards priced 50000x real selling value)

I figure I can get those precious moments, the toys, random items, dvds, electronics, and even make something with the cards that are not for ebay or sportlots or comc, and recoup the $50 pretty easily (the place is open 7 days a week which helps and even after xmas looked busy)
The wifes mother will send us more stuff I we can show they sell, and she would eventually send other items like waterford items, and other figurines.

Looking to see if anyone else has one of these type of places and your experience with it. I mean the stuff does me no good just sitting in boxes. I just dont' want to waste $50+/month that I don't need to.

[cincycardshows.com]

Everyone I have talked to that has done this has a vastly different experience but I can tell you about mine. I went the glass display case route, not the booth. I think mine was $65 a month and 7% of sales or something like that so pretty much in line with what you are hearing.

I had fun with it at the beginning. Always fun to either go look or check out the website to see what you have sold. I had a case and my dad had a case. He enjoyed it more and he had better success than I did even though my prices were better. He stopped by almost daily to move things around and keep things fresh. I only went to add things occasionally.

If you have the time to keep up with it then you will enjoy it and it probably will succeed for you. I just didn't have the patience. In Arizona you may not see the difference that we do here but summer is almost a dead time though and you will see a lot of empty display cases as people move out. It starts to fill back up in the fall and most people see strong sales over the winter. Again may not apply to you but that's my experience. GOOD LUCK!

[Cactuspies]

Thanks for the info cincy. I put in the application w/some pictures yesterday. being in doors and having AC, it would actually be pretty busy in the summer since no one wants to be outside and from the sounds of it, this past winter went very well for the place. I can't say what is going on now in the "off months of shopping" .
The place has been there for like 20 years or something. I can't believe it took me almost 7 years to finally go in there. my wife's mom is alrealy planning for the future and we haven't even been approved or interviewed yet. I am walking distance away so it's easy to get there when I would need to. heck I almost asked my neighbor if he wanted to split his instead!
I'll update this later on or if anyone else wants to chime in.

[Niels50]

Interested to see how this goes. We have a Antique mall 2 story.

[Cactuspies]

Just got the call, that there is room for me rent a glass case. I'll be going in later today to fill out some paperwork and what not. Let the fun or waste of money begin

[aric88]

Interesting. Be sure to report back on how it goes.

[jefflasvegas]

A friend of mine rents space in several antiques stores. When he was short on inventory at one of the stores, I gave him some vintage cards to sell. I offered him 20% of my sales and he covers the rent. After a couple of years, it has worked out well and I help fill space at a few of the stores. It generates me a couple hundred dollars a month but just as importantly I've generated a lot of secondary sales when customers look for specific cards.

[Cactuspies]

Originally Posted by aric88

Interesting. Be sure to report back on how it goes.

Originally Posted by jefflasvegas

A friend of mine rents space in several antiques stores. When he was short on inventory at one of the stores, I gave him some vintage cards to sell. I offered him 20% of my sales and he covers the rent. After a couple of years, it has worked out well and I help fill space at a few of the stores. It generates me a couple hundred dollars a month but just as importantly I've generated a lot of secondary sales when customers look for specific cards.

So far after a couple of weeks, I have broke even for rent (before extra fees) but I have only sold 4 Star Wars related items. I don't have any cards in the case yet, I need to figure out what types of lots or sets I want to get in there (cubs, az cardinals, etc). I have about 12 precious moments figurines that my mother in-law sent over a while back, but the market on them is like beanie babies or bowman sterling once it hits ebay. - high buy, high "book value", low resale

she has many many other precious moments to send as wells as some crystal items and those humble figurines. so there is plenty to keep it filled, but the stuff I have needs to sell first.

[Imac7065]

I have done a few flea markets and I have a buddy who does one every sunday... if you have junk, toys, clothes, etc etc... well worth it (assuming you don't mind the cheapest people on earth lol)

If you are looking to sell anything over say.. $20? Probably not worth your time though. I've always had fun at flea markets... Found some nice morgan silver dollars, cheap DVD's, etc etc

[Cactuspies]

So no new sales, but they are running a big store wide sale this weekend (I put in for 20% off on my stuff (10% was the minimum they were doing) and then a larger sale and some other stuff coming up. I put in some cards (az cardinals and some brady, welker, aaron rodgers, larry fitz, ravens, kurt warner, peyton manning) and added an extra shelf (had 4, now 5) here are some pix of what I have and the set up of the glass cases. Hopefully I'll pull off some sales this weekend as the first check covered rent to the dollar.

Any advice on how to showcase the cards would be great. Most are lots (some from 14-50 cards) Instead of putting them in team bags, I put them in 9 page sheets so people could see all the cards, the sheets I have appear cheap and just fold over pretty easily, so I backed them w/card stock paper and used twist ties or tape in the top and bottom holes. I ended up having to lie them down flat and kind of fanned them out. You should be able to see them in the pictures below. some of the single cards I put in holders and placed in business card stands. and that seems to work and what some of the other dealers w/cards have.

[iam12fear]

I like the idea of team lots in pages and I have a suggestion. I would buy some of those .99 half inch three ring binders for them. Get some colors that match the teams you are selling. Or go crazy and get the binders with the pocket on the outside and put in cheap 8x10s of the player. All of these ideas would obviously raise costs, so you would have to raise your prices but i think it would be worth it. My experience with flea market buyers is presentation is everything. If it looks cool and expensive, it sells well.