Swap meet etiquette, would this piss you off??

This ^^ Exactly. I don't care that he resold it, he could have smashed it in front of me for all I care. The only reason it upset me was because he lied right to my face when it wasn't necessary.

See above please.

 

Yeah, that's pretty ignorant. It's not like you're taking them to China to copy them.

 

Everything I take to a swap meet is there because I don't need it. Some stuff I try to break even on. Some stuff I got a deal on so I try to make a few bucks. But I do not need the stuff so I don't care who buys it or what they do with it. Sometimes I'll take a low ball offer from a guy just looking for a deal but if the low baller is a dick, I'll give the part away rather than sell it to him.

 

I do think that this has to continue in order for swap meets to exsist. I buy some stuff just to resale but I don't sell at swap meets, sometimes here, sometimes other car sites, and a few time on Evil Bay. I don't lie to get good deals but I often have to buy a whole box of parts or bid on a huge lot of junk to get a few worth while items. Sure some of the stuff I keep, some stuff I sell, and some stuff I give to friend or another local that needs it. The way I see it is that if you want a 1931 whatchacallit and I have one it isn't a bad thing. Sure I might make 100% profit (very rare) but I might have also had to buy boxes and boxes of pure scrap to get that one part. With gas exspense, admission fees, pay pal fees, and time/effort I am sure I never make a profit but I do enjoy it and it keeps me out off the streets and out of the pool halls!

 

Langy - you need lessons from from me on how to speak American English so you can buy a few USA parts?!?! HA HA! Next time you come to my side of the pond, just take me tot he swapmeets with you adn just point and move you head - I'll do the talking!

Merry Christmas to you and your lovely wife and all the best for a great new year as well ....

 

Hey, I like your style - you've got to buy right in order to sell it right and make a buck or two for the new project. Sometimes you get the bear and sometimes the bear gets you - you just want more of the latter and not the former!

 

I agree. And over time, I have learned to have the attitude that everyone who buys at swap meets is likely buying to resell. In other words, it's not my responsibility to "help someone out" with their "new build."

 

I do 3-4 swap meets per year, I take stuff to SELL, i price it at what i would like to get, i don't over price so i don't take much less than asking price. M y take is if the person pays MY price i don"t care what he does with it, uses it ,gives it away or sells to someone else for double the money, He bought it , belongs to him, IT IS A SWAP MEET,,, Kinda like a Pawn Shop, do you think they care what you do with what you purchased from them?

 

I sell at swap meets and I price my stuff so I feel comfortable selling it. I always shop on setup night or early in the morning and at the end. I buy stuff to resell or for projects. The thing that makes it slimey is when people lie and say its for their dead dads car or some shit and then resell.

Im 100% OK with reselling parts that I just bought. If you sell it to me I own it but there should just be some manners involved which unfortunately like so many civilized things in this world are becoming increasingly rare.

 

These guys couldn't have been very smart, or they'd have been buying stuff off you and taking it back to their spot and marking it up. I like guys who are just dumping stuff to make space or get rid of it, I make a lot of money from them. Sometimes at the same meet, sometimes later on eBay.

Now you can whine about me making money on your stuff, but just what do you think I do with that money? A lot of it gets turned around on my own car. So that when I need something I can't find a guy giving away for 10 cents on the dollar, I can afford to buy it just the same.


I did have a guy give me a grille and pan, the pan's worth about $100 alone, I sold terrible that day and didn't even have the $50 he wanted for it. He just wanted to be sure I was going to use it on a car - turns out I do need it to match the fenders I got for it. That's about the one thing I wouldn't flip, it would be different if I'd bought it, but I promised the guy I'll use it on a car. And I can sell the pan I already had for the same money, so it doesn't make a difference dollar-wise.

 

Ha Ha! It could go like this, "Hi, my name's Tom. This here's my deaf mute third cousin from the sticks. He ain't too bright, but he thinks he would like to try making an old car like mine. Can you make me a deal on this part so he'll leave me alone when I'm out in the shop working on my car?"

 

Guys like that who are "Professional Swap Sellers" would make more money getting a job at McDonald's working for minimum wage...

And the McD's job would be more honorable too.

Sam

 

HEY---you,ve been to my booth at PIR havent you

 

I was setup at a swap meet years ago when a guy found my box of old Hurst 4 speed shifter parts, making moaning and grunting sounds complaining about missing this and that. S I just threw a $50 asking price for the lot which he eagerly paid, then he stood up started walking away and grinningly snorted, 'I have paid a hunnert for this stuff'!

To which I promptly replied, I would just given it to you for free if you asked.

I had one guy make a $20 offer for 'them old 348 chevy manifolds' laying on my tailgate. They were a set of the Z-11 type '961 and 962' manifolds. That was good for a chuckle.

 

I've got my rule. If a buyer gives me what I'm asking for the part, he is free to do whatever he wants with it. If he beats me down, and then resells it, he's basically a thief.

 

All right.....how the hell is he a thief if he makes you an offer and YOU ACCEPT IT? If he waits until you're not looking and picks up the part and runs off with it, he's a thief. If he says that he wants it for his car but then immediately resells it, he's a liar....but still not a thief. If he makes you an offer without making any promises as to what his intentions are with it, you accept it, and he resells it for a profit, he's a capitalist, which apparently, to some of you guys, is on the same level as Satan.

 

it seems nowdays most swap vendors include the storage and hauling fees in the price they're asking. the longer the item is stored and hauled the rise in price goes. even seen a craigslist ad where the guy posted he had 5000.00 in storage fees he'd spent on the car, and fully wanted to be compensated for it by the stupid price he was asking.

 

I think that there is an old country saying about the finishing position of the "good guy"!

 

To the original post: YES--you are right--whatever about capitalism or whatever. blah blah blah. The guy was a dick.

 

If I sell any of my stuff,I only wish to sell to someone that needs the part for a rod he is building for his self,and not a rod to sell,I'm funny that way,but hay there my parts,same if I do art work for someone.

 

Sorry, had to fix that.

 

I wont sell something unless I am comfortable with the price which means I better know what the general value of my part is ... if the buyer flips it for more money then good for him and shame on me for being a fuctard. "buy low/sell high" is old school economics.

 

I know guys who make a living at swap meets and get most of their stuff from other vendors during set up. I have sold stuff that ended up in another spot but I knew it going in. It's a little touchy tho.

 

If im accept your offer, its yours.i dont care what the fuck you do with it.if you want a really good deal see me as i load back up. Ill give you the stuff.cause if any of it was worth having i wouldnt be sell it. Hope you have a use for it cause i dont just more crap to take up space at home.but i did get a guy i didnt like once. I brought a set of aluminum sbc heads with me .warped and cracked bad. But the valves were still good 205s. So if you could use the valves you were gettin a deal. And i told were the heads were junk.even had asign out saying these heads are good for valves only heads are junk. Smart ass guy comes up starts runninig mouth . My wife hears him say that asshole dont know nothing about al. Heads. Im gonna take his ass on this one. He comes up asks me how much after my wife already told me what he had said. I say make me a offer he says 150. I think about it for about 5 miin.tell him ok. He takes the heads away. I had already told my wife id give them heads to the first person who wants them.found out later he was gunnin for me because i sold him junk heads.quess i knew alittle about al. Heads after all.i dont know what he thought about al heads but it wasnt right. Ran into him a few months later at a local parts store. He kept runnin that mouth of his in the store and followed me outside to my car. He is big and im crippled up from a bike wreck and walk with a cane which just so happens to have a blade inside of it and a 8ball handle, have you ever seen what a 8 ball handle can do to a forehead. It leaves a pretty blue knot.!!!looks like i won again.

 

Yup.

Love those ones. We had a yardsale a few months ago that started at 7am...did they show up then?

No. They showed up at 4am....

 

I've had the vultures follow me in before the sun comes up with their flashlights also. While I don't take stuff to get rich off of I do price it fairly, most of the time for exactly what I paid for it plus 20% so I have a built in barter room. I make it a habbit to stand firm on my prices untill at least for the first 3 hours but do tell people who wish to make offers to come back later in the day. For the earlybird resellers I do the same. Some will hover around and keep hammering on me with their lowball prices, to them I just tell them, I'm sorry I'm busy right now but if you come back later after you've made some money and can afford my price I will consider letting you buy it. Then I just ignore them. Usually pisses them off, but hey, I was polite about it. And since I don't generally have much left at the end of the day, I don't have a problem carrying it back home with me, which really pisses them off when they inevitably come back at the end of the day to try and "take it off my hands" you know to "try and help me out".
I had one guy "hawking" a part all day and making me lowball offers, by the end of the day he came over and agreed to pay my marked price when I was loading up and talking to the guy who had been selling next to me all day. As soon as the hawk made the offer the other seller I was talking to says "I'll give ya $ (20 over my asking) for that I didn't notice you had that and I need it for my ride!" I thought the hawker was going to have a stroke! He starts getting all loud and saying shit like "we had a deal" and "I already bought that". I calmly said well no money has changed hands yet so if you would like to make a counter offer I would be happy to listen. Even redder in the face now, he turned and walked away, hell he couldn't even speak at that point! Best part was after he was gone I asked my neighbor if he really wanted the part and he says "I'll take it cause I made you loose the sale but I've had that guy lowballing me all day and just wanted to piss him off!"
I gave the neighbor that part -- FREE! And worth every penny!

Chuck

 

if you want a fixed price go open a retail store.

swap meets are where buyers haggle for the price. a large part of swap meets are buyers flipping parts.
It took awhile to realize the crap I sold was for the most part was stuff I'd gotten free (or cheap) or parts I've up graded and will never need again (till the day after I sold them) so any cash I get is car money.
If someone can double their money thats cool too!

 

I will never forget the time I was standing at a swap spot where a guy had a trailer full of parts I was interested in....I am standing there having a discussion with the seller & some other guy walks up & starts rummaging through the parts,asking prices ,finger shining parts & holding shit up to the sun like he is looking for a straight 2X4 from the lumber pile at Home Depot.

While he is busy jackin' around with the parts on the trailer.... I am standing next to the seller & whenever this guy picked up something that I wanted & asked for a price , I would quietly tell the seller I would take it. The sellers prices were fair & I bought around 10 pieces & handed the seller his $$$ while this other guy rifled through the parts.

Me & the seller stood there smokin' cigars & watched this guy dig through the parts for 20 minutes & set the parts aside that he wanted... After he piled everything up he wanted...he then walked up to the seller & started to grind him down on all the prices.

The seller told him that everything in his pile was already sold.
Dude was pissed.

 

Happened to me all summer. Dont care. Got what I wanted out of em dont really care what the buyer did with em.