the37kid has it right. On ebay I used to sell everything I listed. This included stuff I was thinking of throwing away. Not anymore. Recently I listed several NOS 56 and 62 Chevy items with no bidders. I had to keep re-listing the items over and over again until they finally sold.
I love screwing with low ball people, I had one guy who wanted to buy my Offy 2X4 intake and had the thing priced to sell and this ass offered dirt for it. The guy said he would give me $75 for it so I told him if a guy would give 75 he certainly would pay 80 he said ok, then I moved it up to 100 and the guy got pissed and walked away and I said thanks for stopping by. We have one swap here every fall $5 to swap or $5 to shop. There are some here in MN. that are spendy too and I do not go to them. The problem I have with swap meets now a day is all the junk they haul there that has nothing to do with cars. Those people should go to a flea markets and not a swap meet. My line to swapers when I go to look is, do you want to sell it or take it home, sometimes it works sometimes it does not. Last fall I wanted this air gap intake for a BB Chevy and could not make the deal, but then the guy said if I bought the Team G intake with it I could have them both for $200, sold I told him. I sold the Team G 2 months later for $200 so I got a free intake that was new.
Ripoff, huh? So a promoter rents a facility,in advance, with cash out of his pocket, hoping to host an event. He prints flyers, drives to other events and hands them out, mails out more flyers, buys insurance to cover the event ( in case some moron tears up something or some doofus trips and falls), buys air time on the radio and /or TV, and newspapers and magazines. He answers the phone at all hours, fielding stupid questions. Days before the show he measures and marks all those 10x10 spaces, either by himself or with the help of somebody he pays to help him. He arranges for security, gets permits from the city and/or state, talks with the local police about traffic control. He hires people to direct parking, sell tickets, or whatever to make the event run smooth. That's just hitting the high spots, the basics.....and all that stuff costs MONEY. And what happens if the weather sucks and nobody comes? He's still out all the money spent. It gripes my ass when somebody doesn't like the price and yell "RIPOFF!"...hey, if you don't like the price--- vote with your wallet and stay home. They'll get the message. Or even better--do your OWN event and see how 'easy' it is. I have, and it ain't.
Here's a tip for buyers and sellers at swap meets. Carry business card or a small notebook. If either makes an offer the other isn't ready to accept, exchange a card with item, offering/asking price and a cell phone number, saying "By the end of the show, maybe." As a buyer, I've gotten some great deals, especially if the weather turns bad. As a seller, more than half the time, the prospective buyer says he's changed his mind, bought another one, is out of money, but enough times to be worth the dial, I don't have to load it. It's also one last chance to meet in the middle on price. jack vines
Interesting thread. I'll add my perspectives later, at my desk top. I just finished producing huge 3-day swap meet.
" The problem I have with swap meets now a day is all the junk they haul there that has nothing to do with cars. Those people should go to a flea markets and not a swap meet. " Ding, ding, ding!!!!! WE HAVE A WINNER! POS lawn mowers, Chinese tools coming out your ass, SOCKS!, yes I said socks for cryin' out loud.... Then you have the jack-wads that drive a mini bike or golf cart through the walk ways. I don't care if it's free or $50 - where are the swap police when you need them?
Great thread. As Hot Rod Primer and Mac said, I put on the NE Georgia Swap Meet at the Atlanta Dragway once a month. Lump's input will be very interesting too, as he puts on a hell of a big show each year, and I always enjoy seeing what he has to say on the topic. For those who want to bitch about "promoters wallets getting fat," let me ask you something: Do you whiners go to work and tell your boss "Hey Bossman--I didn't clock in today, but don't you worry about it; I'm gonna put in my 8 hours, but don't you worry about paying me. I'll do it for free." I wrote a bunch more here, but it sounded too much like a soap box. I try to keep prices low in an effort to grow the event. I also have, at this point, an unlimited amount of space, and relatively small overhead. My overhead increased substantially for The Gear Jam, and my prices reflected that. For the NE Georgia Swap Meet, I can make it work for $20 a space, all the space you want... and I still get guys bitching about that, or trying to share spaces. Spectator entry is only $5... and I still get guys bitching that's too expensive. It's a business, like any other--the boss isn't running a charity, and the workers expect to get paid. "Greed" has nothing to do with it, any more than claiming ANYBODY working at a job is greedy because, in your uneducated opinion, they don't need to make that much money. -Brad
I have no problem if the promoters make money, in fact I hope they do, but I quit selling at swaps a few years back because it just wasnt worth the effort vs money made. Nothing sucks more than paying an entrance fee/space fee, loading up, nickle and dime sales, HOPE to just break even. I can pick out a few parts and pitch them in the trash for much less effort if all I want to do is clear shelf space and not make a dime.
Back in the day we paid $1000 a lot for 5 lots just to get good lots at Spring Carlisle plus lot rent that I think was around $80 or $90, we thought it was an investment that we could sell the lots later. Carlisle started to charge $500 per lot transfer, that ended the lot selling. I let my spring lots go, now you can call before the show and usually get a lot or two for regular lot rent and keep them year after year, there was a time you waited on a waiting list or you bought lots from a retiring vendor. Next you will have the tax hawks lurkin and that will kill it all.
Thank you! Rationality and Reason. Honest to God, we've got whiners on both sides in this thread. Whining about the lowballers and whining about about the "greedy bastards". I'm not sure which is worse. Apparently some folks have a difficult time understanding the free market system. It's simple, if the price is to high, don't buy it. If enough people don't buy it, the price will come down. If the offer's too low, don't sell it. If no one buys it at your price then you can either sit on it, or lower the price to sell it. It's BEAUTIFUL man! It works perfectly and it's organic!! I'm sometimes shocked by what people think their stuff is worth (including swap spaces), but it's their stuff and I don't have to buy it. FREEDOM BABY! People who call other people greedy leave me with the impression that they think they are entitled to something.
I attend a few swapmeets where the spots are $90 apeice and I need 4 spaces I am still grinding out a living but its gettin tuffer all the time, heading south really soon I hope GA and FL is better but $5 for a friggin hot dog! I think I should have been a food vender.
The only issue i have is the sellers going around and getting all the bargains before they open the gates to the public.It's no wonder attendance has dropped and they all shop on ebay!
I know we're far from your area, but our show/swap, the Scrap Drive in Illinois, sells swap spaces for $10 bucks for all the room you need,...and we still make money! ...those guys won't stay in business long at those prices.
Its funny how we can all be part of the same hobby, and yet have such completely different perspectives on things <O If you are an occasional casual vendor at local swap meets, just cleaning out spare parts from your garage, you may not be able to generate much in total sales. If that is the case, then your costs can seem to mount up pretty quickly. The cost of fuel, overnight stay, meals away from home, new plastic tubs to haul stuff in, coolers full of ice and drinks, etc, adds up. So if you get there and find spaces are $50 to $80 each, you might get the idea that the promoter is trying to rip people off. Of course, thats just the way you see it from your perspective. <O If you are a professional swap meet vendor with several employees in large rigs loaded with thousands of dollars worth of inventory, your event costs are HUGE. And you need heavy sales results just to break even. To you, the price of vendor spaces is an insignificant percentage of your overall costs. Indeed, pros often dont care what vendor space prices are, because the total cost of hauling their business operation to a long-distance swap meet is so very high that a couple hundred bucks for several spaces is just a drop in their bucket. Instead, pros want the promoter to spend a bundle on advertising and promotion, to bring in large crowds of potential spectators. And if this kind of advertising means that space prices have to go up by a few bucks, thats fine. As long as big crowds come through that gate! <O <O If you are a promoter trying to produce a swap meet at a county fairgrounds or similar facility, you are probably shocked at the cost of renting the place. (I pay $23,000 for 3 day event.) Then when you find out what insurance costs today, plus security, traffic control, golf carts, radios, event staff members, set-up crew, clean-up crew, layout of spaces, map production, office staff, trash removal, table rentals, chair rentals, PA system rental, staff training, signage, TV advertising, radio advertising, newspaper advertising, internet advertising, car magazine advertising, billboard advertising, printed flyers, and the cost of traveling to a zillion cruise-ins and other swap meets to distribute flyers and recruit exhibitors you wonder if you have any chance at all at breaking even. Add to that the uncertainty of the weather. If its bad, you may take in just 10% of your projected attendance at the gate. And in that case, vendors will be pounding at your office demanding refunds. Car-sellers will stay home, and you find yourself wondering if you can avoid bankruptcy. <O I have SO much more to say about perspectives at swap meets. More posts later, as time allows <O
That does seem like alot of money though for one day. The BIG 3 out here in San Diego is $60 for a 15x30 space for 3 days, enough space for 2 cars and a bunch of junk. TP
More about various "perspectives" on swap meets... If you are a casual rodder who is shopping for some parts for a project that you MIGHT work on this upcoming winter, you may be trying to find just the right parts at bargain prices. And, if youve been in the hobby for a lot of years, you may remember when you could buy a whole flathead Ford engine in running condition for $150, and it seems outrageous when greedy people are asking a whole lot more for just a pair of finned aluminum heads today. Yet if you are a rodder who builds top shelf cars who knows it is nearly impossible to find really rare items in near-perfect condition, you are used to paying heavy prices for the parts you need. So, when you take some of your own spare parts to a local swap meet, you want to get the type of money out of these parts that you probably paid for them. Then when shoppers balk at your prices, you may tend to think of them as, dreamers who hope to steal your parts for nothing, or as Looky-Lous who arent really serious about buying anything. They, on the other hand, will consider you to be, "greedy!" <O If you are a bargain hunter, who likes to buy underpriced automotive goodies and flip them on eBay, then you may not need ANY parts for a car youre just searching for near-perfect items which are easy to resell, at prices that leave you some room. So for example, if a very-rare NOS pair of ball joints for a 1957 Buick are on a vendors table, you would LOVE to buy them, even though you dont have a Buick. You know they are very expensive, since only GM ever manufactured ball joints for this car. But if the seller also knows this, he will want big bucks. So the never-ending struggle ensues, with the shopper trying every trick he can think of to talk the seller down to a lower price. Why? Because he cannot possibly make a buck on them unless he gets them at a discount. But if the seller knows how rare they are, he is determined not to let them go too cheaply. Finally if the shopper finally gives up and walks away, he will tell you that the seller is out of his mind, and, No way Im paying THAT for those ball joints. But the sellers viewpoint is more like, He wasnt really a serious buyer, and doesnt know what theyre worth. Then they both will get on a web forum and complain about each other.
POS lawn mowers, Chinese tools coming out your ass, SOCKS!, yes I said socks for cryin' out loud.... Then you have the jack-wads that drive a mini bike or golf cart through the walk ways. I don't care if it's free or $50 - where are the swap police when you need them?[/QUOTE] Try Carlisle, where you've got lazy fucks driving up and down the rows in 1 ton crew cab dualies, looking at parts through tinted side glass. Now, on the subject of socks......I can't bitch about that, owing to the time I went to Carlisle for the week and forgot to pack any socks.
ooooh yeah, I know you get it We were doing a 3 day at a facility with $12k rent, and the place sold. The new owner had to honor our contract made the previous year with the old owners, but advised us rent would double for the next year---then he tacked on $500 bathroom supplies and cleaning fee, $10 per trash can emptying fee, and $1000 dumpster tipping fee....and HE controlled concessions(which generated 99% of the trash). ...yeah, our wallets were gettin' fat like that
Oh yeah, I forgot about the porta-jon rentals, and the 24-hour crew I pay for restroom maintenance, and the supplies they use, and their golf cart, and....
The local meets are $30/$40 12x24 for 3 days free parking and admission. food prices are high but thats everywhere. my main swapmeet bitch is the guy with 10 starters, 26 wheels, 9 sets of headers, 14 intakes, and 12 boxes full of shit with not a damn price tag or what it fits on anything...how hard is a friggin piece of tape with 56 pont. $45
Around here I can pay as little as $10 for a generous one-day spot, except for one show. The Syracuse Nationals - it used to be $50 for one parking-lot sized space, and I'd buy two to get me roughly 18x18. At $33 per day for three days it wasn't a bad buy in. This year the spots went up not 10% - not 20% - but a full 50% to $75. My sales haven't gone up, I sell about the same at this show every year. So it amounts to $50 more out of my wallet if I buy the same spaces, for a show I have to pay in advance to get into and my sales are going to depend greatly on the weather. Thinking I may buy only one, or not do it at all. I don't get rich doing these things. Sundays there you're lucky to sell $50 for your time to sit there for half a day or so. Now if their spots were the same size as everyone else, I wouldn't care if it was $75, because one spot would be enough, but because the spots are essentially following the painted lines on a parking lot, my pop-up tent doesn't even fit on one spot, it's too wide by about a foot.
Little swap meets, with 100 vendors or fewer, are completely different animals than larger events. Many of the smaller events are run by clubs, and thus have no labor costs, little or no advertising other than printed flyers, and modest attendance. I used to produce an event like that for our local chapter of the AACA, and it was a nice, fun day. But bigger events come with bigger costs, HUGE management issues, and must generate a lot of income in order to survive. We have found that it takes a heavy investment in advertising to draw the kind of crowds we must have to attract professional vendors, while trying to keep down costs for the typical casual guy who is just cleaning out a garage (these guys are a huge attraction for regular vendors, who scour these booths for bargains to resell at the same event). Our event uses nearly all of a 126 acre fairgrounds, and it is a long, difficult job to get all those spaces laid out and get the site ready to handle the crowds. It's hard to photo our show cars, due to the long angular layout of that field. But we are primarily a swap meet, and we only get about 300 - 400 cars on Saturday anyway. We are a swap meet, primarily, and frankly the swap meet field is quite ENOUGH to handle for us. Trying to keep aisles open enough for all the pedestrian traffic, golf carts, etc, requires 20 ft wide aisles. And trying to keep vendors from blocking them up with their buddies' pickup trucks is a full-time job for 2 or more people, in my experience. We've worked really hard to attract bigger vendors from across the country. They need big crowds to prosper at a swap meet, which means we must buy LOTS of advertising, prepare LOTS of vendor spaces, and hire lots of deputies to direct large masses of traffic quickly off of the freeway nearby. Like Danchuk, from southern California: The Right Stuff Detailing manufactures fuel and brake lines, and disc brake conversion kits, etc. They have now expanded into two separate locations at our spring and fall events, apparently because they simply get overwhelmed at their original booth. But enough about my swap meet, for now anyway. The point is, these events can be enormously expensive to produce, and they are very risky business activities, for many reasons. We all have different PERSPECTIVES on swap meets. Try walking a mile in the other guy's shoe, before attacking. There are always two sides to every story.
You might want to delete the Bumper Boyz semi photo..... http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=544497&highlight=bumper+boyz
I understand it takes a bunch of money to put one on but its getting too expensive for those who just want to get rid of parts that are not needed,those are the vendors where I usually find the parts I need.
I don't know man. I think, in general, the BB are disliked and distrusted here on the HAMB, but your thread reference is 3 years old. And, while their stuff may be crap, that big old semi is at every meet I go to paying their fees and supporting the show. It must be worth their while, and if it keeps the show going fine with me. Otherwise, I'm good with Mr Scheib's comments.
Syracuse Nats swap meet is almost an afterthought, tacked on at the rear of the grounds in some parking lot space along with the car corral. That's what gets me most about the price increase. Their grounds rental and costs are the same with it or without it. I could go all out and set myself up big and fancy with a big tent and trailer and use six spots - but I'm going to sell the same amount of stuff off two. There's no reason to go all out.
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