I took a bunch of stuff that was just taking up room to a Drive-In Movie Swap Meet one Saturday. I'd priced everything really cheap; stuff like a radar detector, custom steering wheel, a few old gauges, etc. I sold all of it, and even sold the card table I'd set up on! I know some of the stuff went to other vendors, who just put it back up for sale; some went to guys wanting it for their own needs. My wife did't believe I'd sold "all that junk". Went to the Puyallup, Wa. swap one year, and was looking at an old transmission adapter. The guy selling it said, "I'll bet you don't have a clue what's that's for" (he was older, I was younger); told him, "it's to bolt a slant pan Hydro up against a SBC", and was a B & M unit. He just nodded knowingly. I did't have the asking price, did't think he would sell it, and left him my name and phone number. He called the next day, and offered it to me for half the swap meet price, and even met me at a freeway rest stop close to my home to do the deal. I did the same sort of deal on a Hydro Stick trans the same weekend. At the time, no one was buying the "old" stuff; then the nostalgia craze caught on. A few years later I GAVE all my Hydro stuff away; later found out the guy I gave it to sold it all to Tom Willford (RIP), who would't tell me what he paid for it. I later on gave another Hydro and shifter I had come into to Tom. Nowadays, the new stuff I don't use gets donated as door prizes for the end of the season banquet for Bremerton Raceway. Butch/56sedandelivery.
Actually, you have that completely backwards. It's the attitide that profit is somehow bad and should be punished that's killing the country. The idea that it's screwing someone if they pay a price they're happy with, or they sell for a price they're happy with and you sell for more later, is utterly asinine. I don't care what people do with the stuff once it leaves my booth, as long as I get paid for it. And I don't go to a swap and set up for my health; if I'm not making money selling there, I don't go back. That money I make goes into my project, or repairs my beater driver, or most often it buys a bunch more stuff I can re-sell that may otherwise have gone right to the scrapyard and nobody gets it. I pulled 40 cars out of one junkyard a few years ago, some of them loaded on the trailer by the forks of the scrap guys, and for quite a while no one else was buying a damn thing at any price. Which, I guess if that's what you want, I could scrap some of this stuff too, because they're always buying, and then you don't have to cry that I screwed somebody by selling it to them. Then you'll have to find some other kind of thread to troll, I guess.
I completely agree with Mr NewYorker above. I stopped bothering to haul my stuff to local swap meets where nothing sells at all any more unless it's damn near given away. I have three sheds heaped with stuff that nobody will get and i'll never use. I can't bear to scrap perfectly good parts. ------------------------------ Like the Model T taillight story... I shared a booth with a friend of mine who had a 327 Chevy iron intake with some rare factory 4 barrel. He's a Ford guy and somehow ended up with it. Had it for $50 since the carb was in mint shape. One guy walks up to our booth and offers $20, says he only needs the carb and not the intake it's bolted to. Steve says "No, make it $30 for both" and the guy walks away. He comes back twice more offering $20 again and same answer. Finally near the end of the day the guy comes back again, holding a twenty in his hand. Steve says nothing, picks the intake over his head and slams it down on the ground carb first smashing it flat. The guy is almost crying saying "Do you know how much that carb was worth?" Steve says "Apparently only twenty bucks".
Years ago we headed out late for Hershey and got there about 2am.Drove past the swap and found a parking spot just past the factory and before town.Backed the van up enough to get off road and we were set.Cool,get a couple hours sleep and hit the grounds.About 30 minutes later as we were almost asleep, the van starts to shack a little and it starts to increase.A rumbling sound getting loader.I say to my friend.Ya know sounds like a train coming and we both laugh.Within a couple secs a freight train can be seen zipping by the back window about 15ft behind us.In the fog we had backed up and could not see the rails that were on top of the enbankment.Every 20 minutes this kept up for about two hours.Never parked there again!!!
Have been in nearly every one of these situations. Swap meets are a hoot. Go to enjoy.Just my side of it. When is the best time to go to Webster Fl?
Yeah, I know....how dare I try to make a profit. Only banks and oil companies should be allowed to do that!
It's a swap meet... buyers are supposed to offer less. Sellers should understand that. Your response was a good one. Your second thought was not.
I almost always overprice stuff because that's part of the game. You have to price it where a guy can still think he's getting a deal, but you get what you want. Even then I get those lowballers, too. Guy wanted to give me $50 on a Trans-Am tilt column at one show. Now I have been carrying it for a while but the year before I overheard a guy say he wished he'd waited because he paid $400 for his. I was asking half that. Wasn't interested in the Camaro one I had, either, even though they're the same thing - that one, $75 probably would have taken. Guy's dad came back and tried to offer that for the Trans-Am one. Yeah, thanks, but no. The other goofy thing is when I put out a $1 tarp of crap I just want to get rid of but don't want to throw away. One show this kid picked up an old Ford radio like four times through the day and never bought it. It's a freaking dollar - you can get that back out of it in entertainment throwing it in the air and shooting at it.
Here's another one for the "Capitalism is bad" club: I was sitting at my space at Carlisle a few years ago, watching some guy turn an intake manifold I was selling over and over. Here's how it went: "How much for this?' "$175.00." "Jesus Christ! There's one over on the other side of the field for $40.00!". "No, there isn't." "How do you know?" "Because this is it....I bought it this morning." He stomped away mad and, before the week was over, I sold it for $160.00. I guess if he was too cheap to pay $40.00 for it when it was sitting in front of his face......
I always used to drive around the All Chrysler Nationals at Carlisle on Sunday and stop and pick up stuff at the trash cans the swap meet vendors didnt want to take home. I scored a nice rust free 71 Challenger R/T Hood which I sold for 100 bucks, a complete set of 67 dodge dart gt 2 door door panels (front and rear) with zero damage...sold on ebay a week later for 225 bucks, a set of Cal Custom finned small block valve covers...ended up on my dart. We would drive around for hours just picking up crap and ended up making quite a bit of money from it. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Not a swap meet, but pretty much the same deal... Have a local wrecking yard that used to have a bunch of late 40s/50s/60s stuff in it, some quite hard to find but this yard was off the beaten path and only open irregularly. So some guy comes in and wants to know if he has any '57 Chevys, the guy says yeah there's a few out there. So the customer goes out in the yard and pulls a complete, straight set of BelAir stainless off a 2-dr and brings it back to the office. 'How much?' he asks? The owner looks it over and says '300 bucks'. Pretty fair price I thought, the trim only needed a buffing to look new. The customer offers $100. The owner says 'Nope, 300'. So the customer starts wheedling his price up, but each time the owners says '300 bucks'. The guy gets to $200, gets the same response, and then says 'Are you trying to rob me?!' The owner doesn't say a word, but picks up the trim, bundles it together, then bends every piece over his knee. Looks up, says 'What's it worth now? GET OUT and don't come back'.... The owner scrapped every vintage car within 2 weeks, said he was tired of dealing with these idiots....
There's a fine line between lowballing/making a low offer, and trying to weasel someone. I once made the mistake of starting too low, and trying to bump up in small increments. Seller ended up selling it to someone else next to me at less than one of my offers. I learned after that, that there is a limit to sellers patience, and what happens when you push it too far. If I want it bad enough, I pay the asking price. Posted via telegraph.
I go to the Kyana swap meet in Louisville every year. Several years ago they moved it from the West Pavilion to the main building. I did not know that and when I opened the door to my beloved swap meet, I saw a building filled with cows! True story...no bull!
One of the last times dad and I went to the Watsonville Swapmeet we ran across a straight and solid light blue 1962 Ford Sunliner Convertible. It was a clean driver that needed some work, but it could have been enjoyed as-is. The sign read "$650.00". I told dad that was a cheap price, and that I wish I had brought more money! Just then, a guy walked up and took the sign off the car. He walked just past us, and began explaining that was the easiest $300.00 he had ever made! He then told his friend that the car drove into the fairgrounds with a "$350.00" price on it. He had bought it as soon as it was parked, he flipped the sign over and wrote his higher price onto it, and never even moved the car!!! I walked away shaking my head, realizing I could have had a cool convertible if I had arrived earlier! Later in the day, as we were leaving, we found that car still parked in the same spot... with a sign that read "$1,000.00" on it!!!
Back in the early-1990's I ran across a newspaper ad that stated a wrecking yard in the central valley (I think it was Fiez Auto Recycling?) had something like ten acres of old cars that were headed to the crusher. The ad said that, due to some family tragedy, the land was to be cleared and sold! I cut out that ad, and convinced my dad to take a run out to that yard the following weekend. Sure enough, ten acres of cars from 1937 through the late 1950's! Dad grabbed some trim parts for his 1953 Mercury Monterey, I grabbed some small items off the 1946-48 Ford and Mercury coupes. When we went into the office to pay for our prizes, I asked the owner how much longer before the cars would be crushed. He laughed and told us that once a year, when business slowed down, he'd run that ad. Usually he'd experience a few months of guys rushing to hoard parts, and beat the crusher. As we exited the yard, a car carrier arrived with two 1950 Ford Coupes the yard owner had just bought. A few years later, we happened to be in the valley, helping my Grandmother with a moving sale. My street rodder cousins stopped by to see what was for sale. We told them about the ten acres of old cars nearby, so we all jumped into one car and raced to that yard... everything had been crushed!!! The yard had been converted to late model vehicles. The new owner claimed that a close relative of the previous owner (possibly his wife, who had helped him in the office) had recently died so he became depressed, crushed the cars, and sold the business!!! A sad story all the way around... Sometimes I almost feel guilty when I buy and hoard parts that I don't really need... but you never know when those parts might be gone!
Sadly it has been several years since I have been to a large swap meet. For about 15 years my dad, cousins, and I made an annual trek to the January Turlock Swap Meet. I got a kick out of seeing the same guys set up in the same swap space every year selling the same parts! My memory is almost photographic, so after a few years of digging through their boxes of parts, I had a lot of them memorized. It got to the point that, if I someone I knew needed a part, I could almost tell them where to find it at Turlock! In fact, when I bought my 1940 Ford Tudor, it was missing the "I" shaped interior rear window trim piece that runs down the center. I remembered seeing two or three of them in boxes of stuff at Turlock. That following January, I found and bought all three of them for no more than $3.00 each. The best of the three wound up painted and installed into my car.
I have like 10,000 wheel covers and hubcaps so when I set up at a swap meet that is the main thing I take. One early Sat morning this guy spys a 53 Stude wheel cover, nice cap but not mint. He says how much for this old hubcap, I just want it for a trailor. I tell him $10.00, he throws it down and says he will give me $2.00, I say no way and listen to him tell me he can get them anywhere for a buck or two and walks off. A couple hours later he comes back like he has never been there before and goes thur the same dialog, this time I tell him $15.00, he throws it down again and tells me I am nuts. Three more times that day he comes back and I jack the price up $5.00 each time. He comes back Sunday morning and we start the same shit all over again, he even has his buddie try while he waits around the corner. I am starting to pack up in the afternoon and see him coming so I grab the wheel cover, throw t on the concrete and jump on it about 10 times and put it back where it was. He comes up and picks it up and says WHAT IN THE HELL DID YOU DO TO MY HUBCAP? I said HEY ASSHOLE, YOU WANTED A 2$ HUBCAP, THERE IT IS!!!
With Buckeye above... had a set -4- early Vette caps with the spinner and plastic center....most were dent free with degreeing? color on the plastic center - this Vette guy keeps coming by everyday - $45 is the price....shit this was maybe 1994 or so....everytime he says "well there kinda beat up I'll give you $20....nonono... last day I see hm coming - my big freind Luke is up front - I tell him it's still $45 bucks.... the guy picks one up - looks at big Luke - says they aren't that nice and drops it on top of the others.... Luke tells the story of a voice from somewhere saying ------ "well if ass-holes would keep from the picking the damn things up"...they'd be perfect....
Several years ago in Moultrie, I had five 35 ford wheels that were very nice. I priced them on a sign at $50.00 each or best offer over $300.00 (do the math). This guy that looked like a engineer came by several times and looked at them. He said he was building a rat rod. He measured and looked at every detail. He had two young kids with him that looked bored, but they were very well behaved. Finally after a while the guy returned and said" will you take three hundred and not back out.". I rubbed my chin and said OK. One kid started pulling on his sleeve. The guy told him to be quite. As they walked down the isle with with the wheels you could see the kid holding up his fingers and counting. The guy stopped and then looked back at me. I just shrugged my shoulders.
In 1987 at the Hot August nights swat meet in Reno, I had a nice F1 tail gate priced at $25.00. It had three small screw holes for the license plate. But the paint was still good. No dents. It was laying on the ground. This guy walks up and looked at it a while. Then he takes his foot and flips it over on the ground. Then he said, "you must have this priced wrong. It isn't worth 25 dollars." I said you are right and went over and added a 1 in front of the 25. He spent the rest of the day trying to buy it. I just told him it was sold and buyer would pick up later. His friends laughed and told me he was a asshole and that tail gate was the only thing he needed to finish his truck.
Years ago at a car show /swap meet bought sbc sanderson t bucket headers and a Walker rad for $100, sold next day for $275. At Carlisle, a friend had a 48 merc lower grill for sale with price marked on it. Guy offers $100. My friend passes him the grill after removing the $20 price tag. Bought a nice model hood at a yard sale for $100, when loading in my truck realized it was a new never install repop with only surface rust. Same yard sale my son got a box that he had thrown some part in. Owner said $20. Box had rebuild Model A shocks that he sold for $500
One thing for sure is that I've missed out on a lot of good stuff at swap meets over the years but the majority of them are large purchases and not what I'm looking for. I remember one year at the Petit Jean swap coming across a "barn fresh" '58 Ford retractable hardtop sitting on a trailer with a $5k price tag on it. The car was pretty damn solid, complete, and had a few options. I walked past it off and on throughout the day but never saw anyone around it. Towards the end of the day as I was heading to my car I saw a gentleman backing his truck up to the trailer so I asked if he was the owner and he replied "I am now." I said "well it looks like a damn good project for the money." To which he replied "Hell yeah. I been walking around all day looking for the owner to see what kind of a deal we could make and after I found him he told me that the asking price included the trailer the car was sitting on! I just paid him his asking price!" The trailer was a typical 18-20ft car hauler, solid floor, winch on the front...prolly $3500 new.
At Hershey this year setup,I had for sale a real piece of aviation folk art.This item sat on the desk of a former Bell Areospace guy from Niagara Falls.Wood base with the name Ruth engraved. On top was a pivoting picture frame with this guys wifes picture. The pivots on each side are gun sites on stands.Iam sure this lady is long gone.The item was bought at his estate sale. Just when I thought someone was going to buy it,some smart ass women makes a comment behind that person..."Ive seen that picture before on a episode of Seinfeld". And them walks away smiling.What a jackass. The person thinking of buying thought for about 10 secs and then walked away too.
got to love the never ending swap meet threads. I just have to wonder what is wrong with people who ruin a good part because they don't like the guy trying to buy it. that would have to be in the top 5 stupid things to do at a swap meet. wouldn't it be easier to buy all your buddies "I'm with stupid >>>" T shirts?
I agree. Its funny to talk about but stupid to destroy a part. Some guys get mad if you make an offer but thats part of the swap meet experience
The Jalopy Journal
