Are swap meets getting really popular again?

Went to a nearby swap meet this morning that I haven't been to for a couple of years .It always seemed to grow slightly bigger every year .This year it was heaps bigger and really crowded.Is this happening everywhere?

 

imho, ebay did some damage to swap meets. nowadays tho, what with the all the ebay fees and cost of shipping...

 

Everybody is watching all those TV shows.. Storage Wars , Auction Hunters ect. So now they see how to buy the stuff. The next step is to try to sell the stuff. Way easier to buy it then sell it. All part of the learning curve.

 

I think everyone is getting tired of being burned by mail.

 

I hope they will start to get larger around here.

 

I have noticed the same around here also... Show cars are dieing down though...

 

The all Ford car show is coming up on Sunday August 12th at the Ford World Headquarters parking lot... Last year, they had around 750 cars and a huge swap meet.. It cost 5 bucks per person to get in as a spectator and well worth it! I took around 500 pics with my cell phone before the battery went dead...

 

Personally, I've always prefered swap meets over online auctions. There just something great about being able to look at & fondle parts before buying...........or am I thinking about my dating years ?????

 

i agree, they are getting bigger..but if i want to buy s-10 parts, i can go to a salvage yard...i believe the good ole days are past..i see the swap meets getting bigger in attendance, but quality of product is way down...waaay down..and ebay killed that...and, if ive heard it onece ive heard it a thousand times.."on ebay it brought this"

and its a cheap outing..you can go to a big swapmeet, spend a few bucks to get in and spend the whole day drowning in car culture...when moneys tight...swap meets fill the bill

 

Nowadays I would rather go to a swap meet than a car show. I guess because of the chance of finding something that you can use in your build....

 

I prefer swapmeets but if the online auction site was not there I would still be hunting for some parts,around here the good old parts are just about gone and replaced with latemodel truck and camaro/mustang parts.

 

With the economy as bad as it is, I imagine folks wanting to sell stuff would go to the swap meets to do it. I sure see a lot more half started projects for sale than I used to. Its a buyers market, that's for sure.

 

They might be growing in other places but NSRA South in Knoxville was way down this year. I went through in about 30 minutes or so. Even the new parts Vendors were down. The Frog Follies always have a great swap meet which is where I spend most of the show.

48 Poncho

 

I am the President of a car club that has had a yearly swap meet for the last 40 years. The last two years we have sold out all of our spaces. I attribute this to several factors. 1. Economy - people are cleaning out garages to make an extra buck, part of the reason for more less interesting pieces. 2. Some of the older hoarders are dying off, and some of their stashes are getting dispersed. 3. People really are sick of feebay, and scammers. We also have an antique car auction with our event. This year we actually had some very desirable cars, that were realistically priced, and they sold.

 

The local swapmeet that usually is full of vendors was down this year but there was a lot of empty spaces this year. They put in a rule that you had to keep your stuff in your space until they closed this year and a lot of the usual sellers didn't show up as they usually are the ones who pack up and leave about 1pm.

There was also a big car and parts auction going on in town at the same time but I don't know if that had an effect. It may have helped with the spectator gate early in the morning at the swap meet though.

I think someone nailed it earlier when he said that guys are wanting to look at, touch and feel the parts before they buy them again.

I was just thinking that when I started going to swap meets a 32 Ford was 40 years old and my 48 pickup was 24 years old and both were "old" vehicles at the time. Now a 72 model is 40 years old and and 88 Mustang is 24 years old. Our Old car stuff still comes from the same year models it always did as in pre 1964 but their "old car stuff" is 20, 30 or 40 years old and still a lot older than a lot of the people looking for it.

 

Yep i agree it must be the combo of salvage yards having less early stuff,getting burnt by ebay . the fact that it's still easier to find a cheap part that is popular on the net .Saw a lot of crew that I don't catch up with any more because just to busy these days. the economy plays a big part too, excess parts especially early stuff is like having cash laying around BRING IT ON I SAY ALL HILE THE SWAP MEET

 

? ? ?

Nats South was down, as was Charlotte AutoFair. Even the small, local events are down in my area. All have been in a decline for the past 2 or 3 years.

A few years ago, I started seeing more CRAP items @ Charlotte. Cases of old spray paint, China tools and the like. The Mustang, Camaro, Chevelle parts vendors have also multiplied.

I have 5 spaces @ Charlotte Spring AutoFair.
They are on the pavement ... in turn two. Had spaces since 1977.



I now only use one of them. I rent the others out.
I did not take the first item to AutoFair to sell.
I just drove in ... looked around and socialized.

Spring Charlotte AutoFair is just a social event now !!

 

By the way I did find some parts i needed for about 1/5 the price of online and thats not including postage and fees also in condition that i want and i can fit it tomorrow .plus a few small things that i only realised i needed when i actually saw them ,and a few small parts from a vendor which again i can use immediately My wife had fun getting stuff for her business as well.Win win situation all round got my passion back ,bring on the next one .

 

I also like the idea of being able to inspect the part so I can make a realistic offer. Agreed, frog follies is a good swap but like a lot I've seen as of late, the shit makes the booth and the good stuff stays home for an online auction. I've heard the "oh yeah I have one of those on feebay right now".

 

I must say I like swap meets just as much as car shows. You never know what you will find. Its fun. Wish we had more in Chicago land.

 

I don't go to car shows that don't have swap meets, I haven't noticed the swaps getting better, or bigger. Even the weekly general flea market two towns north is about half the size it was 2-3 years ago. I think they hurt themselves, $50.00 for a spot in the hot sun to sell crap isn't my idea of time well spent, but I enjoy the walk and once in a while score of something I can list and flip on the internet. Bob

 

i have noticed that the crowds are bigger, more buyers but a lot of mustang stuff now. the younger folks want to look traditional and act like they know whats up, but when it comes to buying, they want it for free or dirt cheap. the bottom line is , we are getting older, the parts we search for are getting harder to find, even the cars and the cost of building one keeps going up. the good side to this, us old farts have a lot of knowledge and proof of how it was done in our day, and we got prime parts in OUR, stash to prove it. guys , some of this stuff will continue to go up in value to the right buyer.

 

I love swap meets.I plan my summer around them.Iola WI is one of my favorites and it is coming up this weekend! I would rather have something in my hand when i pay for it than pay for it online and wait weeks to get it.Plus i always enjoy the looking for cool stuff more than anything.

 

I love swap meets too! Around here (Nebraska) I think they are getting worse though. Seems like all of the "All Automotive" swaps are turning into... bring whatever you want, as long as you pay our vendor fees. I agree that Ebay hurt the swap meet world. What does everyone think about Craigslist? Is it hurting meets too? IMHO in our area it is, just like to see what everyone else sees in their neck of the woods...

 

Absolutely correct !!!! I used to buy and sell a lot of stuff on Ebay because it was clean and not that expensive. But the rates have gotten WAY out of hand now. I just sold some bomber seats on Ebay and got $ 300 for them. Out of that Ebay took $ 34.95 for final value fee and $ 13.76 for Paypal fees, for a total of $ 48.71. That is a heavy hit IMO. Plus, I underestimated the shipping cost and ate $ 20 (not Ebay's fault but mine)

Craigslist is ok, but you put up with a lot of flakes and no shows. As soon as you run an ad on there you start getting strange emails and scammers come out of the woodwork.

I suspect a lot of people who got away from buying and selling at swap meets were just like me but who are now starting to go back to them. We have a swap meet here locally the last Sunday of the month and it is always packed these days.

Ebay got greedy and shot themselves in the foot IMO.

Don

 

went to a local swapmeet yesterday to sell a few things, seemed like more vendors than last time ,the sad part is people wanna low ball you to death, if u selling something for $20 they wanna offer you $5.i can see if they offered $15,but 5 come on. i think im gonna wait on selling at the swapmeets.
on the other hand i found the 2 carbs i was lookin for.

 

LARS swap meet in Pomona seemed pretty healthy this year.

 

We changed locations this year, and every one of our shows has been better than our best one at the old venue.
There's a lot that goes into that: The location is better, and I've busted my ass getting the word out and promoting it. But in talking to guys, a lot of them are using it to supplement their income, and ebay fees are getting out of hand.
A lot of them also just like coming out--it's as much a social event as it is a swap meet.

-Brad

 

I went to Pomona back in March and I could not believe the huge crowd. There's always big crowd but this time there were so many people that it was hard to "eyeball" for parts" because I had watch the people to avoid crashing into someone. But for as many people that were there, there was very little buying going on.

 

I still love the fact that I can search through a pile of trim or a box of odds and ends and find something that is specific to my car and get it for next to nothing .that;s how some of us have to build these days,being able to identify parts this way teaches us about our cars and if you 're the vendor at a swap you don't have to take the offer.i can't afford to bid against guys with more money on ebay for every part i need.Before ebay this is how we all built our rides .Personally when i go to swaps i take stuff i want to get rid of and if someone gets a bargain and i clear some space or make some money to buy something i need then its all good .being knowledgable about my projects when i go to a swap gives me the edge over the guy who just types it up on the computer and gets the whole selection.Oh i just had a bit of a rant but i 'm just happy the swaps are getting better here anyway because I'm better at and have way more fun searching through parts stacked on wet grass at 6 am in the morning than i am at getting stuff online .each to their own