Sunday, July 17, 2011

Flea Market Fail

Before the fail, there was a miracle from God. I live in the Sunny South, and in the summer, its the scorched and humid South, but Friday was rainy with temps that stayed in the 60s!!! It was awesome! And today the morning temps stayed in the 60s! It was cold out! LOL  Somehow the temp finally reached 79 degrees. This is unheard of in the summer. My mom up in Illinois had 90 degree weather today, so how'd it get so chilly down here? Because God knew I was going to be "outdoors" all day and can't take the heat. The flea market buildings are roofed and open on one side of the aisle where people can rent tables, and the other side has store fronts with metal garage doors so that their shelves and tables don't have to be set up and torn down each day. So we're exposed to the elements somewhat, but not as bad as being out in the sun. We had outlets in case we needed fans, but today we needed jackets! Brrr!  I never got overheated or lightheaded today. Yay!

Michelle is such a good friend. She went and rented 4 tables at the flea market and gave two of them to me. At the end of the day, she said she made enough to cover the rent, and I hope that's true. She was doing good business. She didn't price much, she just slapped all kinds of junk out there and told people that everything was a dollar unless it was marked for less. She did sell a tool for $15 and a scary fairy costume for $5. It's amazing what people will take for a dollar or less. 

I read online that a good day at the flea market was to make $125. Jasmine and I failed to come close to that. I made $39, and she made almost $17. She only sold 2 soaps and only 1 pin, so that made her sad. However, she was happy to sell a pogo stick for $5, a doll and stroller for $5, two Barbies, and a hula hoop. Her Kim Possible doll went to a boy who was excited about showing it to a friend. Oh, and somebody's grandma picked up a pink play purse for a dime. LOL

Meanwhile, I mostly had educational books, materials, and games, plus a lot of children's picture books and chapter books and my mysteries. I brought a few doodads and some fancy dresses and Boy Scout stuff. The two biggest, frilliest dresses got bought by a black woman who said she was going to send them to Jamaica. Out of the three known homeschool families to pass by, only one found things to buy. I sold more books than anything, but also sold a few games, 2 DVDs, an owl earrings holder, some old jewelry, and a set of old cast iron cars wall decorations. 

The lady at the table on the other side of me was selling things made from yarn. She has been setting up weekends since March. She said March, April and May were great, but the summer has been slow. She's going to take August off and then come back for the fall. So I may try again in October. J could package her pins and soaps for holiday gift giving, and I have plenty of costumes I've saved over the years. I've sold what I could over time, but I did hold onto some stuff that I really don't need. I'm sure I could recover the rent money in sales. 

We got up at 6am, arrived around 8am, and had our first sale between 8:30 and 9am, I think. We packed up and were gone by 2:30pm. I think they advertise that they close at 4pm, but most vendors were shutting down around 2pm. Michelle left at 2pm. She wasn't feeling well, so she had the office make an intercom announcement for people to head to Michelle's tables and make an offer. People hurried over for that! Then she started giving stuff away! She had planned to take what didn't sell to Goodwill, but she was feeling a little queasy and just wanted to go home. She didn't get rid of everything, but at least she didn't leave with a carload.

J and I each have a coupon for a free burger at Ruby Tuesdays that I got online yesterday. They expire tomorrow. So we're treating ourselves to Sunday dinner after church. :)

I've got to start posting my homeschool stuff online to sell. I took pictures of each game at the flea market and already have them on the computer. But I was tired and took a nap when we got home!

Jasmine's graduation photos arrived today. The group photo of parents and graduate is especially good. 

For now, it's lights out time! G'night!

9 comments:

  1. Boy, you must have all been THRILLED that it wasn't hot - lol!

    Sorry sales weren't better, but at least you made something!

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  2. Would love to see the graduation photo of J I am sure she looked lovely. Sorry the flea market was not so successful, hopefully next time will be better!

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  3. Looking forward to seeing the graduation photos! Nice that you had such good weather for sale day, and I think you will do much better in October! Flea markets down our way are "dead" during the summer months. It's just too hot to even go out to find bargains.

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  4. Glad the weather was cooler for you.

    We don't have the big flea markets around here. Just the farmer's markets that have produce and the local rummage sales once in awhile.

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  5. post them... i might want a game or two. i just bought a few froma friend of mine who homeschools. she has a website and sells educational items and books. I even bought the anatomy of a brain puzzle for Audrey. She loved it... for now, she wants to be a brain surgeon so Ithought it was appropriate:) Craigslist is good for stuff like that or ebay. I think Fall and Spring are the best times for flea markets. I hope next time you sell even more!

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  6. Was this your first time doing a flea market? If so, then you probably learned and observed a lot about what works and what doesn't. I'm glad the weather was not hot!

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  7. Sounds like an interesting day. I have found that Summer is somewhat slow on ebay, it just depends. I did recently list and sell some women's bras and jeans for a good profit but other things I listed such as books and old magazines didn't sell. People are on vacation and spending money on other things, perhaps if you try in October you'll have better results. I think that if Jasmine wants to sell Christmas soaps and such then that would be a good time to do it. How wonderful that the good Lord cooled the weather down for you.

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  8. Sorry you didn't do as well in sales as you would have liked, but I'm glad the day wasn't too hot!

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  9. So glad for cooler temperatures and good friends - this is surely a day for memories! :)

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