Advice on selling stuff at a flea market

This Saturday I am going to have my first flea market stall at my daughter´s school. It is only for children´s items which at least gives me a focus!

I was hoping that someone out there has some advice for me - what sells well (I am still going through all the stuff I have accumulated over 6 years) and how I should price and display things? Should I expect people to haggle a lot and therefore ask for more than I want (which I really don´t like, but I guess its the spirit of things)! Should I have stuff piled up for 2€ an item or have less rather than more? Should I bother putting little sticky price stickers on things or make it up on the day?

I expect to have clothes, rain jackets, sport stuff, toys and books.

Thanks!

Who could possibly ignore a thread about virgins?

Don't bother with labels. They are for when you hand stuff over and there is a fixed price at places where they just lay everything on a table without you selling it yourself.

I've never sold but I go with the boys every week and I would say there is less likelyhood of haggling at a school flohmarkt. It seems the norm at the regular ones though.

People seem to sell anything but what you have listed is what I'd be looking at.

Where is it as I really need to buy the boys more toys.

I would tend to "go with the flow" - take a good look around and see what other Mums are doing with prices, etc, and how they present their stuff.
By all means take along sticky labels and a pen if you want, or even just write on a big box that all the items in it cost €1 each, and be prepared to discuss prices for other items which are not in the box......!
Good luck!

Its at the Tumblingerstr school in Munich (Isarvorstadt) from 10 to 1.

I'm no flohmarkt pro, but I've sat through many a sales with one . . . My mother-in-law plans her weekends around flohmarkts.

Anyway, if you have a large enough table or tables, then separate the 1€ from the 2€, etc . . . If you don't have that much space to lay thing out kind of nicely, then boxes should do. This will save you a lot of time and little sticky tapes. Unless you are selling brand name clothing (Benetton, Levi's, other €€€ lables) then expect to price used clothing at least as cheap as Kik.
Any haggling will only vary between .50€ to 1€, unless you have a kiddie play house for sale or something like that. Just keep in mind that all this used stuff, if not sold, will end up right back in storage and become moth food; so if someone offers you 1€ when you want 2€, just take it. Hauling all of my mother-in-law's crap back and forth to the flohmarkt is good ani-packrat therapy.

Maybe I'll bring the man and child to this thing . . . my stepdaughter is 6yrs old . . . Is this a market for kindergarten sizes only?

Thanks, that is great advice too and you are right, I want to get rid of the stuff, not cart it back home.

It´s a Grundschule, so I would expect to see a wide variety of ages available.

Are consignment stores popular in Germany? I got rid of nearly ALL of my son's old clothes/toys/etc that way in the USA, before coming here.

But they didn't take the Levi's... and I had a LOT (sister was a Levi designer). Looks like I should have brought them here to sell!

What about Gymboree? Would that sell well here? It's fairly "high end" kid clothing in the States. I have a lot, as now sis designs for them.

I need to invoke Kuzzer here, but you have no idea how lame german fleamarkets are.

I'm not making this up: Imagine a blanket with used rusty paperclips and rubber bands. Each with a pricetag. And a cardboard box full of nicotine-encrusted Heino cassettes. Each at the original DM retail price minus five cents equals euro equivalent selling price. Or a HJ dagger with optional bl... [dragged screaming away from the keyboard by German wife].

Seriously, if you show up with Gymboree stuff, they'll look at you like you showed up with a Chanel suit at a Springfield second-hand store.

hahaha!! Ok, thanks for the warning, Expaticus. I guess I will take the Gymbo back to the USA for proper re-sale at the high end consignment shop that snubbed the Levi 501s.

Right, now I´m scared!

Heino cassettes etc. will hardly be the kind of stuff brought to a school sale, Renia, so don't worry.

Seriously. We've re-gifted some Gymboree stuff to local families, and they looked at us like we were pulling one of these.

Gee whiz! If a 4-year-old's t-shirt that doesn't feel like a six-month-old used Handi-Wipe is a revelation, the we still have it! "USA, USA!"

LOL!!! Yes, I admit to a serious Gymboree addiction. I haven't checked yet if they ship to Germany, but I might... I stocked up on it for his next few sizes already, though, and added that to the container. I figured European kid clothing would be more expensive, and not nearly the same quality! Oma is always raving about his stuff... yep, praise my sister, I always say.

All the USA stuff is popular here. I always buy my stepdaughter clothes from America (love Target, Khols, and consignment shops) . . . She loves those clothes and everyone always complements how nice they are (they'd never guess I got it so cheap).

I have a bunch of old clothes that she's outgrown but are still in very good shape. I may find myself at the flohmarkt in Riem selling my storage clutter if the weather is nice this Saturday.

Do secondhand (but very good condition) shoes sell, or is that too icky? (sandals, snow boots etc)

People here think our kids are dressed like I was in the '60s from J. Press ... I don't have the heart to tell them that most kids in the US dress today in similar-quality mass-produced clothing.

I wouldn't sell (or buy, for that matter) sandals now because it's impossible to know whether they'll fit in six months' time. Shoes and boots in good condition should sell, especially if the intended wearers are there to try them on (which will presumably be the case) and if the price is temptingly low - IMO it's better to sell three pairs for €5 each than only one for €15 and having to cart the rest back home.

Shoes seem to sell at normal flohmarkt but not sure at a school one. Probably better in a way as kids feet grow so quick people are always on the lookout. Be aware some flohmarkts don't allow the sale of shoes though. I know our kindergarten does not.

There is normally a far higher standard of goods at a school/kindergarten flohmarkt in comparison to the sunday morning free for alls.

Doesn´t seem to be any shoe verbot on the notice at school this morning. Hopefully it won´t be too shabby an occasion, they are having a cake stall as well!

Just try haggling with a four year old when they want that really special shiny bright toy at the front of the table. You'll end up giving so much away without really meaning to. (Or maybe I just couldn't cut the mustard in the cut-throat kindergarten flee market world)

I think it may be written into the law that any school or kindergarden holding a flohmarkt has to have a cake stall.

They also all seem to hold a competition for who can bring the driest cake.

hahaha.

That made my day, I have a thing about German cakes, the worst in the world, dry and tasteless (but thats another thread)... I think they like it that way though. At a kindergarten stall earlier this year, no one touched my moist Nigella Lawson cake.

The first birthday party I threw for my oldest with his buddies from kindergarden, none of the kids would finish the cake because it was "too sweet" (moist juicy Betty Crocker white cake with Betty Crocker white frosting).

From my experience the best thing to do is to make it easy for the buyer: make piles with clothes of the same size, put a big label next to the pile with the size on it. Hang dresses (makes them look nicer). Try to put things on the table, not under.

I had quite a good morning at the flea market yesterday, sold about half my stuff, made 50 euros (and spent 24 lol). I might not have spent anything but the friend who had a table next to me kept bringing things back to me she thought I might like (lol), so I ended up buying a pair of new near Nike football boots (7 euros) and perfect boy´s lederhosen (10 euros) along with a substantial collection of smurfs (4 euros) and one board game (3 euros). Nothing I sold was over 3 euros though. And, yes, people did want to bargain you down 50 cents or so.

I sold a mixture of clothes, jackets, books, toys and shoes, so there was certainly no bias there as to what sold well. Though I did get the feeling from the massive amount of shoes around that they weren´t selling particularly well- the two I sold were birkenstocks, all other shoes unsold.

Having a friend next door to chat to and mind your table if you wanted a break etc was the thing that made it bearable though- so any friends who want to do a flea market of any kind, let me know! Have car, will travel.

And here is the particularly funny thing I have to report- I had an incident of flea market table rage!

I went there at 9 to help set up (with my wagon full of stuff)- I helped carry tables from the school basement for half an hour and I quickly noticed that all the Germans were putting their towels down tables were being taken- naive, silly me, I thought the spirit of helping was to set up the hof first and THEN set up your stall...no... so at 9.30, I thought, well I better bag myself a table and I parked my wagon and my friend´s wagon in an empty spot and went down to get more tables. When we returned this joker had set up two tables right in front of our wagons and was setting up. When I politely called him on it, he got very angry (more angry than I would expect from a fellow school parent) and blah, blah, blah, I was just as grumpy back and some other lady ended up moving along and all was well. He later apologised to me though which was nice and unexpected.

You had a German apologise! Surely some mistake?

Renia
I'll do one with you!

Oh good

We should organise a TT kids flohmarkt. I bet there are a ton of us that want to sell stuff. Needs to be indoors though;-)

Could be everything, not just kids, but no idea about a venue.

Great Idea, there is loads of stuff we need to get rid off and we need.

I think a good solution would be to find an existing flea market (for children or all) and arrange to meet there and try and get tables near each other . That way could be a bit of a gossip/meet up AND sale

If we had to hire an indoor space, the cost would be prohibitive I imagine, though if someone knows of a space (at a church or such) we could rent for a nominal donation (say 5 euros a table) that would be great.

Sorry I'm late, chaps

What my esteemed colleague @Expaticus alludes to is the Deer's Hoof Coat Rack (total snip @ €10) that I saw here in F'dorf at this year's annual Phillip Reis Day Flohmarkt. Strip of varnished wood, with four splayed, rigormortis-ed, deers' hooves screwed on - thus delivering a total of eight handy (hoofy?) hanging points. Keep kicking (hoofing?) myself that I never bought it . . . .

If anyone sees one, can they pick it up for me (limit: €10)?



K

I'm definitely down with that idea . . . The biggest Flohmarkt I can think of right now is in Riem, but that costs about 12EUR per car; however, you get a good amount of space. They also have a nice "food/beer court" and a big bounce house for the kinder. Also, if you get sick of buying used stuff, there is that big Riem shopping mall nearby.

Of course, if we want to this, we should get on it before the weather turns bad again . . . It's almost last minute, but how would everyone feel about this Saturday? Too soon?

I will sell you half for €7.50.

(EDIT: only joking - googled a picture to show the grossness )

I think we need more notice than that...November would be good.