Never take consignments. All you are doing is filling up your booth with other people’s merchandise. If that’s not bad enough, you have to split the money with them. Just say, “Sorry, but we only sell our own stuff.”
Never overstep your booth size. If you rented 10 front feet, make sure you don’t take 10 ½ feet. I mean not an inch over. Take a tape measure with you. You’ll need it once in a while.
If you want people to walk down the outside of your booth on the sides, make sure you make space for them inside of your rented area. Never, never set your booth up so that your customers walk on your neighbors turf to buy from you.
Now listen carefully.
Most vendors respect each other’s turf. If your set-up needs your traffic down the side aisle and your next-door neighbor is set up the same, make sure that he gives up the same amount of walkway space as you do. Usually this means that you split about 2-3 feet between your booths.
This is enough space to let customers squeeze down the side aisles. They can look at your stuff or turn around and check out your neighbor’s booth.
Never Play Loud Music. Another thing that will get you in to hot water is loud music. If you have to have it on, keep it turned down low. Nothing is more
maddening to other vendors than noise or music from your site that is so loud when Copyright © 2004 Larry L. Austin
- 43 -
I n s i d e r S e c r e t s T o F l e a M a r k e t P r o f i t s - L a r r y L . A u s t i n P a g e 4 4 o f 1 0 1
they are trying to make a sale and they can’t even hear themselves speak, let alone what the customer is saying!
Never “Hawk” your merchandise at a market. Yes, some booths are set up as demonstration booths; you know - like showing the customers how great their
carpet cleaner is or their car wax … blah, blah, blah. That’s a little different.
Try to keep a few booths away from them as they will ruin your day if you set up next door. Sometimes, they will even try to pull your customers away from your booth before you get a chance to talk to them.
This is not good. Do not do this to other vendors. It is not uncommon for hawkers to get kicked out of flea markets.
One time, I worked the same market all summer, had the same booth etc. The spot next to me was open every weekend to new vendors. The rest of the aisle was
rented full time by the month. Somehow it worked out that this booth was the only one available on the whole aisle.
There was a new vendor set up next to me every weekend. One week, a real pushy type of guy took the booth. You know, the kind that couldn’t care less about the rest of the planet. First, he plugs in a TV with a VCR and begins playing it loudly.
It had to do with his daughter doing some kind of infomercial. It had absolutely nothing to do with anything. Of course, the TV pulled everybody in the area in close. Many of them were blocking the aisle in front of my booth. By the time the customers finished watching the commercial, they just walked on, never noticing anything in my booth!
Copyright © 2004 Larry L. Austin
- 44 -
I n s i d e r S e c r e t s T o F l e a M a r k e t P r o f i t s - L a r r y L . A u s t i n P a g e 4 5 o f 1 0 1
To add insult to injury, this guy had a demo booth. Next, he started to demonstrate some kind of wonder saw blade. Yes, that’s right - a table saw right next door.
This went on all weekend.
By the closing on Sunday I was really ripped. I went to the manager and asked if I could rent that spare booth for the rest of the summer. The manager agreed and this allowed me double the front footage of my set-up. When I got back to my booth, the vendor on the other side of me had a big smile on his face. I said “that’s the last time that wonder saw guy will ever set up on this aisle” (it was the only un-rented booth for the summer). We both got a laugh out of that!
I should have rented it weeks before. My sales started doubling over what I had been doing out of a single booth.
Why didn’t I go to the manager and complain right off the bat? Well, this had been tried by other vendors complaining about the same guy. No luck, the
manager didn’t care and didn’t want to be bothered (he’s no longer employed at that market.)
So, I did the next best thing. With that spare booth rented, the whole aisle was rented full time for the summer and we blocked the guy out!
Never Lie to Your Customers. A few vendors think it’s smart and cool to lie.
They tell the customers anything, just to make a sale. This is dumb.
The buyer will often come back to the market wanting a refund when things don’t work or break or have otherwise been misrepresented. They often go to the
manager. Sometimes they get the law. It goes on and on.
Copyright © 2004 Larry L. Austin
- 45 -
I n s i d e r S e c r e t s T o F l e a M a r k e t P r o f i t s - L a r r y L . A u s t i n P a g e 4 6 o f 1 0 1
Take a close look at the few dishonest vendors who cheat the customers. They are bums and losers; much like a rip-off mechanic bragging to his buddies about
overcharging a couple of elderly RV’ers.
If you are selling used merchandise, make sure it is understood the stuff is sold
“AS IS.” This means that it comes with no guarantee of any kind. If the customer knows this before the sale, it will keep a lot of grief from coming back on you.
A couple of easy to read signs saying “All Merchandise sold AS IS” will go a long way in heading off potential problems.
Hint: Don’t make your signs any bigger than needed to be easily read from outside your booth. If you put up a bunch of large signs of that kind, you will scare a lot of buyers away. One sign that I post is a small sign that is easily read from as far away as twenty feet; “All Sales Final”.
In sixteen years on the road, I have only had one or two returns! On new
merchandise you may have to give a refund or exchange the merchandise. If you take back the product and give a refund, do it politely and learn from it. You know, pay and learn!
Copyright © 2004 Larry L. Austin
- 46 -
I n s i d e r S e c r e t s T o F l e a M a r k e t P r o f i t s - L a r r y L . A u s t i n P a g e 4 7 o f 1 0 1