Flea markets are great retail marketplaces. Flea market vendors are in a marketplace where the customers have a made a predetermined decision to buy.

Unlike people in malls and people walking in the streets, flea market customers are more than just browsers. They are serious customers who have a trip to the flea market to buy products.

But just because flea market shoppers want to buy, does not mean that they will buy from you.

To make sure that they do buy from you, I have compiled some great flea market insider business ideas. Use these strategies and your flea market sales will go through the roof.

Flea Market Business Idea #1

Make your booth stand out. Flea market shoppers are surrounded by hundreds of flea market vendors. They start developing tunnel vision as they walk through the isles. You need to make your booth stand out so that shoppers will focus on your booth. One way is to use bright table cloths and a bright tent. Yellow and white are great colors since the sun will reflect on them and catch the attention of people.

Flea Market Business Idea #2

Flea market vendors need variety. Even if you have the world’s lowest price on socks, your customers can only buy so many socks from you. If you want to increase your flea market sales you need to diversify your products. There is definitely a correlation between flea market sales and product variety.

Flea Market Business Idea #3

Professionalism is key. Just because you are selling at a flea market doesn’t meant that you can drop your professionalism. Flea market shoppers want to be treated right. They will give their business to the most organized and polite flea market vendors. After all, who doesn’t want to be treated well.

Donny Lowy runs http://www.closeoutexplosion.com an online wholesale and closeout business that supplies eBay sellers, retailers, and flea market vendors.

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But now flea markets are seen by many shoppers as sources for their consumer products, at substantial savings off their regular prices.

You can take profit from this consumer trend by setting up as a flea market vendor.

To become a flea market vendor you will first need to have a resellers tax ID number. You should speak to an attorney or accountant to see what you need to get started.

Most flea markets will guide you in this process, since it is in their interest that you start renting a booth at their flea market.

Once you have the proper licenses, you will want to decide on what type of merchandise to sell.

Flea markets can also be of help in this regard. You can ask the management of the flea market what products they feel will sell well.

They should tell you what products are not being sold, or what products can be sold more of.

You can also focus on the basic products that all flea market shoppers need, like T-Shirts, socks, underwear, towels, toothpaste, soap, etc.

As long as your prices are cheap compared to local stores, and to those of other flea market vendors, you should be able to sell those items.

Most flea market vendors stumble when they try to sell either novelty items, or unique esoteric products.

Stay to the basics and your flea market business should prosper.

You should obtain a list of wholesalers who carry the items you want to sell. Narrow down the list to wholesalers who specifically cater towards flea market vendors.

These wholesalers will have experience in what products will sell well at the flea market.

You can use search engines such as www.wholesalecentral.com and www.wholesalequest.com to compile a list of wholesalers.

Stay away from membership sites, since most wholesalers are listed openly online.

Your next step is to jump in. Over analysis will only discourage you from selling at the flea market. Instead of focusing on how much you can make, you need to focus on selling and building up your flea market business. Make sure you start your first day at the flea market with a full assortment of merchandise. This will make a great impression on customers, and will help you sell a good amount of products.

Donny Lowy is the CEO of the following wholesale and closeout businesses.

http://www.closeoutexplosion.com

http://www.wholesalecloseoutforum.com

http://www.wholesalequest.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Donny_Lowy

Step 1: Locate a Flea Market That You Want to Set Up At.

To find the local flea markets in your area, you can use your favorite search engine and do a search for “flea market directory”. Visit the flea market directory websites and find flea markets in your area. Some of the largest and most popular flea market directories are: www.keysfleamarket.com, www.fleamarketguide.com, and www.collectors.org

Once you have found some local flea markets you will want to do some research to determine which one you will want to sell at. Visit some of the local flea markets in your area, and take note of:

- Some of the products available,
- How the booths are set up,
- Amount of traffic flow (customers),
- Number of vendors,
- Booths that attract a lot of attention,
- Overall appearance and atmosphere of market, etc.

Then you will want to choose a flea market to sell at. Each flea market vendor’s needs and preferences are different. Some vendors prefer small flea markets (less competition) versus large flea markets (more traffic). When choosing a flea market, a few things to consider would be:

- Size and price of booth
- Number of vendors
- Amount of traffic
- Open air or indoor flea market
- Distance from your home

Step 2:Find Some Flea Market Products to Sell

The last thing you want to do, when becoming a flea market vendor, is to spend a lot of money on obtaining inventory. So here are some tips to obtaining flea market items for free or at low cost in your local area.

- Ask friends and/or family members for unwanted items.
- Talk to local crafters about selling their items.
- Scope out the local auctions held in your area.
- Check out the local yard sales and garage sales.

Step 3: Make Your Flea Market Business Legal

Obtain a sales tax id number and other business licenses needed. Most flea market owners will tell you where you can obtain a sales tax ID number for your area. They will also tell you which other licenses you will need (if any).

Step 4: Start Selling Your Flea Market Items

Pay the booth rental fee and set up your items for sale. Some flea markets provide you with a table. If not, you will need to bring in your own. Arrange your items neatly on the table and start selling.

Things You’ll Need to Become a Flea Market Vendor:

- A flea market to sell at.
- A few dollars to pay for your booth rental.
- Items to sell.
- A sales tax ID number and a vendor’s license (or other license).
- At least a few $1, $5, and $10 bills to make change.
- A sheet to cover your table.
- A welcoming booth and a smile.

Melissa Oaks provides tips, articles, courses and more for flea market vendors on her site: http://www.flea-market-vendor-resources.com

Read her Beginner’s Course for more start-up tips and tools.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Melissa_Oaks

As part of my wholesale business I once sold at flea markets, and now supply flea market vendors with wholesale products.

Based on my experience, and feedback from flea market vendors, I have come up with a list of strategies for making money at flea markets.

These strategies require you to apply them to the flea markets that you sell at. You might want to make modifications based on the shoppers at your flea market, and the products which you sell.

Strategy #1

Always have a large quantity of merchandise at your booth. People are attracted to quantity, so if you want customers to come to your booth, make sure your booth looks fully stocked up.

Strategy #2

Variety is the key for your flea market business. Your customers are looking for more than one item. The more products you offer them, the more that they can buy from you.

Strategy #3

Always price your items so that multiple purchases receive a discount. Your goal should be to sell out your merchandise at the end of the day. You can always reorder, so why not sell out? As long as you make a profit on the sale, always encourage your customers to buy more by giving them a lower price.

Strategy #4

Set up your flea market merchandise so that your booth looks like a professional business. If you treat your booth like it’s a real store, so will your customers.

Strategy #5

Have a flyer printed up with your business name, booth number, and merchandise offered. Enclose a flyer in each customer’s bag, this way they will remember you and come back next week.

Donny Lowy is the CEO of the following wholesale and closeout businesses.

http://www.closeoutexplosion.com

http://www.wholesalecloseoutforum.com

http://www.wholesalequest.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Donny_Lowy

Flea markets are really another version of corner retail stores.

Customers who shop at flea markets are looking for the same types of products that they would look for in a retail store.

While this is generally true, there are some differences.

Customers who frequent a retail store are generally looking for a specific product, while flea market customers are looking to see what products they can discover.

Another difference between flea market customers and “store” customers is the following.

Flea market customers usually are bargain shoppers, and will prefer to save money on a lesser known brand, than on a more expensive well known brand.

Practically speaking this means that flea market vendors need to buy wholesale products which reflect the budget preferences of their flea market customers.

Flea market vendors need to look for high quality wholesale products that are targeted to budget minded consumers.

While a “store” customer might buy a $50 Ralph Lauren jacket discounted to $30, a flea market customer will typically prefer to buy a no name jacket for $10, assuming the quality is high.

Many flea market vendors who frequent my site, www.closeoutexplosion.com, have agreed with me that their customers prefer savings over brands.

The wholesale flea market products that you purchase should reflect the needs of your flea market customers.

Many of these flea market vendors are turning what was once a nice way to make some extra income, into a full fledged full time business.

Flea market vendors are discovering that budget minded consumers are heading in droves to their local flea markets, sometimes driving close to an hour to get to one.

People are aware of the great deals available at the flea market and are starting to do a large portion of their shopping there.

Flea market vendors who want to profit from this growing trend need to stock up on wholesale flea market products.

One way for flea market vendors to find wholesale flea market products is by searching online for wholesalers.

The flea market vendor should start by dealing with wholesalers that do not have a minimum order. This way the flea market vendor can sample the quality of the wholesale flea market products.

Another reason to buy from a wholesaler without a minimum order is to that the flea market vendor can test out new items.

A flea market product which the vendor is unsure of could be easily tested out by ordering a few units.

If the flea market vendor decides to order a small sample of wholesale flea market products, he needs to realize that if the number of items he has is too small, customers will not stop at his booth.

The key to attracting customers to your flea market stall or booth is to have plenty of products for sale.

Customers like to frequent flea market vendors who can offer them a good quantity of items, a nice variety, and low prices.

Flea market vendors should also concentrate one on line of wholesale flea market products.

This focus will help the flea market vendor, since his customers will remember him for those types of products.

Donny Lowy is the CEO of http://www.closeoutexplosion.com, an online wholesale and closeout business, and http://www.wholesalecloseoutforum.com, an educational site for the wholesale and closeout business.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Donny_Lowy

Many early settlers bought and sold products at open air markets, which were the predecessors of today’s flea market business. To have an idea of how large the flea market business is, think of how many flea markets exist in your immediate area.

Now multiply the number of those flea markets by the number of cities in the United States.

There are so many flea markets because the flea market business is a substantial and viable business which enables hundreds of thousands of individuals to earn a secondary and primary source of income.

If you would like to join these people by starting your own flea market business, I would recommend the following.

1. Treat your flea market business like a real business. Set regular hours and have a weekly schedule.

2. Expand beyond the local flea markets. To really make money in the flea market business you need to travel to other flea markets, especially if they are larger than your local flea markets.

3. Always have a large assortment of merchandise. Flea market customers can only buy what you sell, so always make sure to be fully stocked with inventory.

4. Stay competitive. Make sure your prices are under local retailers, including Wal Mart. If you buy right, you can keep your prices low.

5. Use the Internet to build your flea market business. Find flea market wholesale suppliers by using wholesale search engines such as www.wholesalecentral.com and www.wholesalequest.com

Donny Lowy runs wholesale and closeout businesses, including:
http://www.closeoutexplosion.com
http://www.wholesalecloseoutforum.com
http://www.wholesalequest.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Donny_Lowy