Finding Products to Sell at Swap Meets

Selling through Swap Meets can be a good source of income, if you know how to source your products. Selling customer returned products can be a lucrative operation, but you first must decide what types of product you’d like to work with, and then search for a supplier of those goods.

Swap Meets used to be places where sellers would meet up and strictly exchange used merchandise. Nowadays, swap meets have become the same as flea markets as less and less merchandise gets traded for other goods rather than money.

As time has progressed, these markets have also evolved and while you’d be able to find only used merchandise in the past, nowadays you can see all sorts of merchandise in all kind of conditions. Some sellers offer scrap material, some sell used merchandise while others might have electronics on offer. No matter what the product, it goes cheap and every item has a buyer.

Sourcing Cheap Wholesale Pallets

Some online bloggers will claim that local distributors are the best option when it comes to finding cheap products to resell. The proximity and lack of long-distance or international shipping is the bonus that helps you get the products at the cheapest possible price.  

You can rely on Google searches by simply typing the name of the product you are looking to buy and sell, together with words such as “wholesale” or “distributor”. However, this search can be time-consuming and you may not get tried and established distributors.

It is also possible to source your goods elsewhere, at places like merchandise marts or gift marts, but these have certain restrictions that often mean they are closed to the public, and generally won’t give you prices as competitive as some other sources.

When you are looking to sell merchandise at a flea market you want it to be cheap, in a quantity that will not be too hard to transport to the location. Neither wholesale suppliers nor retailers will be able to offer you prices that can guarantee your competitiveness on the flea market, but there is an alternative.

Buying Pallets of Liquidation Merchandise

Finding the right products to sell at wholesale merchandise suppliers or at your local distributor or retailer could be a time-consuming job and more often than not an unsuccessful one. This is why you should turn your attention to the liquidation companies.

Through liquidation companies, you get access to a wide variety of products, from top brands, all due to the exclusive relationships established between liquidators and the retailers and manufacturers. You can buy every day and even purchase smaller loads that enable you to test the demand, without committing to hundreds of units.

This is exactly what you need as a flea market seller. In addition, if you find a reputable liquidator near you, you can pick the merchandise up yourself, on your way to the stall, saving on shipping costs. We have to emphasize that you should work with reputable liquidators and when purchasing any lots, go through the manifest, a list showing the quantity, type and the condition of the merchandise within that lot. This way, you can also go for the cheapest option, the unsorted customer returns that could hide many gems.

Liquidation companies also offer the safety of working with established businesses, with all the protections that affords. They sell items at lower costs, but have the guarantee of a 90-day warranty on many, so you can have confidence in the quality of the products. These can make some of the best investments, as you can then also guarantee the products you sell with confidence, and without risk.  

To make the most out of these liquidation companies, you will need a resale certificate or a sales tax number, a business card verifying that you are operating on behalf of a company and you also need a commercial checking account. Don’t let this put you off, as this can be very simple and cheap to do. It even allows you to play with the big boys of online commerce without needing minimum sales or investment.

Sourcing products from liquidators rather than general wholesalers can give you the head-start you need to stay competitive in the cut-throat world of online sales. Buying pallets of fully working, often new, stock for the cheapest possible prices allows you to really make a lot of savings while stocking the products that your customers want.  

Making the Most of Liquidated Merchandise

Since you are purchasing products for pennies on the dollar, make sure you go through the lot when you get hold of it and check for hidden gems. Some products might have been returned unopened and can be in brand new condition, which means they can fetch a higher price. This is what makes customer returns attractive, as they can be returned for various reasons, and cases of finding unopened, brand new products in these unsorted lots are not rare. Even if they have been opened and returned it does not mean they are faulty. The buyer might have returned a product because it was not as described, or the seller shipped the wrong colour or size.

When it comes to selling, doing so at flea markets and swap meets means you are in no rush to sell and under no obligation to stock up vast amounts of merchandise. Make sure to scout the competition, set your prices accordingly and be patient. You should not go for one big sale.

If you find a gem, don’t get too greedy, sell it at a reasonable price as well as any other item you acquire. Calculate your profits after you have sold all the products from the lot, and return for a new one once you have cleared your stall. Only once you know what items have sold will you know the full value of that pallet of items for you.

Don’t forget that once you are left with some items that aren’t selling – try grouping them together for your buyers, and offering further discounts, so you can aquire more products that you know do sell better. Don’t try holding onto an item forever, if it’s not selling, just to get your ideal price. Sell it cheaply to make space for more.

It’s not uncommon to start off with making a loss on resale – but what you gain from this is the knowledge that will help you choose better items in the future, knowing what sells quickly.

Share on social networks

Henley Johnson

Henley currently works as a sales representative for Direct Liquidation, assisting businesses with product sourcing of liquidated merchandise from the largest retailers in the world. Whether you are looking for a pallet or a truckload Henley is here to help you grow your business.

View Henley’s Bio on YouTube.