Flea-market sellers plea: ‘Why pick on me?’

I had almost passed by the framed message sitting atop some jewelry stands on a table at the auction house. It wasn’t a piece of art – which would have grabbed me instantaneously – so I was breezing right past it.

Then I slowed down as my eyes focused on a few choice words in bold capital letters: “WHY PICK ON ME???”

I was intrigued. I stopped and started reading the message:

So true, I thought. That’s the lament of every seller who has labored in the heat and sun at flea markets – which I do not opt for very often for those same reasons. Many people do – not only on weekends to clean out their basements but two and three times a week to make a living.

I’ve met many people at flea markets who have been selling for as long as I had a job as a newspaper reporter – 30 or more years. It’s their only source of income – their business without a business plan – and they’ve become proficient at it. Sellers have their good days and bad days, with some flea markets producing bountiful sales and others bust. It depends on what buyers are looking for on a certain day.

And everyone has a story about how much they made once. One seller, whom I bumped into often at auctions, told me about midway through a flea market recently that he had made $400. I looked around at his stuff and wondered how. At an auction, a seller told me of a flea market she does once a year in an upscale area where buyers don’t haggle over prices. They see what they want, they ask the price and they pay it. That’s rare. Most people come to haggle, even for a few quarters.

I don’t think many buyers realize that sellers pay a price for their booths and spaces, along with the other costs of operating a business. The spaces can run from $10 for a church-sponsored flea market to $75 or more for a spot offered by someone who sells space as their business. Prices can be even higher in large cities: The Rose Bowl market in Pasadena, CA, considered one of the largest, has prices up to $175 for permanent sellers and $50 for one-timers. The Brooklyn Flea in New York recently opened a food market with booths ranging from $100 to $200.

Sellers often complain about flea-market buyers not looking for bargains but for giveaways. It seems that both vendors and buyers are feeling the pain in a down economy. A January story in the Commercial Appeal newspaper in Memphis quoted Jeff Mann, president of the National Flea Market Association and a flea-market owner in Massachusetts, as saying that people wrongly believed that flea markets do well when the economy is roughed up. In fact, they don’t, he said.

From what I’ve experienced, sellers want to sell their merchandise and don’t mind haggling. They expect it. But they get perturbed with buyers who want to negotiate below the price they paid for an item. This article on haggling noted that some vendors at the Brooklyn Flea said they would take 20 to 25 percent less.

It seemed, based on the framed message at auction, that haggling was not a new phenomenon:  When was the last time you’ve seen or heard the words “Sears Roebuck.” It showed that even way back when, sellers found buyers to be a tad unreasonable.

I’ve participated in several flea markets over the past year or so, and have written about my experiences and the items I’ve come across. Take a look and see what I found:

Don’t insult the flea-market seller!

First look at a marshmallow shooter

Loud & pushy: A flea-market seller gone bad

Flea-market finds & fresh strawberries

Playing with flea-market finds

Vintage radio from Montgomery Ward

Recalling mom’s egg beater and flour sifter

Licking and gluing S&H Green Stamps

The wonders of children’s books

Why no one wants my dark-skinned doll