Swap meet etiquette, would this piss you off??

That wouldn't bother me unless is was a friend doing it, then i'd get pissed. Aside from that, like MANY have said..part of the "business" at swap meets..
Now, the one time i know i got real pissed at a swap was a local indoor meet we have here every spring.
We were fortunate to set up the night before one year, and covered our tables with sheets til the next morning when we got there.
The gates opened at 9:00 am, we got there at 7:00 to get thing's arranged, only to find a number of items already taken off our tables and set under them.
When we asked another guy what gives, he said another local guy who buys a lot of stuff walked around already and pulled things he wanted off tables so he could go back to buy them..
Bull, shit!
I know the guy and he think's he's a big shot 'cause he has money..our stuff ended up back on the table, and i didn't sell him shit when he came back around. I would have melted it before i took a dime from him at that point.
You don't do things like that, ESPECIALLY when it's covered up and the damn gates are not even open..
I blame the guy's at the door just as much though, he wasn't selling and shouldn't have been in there in the first place.
Guess i'm a bitter jerk. hahaha

Sorry for straying off topic, but it does concern etiquette.

Tony

 

I hauled a buncha stuff to a swapmeet years ago. One of the things I took was a steering wheel that I could not ID... It was in pretty good shape so & put a $40 price tag on it.

Some bald guy with lizard skin cowboy boots & porkchop side burns comes around & picks it up & offers $20.
I figure what the hell...
I agree to the $20.... then the asshole hands me a $100 & wants change.

Later on on see my steering wheel at his swap spot with a $250 price tag on it.

I wasn't pissed about the deal I made but...the thing that really pissed me off was that if I knew something was worth $250 & the seller was only asking $40... I would have given the guy his $40 & been happy with that.

It's been 15 years since the steering wheel incident . I still see this asshole at every swapmeet & I still have contempt for him.

 

Totally agree with you and if I hear "Oh,it's just business." or "Business is business." one more time I think I'm gonna puke.

 

I bought an air compressor off Craigslist with a couple air tools. Guy was asking $185, talked himself down to $150. It was filthy and needed a new drain valve. I replaced the drain valve, steamed it clean, relisted it for $300 and took $275 three days later. Simple capitalism at work.

 

If you think about it todays swapmeet is swap parts for cash. If a guy has a part worth $500 and he puts a $40 dollar sticker on it who in their right mind wouldn't buy it and turn a huge profit. I sell and if another vendor pays me my asking price I could care less what he does with it. Just worry about your stuff and when its gone forget it. If you go to a swapmeet to sell the less to load up at the end of the days means 1 thing. You had a descent day if your pockets are full of cash,you had a great day.If you have a empty trailer and not much cash means you need to find another hobby. There is no such thing as Etiquette at a swapment,that crap is for the country club car shows with the Rolls,Jags,Vettes and martini crowd.

 

you was sellin em,right?. he paid the $. we are all a little slutty when it comes to quick cash...NEXT TIME................

 

You could of said no....

 

Buying and Selling is how alot of people put meat and potatoes on the table. Just like Pawn Stars and American Pickers - they'll try and buy items for a decent to low price so they can sell for a good price and make money. But I can see where you're frustrated.

 

I`m thinkin that over 50% of the people that go to swapmeets are there to resell and make a buck(buyers that is). Probaly closer to 60%. I judge this by the people I know that go to them.

 

went to a swap meet seen a real nice old style 3 point roll bar for 40 bucks told the guy id be, i waited till the end of the day went back it was gone ( my fault ) next year same swap diffrent guy same roll bar wanted 200, i was like ill give ya 50 he said no, i said i know you got it for 40, he said i shoulda bought than. bit my tounge walked away learned a lesson.

 

Happens to me occasionally..I'm good with it. I don't do it but I MAY sell some stuf I bought at the previous swap meet if it isn't what I wanted.

 

I'm sure you don't want to hear this, but that is the most fun I have at the swap meets, I think it's a thrill of the chase kind of thing.
I have seen items i have just sold jacked up in other stalls, just makes me laugh.

On a twist last year I bought an Item and brought it back to my booth and then took off, well I hadn't scratched the dudes price off or put it under the bench, well one of the other guys sold the item for a few dollars under what I had just paid for it, wish i had it back but it was good for a laugh.

 

If he paid you what you agreed to...who cares. You don't really have any room to complain, got your money, move on. No different than if someone bought it, took it home, and sold it on Ebay, you just would not have known about it.

 

If you were happy with the $20 for it, why do you give a shit that the guy put it out for $250? He probably didn't sell it right then and there. Don't be pissed at him because you were too dumb to know not to sell it for 10% of what it's actually worth.

I even do this at the model shows I go to in the winter. I can make $50-$100 by making a run just before the doors open and buying stuff that's priced too cheap and putting it out on my table at the same show - and make a second $50-$100 taking things on to the next show to sell. That doesn't even count the things I can take and put on eBay. It pays my expenses most of the time -

Once in a while I sell something too cheap and it bothers me for a day or so if I catch on, but by the next week I move on in life and forget about it, I'm not going to stew over a $20 sale for 15 years.

 

That is the name of the game...it is not a dick move. that is what the swap meet is about. You shouldnt have sold the items for cheep if you thought you could get more money. Hell, once you sell it, the seller can do whatever he wants with it....even throw it in the trash. I think its wierd that people into cars dont understand this concept. it absolutely amazes me. Take myself for example... I've devoted almost my whole life to finding out what these parts are and what they are worth...thousands upon thousands of hours. If I see something that I can sell for more money, I will buy it and resell it...it is pennys on the hour for the amount of time I have invested in this.

 

If I accept an offer, I couldn't care less who buys it and what they do with it. The stuff I take, I'm looking to get out of my hands.

I am always glad to help another Hot Rodder to the point of giving stuff away but never at a swap meet.

 

i won't say i'm right, but it would piss me off...you're there to help other guys out as well as put some cash in your pocket. when you sell a part, you put your price on it, but you always have a lower price in mind that you could live with. i usually decide if i'm going to haggle depending on the person and situation. but if he buys from you just to sell, he's obviously planning on making money off of it (and your generosity).

there's 2 scenarios i could understand though...if the guy walks off and someone makes him a high offer on it, that'd be kosher

OR if he pays you exactly the price you put on it, then you got what you were looking for from it, and he was happy with your price. WIN WIN

 

Several years ago I had a 3 speed Chevy transmission with a Corvette factory shifter and boot plate that all appeared to be from a early '50s Corvette. Picked it up when I bought a bunch of stuff, had no need for it, sold it at a swap meet for $125.00.
Next swap meet I went to saw it for sale for $1250.00. Holy crap! I gave away a valuable piece!! That was probably 4 or 5 yrs ago, I've seen it at numerous swap meets including one this September, still for sale, still priced @ $1250.00. I'm sure there is someone out there looking for this, hope it gets sold for the asking price. It is heavy, he has been hauling it around to swap meets for a long time!

 

You know a swap meet is kind of like a big yard sale. Try not to do anybody a favor unless you know them. I had a lady come up one Saturday morning and she caught me at the right time. She asked about a couple of items and i told her it was 5.00, she said "for that ". I replied no mam 6.00. She stated I quess I really don't need it. I said I quess not, "Have a nice day" and she left. Maybe she got the message,maybe not.

 

Wow, this thread has taken off!! Ok, let me restate things. I was only upset because he had a whole story about how it would fit his new build etc, then turned right around and put it for sale in his stall. It's not that he resold it, it's that he lied. I know it's old news, and not worth my time to be upset, it was just the deception that got to me.

 

Ha Ha! There are some great stories in this thread. I can't wait to try some of this at my next swap meet.

 

I do a couple of swap meets a year. I set up the day before ,and all the other vendors come by an watch you unload and make low ball offers. Sometimes I sell, Sometimes I don't. If its something Ive been hauling around for a year or so I'll sell it off cheap. Sold a 65 Olds steering wheel to vendor about 5 years ago for 40.00 He still has it and has been hauling it around asking 200.00

 

^this

Most of the time at the swap meet, I have a booth full of the junk that I've been tripping over in the garage.

If I sell it and make a couple bucks, great. If I don't, it's probably going in the trash.

I could ask way more but I don't want to hang onto it forever.

My booth is usually the "home base" for a few of us to keep our purchases at and it helps to get in before all the lowballers piss off the rest of the vendors.

I usually get great deals in the morning and I don't piss off my fellow vendors by beating them up on the price. If I guy is asking crazy money for a part, he can just keep the damn thing.

Shawn

 

Some things I buy for my self and others I buy for resale, if an item is cheap, i don't haggle the guy and i ask him what else he has at home, and I useually make a new friend, if an item is at market value, i tell the seller that if he would take 20 % off but I'll buy all he has of that item, the trick is not to get greedy, when I sell, I always price my stuff for 10 to 30 % below the going rate, so the next guy can make a little or get some stuff for his car at a fair price, I will not sell on E-bay, or buy on E-bay, I hate people that speculate and drive prices up, I have had the same prices for over twenty years, I feel thats what the parts are worth. Over the years, my custermers have become my friends and my suppliers also, I think this is what has kept me in bussines, if you give your custermers a good deal , they will always come back, I always see some dealers haul the same stuff to a swappmeet , over and over again, they try to get top dollar and never sell any thing.

 

Everything I bring to sell, I bring to sell! What happens after I get rid of it is not my concern as long as I get what I want from it. That's kinda the whole point isn't it...to SELL it? More than likely, he will have to handle all that stuff a couple times at least, therefore rendering any likely profit to a moot point. A dollar to a donut, that guy will make very little profit, if any, on all that stuff and end up getting rid of it for what he paid for it after hauling it and moving it at least twice.
Feel good about it man, you got rid of it, it's all out of your way and you have some mad rod money, and some more room. He doesn't !

 

That damn CAPITALISM will get you every time . . .


The elements of CAPITALISM include private ownership of the means of production, CREATION OF GOODS or services FOR PROFIT, the accumulation of CAPITAL, competitive markets and wage labor.

 

I love when people talk about this like it's a discussion concerning Wal-Mart and capitalism. We're talking about one guy paying it foward so another guy can get his car a little closer to completion, when it ended up being bull shit. It sucks, but lesson learned.

 

Swap meets...ahh the storys. I had a complete L79 (Nova) air cleaner in driver condition. I had $20 in it. I carried it into Canfield knowing I wouldn't have to carry it long, this was before the repro's, early 80's maybe. 20 minutes later I had $400 in my hand, from a vendor. I got my price, and I'm sure he did too. Those things were like hen's teeth back then. I didn't begrudge the guy for making a buck, I got my asking price. I really don't understand people that get what they ask, then bitch because somebody else made a buck on their purchase. If ya got what ya asked, what's the bitch?

 

I go in phases....there are sometimes that I clean house and am looking to unload shit to make space...a pair of years ago I pissed off a bunch of Turkey run swap guys by allegedy selling my shit too cheap. I had a few of them come stomping up to me to politly tell me I was selling too cheap causing them to not sell anything...my response was that if they lowered their prices they may sell something too. BUT I went there with three pickup truck loads of shit and went home with a 1/4 of a p/u load...and I made a good bundle of scratch while I was at it....I possibly made a buck or two on some stuff....some stuff I sold at a loss....BUT I met my primary objective of making space...

Then there is stuff that I personally like and know what it's worth....and that kind of stuff I mark accordingly, I work the haggle factor into the price and get what I want for it. If I cant get what I want, I'm not going to sell it for the sake of selling it.

So many times the whole "pay it forward" is nothing more than bullshit to make a buck....thats fine as long as you don't try to feed me with bullshit while you do it...I've taken to calling out the bullshitter types..."listen boss, lets call it what it is...your a re-seller, thats fine...but don't blow smoke up my ass while you do it...you want my part to flip which again is cool...now where were we on negotiations?"

That usually makes em take a step back...and the end of the day, once I sell it, it ain't mine...they can do what they want with it.

 

Yup happened to me a couple of times, thats life !!!
How about this then, when i was in the states and at a swapmeet i had a guy that wouldn't sell me the parts i wanted because i was going to take them out of America !!!