Death of the swap-meet rant!!

I think they're sad-another farm going into dust.

 

Not necessarily. Farm auctions have been a part of the farming community for decades. It beats a swap all to hell as far as meeting your friends and neighbors from miles around. If you've ever been to a farm auction with a good long time auctioneer just his patter alone is worth the time to attend. Used to have an auctioneer in this area who drew people just because it was him. If you wanted your auction to be a success he was the one to have

 

Ebay is Ebay. It's here. It's not going away. Get used to it. Good place to find stuff and a good place to sell too. I enjoy the hell out of the half dozen or so really good meets we have around here (Puyallup 3 times, Monroe a couple of times, Portland, Chehalis, and Bremerton) You just can't beat the social aspects. I did notice that vendors were way down this year at the Corvette show as well as the Early Bird. The economy is in the tank too. On Sunday of the Early Bird meet, I tried giving away a couple of left over vendor p***es, but couldn't anybody but vendors going in......Where's the buyers?

Pat

 

Watch for a decline in ebay activity--it's now against policy to accept money orders or in fact any payment method other than online money systems. They say they'll take down auctions who still advertise money orders as a method of payment except in about 25 specific categories.

This is clearly so that all money that exchanges hands on ebay can be tracked. Ebay acting as an arm of the G, building a foolproof web of snoopy finances. Not that I was trying to hide anything, or expected to have any kind of anonymity out there, but this absolutely, to my mind, ****s government cheese.

Several things just amaze me about this, but one is that in a financially rough time, here comes yet another new barrier to making money. It also blocks any customer who might not want to **** with electronic money. I've had quite a few. I imagine if you try to dodge this by letting people pay by money order, ebay will jump in and list them as nonpayers. Not sure about this, there are systems they consider acceptable that they don't own. They own paypal, in case you didn't know. I guess I'll join one of those non-paypal systems and see what happens.

I've done ebay for years and sold quite a bit on there. Sold stuff for way more than I'd have had the balls to ask, and to guys in distant parts of the world.

One possible dodge would be to list your stuff in one of the acceptable money order categories, whether it belongs there or not. But they can shut those down just as easily.

Anyway, I think this will make the local swap look a little more attractive to people in the future. I have always been a big fan of swaps, to vend and buy. That won't change, but that's me. I've traveled a lot overseas and I always go to swaps, anywhere I travel. And with things as hard as they are now, the world of local swaps of all kinds will be busy as hell this summer.

As far as I'm concerned, the increase in electronic money is another rung this country is taking on the ladder to hell. Ladder. Who am I kidding? It's a rocket sled.

 

the ebay policy has nothing to do with the goverment, it's because they own the paypal service, and if you are forced to buy it on paypal, or use paypal, thats more service fees and more money in their pocket. it's all greed is why the policy change,nothing else. a lot of people go to walmart and set up one of those green dot visas under a phony name,just for paypal transactions, no way to trace them.

 

I've been going to farm auctions since the 60's. Iowa, Indiana,WV,PA. Got a lot of good stuff, always enjoy the day,the church ladies food stands are to die for-literally, their stuff is solid fat and carbs!-and I admire a good auctioneer's skill. But it still mean that either someone couldn't make a living farming, or the farmer died and none of the kids wanted to continue his work. I farm myself, and while all of my kids appreciate the lifestyle,we'll sell or auction the farm equipment when the time comes.

 

Right on, my man. Don't get me started on Hershey....

Don't be an "I gotta". I got this, I got that, but I got nothing done.

Get something on the road and have fun. THEN start collecting parts for the next project.

 

Hey say what ya want, just came home from the big 3 in San Diego met lottsa people had a good time brought most of my stuff home only made $4600 bucks sure ****s for 3 days dont it. Looking forward to the next one here locally in May, might not even unload the trailer yep economy is bad and all that hoooey
get out there n do it save our swaps

 

I use ebay to buy and to sell parts. I go to swap meets to buy parts. I have drove 400 miles to a swap meet and not bought a thing, and still had a great time. It about how you want to spend your time and when you need parts. Are you going to wait 3 or 4 months for a swap meet and hope to find what you are looking for... I can find most anything on ebay and sometimes its not overpriced, no one makes you bid.... Hell I sell stuff here on the HAMB, is that killing the swap meets....?

 

Just another rant as a vender at big 3 made money but met some people with some good deals at home 3 roadsters in a barn been there for over 20 yrs and local. another guy with some old crager heads wanting to know what they are worth, and it goes on from there. Swap meets as a seller are a gold mine. I talked to Dan Price, he makes banger parts. Did not know about the HAMB.. bottom line it dont happen if ya dont go buy or sell that's what makes it go, not complaining about wasting time etc etc etc. And I dont mind giving my name n phone number out either, when I say it is good I will back it up. Selling **** for over 20 yrs ex junkyard owner

 

Swap meets are where it's at. Pull up your pants, turn your hat around, get your hands dirty. There's few things better (to me) than lookin' at other people's ****. You come to my booth, ask me how much, I say make me an offer, then the ********tin starts. If your an ahole no sale if you treat me right I'll sell you the stuff for your first offer. I don't take stuff to a swap meet to make a living I do it so I can make you happy and maybe support my projects to some degree. I have bought stuff online. Mixed feelings here. Kind of a love to hate thing I guess. Anyhow I'll be at Portland hawkin' my wares.

 

thank you!! i love swap meets,yea i can buy stuff on ebay, but the entire point is to go out,dig through junk, eat food you shouldn't and just enjoy yourself.

 

Buddy of mine about stole a '36 Ford 3-window coupe last fall by being in the right place at the right time. The kicker is he was second in line - the first guy bought it, then decided his wife would cut his nuts off or something, and sold it to my buddy the same day for a $200 profit. Car was posted on a guy's sign at a swap meet.

I posted it on eBay for him, but the price went up to about twice what the car's actually worth, he's one of those guys who has a lot of stuff he doesn't really care if he sells or not, but will let it go if you throw enough money at him.

 

Swap meets are alive and well and starting to experience a revolution and exciting new era. I sell at as many swap meets as I can and LOVE it. I always meet lots of people, have a few laughs at others and come home with a pocket full of money or in the case of the LARS swap pay for my trip and come home with cash just for making a bit of an effort. We recently loaded up my mini van FULL with all that heavy and bulky **** that was laying around the shop that was useless selling online because of shipping costs. We set up at a small local swap on a sunny day for about 4hrs and they bought EVERYTHING, I literally came with 3 small boxes of stuff and a pocket full of cash. My tip for a successful swap meet selling experience is to get South facing real estate so people looking at your selection of parts don't have to look into the sun. Whatever I take to a swap meet I do not want to bring home. Long live the swap meet...

 

I don't usually go to swapmeets to "make money",because I usually don't. I go for the fellowship and the connections.I'm lucky if i break even most times.It's not about the ****in money.

 

I just wanna sell enough of my junk to buy somebody else's krap. Englishtown, NJ and Lake Compounce, CT are some of the best times we have all year, and nothing is better than your woman being more into the junk than you are !!!

 

Back in the day.... before we had computers... swapmeets were the only way to buy & sell used parts.{ or you could read tiny little ads in Hemmings Motor News until you got a headache }.
I have been hangin' out at swapmeets for over 30 years now
{ I still remember when " The Rust Peddlers " sponsored the Pomona swap back in the 70's}.

Now days you are hard pressed to find anyone that actually has original used parts to sell at a swapmeet.....The Swaps have been overrun by guys selling T-shirts, Kettle corn, model cars & cheap repop chrome parts from Taiwan.

If you look at it from a sellers point of view..... Why would you want to spend a day loading your trailer full of good used parts & drive 200 miles to a swapmeet , pay $35 a space to be talked down to by the ***holes who are running the swapmeet & then.......
spend all weekend long arguing with guys on the price of the parts .....
worry about someone walkin' off with a part without payin' ........
& then haul whats left over on Sunday back to your shop........ when .....

You can sit in the comfort of your home in your boxers ,drinkin' a beer & list stuff on ebay & the buyers will actually pay 3 times what you can get for the part at a swapmeet.

You won't catch me sellin' much at swapmeets anymore.

Don't get me wrong.....I still have a blast hangin' out at swaps but ... everything has changed..
I still go to every swapmeet I can but... it's only to buy whatever parts I stumble on & to hang out with all the old car freaks I have known for years...... & the Brats & Beer are good too.

 

I like your style. Your points bolster the reasons for going to a swap. Should be in advertising.

[quote"The Swaps have been overrun by guys selling T-shirts, Kettle corn, model cars & cheap repop chrome parts from Taiwan..[/quote]

Good reason to go. That's all part of the drill. Some hotties selling some of those cheap repotsk!.......and I like kettle corn to go with my beer

[quote"
I still go to every swapmeet I can but... it's only to buy whatever parts I stumble on & to hang out with all the old car freaks I have known for years...... & the Brats & Beer are good too.[/quote]
Just like the old days! .........except the brats seem to taste better now.



[quote"Back in the day.... before we had computers... ...........................Why would you want to spend a day loading your trailer full of good used parts & drive 200 miles to a swapmeet , pay $........... a space ........................
quote]
It's a swap meet. Why? To get away from the COMPUTER

 

IMHO, swap meets are getting LESS relevant for me (at least up here in Canada) because the focus is shifting away from 30s-50's stuff to '60s to 80's stuff, which doesn't interest me. Fewer vendors and relaxed rules mean more flea market t-shirts, dolls, toasters and signs. Up here they're turning into garage sales with a few car parts.

I only sell stuff at swap meets that is too big to ship. It's just not worth my time paying a $20-30 vendor fee, haul my *** and stuff there, spend the whole day displaying stuff instead of enjoying the meet just to have guys **** me around on my already reasonable prices. When was the last time you bought a cherry '49-50 Ford splash pan for $20? Come on....I'd rather give it to someone I know building a shoebox that needs one.

 

One time there was a guy across from our swap meet booth that was sellng stripper clothing....the view all weekend was fantastic!

 

Are you saying the Pomona swap meet is gone. another tragic loss.

 

Boy you said it... Ya FEEBAY SUX but where can you get the volume of people looking at your stuff? I hate to say this but swap meets are going the way of drive-ins.

 

Best part about swap meets is running across that thing that you never new existed, or seeing potential in something as as a mod or add-on. Ebay's great for searching for a SPECIFIC thing, but I've drug a lot of stuff home from swap meets that i was never looking for to begin with. You'll also see alot of nickel n dime stuff or a 'box o' junk' that most wouldn't bother to post on Ebay. Wading thru page after page of ebay dealers reselling the same item just to find what you really need is boring. Swap meets are the #1 reason I go to most shows.

 

Swaps will never die. The problem with Ebay now is the seller does not stand a chance.....I sold 3 items last week that I will not get paid for. One was the guy was kicked off ebay after he used the buy it now on my item, and another was the guy claimed his wife lost her job after he used the buy it now on my item. Granted I can re-list both of them. The problem is, I cannot leave them negative feedback but THEY can leave it for me even though he is not going to pay for the part. Also, people are too impatient. I advertise 3 day handling on my items, but if people don't have the item within 2 days of their paying, they leave you bad ratings in that f**king star rating system that they now have. It may take them a week to pay you but you better have their stuff to them within 2 days or the seller suffers. EBAY is strickly for the buyer now...That is why I will always LOVE swaps. No headache like that.

 

I find a lot of sellers at swap meets with ****ty at***udes and outrageous prices on garbage.

Why does asking "how much do want for this?" when there's not a price tag to be found warrant a ****ty at***ude... and after you get the ****ty at***ude, get an even ****tier at***ude when you just put the part down because you don't want to deal with the ***hole.

Gimme a break.

The best booth I ran across at the Roundup swap meet was this guy that had 3 tables laid out. 1 table was for 10 dollar parts, the other for 20, and the last one for 50. What a brilliant friggin' idea. If you bought X amount of parts he'd even cut you a break. He was the only one I did business with and it was a pleasure.

Swap meets used to be fun... but now they just seem to be full of overpriced junk.

-Chris

 

wow... 6 pages of people mostly *****ing about swap meets.

my buddies pop took us both to our first swap meet when we were 15 in 1975. I'm sure I couldn't identify 1% of what was there parts wise, but the whole thing just seemed cool as hell to me and it still does.

been a swap meet buyer as well as a seller for 35 years. sold 3000 items on ebay over 5 years starting in 2002. I love it all... hunting for bargians, re-selling some of my bargains to buy more junk, or even paying over "full price" for an item I couldn't find anywhere else.

I guess you either enjoy the whole buying and selling experience or you don't. I've never gone to a swap and didn't have a good time.

 

If a car event doesn"t have a swapmeet setup I don"t bother going.Went to a couple of just shows and all I saw was mostly guys with cars they didn"t build ,didn"t know **** about cars,and looked more like they should be at the golf club country club than in a car.If it wasn"t for that so-called ***hole with the parts at the swapmeets,most of the cars at the shows wouldn"t be there.If you don"t like swapmeets stay your *** at home.I don"t care for the elagance shows so Idon"t go,SIMPLE.

 

You guys can piss, moan and complain all you want...i am over 60 now and went to the first swap meet ever last year. Did i get some good deals? Maybe. Did i get soakin wet in the rain? Yup. Did i get to shoot the **** with a whole mess of people? You bet. Will i go back? I wouldn't miss it.
This thread is two years old and the whiners have only gotten older and more sophisticated in thier rants but the message is the same. It is all about what they feel they should get as opposed to what they get out of it. The rest of us get plenty out of it and - maybe - odd part or two, we are there for the people, comradery and the joy of discovery. If that isn't good enough for you then stay the hell home, we don't want to hear it and it is ****ing up the serenity of those that do enjoy it. Molon Labe, oj

 

***** all you want about swaps. Tell me something better than walking around and looking and digging through old car parts as well as memorabilia and cool collectables and I'll try it. Plus, there is nothing better than a Brat for breakfast.

 

All you guys *****en' about the swap meets should live in Las Vegas. We don't have car swaqp meets because they won't allow them. Occasionally you might find them at a car event but not often. When I was in SoCal I could find a swapmeet to go to almost every day of the week. I miss them...