SWAP MEET TRICKS!!

All of us go to swap meets, more than likely. And a good deal of us have booths, or stalls that they sell from.

I think it would be cool, and educational to share your swap meet tricks with all the HAMBers so that we all have an upper hand, whether we are the seller or the buyer.

Heres a trick I use when about to buy something from a seller.

I know how much theyre asking for it, say its a part at the meet for $40. I see it and walk away, just far enough to re-arrange my wallet. I only want to pay $30 lets say, so the rest goes in my pocket. I'll get talkin and laughin with the guy, then ask how much, he says $40, I open up my wallet and count it... its only $30, I offer him 'everything in my wallet', he takes it almost everytime.

Now, if its something I want real bad and I'm willing to pay full price in case he wont budge,(lets say the $40 part again) I may tell my brother or a friend before what I want to do. I'll give them the $10 to put in their pocket. When the seller wont budge with the 'everything in my wallet', I'll ask to 'borrow' $10 from my friend.

These paticular tricks may be old hat. They are to me cause I've been doing it for so many years now. But I'm sure you have some tricks, methods, schemes, angles or ways you like to go about selling or buying at the meets. Lets share!

 

If I see a car part I want,I always ask "What does that fit?" If they don't know what it is,the price will be lower.Never tip your hand and ask "Is that for a '27 Chevy ?" Chances are they will say Yes,even if they have no idea.

 

I always try to insult people on there prices offer at least half of what there asking it works at least 80% of the time. others act all insulted but at the end of the day they are usually selling me the part a lil money is better than no money going home to the ol lady they say. hahahaha also always try to make a package deal if you find a bunch of good stuff they gotta give you a break. and don't be that swap meeter waiting for the stuff to come out of the box dig through that sum*****. later swap meet dirtball drew

 

I always whack at least 1/3 off the price with my "I'll give ya...for it"

 

Take a girl with you. If you spot something you want give her money and give her room (you need to disappear) to "sweet talk" the guy down. I can laugh, joke, giggle, bat my eyes, make small talk (guys dig car small talk with a female, it breaks up their day). I've "helped" out many a buddy doing this.

 

Agreed--my wife becomes a terrifying monster at the swaps. Her combination of female guile and actually knowing a bit about '32 parts seems to unhinge people. Sometimes i feel a twinge of guilt as we walk away with the goodies...
Often, if she sees me flinch and walk away from something after inquiring for price, she will sneak back and return with the part, a new friend, and a good story.

 

[ QUOTE ]
Take a girl with you. If you spot something you want give her money and give her room (you need to disappear) to "sweet talk" the guy down. I can laugh, joke, giggle, bat my eyes, make small talk (guys dig small car talk with a female, it breaks up their day). I've "helped" out many a buddy doing this.

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thats a very good idea! that is.. if she knows cars, like yourself, I'm sure.

But I took my gf a few years back. Never will take a 'non-car' girl again.

We were walking one of the isles outside and she said to me, kinda loud too, " Is that a 350 hard block?"

I almost swallowed my gum! I told her it was sweet to try and impress me, but if she didnt for sure know what she was talking about, either dont say anything or just whisper to me.

Its been a joke with my friends ever since. I tell em Im going out to tune my hard block, lol!!

Ok, back to the tricks and tips sharing!

 

Bruce, sound like me and your wife would make a good tag team at a swap meet. I always end up knowing what the swapper drives, whats in it, where he lives, his name, the name of his kids, how many grandkids he has, etc, etc, etc, and when I call him by name the next time I see him somewhere, he's just thrilled. Yep, usually made another friend for life.


Monster, that's FUNNY!

 

I offer what I'm willing to pay.

I ask what I think it's worth.

I don't sell to people I think are trying to use "tricks, methods, schemes or angles"

life's too short for that ****.

Paul

 

When I set up at swap meets I set my prices low to sell with a small amount of room to be talked down. But I always think of what a local merchant (Saul Silverstine) once told me. 10% of nothing is nothing!!The exception is if some one pi%%es me off I tell them its not for sale any more.

 

Danny mentioned that he got all his good deals on Friday - at the last swap. Set up day, before the public shows up. I heard three other guys saying the same thing.

For the cost of going to a swap, getting a space seems pretty smart. Admission is covered, there is a place to leave the heavy stuff - you could even sell things.

Beat the crowds, get a booth.

 

If I'm selling something cheap, and the guy offers even less, I'll offer to arm wrestle him for the difference -- as long as it's left-handed.

Did that with a Really Big Guy once, and as we headed for the tailgate to armwrestle, he says, "You left-handed? Good, me too." It was a kinda "oh ****" moment for me.

But I made him work hard for that buck -- took him at least 2 minutes to pin me!

Steve.

 

You guys are BAD! BAD!

I can’t ever buy anything because I’m usually there AFTER Brian B***.

SO, I’ve resorted to selling. My selling tips are:

Never put anything directly on the ground. Never, never never. Put it on a table, put it on a trailer bed, or put it on a packing blanket on the ground, but never directly on the dirt and rocks. Also, don’t put out anything in a box. Put it on top or in front of its box.

Don’t put up an easy-up unless you are selling paper goods. Deal with the sun. Buy a hat.

Next, small, single parts should be clean. Not reconditioned, or painted or polished, but just clean. Some guys (like me) want that distressed condition to match their other distressed parts and others value used original finish over restored.

***emblies like carbs and manifolds with linkage, or a rear axle, are sold with NO cleanup. That lets the buyer know it worked at one time, and that they can do with it whatever they want. Buyer beware, it also hides any missing or broken parts.

Whenever possible, break ***emblies down to components and sell them separately for more money. If someone wants to buy all the parts, then offer a discount.

Label it as specifically as you can. “Removed from ’70 Ford T-Bird, fits all Ford 460 engines” if a great label. You’d be surprised at how many guys NEED something, but can’t identify it without the cue cards. Or how many don’t realize that parts can interchange from one model to another. Do a little research at home and you’ll have more buyers (and hopefully one that will pay your higher price) at the swaps. Plus, if it’s special, put WHY it’s special.

Shop the other dealers before you set up. I don’t think I’ve ever lost a “retail” sell because I wasn’t in my booth at the crack of dawn. I usually don’t buy and sell the item at the same meet unless the meet is HUGE. It usually gets saved for a later swap.

Be able to load or move big stuff. Or deliver it within reason. If a potential buyer came to the swap in his hotrod instead of his truck, he won’t be making a good offer on your two 409s.

Any time I replace components because they are the wrong size, or don’t look right, or whatever, as long as they aren’t junk, I’ll sell them. Someone is looking for it. Your old carb jets? Your old LH lug nuts? The appliance wheels and white letter tires that came on the ’55 Truck? Someone else needs it BAD and you can sell it.

Although I often believe there is a foot for every shoe, don’t bring broken, out of spec, or worn out parts. You don’t want them and nobody else does either. The only way you’ll be able to sell them is to trick someone into paying for them, and that’s bad karma. Plus, it’s a small world.

I do have one buying tip:

When buying ***emblies, like motors, axles, carbs, etc….look to see if there are parts removed, and if those are the parts that a NEW ***embly doesn’t come with, chances are you will be buying a core. On the other hand, if the engine has all the brackets and accessories, it was a take out. If the transmission comes with the shifter, yoke and clutch parts, then it was a take out, but if all those parts are missing, look out, it was probably bad and was replaced.

 

I haven't sold much Ford stuff in the last couple years, but I'm AMAZED at how much I can sell old Ford fastners for. I never throw away any brackets, bolts, bent and beatup Model A stuff, nuts, washers, u-bolt etc... They will all get cleaned and spread out at a swap.

And on the buy-to-resell tip. Buy ***emblies, break them down to components and then sell the components. Or, keep the piece you need and p*** on the rest. I bought a complete rolling '46 Ford frame just to get the two shock brackets off the rear. The rest of it went to two different hotrod projects (my pals).

 

I've been going to the portland april swap meet for 20 years straight, never missed one. out of those, I've had a booth for 15 years, off and on.

We started out outside in the "swamp". You had to have a table or milk crates to keep your stuff off the ground, there was a solid 1-2 inches of water, deeper in other spots! Had to wear rubber boots... and they actually sold stalls there! It was stalls for the rookies. You started in the swamp, and slowly moved to the pavement and then inside over the years progressively.

Making rain ponchos out of black glad bags, eating a soggy french bread P/J sandwich, raining so hard that your stuff gets moved around on the table from the rain. wearing laminated sandwich board ads and looking over mountains of rusty wet parts where the prices have run so much from the rain you have to ask.

And did i mention absolutely loving every damn bit of it?!

The personal tricks I have learned over the years if you have your own booth. Wear comfy walking shoes that dont leak. Wear layers. Bring a lunch and plenty of drinking water. Bring some headache medicine. Make sure you have a brother or friend with you so you can take turns walking the meet, so you wont be stuck at your booth all weekend. ride the shuttle bus and listen to all the old timers talkin, and bull **** with people and have a blast!

ModernBeat, the last tip of your first post was cool. never thought of it that way about brackets and accesories being on the motor or missing. Although he might of pieced it apart to sell the brackets and stuff seperate, but its a good tip

 

When I was a swapmeet "beginner" I bought a pair of Ford spindles that looked alright, although they were a bit grimy with caked on dirt. The price was right so I bought them.
I got them home and started working at the caked on dirt and to my surprise it came off fairly easily.
The reason is, under the caked on dirt was some fairly fresh axle grease smeared on over the Magnafluxer mark circling the cracks in both of the spindles!
I got ripped off!
I looked for the ***hole at the next few Long Beach swapmeets because I was going to remove his thumbs but I never saw him again.
I wrote it off the "the price of learning and beat the **** out of the spindles with my 8 pound persuader so they couldn't possibly be used and hurt someone and tossed them.

Look under the dirt before you buy!

 

Man, you guys are tough. I just ask straight up "what will you take for it?" If the price is reasonable I bight. If not I say thank you and walk away.

If something is set at a price I believe is reasonable I won't even try to christian the seller down. I'll just buy it.

I guess for some folks it's a game. For me swap meets are an opportunity to find rare things I can't find elsewhere. If I can get them cheap it's cool. If I can get them reasonable, that's cool too.

I've got a pretty wife though so I might try that route next go-around

 

[/ QUOTE ]We were walking one of the isles outside and she said to me, kinda loud too, " Is that a 350 hard block?"


[/ QUOTE ]



Should we feel bad for you? Seeing that your girl friend equates hard with small.

 

DrJ... theres NOTHING cool about selling straight up **** at the swapmeet. I hate that and have never done that because I know how much it ****s to be taken.

I was at an outside booth one year. Across the isle was a dude that was selling ****, and a table piled with used carbs.

The guy was the trashiest white trash at best, didnt belong at a meet.

On sunday when everyone was packin up, I over heard one of the idoits say, "well I guess we didnt sell this piece of **** again!"

As I turned around to see what he was talking about, I caught him in mid-motion as he raised the carb above his head and with a baseball pitch to the ground, slammed it into the asphalt.

My stomach sank, just knowing that he was selling complete **** carbs from the beginning and he knew it.

Man that pissed me off.

And Mytlo56, I understand your reasons for not chewing down the price of an item. However, thats almost 50% of the fun for most meeters, buyers and sellers alike. The both look forward to it.

Its not to put anyone down or degrade the parts or person. Its a chance for a seller to get to talkin to a buyer about BS and have a few laughs, and then you joke about the price and get to talkin and tradin and swapin.

End the end you decide on a price or deal and both are happy, or you walk away without the part, but had some good conversation.

Sellers love to go back and forth on the price, its part of the fun. At least I do, and while Im a buyer not at my booth, I've found over the years that more than most are just like me

 

Here in CA, you are almost definately getting screwed if you pay the asking price. Prices are so inflated here, you have to fight for the "right" price on everything. The funny thing is that regardless if everyone knows the prices are nuts, very few people are willing to budge.

Knowing that, any "tricks" you can employ are very helpful. Almost all of the sellers/buyers here are "tricking" you in some way, so you better step up and play the game if you intend to buy at swaps.

I have purchased very few things at swaps because of this. I figure if they're willing to pay the price for the swap spot, they're there to get top dollar for there parts. I have much better luck in the cl***ifieds.

Last swap I was at (the LA Roadster swap, it was by far the best swap in SoCal for traditional Hot rods), I p***ed some regulars coming out on my way in. They were commenting that "there's just no deals here anymore. This used to be the best swap but these people are nuts." That's the sad fact. And they aren't just nuts in a small way either.

Case in point. I p***ed by a guys spot and noticed he had some model A dropped axles for sale. He had two. They were both really rough. The king-pin holes looked out of round, one axle was clearly bent and the other looked like it was uneven from side to side. I walked away and thought "well these might be saved and I bet I can get them cheap." So on my return trip out the door I stopped by, (it was just about closing time) I asked him how much he wanted for the dropped axles? He said $300!!!! I said "but they're bent!" He said, "Hey those are rare, they're Dago's." The axles weren't identifiable in any way as Dago axles. I just stood there and stared at him...

Keep posting your "tricks!" We NEED them!

 

[ QUOTE ]
Take a girl with you. If you spot something you want give her money and give her room (you need to disappear) to "sweet talk" the guy down. I can laugh, joke, giggle, bat my eyes, make small talk (guys dig car small talk with a female, it breaks up their day). I've "helped" out many a buddy doing this.

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sounds like DENISE is comin with me to the next swap!

sawzall

 

Hey I heard the swap meets did kinda **** like that in CA.

I had a booth outside a few years ago and my nieghbors booth next to me wasnt selling anything. he had parked a little trailer there. It was a cool *** bunch of mexican dudes that came up from cali.

The had their lunches in the trailer, and stopped off to the trailer to drop off finds they had scored.

i thought that was pretty smart of them. Rent a space, dont sell anything, use it as a point to load your stuff, relax have lunch.

Our prices are reasonable and its the biggest sawp meet on the west side of the nation. Those guys bought a ton of ****! Packed that trailer!

The Portland swap meet will be moving to the fair grounds up in washington tho, so all my past years of being familure with it there will all go to ****.

Its suppose to be even bigger with awesome parking, but I almost feel home sick every time I think of it moving to anywhere other than where I grew up at the swap meet.

 

Oh and my trick.. and that of most of the other so what gang.. get there before clark..

 

Bring a bucket of bolts, sell the bolts for two bucks a piece and get a beer with the purchase of each bolt. tim

 

Keep your ones in one pocket, fives in another, and so on.
And remember where they are!
That way you can pull the "This is all I have" routine without pulling out a roll of twenties wrapped around the five and three ones you just said was all you had for the ten dollar part...

 

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sounds like DENISE is comin with me to the next swap!

sawzall

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If we lived in the same state I would feel honored to be able to hang with you guys at a swap meet and of course, help out with purchases

 

[ QUOTE ]
Keep your ones in one pocket, fives in another, and so on.
And remember where they are!
That way you can pull the "This is all I have" routine without pulling out a roll of twenties wrapped around the five and three ones you just said was all you had for the ten dollar part...

[/ QUOTE ]

There you go! See, at least one HAMBer thinks like me at the meets, hahaha!

Thats why I do the wallet routine. So that when he asks $40, and I say $30 and he says ok... that I wont open my wallet and show 6 $20's and some tens and so on.

However, this method only works best at the end of the day. As if you've reached the end of your money. I mean really, who would come to the swap meet, only bring $30 and buy something in the morning that blew all his money for the whole day?!

No money left over to by a swap meet burger?? not realistic, he wont buy it!!

 

Some good ideas here, mostly logical.

To really get the good deals, I like to wait until the end of the day when people are near packing up. They are tired and chances are if they have realistic prices have already made a decent wad of cash. So they do not want to pack up that stuff to take it home, they already have enough cash, so yours is just gravy to them. Just offer a lowball price and joke about them not wanting to take it back home. More often than not I get the part cheap. Both seller and buyer (me) are happy. This ***umes the part is not especially rare or real desireable, as the real good stuff will sell early and for a fair price.

Best advice I have is to know what something is really worth, and if you really want/need it, be prepared to pay the fair price.

The prices get lower as the day gets longer.

 

I bring alot $1 dollar bills it's amazing what you can get for a buck.
I'm bulding on a budget so last week I rounded up all the change I could find (the pennies even the bank wont take) and I mean all, the drawer that you put junk in, under the seat in my truck, etc. And I took it all to the Coinstar Machine (The Ghetto ATM) at Food-4-less. I walked away with 75.00. The next day I picked up a model A rear spring w/reversed eyes-20.00 split wishbones w/threaded bungs -20.00 late 40's Cadillac valve cover to match the one I already have-10.00 f-150 steering colum tube w/drop-3.00 at pomona no less! What I'm trying to say is it's all legal tender. Want to save dough on parking? Bring a bike and park in the neigborhood. I love the swaps even when I don't find anything.-stick

 

I love to go to swap-meets. When I am buying I will use the traditional tricks on the seller. If the price isn't marked and the seller wants you to make an offer, or tell him what its worth, I make it a point to insult him. I figure if you shoot him a rediculous price, he will more than likely lower his initial price in his head. If it is a part that I would be willing to spend $100.00 on, I will start the offer at $20.00. It may make the seller mad, but if you explain that you want to know what he has in mind dollar wise, he will understand your standpoint... I guess that is why I get parts so cheap, or I am refered to as the "***hole" by vendors.