Did you ever sell on a flea market?

**Barbara** · 01-25-2009, 11:43 AM

We thought our basement was too full of stuff and in our town hall there was a flea market.
We packed boxes and went- haven't done that for more than 20 years.
We sold books, fashion jewelry (like an enameled pendant out of the 70s for 2 Euro) and lots of kitty stuff (like wooden kitties and ceramic kitties) and earned 80 Euros

The most expensive thing was a pot in which you can make your own sauerkraut

which we had from Siegmar's parents. Nobody makes their own today but we sold it for 10 Euros.
We feel quite rich today

**Killearn Kitties** · 01-25-2009, 12:39 PM

Very impressive, Barbara! Someone else might as well get the use out of stuff you don't want.
So how many books did you sell?

**Moesha** · 01-25-2009, 01:03 PM

I'm just wondering if people have yard sales in Europe. They are quite common here in the US. People gather their "junk" and set up shop in their yard or garage to sell it. Many love going to yard sales, and even spend hours scouring through the papers setting up a route to take to get to as many sales as possible in a morning or whole day. I once heard that the US is one of the few countries where people rent storage units to stash more stuff. This thread reminded me of that, so I thought I'd also ask if those kinds of units are available in other parts of the world. It's basically like renting a garage to put your stuff. There are usually several rows of storage units located together. Maybe I'll have to take a picture tomorrow if I'm confusing anyone that isn't familiar with them.

**Cinder & Smoke** · 01-25-2009, 01:21 PM

Originally Posted by Moesha

They are quite common here in the US.
People gather their "junk" and set up shop in their yard or garage to sell it.

One person's *Junque*
is another person's *Treasure*!

Around here, folks manage to sell the REAL junk - the stuff that's
broken, doesn't work, is missing pieces ... ready for the trash! Just hang a sign
on it saying "Broken / Doesn't Work" and it seems to increase in value!

**Randi** · 01-25-2009, 01:34 PM

It's great you got some money for your "junk", and it will look less cluttered at home. I really need to get rid of some things too, but as John, I have always been keeping things.

In the summertime, we can rent a little space in a various places - bring a table and put what you want to sell on it. The only problem is that you need a car to transport it there.

**RICHARD** · 01-25-2009, 02:39 PM

In the Southeast they have the "longest yardsale in the world"!

We have yard sales, garage sales, estate sales which are the same thing as a flea market!

The Longest Yard Sale runs for a weekend and is something like 100 miles (It's more but I don't know the exact length!) long and people buy and sell all kinds of things!

Congrats on your new found weath and good luck!

**Maya & Inka's mommy** · 01-25-2009, 04:27 PM

Originally Posted by Moesha

I'm just wondering if people have yard sales in Europe. They are quite common here in the US.

Nope

. I've lived in the USA during 2 years, and I must admit that I got addicted to yard sales

!! We had our own "appartment sale" before we left, because we wanted to get rid of all the stuff we didn't need anymore, like furniture, our tv & radio, lamps, bicycle, etc... It was soooo much fun

There are "rummage sales" though. That is f.e. a marketplace where everybody can rent a table, and sell whatever he wants. I participated in one last summer! I tried to sell my homemade 3D-cards; but it was no success. People were only interested in old junk

**Karen** · 01-25-2009, 04:53 PM

Originally Posted by Maya & Inka's mommy

Nope

. I've lived in the USA during 2 years, and I must admit that I got addicted to yard sales

!! We had our own "appartment sale" before we left, because we wanted to get rid of all the stuff we didn't need anymore, like furniture, our tv & radio, lamps, bicycle, etc... It was soooo much fun

There are "rummage sales" though. That is f.e. a marketplace where everybody can rent a table, and sell whatever he wants. I participated in one last summer! I tried to sell my homemade 3D-cards; but it was no success. People were only interested in old junk

YEs, I have never had a yard sale here - there's no traffic on our street other than the people who live here. But I have helped at church yard sales - so everyone in the church brings their old stuff, and we set it out - many amazing bargains, that immigrants and students - we're on a major bus route - adored. We'd sell pots and pans for fifty cents each - you know, old, slightly dented but perfectly useable - and cups and glasses for ten cents apiece.

**Edwina's Secretary** · 01-25-2009, 05:28 PM

I participated in a neighborhood yard sale in Chicago and was surprised to learn what sells and what does not. Children's clothes are the biggest seller. Furniture the slowest seller.

I didn't make much money...and decided it is easier to donate and take the tax deduction!

**moosmom** · 01-26-2009, 09:13 AM

I'm starting a business decorating frames. I'll do any theme you want EXCEPT hunting.

I'm calling the Secretary of State's office to file a patent for my business name to make sure no one else has patented it.

**kokopup** · 01-26-2009, 01:01 PM

Moesha originally ask maya & inka's mommy if they had yard sales in europe.

Nope. I've lived in the USA during 2 years, and I must admit that I got addicted to yard sales !! We had our own "appartment sale" before we left, because we wanted to get rid of all the stuff we didn't need anymore, like furniture, our tv & radio, lamps, bicycle, etc... It was soooo much fun
There are "rummage sales" though. That is f.e. a marketplace where everybody can rent a table, and sell whatever he wants. I participated in one last summer! I tried to sell my homemade 3D-cards; but it was no success. People were only interested in old junk
Yesterday 04:26 PM

I Lived in Europe for several years and the highlight of a weekend would be running up on one of their markets in a village. We often drove several hundred miles a weekend in The Netherlands , Belgium, or Germany. We were always thrilled to pull into a villiage or town to find it was their "market" day. I loved these because there were always
unique finds that you could never find in US. Our biggest such market was in Antwerp Belgium. Antwerp is a good sized city and the entire town was one HUGE flea market. Like there were several city blocks just for the sale of pets. Amazing

. I much prefer the concept of market day like you see it there. It was like a rotating calender and there was a market in a different Village every week. The village i lived in Castricum NL had one every 6 months but so did the Village 30 miles down the road. I have a antique Bellows hanging on my fireplace that I picked up at a market in Hoorne NL. My house is full of memories we found this way.

**lizbud** · 01-26-2009, 05:02 PM

Originally Posted by kokopup

I Lived in Europe for several years and the highlight of a weekend would be running up on one of their markets in a village. We often drove several hundred miles a weekend in The Netherlands , Belgium, or Germany. We were always thrilled to pull into a villiage or town to find it was their "market" day. I loved these because there were always
unique finds that you could never find in US. Our biggest such market was in Antwerp Belgium. Antwerp is a good sized city and the entire town was one HUGE flea market. Like there were several city blocks just for the sale of pets. Amazing

. I much prefer the concept of market day like you see it there. It was like a rotating calender and there was a market in a different Village every week. The village i lived in Castricum NL had one every 6 months but so did the Village 30 miles down the road. I have a antique Bellows hanging on my fireplace that I picked up at a market in Hoorne NL. My house is full of memories we found this way.

That sounds like fun.

I really am not a "shopper" at heart, but finding
unusal items from around the world would be neat.

**kokopup** · 01-26-2009, 06:20 PM

That sounds like fun. I really am not a "shopper" at heart, but finding
unusal items from around the world would be neat.

i am not a shopper either , however, i really enjoyed these markets because it was like crossing the fair with a flea market. The big difference for me being you ran into stuff you would never see in a flea market. You could also find any type of food vendor you can imagine. When walking around you were emerse in all these great smells. My favorite snack was french fries with satee' sauce. The satee' was a peanut butter concoction. Can you spell calories

One unique market that was popular in the Netherlands was the "swartz market" which mean black market. The local joke was that if it was stolen from you in Amsterdam this morning you can buy it back this afternoon at the Swartz market.

This is not to say that it was a
market for stolen goods, although there were some. It was also a very
big mid-east market with many foods and durable goods from the mid east. It was almost like walking through a market in Beruit.