Swap Meets

[AnthonyR]

Are Swap Meets dead? My club worked real hard to put one together last week and nobody came. We had several local hobbies shops and some individuals with tables to sell but no buyers. Are others seeing this? Is is just the economy or has the web taken over?

[DR10044]

Heading to one this weekend that is usually well attended. 1st one of the year for me. I will post what I see at the event later.

[aerofli]

How much advertising did the club do? Were there any other events the same day going on in the area?

[Extra nuts]

No one came? That is wierd, and scary.

[WangoTango]

Okay......
Shameless plug time: I started going with my son to a couple of swap meets and we really enjoyed the heck outta going to these two events. There is one in Georgetown, Texas and another in Garden Ridge (San Antonio, Texas). These became favorites that we met a ton of great friends at as well as making off with some great bargains and getting rid of some of our stuff. They were well advertised and scads of people came/bought/sold stuff. Yep....... Worth it!
WT

[STLAV8R]

Last one I went to, there were just tire kickers. Didn't see anything selling.

[AnthonyR]

A letter was sent to every club within a 2 hour radius. The event was posted here and several other websites. Emails were sent to past vendors and no other events in the area. Same location as last year but a fraction of the customers.

[jmiracle]

swap meets around here have been dying a slow death for the past few years. The last couple i went to last year had same problem. Plenty of sellers, but very few buyers. The buyers who do show will only bite when the price is a fraction of what it's worth.

I remember one year I had a half dozen or so 8 channel futaba rx's (this was the days of 72mhz)...with crystals....could demonstrate they all worked properly. These were $50-$60 new....I was trying to get $5-$10 each....nobody would touch them except for one guy....finally thought I had a deal for some of them for $10 each.....but I misunderstood his offer....he offered $10 for all of them. I ended up keeping them.

[rcpilot82]

Our club had our swap-meet a few weeks ago. I had a table and only made $20 after covering the cost of the table. there was a minimal amount of people buying and some of the pre paid tables never showed up! the only stuff going out the door was wrecked planes,plans, and hardware. there was some deeply discounted stuff that didn't sell and i didn't see one ready to fly plane walk out the door. talking to the vendors, they said that the RC area has fallen of the map as far as sales and the big thing right now is model trains, and those plastic figures that you paint. our club made about $200 all said and done. this same venue used to be our "meal ticket" about 5 years ago. I don't know what is causing it, but I know it sucks.

[SleepyC]

See I think the problem is with the prices SOME guys try to charge.
I took a pile of stuff to a swap met last year and came home with everything sold.

I was asking very reasonable prices.

If you look around you will see guys with BEAT 1984 Carl Goldberg 68" Extras that seriously look like it should be in the trash bin asking $300 Airframe only.
Seriously?

I mean, I had a guy scream at me for "ruining the price curve" of the entire swap shop.

Sorry dude. I went home with $1200 that day.. his $300 Extra sat there.

[DR10044]

I have to agree with Sleepy. I made $700 last year in 1 hour, everything was gone. I did two things, I priced the stuff/junk to sell and everyone who walked by I engaged in a conversation. "Where you from"? "What do you fly"? Etc., Simple sales tactics. Believe me it works. Plus I made a lot of new friends.

	Quote: Originally Posted by SleepyC
	See I think the problem is with the prices SOME guys try to charge. I took a pile of stuff to a swap met last year and came home with everything sold. I was asking very reasonable prices. If you look around you will see guys with BEAT 1984 Carl Goldberg 68" Extras that seriously look like it should be in the trash bin asking $300 Airframe only. Seriously? I mean, I had a guy scream at me for "ruining the price curve" of the entire swap shop. Sorry dude. I went home with $1200 that day.. his $300 Extra sat there.

[BR289]

Well, honestly I think its the economy....I usually sell good but I keep my stuff in primo shape and I would rather keep it than give it away....and I price stuff at what I think is fair but there are always plenty of guys that want a brand new $100 receiver for $3.00......or a New in Box 35%'er that cost $1000.00 for $150.00.....Always!

[Fastaljr]

Anthony, our indoor club has a swap meet for the first time last season up in the albany area, and we had a pretty good turnout for sellers and buyers, its not a huge event, but we are hoping this year will be as big or bigger. I`ll have to get some info out on it once the final items are gone over, which should be within the month, the date is already in stone March 27, 2010.

The event was open to any and all kinds of RC as well, big, small, indoor, outdoor, boats, cars, helis, planes, and whatever else we could find to rc LOL.

[Bunky F. Knuckle]

I was at one last weekend. I also think that weather has something to do with attendance as well........ The weather we had last weekend here in the great OH was nothing like I have ever seen before!!! Damn near 60 degrees!!!! I'll agree, every swapmeet has their tire kickers.... I didn't sell alot, but not enough either..... But oh well.

Good luck all!!!

[aerofli]

1st year or 2 can be slow. if they can make it past that, people attending and sellers expect it and plan for it . There is no sub for previous (timing,how well set up,ect...) history .