What is the best/worst you've done when selling at a swap meet?

[Kern Dog]

Like many others here, I often sell stuff of mine to buy stuff for my own projects. We buy parts cars and sell stuff from them, we sometimes buy stashes of parts from some old timer and pack it up to sell at a swap meet.
I love selling stuff.
This guy I know that used to live in a tee pee sometimes sold at swap meets but his grumpy demeanor surely turned off buyers. I tried to show him that smiling, eye contact and saying Hello is better than ignoring people.
I'm not broke but I feel better when I offset the costs of building or upgrading the cars with the sale of stuff that I don't need nor want.
THIS IS NOT A SALES AD. PLEASE DO NOT TURN IT INTO ONE!
I've sold at different car shows and events. Sometimes I've done well, other times it was a waste of time. The worst was when I've sold at the Sacramento Raceway show. People were there primarily to race but they had a swap meet and car show too. I never made more that a couple hundred dollars there.
The best ever was in 2014 at the Mopar Alley show in Fremont Ca. They used to have their show at Ohlone College but had to relocate when the college expanded and built in the spot where they used to hold the show.
I've never had any rare or super valuable stuff. No Hemi or 6 pack stuff, Hardly ever any E body or spare Charger stuff either. I am not the guy that occupies 4 spaces and has a crew of helpers.
I'm just a guy that scoured the junkyards, cleared out garages of former enthusiasts and bought cheap A bodies to strip down.
The best day ever was $2850 and a lot of it was $20-$50 stuff. Emblems, arm rests, gauge clusters, interior stuff as well as K members and a few body parts. Other times I've scored between $500-$800.
No matter what, I'm just out there selling stuff that I don't need or that I already have 2 or 3 more of back at home.
I have stuff that was given to me by members of our local Mopar club. Many times, the haul is 90% worthless but sometimes there are some good things in the mix.
What about you?

[Kern Dog]

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Christ, the 1970 Charger registry is a SLOW site but this one is heading that way too. How can a forum created for a car so popular be so damned slow?
There are less than 10 members that actually still post here. The site owner doesn't even come around unless there is trouble.

[Old Moparz]

Christ, the 1970 Charger registry is a SLOW site but this one is heading that way too. How can a forum created for a car so popular be so damned slow?
There are less than 10 members that actually still post here. The site owner doesn't even come around unless there is trouble.

Be patient, you only posted your question on the 22nd. Most of the members here are still using dial up. 

[Old Moparz]

I haven't been a vendor at a swap meet since Bush Sr. was in the White House. 

When I did it, it was at the big Mopar show at Englishtown's Raceway Park. This was the biggest show in the northeast for many years & before the Mopar show at Carlisle existed. It had 100's of vendors, even more show cars & also drag racing. They gave away cars at this event & they were nice including a 1969 Super Bee.

I sold stuff 4 or 5 years in a row & always did well. Fenders for $35, hood for $25, seats, bumpers misc. parts from $10 to $50. I met people who needed parts I had but didn't bring like a complete 383 that needed a rebuild for $50. He came to my house the following weekend.

Met another guy selling a complete 1970 Air Grabber hood in mint condition & found out he needed a full quarter panel that I had cut off a parts car. He drove to my house & we traded the parts dead even. I sold my GTX but kept the hood & still have it. 

The stuff I had was just extra stuff I didn't need. Sold $500 or so worth of stuff the first two years & then it dropped off a bit. It was still worth it because the vending space was cheap, like $25 & I had access to a truck from work for free. The last time I did it I broke even selling enough parts to cover the vending space, gas & tolls so I was done.

About three years later a friend was getting a vending space & asked if I wanted to bring stuff to sell. We split the cost, he borrowed a truck from where he worked & we went. He sold an old distributor for $10 & I sold absolutely nothing. The weather sucked, it rained the entire weekend. Not only that, but the track changed the event schedule that year.

The show used to be in late June or early July. We went from typically great weather, to very unpredictable weather in May. I had stopped going for a long time when my kid was born. He was literally born the same weekend as the show. I remember being in the hospital & standing there in the room with my wife when some other family members walked in. I said to my wife, "Oh good, there's some people to keep you company, I still have time to get to the Mopar show!" 

It was years until I went again because of my son's birthday being the same weekend. I wasn't aware of it but that show dwindled & dwindled until it was smaller than a VFW Pancake Breakfast Show. I remember going for the first time in 6 or 8 years & was absolutely shocked. Less than 25 vendors, maybe 50 show cars, & a small number of race cars & no give away prizes. 

As far as selling again, nope. The vending spaces have escalated over the years & over $100 I think. The tax man wants money & you have to fill out tax forms. I could load my truck & trailer with stuff & take a shot at it but I doubt I have the patience to deal with the knuckdraggers offering me $10 for a $100 part & then telling me they can buy it for less online.

[Kern Dog]

I had a space at a show on Saturday her in Northern CA.
Some complained about the heat but it only got to 88. I'm from Sacramento where it was 103 when I got home so 88 was just fine.
I did okay...I sold stuff that I'd never miss from cars I don't care to restore....early A body stuff mostly. I made around $700, subtract $100 for fuel and $50 for the space I still did okay for the day. I like talking to people and swapping stories anyway.

[Kern Dog]

Christ, the 1970 Charger registry is a SLOW site but this one is heading that way too. How can a forum created for a car so popular be so damned slow?
There are less than 10 members that actually still post here. The site owner doesn't even come around unless there is trouble.

Be patient, you only posted your question on the 22nd. Most of the members here are still using dial up. 

I want to see this place stick around. I love these cars and am disappointed to see the site traffic drop off so much.

[John_Kunkel]

One of my better days at a swap meet, I hauled the stuff in my '58 Ford Ranchero. Took a buddy and some Chevy parts of his.  At the end of the day, I'd sold most of my Mopar stuff and we were loading up his stuff to leave when a Ford guy came by and wanted to buy the decorative chrome tubing  rails on the side of the Ranchero bed. The rails weren't stout enough to use as tie-downs so I thought "why not"?  I handed him a Phillips screwdriver, he removed them and paid me a lot more that I thought they were worth.

I called that day a "clean sweep".

[armor64]

i have never really been a seller, but, i was buying from a guy going into a retirement home, had a 440 core (not bored yet), 68 heads, late 70s heads, 2 axles (1 older, 1 from newer trucks) and such.

Then when almost done, his son was there and said "oh and heres the last of it" and wheeled out a 6 pack intake, carbs, aircleaner on a cart. it was never referenced in the ad, and i went "oh, we will put that all inside the truck cab instead..." and got a minty setup.

I had already decided on EFI at the time, so spoke with a vendor buddy to meet up at the WOMO drag event on fathers day weekend for mopars, and he said i could sell it on his tarp space. When we got there, carried it across the fields to his area, a very large man was there sitting on the back of his van, asked to see the parts, cross referenced the numbers, and paid me for it on the spot. the sale of that setup paid for my 440 rebuild completely.

[70 sublime]

Well the title of the thread says swap meet

I usually do not sell much of my car stuff unless a friend asks or I see a wanted ad
If I ever do list anything for sale I usually just post a local classified ad which costs me nothing and if parts sell then fine

My other hobby is model trains and myself and a buddy always have a sales table at the local train show swap meet
We do very well most times ( 9 out of 10 ) but the train show is in Feb and the weather can suck some years