"Fall In Flea Markets." Topic

"I may have come off as aggressive. If I did, rest assured I am only trying to engage and have fun…."
Crying one's wares and used car salesmanship is an artform, preferably performed half in jest, but establishing the buyer/seller connection is what you need to do if you want to move your stock. I've cried fabric, belts, jewelry, feast gear, gaming stuff, hotdogs and hamburgers (free condiments! No extra charge!) and scads of other oddball items, and the only way to grab the attention is to be bigger and funnier than life.
Keep on pluggin'!

"The reason I say that it wasn't advertised was that none of the guys that I gamed with, and only one of the group of 11 of us that were going to go out to dinner knew of the midnight flea market until I advised them of it."

Watch out or you'll be called a liar. LOL

Yeah, none of my group knew about it either, and when I told them they shrugged, said the earlier Friday one was lame, and headed toward the bar. Just not sure we need two flea markets Friday.

I would have gone to the 11PM one at 10PM but I wasn't up for staying up for it.

@history gamer… sorry for the harsh words.. I am dealing with some saboteurs…..

Anyway, I posted even on TMP that dealers would be welcome to sell their wares… store or personal.. the same will be for FI 2018.

Being that it was YOU who made the comment, I should have known better to NOT go to angry right away. Please accept my apologies!!!!

Also, I was only trying at the recommendation of the vendors who asked for a session that they could attend/sell at.

I don't recall the midnight madness flea market being sold as a session for dealers to sell in so much as a session they could take part in. For the life of me I don't understand why a dealer in the dealer hall would even want to run a flea market table, if they have a booth in the dealer hall why wouldn't they sell whatever it is they want to sell there? The benefit of the additional late session, supposedly, was that they could take part in actually shopping it. Either way I don't mind or care what they do as long as some of them stop the constant attacks on the folks who sell in the flea market and stop discounting the value it provides to the convention in the form of attendees, generating income for the show, and creating income that sellers use to then buy from the dealers.

I did think the late session was a little weak, but it was the first one at Fall In so maybe those in the future will be better. After about 1130 it was dead. The rush only lasted about 30 minutes. Overall I was pleased with the staff, how the flea markets were run, the attendance, the sellers and buyers, etc.

@jpipes I see your point, but many vendors have stated that they would like to be able to sell in the flea market their own stuff or simply flea market items from their wares.

The announcement that they could and were allowed to go into the midnight madness flea was called out in their dealer packet clearly. I assume they read it every year. There are always slight changes. I also stated here on TMP.

I think it is a great idea because…. dealers are also gamers and have stuff they want to sell and often times cannot get to the flea to sell or even buy for their wargaming. For those that don't game…. they always have discontinued or items that they don't usually sell in their store, but would be great to sell in the flea to at least make some money back off from their investment.

AND…. another apology to Historygamer, please accept it! I truly am sorry and didn't mean for it to sound the way it did… I tried to edit it, but that option was gone. I was trying to say that it was a lit that the exhibitors were not aware, that simply isn't true… it was stated very clearly in their dealer hall packet that they got… and every dealer got one… so to say a dealer was unaware of it means that they did not read their packet.

Absolutely agree either way. Happy to see them in the flea market and happy to have more buyers and sellers regardless. If I had a booth I know I'd put all my wares there which I had for sale, the main draw for the flea market is to be able to buy stuff more than anything. I was greatly impressed with the changes at the venue this year and it gives me hope things at the Host will vastly improve. With the additions to the flea market it made for a really nice event this year overall.

I did think the late session was a little weak…..

Ya, the problem with flea markets is that they are very subjective. Personally, I find most of them weak. I'm usually not a big flea market shopper. My friends, on the other hand, always find many treasures, often at the same session.

This time, on Friday, I found a lot of things to buy and would have shopped more if I didn't already have a big backlog of painting to do at home. But it wasn't the late session either. By that time, I was getting ready for bed in preparation for a long day on Saturday.

Dan:

Apology accepted. Let's just chalk it up to hasty reading (which I do all too often) and the hazards of communicating via the internet.

I can only tell you what he told me – that he was not aware of the late night flea market. Maybe he didn't read his packet closely. I don't know.

Maybe there is a misunderstanding too about what the purpose is – which maybe indicates it isn't clear to some people.

Is the late night flea market specifically geared to target dealers to be participants – as in selling, or is it just a late night flea market that enables them to participate if they wish. I realize neither of those excludes anyone else from participating either.

I have no real opinion on the topic either way. I did not go, but that was more a function of the long week I had already put in, and the fact I went into work that morning from a few hours before driving up to the con.

And if I haven't said it before, thank you for all the hard work you do. As a casual observer, I am wondering if you aren't over extending yourself by being both the con director and events manager, and now I see you are the events manager for another con too. Don't forget to have some fun too.

Best to you. :-)

Ditto what Historygamer said Poniatowski, I see you in many areas including the flea market attempting to work with folks, helping the staff, and generally being a part of things while making them better. I appreciate that every time I've seen you interact with folks, in the flea market for example, you have been supportive, helpful and receptive to feedback and ideas. I know for a fact you get a lot of pressure from different view points and it should be pointed out from what I know and have seen you do a great job of working within those constraints. Like mentioned above, hope you get to have fun at these events too, and thanks again for being understanding of the folks who really enjoy taking part in and selling at the flea markets.

@Historygamer… I value and respect your opinions… I was hasty.

I will try to explain…
I was approached by a vendor who said that he gamed and had a lot he could sell, but won't sell at his business table.. and that he would also like a chance to buy…

Exhibitors do not in fact get the opportunity to enjoy the flea market like everyone else… not everyone in the exhibitor hall is a seller only…. they game too… and I thought why deprive them of that fun?

Anyway, the point of the late night flea market was really put in place for vendors to:
1. sell off old product that they wouldn't normally bring to the show like discount bin stuff
2. sell off their own personal stuff that they don't use any more
3. have the chance to enjoy what the rest of us do… a chance to find deals and buy stuff…. often times stuff no vendor is selling too…
4. yes.. even sell off modern product… but without the dealer booth trappings.

I did it for the benefit of all, but mostly at the request of dealers who commented on the thread about it.

It made sense to me to at least give it a good old college try.

@jpipes, thank you and thanks for understanding.. the pressure does get to me sometimes and I slip up and feel like crap about it. I am very passionate about HMGS… I love Historic gaming and yes, some other types too… through HMGS I have met a very large group of awesome folks. I am 47 now and have been playing Historics since 82! (I was 12). HMGS is important to me as is its survival.