Selling stuff at record fairs

[emperor tomato ketchup]

I was thinking that some of the vultures may be able to provide some advice on this topic. I have too many records and want to create some space as well as getting rid of some of the stuff I don't listen to much. Quite a pile of stuff is not bad enough for me to just want to dump it at the charity shops so I am looking at a few options. I can either take it to local second hand places who'll take the good bits and give me a fiver each on exchange, I could try listing it on ebay or I was thinking of taking it to one the regular record fairs here. Obviously the latter is a lot more work especially if I think I should stick prices on things and put them in categories. And I tend not to spend so long with the dealers whose stuff is unpriced and in random order. And I have to pay 45 quid per table which I donÂ’t if I just sell them to my friendly dealer. But is it likely to make me more money or shift more stuff. Obviously that depends on a certain amount of luck and whether my records are all crap or not.

But if anyone has any experience or advice I'd appreciate it.

I was just wondering

[vibra]

A friend of mine just did the very same for the first time a couple of weeks ago, at the Kilburn black music fair in London. His stall cost £40.00. He had mainly new music, hip hop, r&b and leftfield dance, as well as pretty standard funk, jazz and soul lps. He made £350!

£200 was made in the first hour, from other dealers snapping up all his bargains! So it would certainly seem to be worthwhile..

[sermad]

Ive done a few record fairs and its so-so. Pick the biggest fair you can get to obviously. The TUC fair in london isnt all that bad these days.

I priced up the things that were worth pricing but left the rest. Always negotiate like mad - Even if you think you think you're losing money - As you are not because you are saving you're back when you have to lug it all home!

[vibra]

Quote[/b] (emperor tomato ketchup @ April 14 2004,15:26)]I was thinking of taking it to one the regular record fairs here. Obviously the latter is a lot more work especially if I think I should stick prices on things and put them in categories.

My mate just sorted them into £3, £5, £10 piles etc and separated them like that - no need to individually price then.

[emperor tomato ketchup]

Obviously the choice of fairs in Dublin is pretty small, there's a small 45 table one in the city centre and a 100 table one out my way.

I've a friend who might share the table with me so that'll make it easier - except it'll probably mean our stuff'll get mixed up with hilarious consequences.

The best upshot is it'll reduce the time I have to buy stuff at the fair.

[theeman]

i'd definitely do it - choose the bigger fair unless the smaller one is a specialist fair for your chosen market.

i've done this a few times and always done well. like vibra said - the best stuff always went in the first 2 hours. the japanese guys got there before the sellers! queuing since 6am!

definitely take trophy-standard stuff as you'd be surprised how well it sells if it's really sought-after. at the last kilburn fair i did, i sold about 5 LPs in the 50-100 quid range in the first hour, and all day sold nothing for less than a fiver, despite having a big stack of bargain bin goodies.

it's really worth putting the effort in: pricing and sorting your stock properly. take well-built crates, don't over-fill them so it's easy to browse, and make up some card dividers that you can write genre names on to stick in each crate.

like vibra said - don't bother pricing cheap stuff individually, just put out a load of crates at say, 3 quid and 5 quid. people like to rummage and think they're getting a bargain.

also be prepared for trading, and look out for the guys with big record bags. sometimes you can get amazing trades if people don't bring much cash and want something you've got.

don't forget to take a load of food and drink for yerself too (unless they provide it at the fair)