Flea Market Setup for Maximum Profit

How Your Table Looks Will Determine Sales

You arrive in the pre-dawn hours in a huge field filled with rows and rows of plain wooden tables. In two hours, the sun will be up, and hundreds of bargain-hungry shoppers will fill the flea market, searching for a great deal or a priceless treasure.

There are three ways you could proceed. 

Option One: The Junk Pile

Snoozing in your car until people begin to arrive, you then hurriedly dump your boxes out onto the table. Your baseball cards are in a shoebox, the carded earrings are in a pile, the clothing is a jumble in a big box.

This flea market table might attract some attention, but not many buyers. Who wants to sort through a pile of assorted stuff? At the flea market, the vendor must declare the quality of his goods to the buyers. The junk pile method of displaying your flea market merchandise will make people believe your items are junk.

Option Two: The Boutique

The basis of your flea market display is a fine lace tablecloth that you drape artistically across the table. You spent over $200.00 buying velvet-backed jewelry displayed and glass shelving to display your wares. It takes you a half hour to set up everything in just the right way. Your baseball cards are displayed on tiny easels in a locked case. Your earrings aren’t carded, but stuck on life-size head models. The clothing is gently resting on satin-padded hangers on gleaming steel racks.

This flea market table might actually elicit some laughter. People who want to shop this way do not go to flea markets. And people at flea markets do not want to shop this way. The assumption will be that your merchandise is too costly.

Option Three: The Right Way

As the sun comes up over the far horizon, you are busy setting up your flea market table. You began by laying a clean, plain-colored sheet or tablecloth on the table. This provides a pleasing backdrop to your merchandise. One great trick to setting up a flea market display, is to build it from the side of the table where the buyer will stand. This ensures that everything will be easily seen from their point of view.