For some people, rifling through others’ belongings and finding a steal produces an exhilaration that keeps them coming back for more. Such people are called thieves.
But there’s another class of people that fits that description—they’re called yard sale shoppers or flea market enthusiasts. They love to rummage through boxes on someone’s lawn or browse past tents, burritos in hand, enjoying the sun, the sounds, and the smells of secondhand stuff. And they pay for their finds.
Whether it’s dubbed a yard sale or a garage sale or even a flea market, it all means the same thing: It’s basically a place to sell things you no longer want to other people.
Chris Heiska is the cyber world’s self-proclaimed Yard Sale Queen. She keeps a website and blog devoted to help buyers and sellers successfully do business at yard sales. Nationally, she’s considered an expert on the topic.
Heiska said there are some basics all buyers should know, whether they’re browsing boxes on a residential street or scouring tables of merchandise at a flea market. Some of the most common mistakes buyers make is not looking something over thoroughly enough, not asking questions, and not making sure the right thing is in the right box.
“Last week, I saw all these Nintendo DS games for 25 cents each,” she said. “I thought I’d buy these all, but when I started looking through the games, the games weren’t all in there.”
Most of the time, sellers don’t purposely set out to rip off their yard sale buyers, but sometimes they do try a little too hard to, let’s say, present an item’s best side. Heiska said it’s not unheard of for a seller to put a price sticker over a chip in a glass or in some other way hide a flaw.
Sometimes sellers will buy something new, such as a printer, and put an old one in the new box for packaging purposes, then sell it. Unwary buyers may believe they’re getting the item depicted, or maybe they know it’s old but don’t speak up. A seller may not offer any clarification in the matter—technically not intending to mislead anyone—so it comes down to caveat emptor: buyer beware.
Sellers often make mistakes as well. Common gaffes include too little advertising or no advertising at all. Heiska said if sellers aren’t putting a yard sale listing on Craigslist, they’re missing out.
Flea markets are great for yard sale people. Prices are reasonable, and they don’t have to worry about advertising. Shoppers consistently come.
“Other mistakes are bad signs—and I’ve seen some really bad ones—and not being prepared,” Heiska said. “It’s a lot more work than people think if they haven’t had one before.”
The effort that goes into a sale can be worth it, though, especially if shoppers are looking for a uniquely special item. Heiska discovered that truth when her brother’s fiancée asked her to find a cake topper. The couple was planning a wedding and paying for it themselves, so they wanted a bargain.
“I found a Mickey and Minnie cake topper for 50 cents, which was a coincidence since they were going to Disney World for their honeymoon,” Heiska said, adding that they still treasure the topper to this day.
Sellers can also find rewards in hosting yard sales. Many buy treasures on the cheap and resell them elsewhere, either at their own event, at a flea market, or on eBay. Such entrepreneurs are often the first in line at an estate sale and the same faces seen each Saturday at garage sales. And, of course, antique stores have to find their inventory somewhere.
On city streets
In Santa Maria, the lines blur somewhat when it comes to garage sales and full-fledged businesses. City regulations only allow two sales per quarter and reveal that posting signs on light posts and stop signs is illegal—though violators likely won’t suffer criminal prosecution for taping “Saturday Sale!” to a wooden post.
“We try to win people over through education and let them know the rules,” said Mark Van de Kamp, management analyst for the city. “And it’s also about beautification, trying to keep the city looking nice, because sometimes those garage sale signs just stay.”
David Garcia, code compliance supervisor for the city of Santa Maria, said most of the time residents don’t get too much negative notice from his department.
“Garage sales, illegally posted signs, that’s low on our totem pole of business to take care of,” he said, explaining stuff like substandard building conditions and nuisance violations tend to draw his department’s focus.
However, having bigger fish to fry elsewhere doesn’t mean code officers don’t respond at all. If and when code compliance does get involved, it’s when numerous neighbors complain that there’s too much traffic, way too much stuff, items blocking the sidewalk, or a sale happening every day at the same address, he said.
And sometimes, residents take their business endeavors to the extreme: “I remember around 2003 a gentlemen—he was in the auction business—was bringing cars into a residential zone and holding auctions every weekend,” Garcia said.
“Even when we do get involved, it’s usually a warning notice that gets sent out, or we typically do a meet and greet and try to get them to cooperate,” he added. “With any violation, we try to educate rather than prosecute. These are people’s homes, and we respect that.”
Nipomo Swap Meet
Brightly colored sheds dot the Nipomo Swap Meet and Flea Market, combining with the scent of cotton candy and various food carts to create an exciting backdrop. A model train riding a track greets attendees as they walk in the gate; some sit with their children to watch as others hustle by, already sure they’ve just missed the best deal of the day.
Tatiana Coffman, marketing manager for the Nipomo Swap Meet, said it wasn’t always this way: “I believe it’s going on 30 years now. It started off with, like, nothing out there, a dirt little lot. Now it’s more stable with the number of visitors and sellers.”
She’s being modest. The Nipomo Swap Meet is more than just stable. Given the state of the economy over the last couple of years, there’s been a boom in both visitors and vendors, Coffman said.
She explained that organizers count cars and estimate an average number per vehicle. On May 23, the Swap Meet drew 2,000 cars with two or three people per car for an average of 5,000 attendees on that Sunday alone. There are about 100 to 110 daily vendors, and 150 monthly vendors.
“So you can see, it’s a very big operation,” she said.
Attractions include everything from sit down restaurants to food carts. Vendors can sell monthly, like full-fledged businesses, or by the day, which is perfect for someone who wants to hold a garage sale away from home.
“I think it’s because we have a little bit for everyone,” Coffman theorized on the meet’s success. “If you’re a mom and you are looking for a deal, we have food, and you can get your cleaning supplies. If you are a dad and you have a hobby, we have Oil Pan Alley, and there are a lot of places to get tools and guy stuff. For the kids, we have Hot Wheels races and a train you can ride on and a scale train model. And it’s cheap entertainment.”
Coffman has a few tips for prospective buyers and sellers. She suggested that people contemplating being a vendor sell for just a weekend at first. If sales are good, a monthly gig could be a option.
“We know a lot of businesses who sold here, got established, and then [went] on to move to a permanent location,” she noted.
She can’t offer any suggestions on what items might sell, though. So far, she said there seems to be no formula as to what attracts buyers.
“I’ve seen the weirdest things that people sell on a regular basis, and I’ve seen people with things I thought would do well and they don’t,” she said. “So I don’t know what makes things sell. For buyers, I think most people come out here for the experience, and then they see something they like and they buy it.”
Hi-Way Drive-In Flea Market
Just hours after Santa Maria’s drive-in movie theater closes for the night on Saturday, cars filled with wares begin to show up in the parking lot. Drivers pay their fee, enter, and set up shop in a marked portion of the grounds, ready for business.
On a recent morning, a young man in a neatly pressed long-sleeved shirt and cowboy hat held a frying pan and hollered, Spanish-television-commercial-style, to passersby, informing them of the bargain price they would be missing if they didn’t buy now. Children munched on warm, cinnamon churros, while mothers haggled prices with vendors.
What the setup lacked in color and décor was made up for with a high-energy shopping experience.
It’s been business as usual for the Hi-Way Drive-In Flea Market, where limited grounds see growth in terms of changing demographics that have added a lot of cultural elements, said Shawn Gran, the market’s working manager. Gran said his flea market draws a large Latino crowd, which often makes Sunday at the flea market a big family outing.
“Family and friends get to see each other, everyone gets to talk to each other, have some food, and hang out,” he said. “It’s a good time.”
Gran said the Hi-Way Drive-In Flea Market vendors sell just about everything—clothes, undergarments, hats, jeans—but they set themselves apart with the number of produce vendors. Each week, about 30 or 40 sellers show up to move fruits and vegetables.
“I heard we’re the farmer’s market of the flea market, because we have so much produce,” Gran said.
That distinction, however, comes with a lot of paperwork. Vegetable and food vendors go through extensive health board inspections and obtain permits in a process Gran called “intense.” Everything—down to the lettering on the signs required to be on the stands—is scrutinized. Gran and his staff of longtime employees will often put up to 40 hours a week into processing paperwork for the operation.
Adding to that time commitment is managing the many sellers (flea market officials wouldn’t release specific numbers of vendors or attendees).
“You have, let’s say, 175 presidents of their own companies,” Gran said, “and everyone wants to do it their own way.”
Such large-scale self-direction could quickly create chaos, but Gran has employees who’ve been there for years—decades, for some—helping maintain order because they love the atmosphere and the excitement of it all.
“It’s a world of its own,” he said.
Contact Arts Editor Shelly Cone at scone@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Jun 17-24, 2010.