>decide to finally go toy hunting with a friend at carboot sale / flea market
>even the bootleg Chinese toys there suck
>ask for toys from everyone there
>"oh some people come here at 2AM before the place opens & clean us out before sunup"
>"Really? So I have to be here at 2AM?"
>"yeah, but only if you're a vendor"
Was this just the shittiest flea market ever, or should I give this another shot? Felt like a big waste of time to me.
Anyone here find anything interesting at one of these places?
big/popular flea markets are usually picked over before they open by people buying stuff for their own shops, unfortunately.
>>5371506
Were you looking for something? Because you shouldn't have. or, you really just look through a box of stuff and maybe see interesting things, but it isn't guaranteed you'll bring something physical home. Flea markets are shitty one day but great in another, but the fun is really just digging through stuff
>>5371506
I hope this was just a picture you nabbed off Google, OP. Otherwise you weren't looking hard enough.
>>5371516
This.
I rent a space a few times in summer as one aspect of a business (I go through a distributor instead of cleaning out Toys R Us). The only time you can get away with looking for a specific toy is when it's new. But more often than not you will be paying a large markup to a scalper.
For specific toys, you want to hit a toy show. Don't poorfag there but you won't be at the mercy of one vendor like you would be at a flea market. Let the flea market be a more random experience with no expectations.
>>5371506
The best luck I've had with car boots is looking at the cars just pulling up to unpack.
Obviously everyone else does this too, making it a fucking free-for-all as soon as they open the boot.
There is this huge warehouse building that's houses tons of venues, though nowadays it's all mexicans. Anyway there was this fat guy who owned 2 venues and had all sorts of transformers, dolls, comics, power rangers, aliens, and all sorts of shit from Japan. I must have gotten half of my old collection from him before his fat choked him to death around 04.
If you want the best pickings at flea markets or antique markets, yes, you show up when all the vendors show up. Technically they're not supposed to sell before the shows start, but they all do it because they want to make sales and they know the people showing up that early are serious and not just the lookie-loos who come during the day. P
I don't have much luck with flea markets for toys. My favorite 'find' spot is a local thrift store that's in the perfect spot (nice, but not so nice they overcharge you for everything) and consistently gets the leftovers from estate sales. I once walked into what must have been some doll collector's leftovers--about 100 display-quality Barbies, all clothes on, all shoes on, no dirt or smudges or hairs out of place. Nothing outstanding, mostly 90s and 00s collector dolls, but you can't beat paying $1 for a doll that would cost anywhere from $12 to $80 online. Plus they were already deboxed so it saved me the trouble.
