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Forum - View topicExploring the Wonderful “Junk” of the Anime Boston Swap Meet
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blooperboy
 Posts: 138 |
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I am so genuinely curious as to how these functionally work. I mean, it seem preposterous that I could come in with volume 26 of inuyasha in japanese and meeting someone that wants that and has something that I want. Are there people who go in and end up being intermediaries? In my mind it just turns into a big long fetch-quest string of 'I need to trade this with this person not because I want it but because they have something that this other person wants and they have something that somebody else wants and that person has something I want.' (Which seems like, too much work.)
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hikura
Posts: 565 |
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It can work that way. But in most cases it's between two people. Normally it's like this. Person A has something that person B wants. Person B has something person A wants. They exchange the items. Usually it's a one to one trade. Like a box set for a box set. People tend to put a value on something and determine if it's worth a trade. Some will see they trade good for something they want. Others will be nice and give people a good trade. I have given an entire set of anime for practically nothing because person really wanted it and they would enjoy it a lot more than me. |
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Emma Iveli
Posts: 679 Location: Hobo with internet |
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I have to agree with you, I've been to plenty of anime con swap meets, and at all of them you "swap" using money which to quote the Simpsons "can be traded for goods and/or services". Why trade for something, when you can just give them money? Honestly, they should be called a "flea market" not a 'swap meet" even if they are often used interchangeably.. |
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Triltaison
 Posts: 792 |
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Man, I love AWA's Super Happy Fun Sell. I've gotten some amazing deals and made fans happy too. It's so nice to find that random old item from some niche thing and see the seller light up when you're interested in rehoming their old treasure. I remember an older otaku guy being so happy someone younger (I was 20s at the time) recognized his old Fandorah guidebooks and was happy to pass them along to someone who wanted them for them and not to just resell.
The vibe is more like a pet adoption day and less a flea market. Just love it. |
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TGSKnight
Posts: 3 |
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One of the people there and quoted, and the reason: The big difference there is that if you go with money, there's a fixed value in goods and services. With barter, if you both agree the price is fair, then it's fair- and that could lead to a far, far deeper discount than you would get if you merely sold the thing you got rid of for money, and then used that money to buy the product in question directly. Using one trade I made at this one as an example: If I get a figure in a mystery box I didn't want for about $35, I'd have to spend about $40 for the figure on the merch table. I don't want it. If I sell the figure on my eBay store, I'd be lucky to get 20 bucks for it on the open market or if I sold it at the comic shop. But, at the swap meet, I meet up with someone who was looking at the figure on the vendor booths, and they're willing to swap it as a package with some manga volumes- neither one of us have to put out the money for this, and the price of the manga is less than I'd have to pay at the booths or at the bookstore. (This also doesn't count when you get that ungodly score of a lifetime through trade...like the time at one of the swap meets I traded a broken Sailor Moon wand for a light novel going for over $250 on Amazon.) |
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GracieLizzy
 Posts: 551 Location: Sunderland, England, UK |
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Every UK Con I've gone too calls them the "Bring & Buy", probably for this reason. |
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Emerje
 Posts: 7406 Location: Maine |
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The ones I've been to have been either like a flea market where you get some table space and sell your stuff or like a lawn sale where you drop your stuff off with staff and pick your money up with whatever didn't sell at the end of the day. The latter is good for when you want to enjoy the con, but the former means you can barter (we call it dicker up here) and have a better chance of not leaving with all your stuff. I've gotten some really good deals on anime figures and PVC statues from this.
Emerje |
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Alan45
 Village Elder Posts: 10018 Location: Virginia |
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This kinda' makes sense if you are there as a dealer. If you see something you want, all your junk is there and the other person can look at it and see what they want. However, if you are just a con visitor, it raises the question of what you want to lug around all day in the off chance that someone in the swap meet would want it. Anime series might work but more than a couple of them would get heavy. Manga series would be too heavy from the get go. Figures, especially in box, are too bulky. Posters would be just awkward.
Invariably, what the other person really wants is something you left at home. This might not be a problem if the meet is very local, just go back and get it. But with a major city involved it will not work. Also "I'll ship it to you when I get home" opens another can of worms. I just don't see it working with a no cash sales limit. |
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SpikesGrrl
 Subscriber Posts: 153 Location: The Bebop with Spike |
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I go to Ichibancon in Concord, NC and they have what they call an Otaku Flea Market, and I have sold stuff there made like $300 one year. They have it on Sunday from like 10-4.
Mary |
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