About
The History of Howling Henry
Flea Market
It all started in 2002. I was working in a boat factory, I quit my job and with $200 in my pocket I went to my first Flea Market. My first load was stuff I had from when I was a kid and other stuff I had around the house. I didn't have a truck, so I took the back seat out of my car. The take on my first Flea Market was around $400.
For 8 years the Flea was my only gig. Then I had to take a job again, the market was changing and antiques and collectibles started taking a big downward turn.
So, then I was working and Fleaing.
ebay
The whole time I was doing the Flea, I was also on ebay and I was quite possibly the only one of the regulars at that Flea Market that was doing ebay.
Needless to say I found lots of stuff that at the time was wildly popular online.
So, there was a HayDay where sale prices were incredible, sometimes unbelievable where bidding took some items. ebay is nothing like that today. It took awhile but everyone started to realize this stuff isn't as rare as everyone thinks, so I had a decision to make.
New and Used
It became increasingly hard to find good used stuff for the flea. The area I was in had a bunch of buyers competing in a relatively small area, so it was tough.
Then I started to sell new but I would soon find out that it's just as hard pinning down what your market audience wants with new as it was with the old stuff.
Quite the conundrum. The only answer for me was to combine old with new at both the Flea as well as on ebay.
I'm still in this mode today.