Cheap Ways to Improve The Value of Flea Market Items

The cheap ways to improve the value of your flea market items are to use the methods that make them not seem like flea market items at all. For example, an old beat up doll house could be a priceless bargain with some new wallpaper and carpeting. A second step then makes use of marketing techniques that improve your chances of selling the item. Even if flea market items have been inexpensively increased in value, someone still has to buy it. The following tips provide cheap ways that not only help increase the value and salability of flea market items, but that also help with marketing the product.

• Transform the items

Flea market items can be transformed with the magic of sales which is cheap, it can even be free when you do it right. Selling item involves highlighting its value to a potential buyer which means you might have to speak to them, but that's free. Here's an example, “That's no junk you're looking at Sir, that's a very unique piece of history your looking at. See how it shines and has been restored with care, that increases its value, and if you like it enough you can even have it at a discount.” That's just the first line.

There are also other cheap ways to increase the value of flea market items. For example, restoration of a doll house; perhaps a screw is missing, or the paint has worn off, or a doll is missing a shoe. Screws are fairly inexpensive and the paint doesn't necessarily have to be re-done if it can be cleaned . In some cases even stripping the paint might make the doll house more appealing. Unless the doll's shoes are exceedingly important to the house, those can be replaced and maybe even a new dress would spruce up the doll house.

• Make it a deal

The next way to cheaply improve the value of flea market items is to make it a deal. That can be done by reducing the price of the newly valued and restored flea market item. So perhaps after restoring the doll house, the value increased by $5 and now costs $15, but that's a little to pricey for the buyers. So to make it a deal, keep the price on the tag and reduce it when someone shows interest, but not before. By making the doll house a deal, the chance of selling it is not only improved but develops an appreciation from the potential buyer.

• Identify potential buyers

After a way has been designed to make the flea market item a deal, a market either needs to be created or expanded. That means people who might be interested in the doll house should be found and told about this wonderfully restored quasi-antique piece of 20th century culture. If they're not interested in dolls or doll houses, they're probably the wrong people to be telling, so naturally finding places where people like that sort of thing, and then informing them, might be a good idea.

• Create a need

Maybe the doll house isn't that big of a deal. That's fine, is it unique? If not make it unique then it's like no other which increases its value and potential interest in the item. A collection of doll houses might not be complete without this particular one, or it would perfectly complement another doll house or set of dolls. Maybe someones daughter needs a gift or a surprise is in order. In other words, there are reasons to buy things, but unless they are revealed they might not be known. Revealing these needs is a cheap way to increase the marketability, and hence the value of a flea market item.

• Increase demand

A last cheap way to improve the value of a flea market item is to increase its demand. In economics, the principle that higher demand translates to higher cost is a widely held belief. To increase the demand do a little research before restoration to identify the most wanted style, color or features. Doll house stores, books, auction bids and local clubs may all provide insight into what buyers are looking for and what they are willing to pay. When the in demand features are identified and worked into the doll houses' redesign and marketing, the probability of selling the newly valued doll house improves turning flea market goods to boutique treasures.