Thread: Bendigo swap meet

Take something to carry things in. Take some block out.

Originally Posted by slug_burner

Take something to carry things in. Take some block out.

dont forget comfy shoes! its a fair hike, nothing on the ballarat swap meet though

Originally Posted by jazzaD1

dont forget comfy shoes! its a fair hike, nothing on the ballarat swap meet though

I would be surprised if you couldn't find something to buy there. Usually just about everything and anything from needles to tractors can be seen there. Lots of people still go but spending started to go off about 10 years ago.

I no longer go there as the takings fell off from the glory days and the event is no longer economically viable to me, a professional vendor. Two thousand miles of travel and seven days away from Brisbane makes it an expensive event to attend and the declining takings and increasing travel costs made it no longer worthwhile, likewise Ballarat.

I have been to both Bendigo and Ballarat. It would be interesting to do a stall count to establish which is bigger. Both are big and you need to do a lot of walking. I ended up buying stuff I was not even looking for. You need something to carry your buys in, even if you leave them with the stall operators you still have to carry them to the car at the end of the day.

Bendigo National Swap Meet Sat 14 / Sun 15 Nov 2009;
Bendigo National Swap Meet
and here:
http://www.bendigoswaponline.com/
There is a free pick up parts service organised through the SES
1600 sites.

Ballarat Super Southern Swap Meet 2010, Fri 26 / Sat 27 Feb 2010:
Super Southern Swap Meet, Ballarat, Victoria.
2300 sites.
Huge - best of the two for variety, number of sellers and buyers - downside sometimes heat and dust, miles to walk.

From a sellers point of view the admin at Bendigo became over the top years ago but seems to be better now entering the real world.....

Bob

Originally Posted by bobslandies

From a sellers point of view the admin at Bendigo became over the top years ago but seems to be better now entering the real world.....

Bob

Know exactly what you mean. No Friday trading under pain of expulsion or refusal to book you a site next year, and insisting you stay for Sunday under the same threats, which day is a purely social event with virtually no business done. I took $7 on the Sunday the second last time I was there. Little Hitlers throwing around their puny authority.

I last went to Bendigo in the mid 90's - the problem back then was that all of the sites were booked out from year to year so not a lot of "new" stuff appeared from "new" vendors. Ballarat in its early days was better as those who couldn't get a site at Bendigo went to Ballarat. Is Ballarat suffering from the same problems Bendigo had in the 90's?

Pity some of the smaller swaps (eg Bargo) shut down due to public liability insurance issues.

Originally Posted by gazk

I last went to Bendigo in the mid 90's - the problem back then was that all of the sites were booked out from year to year so not a lot of "new" stuff appeared from "new" vendors. Ballarat in its early days was better as those who couldn't get a site at Bendigo went to Ballarat. Is Ballarat suffering from the same problems Bendigo had in the 90's?

You are right about the "staleness" of some of the vendor's stock. Also some didn't sell but just used it as a parking space, precluding new sellers. You would see a few items on sites with only a mob. number for you to ring. Others sub-let to their mates to hold their spot. This was obvious but the admin were either powerless to do anything about it or just looked the other way. But watch out if you drove a long way and were caught "selling" on Friday - of course stuff still got "sold" but was put away till Saturday. This has been pretty well stopped by having Friday the set-up day with no public entry. The fallout there is that buyers then think other sellers are snapping up the "good stuff". It's difficult to be fair and please everybody.

You can only go and have a look - never know what you will find!

I think Ballarat works fine from what I have heard lately. There's no shortage of room there and there is huge variety. However, you do have to pre-book a site.

Originally Posted by gazk

Pity some of the smaller swaps (eg Bargo) shut down due to public liability insurance issues.

While it is true that some swaps were forced to close down because of rocketing insurance premiums and Bargo was a casualty but also the admin there suffered from a reluctance to listen to the sellers and an unfortunate run of bad weather for years. Try setting up after 12.00 midnight - the earliest they would allow sellers onto the hilly site even though the sellers had been lined up for hours with no facilities - zilch.

Anyway the world has also changed in the last ten years since the start of eBay - but there is still a place for swap meets. Ballarat would still be number one and I think Toowoomba is right up there with it.

Bob