My First Flea Market as a Pokémon Card Seller Was a Disaster. Here's What I Learned.

The Plan: Branching Out to In-Person Sales

After more than half a year of building this business, I decided it was time to try selling in person at a local flea market. I've bought cards at them before, but this was my first time as a seller since I was a kid. The goal was to move some sealed product I'd acquired from collections, like blisters and poster collections, that I don't typically sell online. I figured it would be a good way to clear out some inventory alongside singles, oversized cards, and even some Pokémon socks I had lying around.

I did a test setup at home to see how much I could fit on my tables. It wasn't a huge amount of space, but for a first attempt, it looked decent enough.

The First Hurdle: Logistics Without a Car

The first problem hit before I even got there: transportation. I don't own a car, and the flea market was about a kilometer away. Walking with tables, a suitcase full of cards, and a backpack wasn't feasible. I had to pack everything carefully and take the bus. It was a tight squeeze, but I managed to get all my gear to the location and set up my stall.

The Reality of the Day: Five Hours in the Snow

The market was scheduled for five hours on a Sunday. Unfortunately, the weather was a major issue. It was snowy, and as a result, not many people showed up. The venue was not very crowded at all, which is a huge problem when you're trying to make sales.

The problem was the stall fee was 40 Swiss Francs, so maybe $50, and it's very expensive. And then if not many people show up, you have kind of a problem.

Over the entire five-hour period, I only sold about eight items in total: three blisters (Twilight Masquerade and Paradox Rift), a couple of oversized cards, four or five single cards, and one surprise box. It was incredibly slow.

Analyzing the Financial Damage

The low sales volume wouldn't have been a complete disaster if the overhead wasn't so high. The stall fee alone was 40 Swiss Francs (about $50). My total revenue from the flea market was around $150. Once you subtract the stall fee, I was left with a tiny profit, if any. It was essentially a break-even day at best, making the five hours of effort not really worth it from a financial standpoint.

What Went Wrong? A Post-Mortem

Looking back, a few things contributed to the poor results:

• Weather: Snow kept the crowds away. This is a major risk with any outdoor event.
• Audience Mismatch: The flea market was about 80% focused on clothing. The people who were there probably weren't looking for Pokémon cards.
• Location: I was the only one selling cards. This might mean that local collectors know this specific market isn't the place to go for TCGs and visit other ones instead.

Despite the failure, it was a good learning experience. I plan to try again in a few weeks when the weather is better and at a different location. You have to experiment to find what works.

Other Business: Auctions and Bulk Sales

The rest of the week was focused on my online channels. I've been listing a lot of items as auctions on Ricardo, the Swiss equivalent of eBay. I sold off a batch of 6,000-7,000 bulk cards for about 80-90 Swiss Francs. I also used auctions to sell off things I don't know much about, like some Dragon Ball cards that came in a collection.

I'm also trying to offload the common/uncommon/rare sets I put together early on. They didn't sell well as fixed-price listings, and even at low auction prices, they're moving slowly. Only the 151 and Twilight Masquerade sets sold this week.

Week 28 by the Numbers

Even with the flea market disappointment, the online sales kept things moving.

• Total Revenue: ~$410 (Ricardo: ~$200, Flea Market: ~$150, Cardmarket: $25, Shopify: $18, CardTrader: $10)
• Weekly Profit: ~$40. After subtracting my fixed costs and the flea market stall fee, that's what was left.
• Total Profit (Series): Now at $2,760.

The Main Takeaway

This week was a perfect example that not every idea will be a home run. Trying new sales channels is essential, but it's just as important to analyze the results, understand why something didn't work, and adjust your strategy. For me, the focus is back on what's proven to work: getting my backlog of 500+ singles listed online as quickly as possible.