Booth space versus full store - I bit the bullet

What about taxes?  Federal and state?  I already pay enought taxes from my real job and don't want to get taxed anymore.  Is the income form the sales in one of the vender stores taxed as income???

Since you already have a "regular job" you pay income taxes on, I think you will find your effective tax rate quite appealing once you start expensing business costs against business income.

In my model, I pay income taxes on income generated from sales at the vendor's store. I also expense the lease, the commission, the credit card fees, & the original cost of goods for re-sale.

So yes you have to pay taxes, but keep good records and you can deduct all your expenses.  That might be the way to go for me.  Flea markets and yard sales you almost have to give the stuff away, bigger ticket items don't do good on eBay.  My wife loves going to those shops,and for what I notices their prices a higher then normal.  Thanks for the info....

So yes you have to pay taxes, but keep good records and you can deduct all your expenses.  That might be the way to go for me.  Flea markets and yard sales you almost have to give the stuff away, bigger ticket items don't do good on eBay.  My wife loves going to those shops,and for what I notices their prices a higher then normal.  Thanks for the info....

It's always a balancing act trying to figure which marketplace realizes the best profit margin. Flea market always come home with "profit" but average sale is about $2. I have had some months were I lost money at my vendors booth, but average sales per item have been between $10 - $30.

Flea Market cost per weekend is $30 table rental & $45 in gas $20 in food so $95 total cost. Flea Market revenue per weekend is $250 per weekend so take home from flea market is about $155 go twice a month so $310 per month.

Vendors Mall cost per month is $200 plus 10% sales, about $15 in gas no food or other expenses. Vendors Mall revenue per month has been as high as $750 but as low as $200, but averaging around $500 per month. Take home from vendors mall about $235.

Flea Market makes more "take home" money but I spend about 40 hours a month at the flea market and only about 15 hours per month at the vendors mall.

Flea Market $310/40 = $7.75 per hour (yea, minimum wage!)
Vendors Mall $235/15 = $15.67 per hour (working class wage)

Consider the more recent months at the vendors mall $750 - $200 - $75 - $15 = $460

$460/15 = $30.67 per hour (professional wage!)

Best weekend at flea market $380 - $30 - $40 - $20 = $320

$320/20 = $16.00 per hour (working class wage)

So as long as total sales stay $500 plus, vendors mall is the way for me. There are many things that can't and won't sell at the vendors mall so I save those items up for yard sales.

I really don't have any nice furniture or items for a vendor mall.  One just opened up in our area.  Most of the place is a 50% co-sign.  For me I'd rather take it to my buddies store and split it with him.  Of late the owner of the vendor mall is now doing storage auctions.  One of the newbies told her about them when he was in her store.

Hi Ironman! Thanks so much for all the great info. I was searching the web to try and figure out where in north Atlanta I might rent a booth and came across your post. Excellent! I think you just sold the big shanty another vender! I plan to go check them out today in person. I live in Sandy Springs. Hope they have a opening for me. Appreciate much all the great info you have posted here. Look forward to perhaps running into you at the TBS one day. I just signed up for this forum and forgot to ck the space to allow others to email me so until I fig out how to go back and correct that my email ad is (removed). Thanks again!!!

Hi Ironman! Thanks so much for all the great info. I was searching the web to try and figure out where in north Atlanta I might rent a booth and came across your post. Excellent! I think you just sold the big shanty another vender! I plan to go check them out today in person. I live in Sandy Springs. Hope they have a opening for me. Appreciate much all the great info you have posted here. Look forward to perhaps running into you at the TBS one day. I just signed up for this forum and forgot to ck the space to allow others to email me so until I fig out how to go back and correct that my email ad is (removed). Thanks again!!!

Welcome to the forum. Oh, and I modified your profile where other members can instant message you now. 

As someone who knows this topic from every angle, I thought I might add some insight. We own a storage facility and we own a flea market where we rent booth space to vendors. On the side, we also go to auctions and sell our finds in our store. We charge $1 sq ft +10%. I believe this is the norm for our area (Crystal Coast, NC). A lot of people in our area have tried to open up thrift stores and most of them go under just as quickly. My advice, keep your overhead as low as possible, rent booth space at a thrift store or a table at a flea market and you can also consign the really good pieces, but stay away from getting in to deep (purchasing) unless you have a second income to compensate. If we had only opened a thrift store and didn't have the storage facility to back it up, we would have been out of business already. Retail is a hard business in this economy and there is a lot of competition.
Hope it helps,

pier58storage,  Good advice and welcome to the forum. It's great to finally get some input from a facility owner.