Setting Up of Flea Market from Scratch

naz.sharief

Hi Guys,

Was wondering if anyone could assist me in a matter. A group of friends and I are planning to have a flea market during the Christmas period this year (2012) and it's supposed to be of a charitable cause. We'd like to set up a location and have vendors sell their stuff (preferably 2nd hand stuff). Sales and proceeds will all be channeled into helping less priviledged families with their groceries or even getting their kids some presents.

We are not tied up to any organization or community whatsoever. Being such, is it possible for individuals to organize and execute such an event in Singapore? Does anyone have any idea?

Any form of assistance or information on this would be of much help to me and my friends. Thank you in advance! =)

Mystech

of course you can, the only problem is that companies have a tendency to rent only to companies. So if you are students, you might want to talk to your school to see if they have a commity service side or something. rental apart, how are you going to raise the money to get the rental space? holiday season is peak period for sales. Unless you talk to the grassroot leaders and ask them to help? and there there is the promotion aspect. printing of phamplets, etc etc. all requires money.

xoxoxo

So the sellers will be yourself and your group of friends? If so, I sure hope you guys are financially strong because as Mystech pointed out, you need $$$ even before you start earning. And IMHO, I don't think you can raise a lot of $$$ selling 2nd hand stuff unless your stuff are truly unique.

It may be better to work with selected organizations but it is important for you all to clearly identify who you want to help... you can't just say "helping less priviledged families with their groceries or even getting their kids some presents." It doesn't matter if you are just helping 1 particular housing estate or 1 particular association but you have to spell out who, otherwise, the general public may get the impression that this is just an excuse for you to clear your second hand stuff.

Try getting sponsorships from companies then at least you guys can save some monies. Try to work out some mutual benefits. For example, get company A to sponsor the pamphlets/flyers printing costs and in return, you help promote A's product by doing free advertisement of A's product in the pamphlets/flyers.

It is not as easy as it seems. Perhaps as a first step, you guys may want to visit some of the local flea markets and see for yourself how tough the retail business is. Only if you guys are ready to do it right, otherwise you will be wasting your own time, $$ and efforts.

naz.sharief

My sincere thanks to both Mystech and xoxoxo for your replies.

The reason for posting this thread is to see how we can start about this idea and of course, to see if I had missed out on any other 'blind spots'. From your replies, I see that we have yet to think about this venture in depth.

1. "So the sellers will be yourself and your group of friends?"
- Not quite. Perhaps I wasn't clear in my description. We'd like to 'host' the event and let other vendors sell their items at our event. Rent out the booths at a minimal price perhaps and use that sales for charity.

2. "And IMHO, I don't think you can raise a lot of $$$ selling 2nd hand stuff unless your stuff are truly unique."
- Duely noted xoxoxo, thanks!

3. "It may be better to work with selected organizations but it is important for you all to clearly identify who you want to help..."
"So if you are students, you might want to talk to your school to see if they have a commuity service side or something."
- Since the beginning of this idea, this has been a main question of ours. We understand the importance of this now. Perhaps we should look into collaborating with an organization and work towards helping them as an aim.

Also, if the idea does somehow work out, does anyone know of what formalities we would have to go through to host this event? What sort of clearance we'd need in terms of paperwork, licensing, permits etc etc?

xoxoxo

mmmmmmmmmm............. if it's a school, you can host the event in the school, this cut down a lot of expenses and paper work, if it's a charitable organization, you can consider hosting the event at CC or HDB void decks near where the charitable organization is located or even in the charitable organization. CC go to CC to make enquiries on the requirements and payments, HDB void decks and common space go to the relevant town council. If it's a one-off non-commercial charitable event, I don't think you need any permit. If you plan to run it like an event organizer and you are out to make a profit going forward (the charity event being an exception), then you run it like any business... set up a company...ACRA etc etc.


Without much info about you guys and what exactly you guys are trying to achieve, it is difficult for other forumers to help you. But in most real life cases, don't we all learn on the job?? So, one step at a time, when you reach the bridge, you cross it.

Mystech

Actually, if it is a charitable event, you will have to follow even more rules.
If you're coming out with all the money on your own, then, most likely its fine. though as xoxoxo says, you need to state everything out, create a paper trail, etc etc else you can be charged for fraud.