It’s April 2025, and in just over six weeks we will be hosting our third Melbourne Board Game Market (MBGM). This event will also be our fifth flea market since 2023, having run the two big markets at the MBGM and two markets at MeepleCon using the same system.
Before 2023, the MeepleCon Flea Market was much smaller. Sellers would book a table and simply sell their games from that table for two hours. This was low effort for all, but it locked those selling fewer games out of the process, and it wasn’t scalable.
So we moved to the current approach for both events. We book games from sellers via a form. Then using Square, and a fair bit of spreadsheet prep, we sell games on their behalf like a retail store and give sellers 90% of the proceeds. The remaining 10% helps cover the Square fees, labels and other running costs, and importantly helps subsidise the cost of stalls for local creators which is what the MBGM is really all about.
What this also means is we have four flea markets worth of data. We have the games, and prices that went into the system, and detailed sales data about exactly what sold when, and for what price, for over 1700 games. We can see which sellers were most successful, and which were most likely to be taking unsold games back home. So we’ve been taking a look at the data to see what it can tell us about what works, and where that can help both ourselves and our sellers have an even more successful event. Let’s see what we found out!
Disclaimer: should be obvious, but this is just our observations and shouldn’t be considered financial advice! We’re gamers, not accountants.
- The two markets are not (quite) the same
This year’s MBGM Flea Market will look very like the MeepleCon one, given that we’ve moved the main market to the Coburg Town Hall and will be using the same space. However they are subtly different, with lessons for both ourselves as a team and to sellers.
The most obvious difference is size. The MBGM market has had around 700 visitors each year and as word spreads that number may grow. MeepleCon, on a sold out Sunday, had a 250 person fixed capacity. So MeepleCon has a third of the buyers that MBGM has, but actually both markets had a similar number of sellers at around 40 per event. So at MeepleCon, 16% of buyers are also sellers whilst at the market that’s just 5%.
You’d think that would mean MeepleCon sells a lot less and that’s true, though it’s full of dedicated gamers, so the average spend is higher. This year we arguably had too many games on sale at MeepleCon for this reason, and we now have a pretty good idea of how many games on sale is right for each market: up to 600 games for MeepleCon and around 1000 for the MBGM. We won’t sell all of them, but with the right games at the right prices then the vast majority will go.
- Most games are sold fast. Depending what you’re selling, that can matter…
Sales occur all through the day at both markets, but there’s no denying that the first hour can be pretty intense.
Let’s emphasise this point. We sold around 1700 games for you over the last four markets. More than half of those were sold within the first hour of trading. Of which the first five minutes have no sales, as people are still browsing. Basically it’s one game sold every 15 seconds.
So if you see us psyching ourselves up whilst you’re labelling up, this is why!
The rhythm is a big rush to start with, then little peaks as games get discounted later in the day, and people return for a second look. The rhythm is slightly different for the MBGM and MeepleCon, with bigger late peaks at the latter as most attendees are there for the day. At the MBGM, attendees will typically hit the flea market, then spend some quality time browsing the main market before hitting the flea market once more before heading home.
This doesn’t mean that selling early is any better than selling later – depending what you’re selling. After the rush, buyers have more time to ponder and some games are just easier to see: small box games in particular tend to go a bit later in the day.
However looking at the data that depends on the type of game, and for one good reason…
Most buyers are looking to get more than one game
Again, this is stating the obvious for anyone that’s seen the market in full flow, and the data also backs it up. Buyers will grab multiple games at once, and then come back for more later. Unlike an online trading group, where it’s lucky to find a seller with multiple games you’re after, at the market it’s pretty much expected.
Grail games, rarities and super deluxe bundles
The last point may impact how buyers respond to any bigger ticket items they might see, especially if they’re spending their budget for the day on just one game, but that doesn’t stop the bigger games from selling. The data shows that they actually tend to go very quickly, so long as they’re priced competitively as there’s often someone there that really wants it.
However if they don’t go fast, then they tend to sit around – and often get discounted heavily, or don’t sell.
Specifically to bigger or pricier games, those that get discounted could have got more, and sold faster, if they were priced more accurately in the first place.
This is likely to be because the impulse factor kicks in when the price is right, and it could genuinely be an unmissable opportunity. For these bigger games however, if it sits around then it becomes a far harder proposition on a second pass around the market, once the buyer has likely bought a few other games already. These games don’t get missed simply because the market is busy – they’re usually super obvious. So the need for the game to be an unmissable deal increases as the day goes on, but if it actually was unmissable it would have sold already. Hence the bigger discounts.
In short – the bigger the game, the more thought to put into getting the price right up-front.
As well as the price, ensuring that the package is portable makes a crucial difference for big games and bundles. If someone is going to impulse buy that awesome Kickstarter bundle they need to be able to physically pick it up and navigate to the till, most likely whilst the market is still super busy. They absolutely, definitely need to be able to gather all the components of that bundle without missing one, or having to scour the table for an unlabelled expansion box that was left nearby.
This is an easy win. Bundle your bundles so they’re easy to buy! If your bundle weighs a ton, then just do what you can and make sure its display spot isn’t too far from the till.
Pricing regular games
Unlike bigger games, smaller games can sometimes work down gradually to the ‘right’ price via discounts. Though it’s still best to get the price right up front, they’re less of a splurge. Also, so long as the price is fair then it will likely sell for the asking price, even if there are other copies of the same game in the market at a lower price. Some games we have had three or four copies of in the market (and usually these all sell, as they tend to have been popular games once or still are). Overpriced ones will sit around until discounted, but the cheapest often aren’t the first to be sold.
The data doesn’t tell us why, but from the points made earlier it makes perfect sense. Buyers are looking to buy multiple games, and they’re happy with the price of the one they just picked up. They’re no longer looking for other copies of that one, but for something else.
To sum up: there’s no need to race for the bottom with pricing. Just be competitive.
Truly obscure games are a gamble
We get a few truly, deeply obscure or ancient games at the markets, and in general what this means is that the likelihood that a buyer will actually know what they are is that much lower. If they look amazing (great art, great condition) that will help, but if they’re fifty years old, tattered and no-one knows them they will be a tougher sell. They may be worth $50 but they may look like $5 op shop purchases.
We’re talking supremely obscure games here. I’m confident that a game like Zimby Mojo (say) would have at least one gamer there that truly desired it. However something similarly obscure from the 1970s?
In these cases if it’s a genuine rarity, the internet may be a better option to find the person that’s been desperately seeking that game. However there’s a slightly unintuitive observation to make, which is that MBGM may actually be the better place to sell these, assuming you’re willing to sell cheap. It would appear that buyers there are more likely to buy something weird on a whim, whilst at MeepleCon there may be a higher level of gamer knowledge overall, which means buyers fill their imaginary baskets with games they already know about. Or maybe it’s just that there are more buyers.
Happy Selling!
Hopefully that was useful! It’s amazing to experience the sheer variety of games for sale at the Melbourne Board Game Market, both in the Flea Market and from our exhibitors, and we’re certain to have yet another bumper year in 2025!
We look forward to seeing you there for one of our favourite events of the year, and what will likely be Australia’s biggest ever board game flea market.
