A flea market or swap meet is a place where vendors come to sell or trade their goods. The goods are usually inexpensive and range in quality depending on several factors, which might include urban or rural location, part of the country, or popularity or size of the flea market. The car boot sale is similar to a flea market, but is more popular in the United Kingdom.
The vast majority of flea markets in rural areas sell goods that are second-hand. Larger selections of newer but usually inexpensive items can be found at some of the larger or more urban flea markets. They have also sometimes been used as an outlet for bootleg movies and music or counterfeit goods ranging from clothing, shoes, handbags, fragrances,etc. The semi-spontaneous nature and vendor-oriented open-market layouts of flea markets usually differentiate them from thrift stores. Some flea markets offer concerts and carnival-type events to attract shoppers.
Flea markets have analogous specialty counterparts in gun shows and hamfests, both of which offer new and used merchandise for gun or ham radio enthusiasts. Like the general flea markets, gun shows and hamfests offer surplus goods.
Some television shows focus on the appraisal of second hand goods often found at flea markets that are worth far more than the buyer paid. The most popular of these shows is Antiques Roadshow in the United Kingdom, which spawned American, Canadian, Swedish and Dutch versions of the show.
