Show HN: Berlin Swapfest – Electronics flea market
swapfest.berlinHey HN,
After scrounging the local classifieds and our version of Craigslist to find pre-owned equipment and getting frustrated I decided that there needs to be a flea market but for electronics tools and homelab stuff. The Berlin Swapfest follows in the same spirit as the MIT Swapfest!
I’ve partners with a long time hacker space in Berlin c-base who will be hosting this event!
Would love for local hackers to come by and buy and sell their old gear!
Details on the site!
> find pre-owned equipment and getting frustrated
That's the problem - in the US there's an abundance of surplus electronics equipment at low prices. In Europe there isn't, and it's priced too high.
I.e. the problem is not the market venue, it's the amount of available stuff.
Berlin is special place. You can find there all kinds of awkward Soviet or German Democratic Republic gear. I don’t know what for though. It has no sentimental value for me and for real work it is mostly useless in 2025.
>I.e. the problem is not the market venue, it's the amount of available stuff.
Which is a direct consequence of the local purchasing power and consumer spending habits.
Consumer electronics are cheaper in the US, and Americans have a lot more disposable income and a lot more inclination to buy into the latest trend or to experiment with latest and greatest gadgets, even if they don't need it so the used market is full of great stuff at bangout prices.
Consumer electronics cost more in Europe and Europeans are also poorer and need to be more frugal with their spending so the used market has fewer new stuff at rock bottom prices.
Curious conclusions. Which data do you base this on? US median income is 5th in the world. There's Luxembourg, Norway and Switzerland before it. Consumer electronics are quite similarly priced in both places once you take sales tax into account in the US. Not to mention it's odd to talk about "European prices" in the first place. There's no euroblock-wide price fixing going on.
Average yearly salary in the US is about 60k, while in the EU average it's about 37k so of course the US as a market has a much higher spending power than the EU. Sure, individual markets like Luxemburg and Norway might be richer than the US average but they're also orders of magnitude smaller markets than the whole US. Scale matters.
Prices in the EU are higher for the same things.
Why then do you think Apple launched the Vision Pro only in the US and not in Europe if you think everything is the same? Why do gaming consoles first launch in the US and only after in Europe if the market is the same according to you?
It seems like the consumer electronics manufacturers know the markets better than you when they base their sales and marketing decisions.
>There's no euroblock-wide price fixing going on.
There is, it's called MSRP and manufactures have one for USA, Canada, EU, UK at every major product launch.
https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd....
You're arguing statistics and simultaneously need the difference between "median" and "average" explained to you. Sorry if I don't regard you as an authority of any kind.
Do you think if I were to switch the comparison from avenge vs average to median vs median, the gap would be significantly smaller to completely nullify my point on why major consumer electronics launches are always prioritized in the US and also why they enjoy more sales there vs the EU market?
You needlessly insist on pointless semantics in hopes of scoring a cheap "gotcha" over an argument you already lost while my point wasn't to prove you wrong but to share the truth.
Meh, there's no lack of consumer stuff, it's more the test equipment that's too expensive (logic analyzers etc.)
There's a lack of niche consumer stuff. Like not iPods and such but stuff like Commodores, vintager Macintoshes, etc
This sounds dope af. Also happy to see people here in the comments sharing similar events in their cities.
Kinda encouraging me to clear out my garage to bring new junk, err, stuff in there.
Related events in other cities? To start:
* US Boston / New England area -- MIT Swapfest, http://w1mx.mit.edu/flea-at-mit/
When I lived in Texas in the late 90s, the First Saturday Sale was a huge computer related flea market covering multiple blocks of parking lots in downtown Dallas. It wasn't primarily for electronics, but you could get a lot of stuff there. They certainly didn't turn away the electronics and ham people.
It was when people were still using phone modems, and I recall that every time a new speed came out, all of the businesses swapped them out immediately. On a couple of occasions, I was able to get a previous generation modem for like 5 bucks from some guy who had a trailer heaped with them.
Also, there were piles of Apple Macs shortly after System 7.5 came out. I barely had to buy any new computer gear during the time I lived there.
Weather-wise, I preferred winter, because during the summer, it got really sweaty and stinky.
Once at an MIT swapfest, I paid someone half price for a camera to “hold it” because I didn’t have the entire amount they wanted in cash, and they wouldn’t take Venmo. I never got the camera or any money back because he basically gave me the run around. Silly me believes in being virtuous in casual transactions.
Sorry that's happened. How long ago? Do you think there's a chance it might still be straightened out?
BTW, you probably know this, but just for HN: some of the vendors and shoppers will be calibrated a bit differently than average, so there might be miscommunication, or awkwardness, or different conventions, to get past.
A few years ago at Swapfest, a friend and I met up there, as vendors were packing up, and one of the vendors in the parking garage was having trouble starting their truck, dead battery. So, maybe because my friend thought the vendor might be averse to asking for help, she quietly went and asked another nearby vendor with a vehicle, if they could give a jump, and they cheerfully did.
(Friend is a former military officer, who had also gone to MIT, and who exemplifies some of the best of tech industry leadership, including Knowing Your Nerds.)
I didn’t mean any shade at MIT, or the MIT swapfest—I was just sharing a story. I also met some great people there, and bought some cool stuff, so I’d highly recommend people in the area to attend it at least once. Regarding trying to sort the camera thing, it’s long past now, and I don’t care. Maybe they really needed that money.
UK, near Luton, Dunstable Downs Radio Club car boot sale https://dunstabledownsradioclub.org/bootsale/
I used to live in the Boston area as a kid and dad used to take me to loads of ham radio swap meets in the city. I loved rummaging around the stuff and finding cool things to try to use with my Commodore 64 (even in the 80s, ham swap fest's had a lot of computer gear proliferating) I really miss the format but I just haven't seen them around for years (decades?) at least in my part of the world...
Here is a way to find hamfests:
https://www.arrl.org/hamfests-and-conventions-calendar
Note I have found searching by city and state is broken. You need to search by zipcode.
That’s where I got the idea! I was blown away at how cool that event was, I emailed with their team to get some tips for it as well.
The coolest part was someone brought a Gemini lander to sell!
* Silicon Valley -- Electronics Flea Market, https://www.electronicsfleamarket.com/
I started going to these last year and they’re great. People selling rackmount servers off the beds of pickups, bins full of spinning rust HDDs, everything you need to make a garbage homelab.
The first one of 2025 is on March 9th.
Toronto Hacklab has an occasional thing they call Junk Independence Day
We need one of these in Austin!
This looks really cool! Might do a few hours travel to join.
I did not know about c-base either. Are there similar associations throughout Europe? I'd love to join one — seems to have a very cool hacker-y spirit :)
Yes! There are several others even in Berlin, some of which are much more welcoming than c-base.
Generally you can find some sort of space in nearly every city.
https://wiki.hackerspaces.org/List_of_Hackerspaces
https://web.archive.org/web/20250214091402/https://wiki.hack... (mirror as the wiki is slow to load right now).
Thanks for this. I’m planning a tour of hacker spaces, maker spaces, and any DIY-related places across Europe in April and May. Will definitely be using this for my research. If you have any other recommendations for Berlin and surrounding areas, I’d love to hear them.
If there are any of these hacker spaces that are friendly for English speakers (my German is only A2.1 sadly), I would love to join one of them :)
Which other ones in Berlin would you recommend?
These are the ones affiliated with CCC in Germany:
https://www.ccc.de/en/club/erfas
Nice website design - with the tearaway papers to download...
Would love to see a follow-up on what interesting items were brought there...
Good luck!
That was our designers idea! Will pass on the nice words. Also will try to have someone taking photos to document it.
Our event person at c-base ligi also suggested to idea of having a small show and tell time permitting for really cool items that have a story to them.
Woah, this is a great initiative! I hope it works out. I regrettably will not be in Berlin that day.
It is really hard to get second hand electronics and equipment in this city if you don't want to go online. Sign me up for the next one!
Never heard of having to register in order to visit a flea market as a potential customer.
It’s mainly to figure out how many people are coming!
We have limited space at c-base and I want to be respectful of their fire code!
Sounds reasonable, especially for the first time such an event is held.
That makes sense. Where I live the large flea markets always have 1 or 2 local cops, and maybe a fireman to handle any emergency.
the berlin hackerspace scene would not allow police at their events
Nice! Might travel to Berlin for this.
Any idea how non-german-speaker friendly this will be? The hackerspace website is german only, but I'm hoping we can expect most attendees / sellers to speak english?
You'll be fine. Worst case scenario have the calculator on your phone ready to type in numbers.
I’m an English native with A2 German at best and have no troubles there!
A majority of events are in English there, one tonight was all in English as well.
Awesome, thanks!
Big city + tech focus - I'd be surprised if you can find someone that doesn't speak functional English.
Back I my days, on electronics or computer fairs , there were “trash seller” , where you could buy non-working equipment by weight , and we repaired some at home
I remember going to basically a traveling flea market of computer stuff that was hosted at our state fair. Endless vendors were there selling new and used items. Some were sketchy some over the top legit seeming. Felt like computer shopper magazine in real life.
It’s moments like these that I hate being a hoarder - just can’t let go of the dusty old gear lying around ;)
Btw one could get company sponsorship for a ewaste container so that one doesn’t have to take stuff back home - after all it’s the big companies that produce this stuff and then make it redundant. Perhaps ewaste could be segregated by company to see who is the biggest “offender” - I’m sure there’s many a Fritz box lying around…
Good luck with the swapfest!
Back in the day I loved to visit these kinds of shows in the Timmonium, Maryland area. Went to Gaithersburg once, too. If you were motivated to dig through cardboard boxes of cables and miscellaneous stuff, you could spend the entire day there. But as the internet grew they got smaller every year, to the degree that there wasn't much of a point anymore.
While I never got to one, I recall Columbus, Ohio having the biggest show in the mid-Atlantic. Wonder if they're still a thing?
Edit: Dayton, not Columbus.
And as it's slightly on topic, a brief humorous story. At least one of the two annual Timonium shows was sponsored by the local Ham Radio (amateur radio) club. This was common because (I suppose) the radio clubs were typically bigger and more organized than the computer clubs. When I was in my 20's it was a rite of passage for some of my friends to get their Ham Radio license.
Fast forward to around 2007 and my sister and I are driving to Phoenixville in eastern Pennsylvania for Blobfest. Getting off topic, but it's an annual celebration of the classic 1958 sci-fi/horror film The Blob.
On the way back I notice a sign on the side of the road that reads "Ham Fest Today". I go a little crazy, telling my sister, "Turn there! Turn there!! I have to see this!!!" We turn and it's a bust. The show was the previous weekend and somebody forgot to take down the sign.
We get back on the road. About a minute later she turns to me, completely innocently and wide-eyed, saying, "I had NO IDEA how much you liked ham!"
I'm definitely gonna attend. See you there!
Same!!
C-base is easily one of the coolest places in Berlin! I’m so going. Maybe I can grab a well loved laptop (sure I can get one from eBay, but this way I can give money to a fellow Berlin, c-base friend).
Berlin is still the ultimate hacker city. Great initiative!
Man, I remember going to swapmeets as a kid in 00s Australia. Online shopping killed it then, but I'm happy to see it make a comeback in one way or another - I have fond memories of meeting other enthusiasts and admiring hardware old and new :)
Already registered! I just happen to be visiting Berlin with my girlfriend on that day so I'll try and clear out some inventory (depends on the size of our backpacks and the amount we can take on the train). Thank you for organizing!
Excellent. Registered immediately and I sure will be traveling to Berlin for this.
My Dad took me to the Dayton, Ohio Hamvention a few times back in the late 80's/early 90's. It looks like they still exist. I didn't really have a lot of money to spend, but it was fun experiencing the culture and looking at all of the neat toys/junk.
Really dig that clicking the dates "tears" it off and downloads an event.
I've always wondered about the risk of expensive-to-dispose-of bulky waste ending up on site if the sellers can't sell - looks like you've taken account of that with the deposit system already though.
Hope it goes really well!
Thanks!
Yeah c-base crew was incredibly adamant about that, they used to have people leaving stuff there or bringing them electronics, they’ve got closets of switches.
As you said the deposit will handle it, worst case if someone brings a 19” rack that will be used to bring it to the tip
Would love to take part in this, but the date is unfortunately pretty unfavorable for me, do you have any social page to follow for the next events?
Update: https://bsky.app/profile/swapfest.berlin
We’ll be using this microsite for now for updates, but will likely spin up a bluesky account for the swapfest!
This sounds awesome. But it’s sadly the Easter weekend. Family has other plans on this longer weekend.
Same here. What a shame.
Will be booking a table asap! Have a bunch of stuff that can move on :)
Good luck! Waiting for this to be hosted in Frankfurt. Good luck!
yes yes yes!
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https://www.willhaben.at/iad/kaufen-und-verkaufen