Economic Valuation of Urban Informal Activities: Case Study of Flea Markets in Bandung Municipality

This study analyzes some social economic aspects of informal activities using case study of flea markets in Bandung Municipality. The objectives are to provide a description of the information we collected during our field survey, and report our findings on the Willingness to Pay (WTP) of people who are doing informal business in the flea markets under study on some services. We use Censored Regression Model to estimate WTP for some relevant services (general user charge, waste disposal services, security, and congestion) in the flea market. We found two important determinants of WTP, which are the amount of working capital, and the ownership of the merchandise.Flea market, informal activity, WTP

Community Flea Markets and Manner of Consumption in Urban Context

    This research aimed to study the evolution, existence and survival of community flea markets in the context of modern urban consumption of which traditional retailing businesses have gradually been replaced by emerging modern trade enterprises including convenience stores, supermarkets, hypermarkets and department stores with more standardized commodities and efficient tools to respond to the consumer needs. Indeed, the research also emphasized the role of flea markets regarding consumers – both in terms of physical and psychological needs based on the intimate relationship between buyers and sellers. Moreover, it also explores the unique characteristics of flea markets that affect its existence and survival in modern society.    A comparative study of two community flea markets.i.e., a morning flea market in a middle–class residential area and an evening flea market for the working class located next to a main street, based on observation and indepth interviews, revealed that the markets represented very important roles in generating three dimensions of consumption experiences among consumers including: 1) consumption of goods and services, 2) consumption of experiences and 3) consumption of social and cultural interactions. These consumption experiences emerged from the involved individuals within the flea markets – the buyers with other buyers, the seller and other sellers and the buyers and the sellers as well.    The present existence of flea markets in the modern urban context has resulted from a process by which the markets have been transformed into consumption venues provided with goods and services that cannot be found in modern trade enterprises. The close relationships between buyers and the sellers enable and assure consumer loyalty that eventually demonstrate considerable influence on the markets’ adaptation in responding to rapid-changing and never-ending needs of the consumers.Keywords: Culture, Commodity, Consumption, Flea Marke

An Ethnographic Exploration of Southern Norwegian Second-Hand Cultures

Master's thesis Global development and planning UT506 - University of Agder 2019n this era of online shops and big retail shops, second-hand markets still exist in many places, including in Norway. Second-hand markets in this thesis consist of flea markets and second-hand shops. Flea markets open in spring, summer, and autumn in Southern Norway. These markets are established by various communities, clubs, and organizations. Some flea markets are also opened by individuals. On the other hand, thrift shops or bruktbutikker open through year. Second-hand shops are also established by non-profit organizations or individuals. This study explores the culture of second-hand marketsin Southern Norway and will focus on flea markets by individuals (non-organization, non-affiliation), flea markets by organizations or clubs and thrift shops by organizations. The second-hand consumption are often related to recycling action and sustainable consumption. Second-hand markets in Southern Norway are not only a place for trading, but they are also a place for social activities and cultural activities. This study also critiquesconsumption behavior in Southern Norway. Second-hand markets become a paradox. Some people believe those markets support recycling action and environmental sustainability. On the other hand, the markets are impact onconsumerism in Southern Norway and inother countries. Key words: second-hand markets, recycling, sustainability, consumption, environmental, consumerism, parado

Fact Sheet on Puppy Mills and Flea Markets

Flea Markets are meccas for problematic puppy sellers. Since the USDA is now regulating commercial breeders who sell puppies sight-unseen over the Internet, flea markets are one of the last unregulated marketplaces for questionable puppy sellers, many of them unlicensed and uninspected. As a result, there has been an increase in the number of operators selling puppies at flea markets across the country—likely in an effort to escape government regulation

Advertising Strategies and Tactics Applied by the Flea Market Traders to Alleviate Poverty in Zimbabwe. Case of Mupedzanhamo (Harare) and Global Flea Market (Gweru)

The once city council mandated flea markets later linked to Small toMedium Enterprises (SMEs) by the Zimbabwean government to lobby for thesustenance of the then poor informal traders, have become booming business inZimbabwe due to advertising strategies and tactics applied by the small scaletraders in Zimbabwe’s urban centres such as Harare and Gweru in particular.Despite facing challenges such as arrests and demolition of their sites by lawenforcement agents and the city council police, these traders managed topressurise local city authorities who later introduced an orderly way of tradingby constructing vending bays. Instead of spreading their wares in the open toadvertise them, the vendors and flea market owners resorted to advertisingtactics such as posters, newspapers, bill boards, disco music, and town crying.Goods brought into Zimbabwe by cross border traders earmarked for flea marketsbusiness now fill urban  centres’ fleamarkets. Customers with different tastes for the goods on offer flood the fleamarkets as a result. Ironically, the once poor illegal flea market traders havebecome rich landlords, commuter omnibus owners and shop owners who now movearound in the city driving latest vehicles. It is from this background thatresearchers looked for advertising tactics and strategies that enabled the oncepoor illegal small scale traders to woo customers who throng their flea marketbays to buy all sorts of foreign goods on offer. The key research methods usedinclude onlooker observation, surveys, interviews, critical discourse analysisand hermeneutics of interpretation. The research found out that although theonce poor flea market owners now rich landlords and business people started assmall scale traders, city council and government’s interventions to formalizeand legalize flea markets resulted in booming business as advertisingstrategies and tactics were applied. The research also found out that fleamarket business is no longer a prerogative for the poor urbanites because eventhe rich business people have also joined to own and even rent markets as thishas become lucrative business. It was clear from the finding of this researchthat poverty, deprivation and vulnerability have become a thing of the pastsince flea markets have become sources of poverty alleviation in Zimbabwe’surban areas changing the illegal small scale traders’ status from rags toriches. The researchers concluded that Zimbabwe is likely to be a flea marketeconomy than a manufacturing economy. The researchers recommend that theGovernment should give full support to the flea market economy as it contributes50% of private centre employment. The Government needs to open up to foreigninvestors to revive the ailing economy. Keywords:Small to Medium  Enterprises (SMEs), advertising strategies, flea markets, poverty alleviation

Expensive to be a Female Trader: The Reality of Taxation of Flea Market Traders in Zimbabwe

The proportion of economic activities that are categorised as informal or small-scale is unusually high in Zimbabwe. Given the depressed state of the economy over an extended period, it is logical that the government is more actively taxing small-scale business activities. Specifically, in 2005 the government introduced a presumptive tax (a tax on gross income), to be paid by small-scale traders in some businesses. The presumptive tax was broadened to include more small-scale businesses in 2011. While increasingly more of the small-scale sector is being subjected to the presumptive tax, little is known about the impact of this tax on the traders themselves – particularly its impact on women, who make up the majority of small-scale traders in Zimbabwe. This study aims to unravel the reality of taxation in Zimbabwe’s small-scale sector by focusing on flea market traders. The research involved interviewing small-scale traders in flea markets around Harare and Bulawayo, government officials and members of a smallscale traders association, and focus group discussions with flea market traders. This paper analyses the different types of tax payments that flea market traders make, the proportion of their income paid in taxes, and gender disparity in flea market trader taxation. Using a representative taxpayer approach, it finds that flea market traders pay a higher proportion of their income in taxes than formal traders, and therefore taxes paid by flea market traders are highly regressive. Women who operate in flea markets are more adversely affected by taxes because they earn a lot less than men (and are thus affected by the regressive nature of informal taxes), and because the markets in question have more women than men. The paper considers the implications of these findings on tax policy as it pertains to small-scale traders in general, and specifically to flea market traders

No Questions Asked: Background Checks, Gun Shows, and Crime

The report, titled "No Questions Asked: Background Checks, Gun Shows and Crime," finds that criminals in the 18 states that require gun show background checks are getting thousands of guns each year from states without such checks.In addition, the report finds that "requiring background checks at gun shows will not affect the millions of enthusiasts who attend gun shows each year, but is clearly an essential part of a comprehensive strategy to make it harder for criminals to get guns.""This report shows conclusively that gun shows without background checks have become firearms convenience stores for criminals -- it's cash and carry, with no questions asked," said AGS Foundation President Jonathan Cowan. "This report also shows that background checks won't stop any of the 4,500 gun shows held each year, or restrict the rights of law-abiding citizens to buy guns." The study combines information from a broad range of organizations to get the best picture yet available of the effects of the gun show loophole. The information comes from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; reports issued by the U.S. Departments of Treasury, Justice and the General Accounting Office; news reports; gun show publications; and data from Internet sites of the National Rifle Association and the National Association of Arms Shows.The gun show loophole refers to the ability of participants at gun shows to sell firearms without conducting the background checks that licensed gun dealers are required to make under the Brady Law. An unlicensed seller is anyone who does not have a federal firearms license or does not sell for business. There is no limit on the number of guns an unlicensed seller may sell.Criminal background checks for gun purchasers are virtually instant: 72% are completed within several minutes, 95% within two hours, and only one in 30 lasts more than a day. The length of background checks is legally limited to three business days. The checks that take more than twenty-four hours are 20 times more likely to uncover a prohibited buyer than those completed within two hours, because when a check turns up a felony arrest it takes time to determine if the person was actually convicted of the crime. A felony conviction is the most common reason that a potential buyer is denied a handgun

Buy, sell and chatter: A case analysis of a Lisbon flea market

This thesis aims explore the sociocultural as well as economic significance of the modern-day flea market, as a form of alternative marketplace system. More specifically, the main goal of the research is to determine the motivation for participation in flea markets of different participants, from vendors to consumers, using an interactionist perspective. By studying these groups in details, I seek to explore the embeddedness of social aspects in economic activity and vice versa. The basic assumption is to put aside the previous notions of the flea market as a second-order system with implied inferiority, and to explore the potential of the flea market to both challenge and complement more formal marketplace systems, by comparing and contrasting the flea market with market venues that belong to the formal sector. Feira da Ladra in Lisbon, Portugal, the oldest a hugely successful flea market in Europe, was chosen to be the research site, where its economic participants were studied in details in various exchanges, using naturalistic observations, semi-structured interviews and a sociocultural perspective.NSBE - UN

Texas Puppy Seller Investigation

Over a five-month period in 2013, HSUS staff visited 16 pet stores and three flea markets across the state with hidden cameras to find out where they get their puppies and to check on the puppies’ conditions. HSUS staff also studied hundreds of shipping documents representing more than 1,400 puppies shipped into Texas between May 2012 and August 2013 from out of state, representing just a sampling of the thousands of puppies shipped into Texas every year for resale. Between the document research and in-person visits, investigators studied a total of 34 pet stores and flea markets. HSUS investigators found some pet stores misrepresenting key facts about the dogs they were selling

“This is fiver for you and you get two tenner” : Flea market demonstrate goods relation and passing the time place for flea market tourists

The purpose of my thesis was to portray the contemporary flea markets as a phenomenon. I examined flea markets by using three themes, relationship to products, cleanliness and the flea market tourism. The emipirical part of the thesis consisted of 11 interviews that covered all three themes and of observations made at flea markets. Interviewees were found through an ad posted at flea market Valtteri at the Vallila storehouses. Furthermore, I also found intervieewes when I had my own stall at flea market Valtteri on 15th November 2008. I wrote summaries of the interviews and analysed the information by themes. The relation to used goods and clothing is not unambiguous. At flea markets, products evoke personal memories. Sometimes the buyer does not even want to know the history of the item. Associating background information with the item can hinder the creation of personal connection with the item and thus complicate custody. Old or used products also create a sense of nostalgia. The most important thing is not necessarily the product itself or its history, but rather a personal nostalgic memory that is created. Cleaning used goods and clothes is a ritual-like procedure, through which custody of the product is taken. The aim of the cleaning ritual is to cut the bond between the product and its previous owners. According to my findings, especially the elderly may be suspicious about the cleanliness of flea markets. However, feelings of disgust, previously associated with flea markets, do no longer exist. It is very difficult to define and measure cleanliness despite civilization and public standardsystem. According to my findings, people gladly browse through flea markets in their spare time. A flea market tourist perceives the environment, the people and the flea market culture, which may differ from the conventional culture. At flea markets, the flea market tourist also meets his or her fellowmen. Although conversing and socialising at flea markets is often relaxed, the throng can aggravate tourists spending time at the flea market. In addition, spending time at flea markets meets the criterion of shopping, hence it can be difficult to leave without a “souvenir”.Tutkielmani tavoitteena on kuvata tämän päivän kirpputoreja ilmiönä. Tarkastelen kirpputoreja kolmen teeman kautta. Ne ovat tavarasuhteet, puhtaus ja niin sanottu kirpputoriturismi. Tutkimukseni empiirinen osa koostuu 11 teemahaastattelusta sekä Valtteri-kirpputorilla tapahtuneesta havainnoinnista. Tutkimuskohteena minulla ovat kirpputoreja käyttävät ihmiset. Haastateltavia hain ilmoituksella Valtteri-kirpputorilta. Lisäksi oma myyntipäiväni 15.11.2008 Valtterissa tuotti haastateltavia. Kirjoitin haastatteluista yhteenvedot ja analysoin aineistoa teemoittelun avulla. Suhde vanhoihin tavaroihin ja käytettyihin vaatteisiin ei ole yksiselitteinen. Kirpputoreilla esineet herättävät joskus henkilökohtaisia muistoja. Toisinaan ostaja ei edes halua tietää esineen historiaa, koska kontekstitietojen liittäminen esineeseen saattaa vaikeuttaa omien merkitysten siirtämistä esineeseen ja täten hankaloittaa esineen haltuunottoa. Vanhoihin esineisiin liittyy myös nostalgiankaipuu. Tärkeintä ei välttämättä ole itse esine eikä sen historia, vaan esineestä saatu henkilökohtainen nostalginen muisto. Vanhojen tavaroiden ja käytettyjen vaatteiden puhdistus on rituaalinen toimenpide, jolla tavara tai vaate pyritään ottamaan haltuun. Puhdistamisen tarkoituksena on, että tavaran tai vaatteen sidos vanhaan omistajaan onnistuttaisiin katkaisemaan. Aineistoni perusteella varsinkin vanhemmat ihmiset saattavat edelleen epäillä kirpputorien puhtautta. Kirpputoreihin ei tänä päivänä kuitenkaan enää liitetä sellaisia inhon tunteita kuin ennen. Puhtaudelle on vaikea määritellä tiettyjä rajoja kulttuurista ja yleisestä normijärjestelmästä huolimatta. Haastatteluaineistoni perusteella kirpputoreja kierrellään mieluusti vapaa-ajalla. Kirpputorituristi tekee havaintoja ympäristöstä, ihmisistä sekä kirpputorin kulttuurista, joka saattaa poiketa perinteisestä kulttuurista. Kirpputorituristi kohtaa kirpputorilla myös kanssaihmisiä. Vaikka toisten ihmisten kanssa kommunikointi ja oleminen kirpputorilla olisivatkin rentoa, voi väenpaljous silti ärsyttää kirpputorilla aikaansa viettävää ”lomalaista”. Ajanviettäminen kirpputorilla täyttää shoppailun tunnusmerkit. Näin ollen kirpputorilta voi olla vaikea poistua ilman niin sanottua matkamuistoa tai tuliaista