A computer and electronics bazaar that sells new and used hardware and software on tables rented from the show's organizer, similar to an antiques flea market. Typically set up over a weekend, computer flea markets are sponsored by user groups or professional show promoters. More popular in the 1980s and 1990s, a weekend computer show often included a flea market with established vendors' booths inside the building and flea market tables outside.
In 1976, the Trenton Computer Festival hosted the first computer flea market in the U.S. Before the commercial Internet and eBay, flea markets were a primary source of hard-to-find computer and electronics parts. See
Trenton Computer Festival,
user group and
trade shows.