Huckster

In Scotland, the term huckster referred to a person, usually a woman, who bought goods, watered them down, and resold them in tiny quantity to others who were too poor to buy quality products available at market value. These items tended to be in the poorer quality range since economy was paramount. Scots burghs often felt the need to control hucksters because they operated without a stall, on the economic fringes. In particular, they were subject of accusations of forestalling, in this case the practice of buying goods wholesale, "before the stall" and therefore before tax was paid.

In England and Europe during the medieval period, the term 'huckster' was synonymous with peddler. Hucksters and peddlers belonged to a broad group of resellers who purchased surplus stocks from weekly provincial markets and fairs and then resold them at larger daily markets or engaged in door-to-door selling.

Over time, the distinction between hucksters and peddlers became more pronounced. During the medieval period, the term, huckster, came to refer to market-based food vendors while peddlers referred to itinerant vendors of a wide range of merchandise. Hucksters were often women, who dealt in low-priced goods such as meat, poultry, dairy, bread and baked goods including pies and pastries. They sourced raw materials from their own holdings or purchased goods from other sellers, and carried their products to the market place in baskets or on their heads. These women either lived in the market town, or travelled into the market place from the surrounding area. Hucksters were at the bottom of the market hierarchy, both in terms of wealth and status since they made only small returns. [4]

Luca Clerici has made a detailed study of Vicenza’s food market during the sixteenth century. He found that there were many different types of reseller operating out of the markets. For example, in the dairy trade, cheese and butter was sold by the members of two craft guilds (i.e., cheesemongers who were shopkeepers) and that of the so-called ‘resellers’ (hucksters selling a wide range of foodstuffs), and by other sellers who were not enrolled in any guild. Cheesemongers’ shops were situated at the town hall and were very lucrative. Resellers and peddlers increased the number of sellers, thus increasing competition, to the benefit of consumers. Direct sellers, who brought produce from the surrounding countryside, sold their wares through the central market place and priced their goods at considerably lower rates than cheesemongers.[5]

Hearing Before the Special Committee on Aging. United States Senate, 107th United States Congress. First Session. Washington, D.C. Serial No. 107-14.

In the Philadelphia of the past century the huckster was the man who came around with his cart of vegetables. The cart may have been mechanical or even horse drawn. He was the man from whom you bought all your products. The huckster made his presence known by crying out loud what he had to offer. In old time Philadelphia dialect, to say "like a huckster" meant to be too loud in one's speech.

The story "The Goblin and the Grocer" by Hans Christian Andersen relates that human nature is attracted to a state of happiness as represented by poetry and to sensual pleasure as represented by jam and butter at Christmas. Although the story has been mistakenly called "The Goblin and the Huckster," it has nothing to do with that term (pejoratively). The Grocer, through his haggling and bargaining, is seen as industrious because he possesses the jam and butter (sensual pleasure) and the student is seen as poor but happy because he appreciates the beauty of poetry above all else. Meanwhile, the Grocer's talkative wife and the cask in which are stored old newspapers both have plenty of authoritative knowledge to share but are paid little attention compared to the primal desires of humankind, which constantly compete for (the goblin's) attention.[6]

Hucksters want their claims to look like science for a reason. Science works hard to ascertain facts. But just looking like science is not the same as having all the evidence. Pseudoscience is like a magician's trick. It seems believable, but it is all crafty illusion. Douglas Allchin[7]

In science fiction fandom, the term "huckster" is used non-pejoratively to designate dealers in science fiction–related books, magazines and paraphernalia,[8] particularly those who deal at science fiction conventions.