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[MSE Lawrence]

This is a special discussion as part of the

Boost Your Income

article, all about

Spotting & flogging items bought at car boot/jumble sales

which is part of the Flog what you've got: de-clutter section

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[mancrob26]

I used to make £2,000 a year extra selling stuff on eBay that I'd picked up at carboot sales. Mainly rare videos, that hadn't made it to DVD. But as more and more of them did, the money dwindled, and it was no longer worth it.

Probably took about 10 hours a week on average as well, outside the real job. Now that I've got family it just didn't seem worth it.

[before hollywood]

i used to buy and sell rare consoles from car boot sales, specialised in the nintendo snes console as i had a friend who was always willing to help me.

typically these were worth £20-£25 in top condition, to get them to that stage i would make sure the rf leads were in top condition then clean the outside of the unit with bathroom cleaner and an old cloth and the cartridge slot with a dry cotton bud, they came up a treat and the materials cost pence, i typically bought these for £8-10 and would sell them for £15-£20, small profit i admit but i had been known to buy one with 3 rare games for £14, and sell the games for £18 and the console for £15.

[LydiaSophia]

I do this but I have to say it is abit hit and miss. I buy old clothes and re sell on ebay. I don't make a fortune but I whack all the money I make in a savings account - more of a way of saving I supose.

I just love doing it - I am sad that I find it fun.

[essexgirl67]

Hi I make my living on Ebay
in two ways
one is carboot sales Musical instruments such as fluted clarinets trumpets guitars
buy for around £10.00 to £25.00 sell on ebay for between £50.00 to £250.00

Victorian wooden boxes especially musical ones by best buy was a small wooden alms box i paid 20p for and sold to a buyer in the USA for £395.00
How do i earn in the winter?
Easy i am a member of ATS distribution get an account as a drop shipper out lay is £5.00 but they send you approx £30.00 in goods as a joining pack

you then log into ATS find cheap items put them on ebay for twice the price you dont pay ATS until the item sells you then fill in the buyer address and ATS do the rest
On average i make approx £100.00 a week like this

One thing to remember with people that buy on ebay they tend not to look else where so play.com is also a good source whoop a fiver on the price of older tv series dvds such as last of the summer wine and whamo another £50.00 profit per week

Downfall ebay fees, down load turbo lister 2 open a photobucket account
place all pictures in photobucket and just paste the HTML code in to your auction
Load using turbo lister then you wont pay ebay for pictures or trimmed pages

If your new to online auction try ebid.co.uk this is totaly free unless you sell something but will give you some practice before doing ebay

hint keep auction simple
example Old wooden box poss late 18th century measures 10 cm by 10cm detph 5 cm, This lovely old box is seeking an owner who will cherish it

there is no need to go into detail if you have a few pictures

weigh all items then add 300grams before checking on royal mail for postage costs

I wish you luck i average £1000 pound a week earnings on ebay

[mini_baz]

On the ats site it says join up fee is £40?

[essexgirl67]

Hi sure was a fiver when i joined you are clicking for the drop shippers account? I will double check But was defo a fiver when i joined but i joined approx 5 years ago

Dont shell out £40.00 on member ship its not worth it

[HugoSP]

Before e bay was born I used to buy and sell car workshop manuals. I used to specialise in Haynes ones but did get offered the odd original BL Triumph etc.

I used to have a regular punter who would sell me what he had duplicates of and also give me a list of what he wanted. I just checked the list when I got a load of new ones in.

I never could retire on the proceeds but very quickly I got known as the man to ask before one went down to Halfords etc. If you work in a large company that really helps as you get loads of punters that way.

More recently I ended up with a number of slow movers so I simply lotted them to gether on e bay and got £25, which was more that I had paid for them individually.

I also had my own website where people could go to. I sold to such far flung places as the Dominican Republic, Japan, the States etc. I had one chap from Holland who would buy all the Citroen GS and GSA manuals I could get my hands on. The best thing about this is that those were among the ones that were virtually being given away by car booters etc all the time.

More recently, I flogged all the leftover ones on e bay and went back to having a life

[HugoSP]

Scrap metal.

I tend to gather more rubbish than most in what I do. Recently we just took possesion of a house where the seller left pretty much everything (with our permission) as he didn't have transport.

The cooker, the washing machine and various other ferrous metal items from the house fetched £7.00 at the scrapyard. The fact that I also had a small quantity of copper, lead and other stuff (I am a builder) meant that a trip to the scrap yard was in order.

He also left most of his furniture. Most of what he did leave got put on Freecycle, as it was not worth selling via the auction room but was still perfectly servicable.

[NewbieMoneySaver**]

I have so much toys, books and clothes etc to sell that I just dont know where to start.

I always plan to go to these carboot sales but never make it. I have never been to one to sell things only buy.

E-bay is so easy these days.

[painted lady]

This time last year I was making £400 a month on ebay, took me 2 evenings a week. Not bad as I was working then too. I had nothing to sell. Instead, I offerred a service for my friends selling their unwanted ites, I took a fee, usually a percentage unless it was a large item, in which case we negociated a fixed price before listing. Not as easy as it sounds as you have to decide what to do if item doesnt sell (you will still have listing fees). I even sold a car for my dad, made £100 just on that. Prob worth doing if you work for a large firm or can get a lot of potential customers. You must know ebay well though to do this, enjoy ebaying, sometimes the money was barely worth it for the effort required, must be good at book keeping and I ended up with items that were all over the house.

[chickadee cymru]

I've been selling books on Amazon for the past few months and after postage and fees am making about £80 pm. Not a lot o money I know, but I just enjoy books. What I was wondering is do I need to register as a business, or can I just continue doing this regular? My paid work is full time and reasonably well paid and i pay all taxes and ni there.

[alex£]

Originally Posted by essexgirl67

I wish you luck i average £1000 pound a week earnings on ebay

-Wow! That's a stack of cash! many thanks for the "heads up" on Ebay- I dabble in selling on Ebay with very varied luck. To make a real income from it must take some serious experimentation and research.

How much of your Ebay income is from drop shipping?

[skintbloke]

Originally Posted by essexgirl67

Hi sure was a fiver when i joined you are clicking for the drop shippers account? I will double check But was defo a fiver when i joined but i joined approx 5 years ago

Dont shell out £40.00 on member ship its not worth it

Just looking at your thread and saw how much you make, I was just wondering why you don't think the £40 membership is worth it, when you say you make a fair bit using that company?

Some great advice though

Thanks

[mippy]

I found a set of Carltonware Walking Ware plates in a charity shop for £16. Knowing that the plates with feet are rare, I bought them purely for eBay and made £250. I also bought some Strawberry Shortcake mugs from Oxfam for £1.50 each. Managed to break two on the way home Sold one for £2, which wasn't bad. The next one went for...£75. If only the others hadn't broke, I could have made £150 there!

[purplehaze_uk]

Hello Everyone,

over the past 6 years ive been buying things from the highstreet / charity shops / car boot sales and selling things on ebay and amazon.

I buy old books and cds tools craft kits cameras binoculars old computer bits picture frames mirrors.

New things i buy from 99p shops and poundland include wall maps language learning cds dress bags larger bras etc.

its best to specialise in an area you are knowlegable on and look out in the sales as sometimes there are some real bargains about.

I make on avarage £150 a week

Good luck everyone

Mark

[DFWJane]

Originally Posted by purplehaze_uk

Hello Everyone,

over the past 6 years ive been buying things from the highstreet / charity shops / car boot sales and selling things on ebay and amazon.

I buy old books and cds tools craft kits cameras binoculars old computer bits picture frames mirrors.

New things i buy from 99p shops and poundland include wall maps language learning cds dress bags larger bras etc.

its best to specialise in an area you are knowlegable on and look out in the sales as sometimes there are some real bargains about.

I make on avarage £150 a week

Good luck everyone

Mark

Wow! That's brilliant. We've got a new pound shop but when I tried to go in there yesterday my toddler threw a tantrum so we came home. Can't wait to get in there and see what they've got!
What sort of mark up do you put on items and do you sell as auctions or a set price?
I suppose experience and instinct tells you what will sell on.

[Andyman44]

I bought, just b4 xmas, a wade t-pot at a boot sale that was in a box of bits for 50p, I have just bought another wade T-pot (different from first one) from my local charity shop for 33p. I have looked on ebay & I should be able to get about £20 - £25 each for them. (got to set up ebat account first, which will do when I get my comp back from repairs & upgrade next week. Maybe not a fortune but I could earn quite a bit if I keep finding bargains like these.

[jmcdyre]

I bought some stuff from an indoor car boot sale a couple of weeks ago - I got an ET figure that talks for £1, and some weird looking cat bookends for £3. ET sold for £25, bookends sold for £19 (both excluding postage).

I'd done this as an experiment to see if I could make a little bit of cash to put away, and have a feeling this may become a hobby now!! Well worth a go if you want to make a bit of extra cash.