First ever car boot sale - advice needed?

savingholmes

I'm preparing for my first car boot sale... Bought some stickers for 78p to price everything up. I have a whicker basket full of clothes to sell plus 6 crates of books, CDs, DVDs, computer stuff and ornaments. I'm hoping to sell the basket too. Need to fill another box with a 50 odd book set. Still need to sort some stuff out from my daughters room - when she's asleep:o .

How have other people found car boot sales - do I have a reasonable chance of selling this stuff? Is it worth trying to sell a large widescreen TV at a car boot or am I better doing that through the paper? Also I have a dressing table I want to sell - Do I have any chance of selling that at a car boot sale? I also have some shelving - where would anyone advise I sell that?

Son is getting on side too - he's selling a guitar, books, toys and playstation games so he can go to a concert Saturday night! :T

I was hoping to make some money towards my debts - but I think my brakes need doing....:eek:

Some advice and encouragement would be great!;)

angelflower_2

hey, congrats at looking at ways of getting rid of your 'stuff' and finding a way to recoup some of the lost money. I dont particularly enjoy boot sales although i do one or two a year. DD loves them though and she is a great sales person.

Biggest head ache i have found is when you are trying to set up, some people hound your stall and unless there is more than one of you, you may 'lose' stuff or find that you are hounded into accepting low prices as you are stressed.

Other thing is be prepared to be very flexible in your pricing. I often think something is worth more than i want to let it go for but can end up cutting of my nose to spite my face. After all, i dont want to take stuff home with me so towards the end of the day, i tend to accept anything!! LOL

Last time i did a bootie, i found clothes were particularly successful. Books, cds and dvds can be hard to shift. I get loads of people wanting books like 3 for a £1!!

Hope that helps a little, let me know how you get on!

barnaby-bear

savingholmes wrote: »

I'm preparing for my first car boot sale... Bought some stickers for 78p to price everything up. I have a whicker basket full of clothes to sell plus 6 crates of books, CDs, DVDs, computer stuff and ornaments. I'm hoping to sell the basket too. Need to fill another box with a 50 odd book set. Still need to sort some stuff out from my daughters room - when she's asleep:o .

How have other people found car boot sales - do I have a reasonable chance of selling this stuff? Is it worth trying to sell a large widescreen TV at a car boot or am I better doing that through the paper? Also I have a dressing table I want to sell - Do I have any chance of selling that at a car boot sale? I also have some shelving - where would anyone advise I sell that?

Son is getting on side too - he's selling a guitar, books, toys and playstation games so he can go to a concert Saturday night! :T

I was hoping to make some money towards my debts - but I think my brakes need doing....:eek:

Some advice and encouragement would be great!;)

Boot sales are always full of theiving hoards who pounce in packs as soon as the spy a newbie - be wary of light fingers

SouthernSoftie

We did a car boot a few weeks ago at a school, it was good sized one and very busy but never again. Too much hassle.
I'm lucky in that I have a clothes rail to hang clothes up, that helps.
Also watch people's maths, I had one lady kept picking bits up and saying this is so much when it was less than I added them up to be (Did Maths O level early so she picked on the wrong person for that lol).

I am now putting some of the stuff on Ebay.
For your larger stuff, try the free papers, gumtree, etc.

angelflower_2

oh also, make sure you take plenty of change and carrier bags

f1widow

hi - first i must say car boots can be a laugh and the following points are not intended to put you off - hope these points help
a)be warned about the people who say how much for say shoes you say £2 they say ah but they are for a friend and they might not fit can i pay you 50p I would answer "No" in the beginning i used to let people get away with it now i just say no - or the person who says oh ive only got £1 and pull a £20 note out - hmmmmm.

b)The next point is and this probably sounds extreme i dont accept £20 notes or definately not £50 notes (ive heard so many horror stories about fake notes ie the person who sold something for £80 and it was all fake £20's) its bad enough people doing this to you but when you desparately need the money its even worse i have also known children for example come to you and say have you any change im on one of the other stalls - i know it sounds mean but i say no - i think its one of the easiest places to hand over fake money - i just say oh i dont have enough change - offer to keep the items for the person while they get change - its a gamble that they may not come back - maybe try to judge the person for yourself

c)Ive noticed also that i have sold better many of the things you have mentioned on Ebay but can appreciate if you need money in hurry car boots can be the best - also have found that there are items that wont sell at car boots or if they do just for pence on ebay they will go loads higher

d)I agree with one of the posts which says about the customers who will totally add up wrong this will often happen if there is a crowd around you and it can confuse you - ive been caught out like this

Anyway dont be put off by my points - have a laugh - its a great place to people watch too ha ha - hope you do well and raise the money you need x

Chell

Before you sell your books and PS games check what they are going for on Amazon. You might only get 20p per book at a boot sale but a lot more on Amazon.

sara1880

i go to a big car boot sale quite often at Chirk and the larger items sell really well there, I think someone else already said it, but prepare yourself for when you open your boot people really do crowd round and start nosing as your unpacking it can be pretty intimidating, i tend t get my daughter to pull things out of the car as i stand watch and arrange stuff keeping the people back from her.

Good luck with it

savingholmes

Luckily a lot of my books I bought at the charity shop so I shouldn't lose too much value and might even make a profit!:rotfl:

I've found a collapsible table and a wallpaper paste table to display my stuff on. Does a hanging rail really make a lot of difference then? A friend has offered to lend me one but it reduces the amount of stuff I can take so its a trade off.

I'm planning to sell of some cuddly toys and action men - any idea on prices ?- lowest and highest eg Genuine Micky Mouse or Dr X.... I've got like a desert car that fires missiles and things too....

greenbee

If you know people who have been to the sale you're doing before, get some advice on what sells well.

Make sure you pack the car in a way that makes it easy to set up. Books, CDs etc fit well in those flat fruit/veg cardboard boxes and you can display them with spines up - they can go on the ground in front of tables.

Make sure you've got enough surface to display things on, and use quiet periods to make sure things can be see properly.

Take food/drink/suncream/jumpers etc to allow for all events!

A clothes rail is worth it if you can fit one in - I have a flatpack one that I use.

Take a chair or two (if you've got an old one, you might even sell it at the end!)

Lots of change - its worth sorting it out so it's easy to calculate if you're busy. Take a calculator and don't accept large notes for small items - tell them you can't change it and they'll have to buy something else Make sure you count your float before you leave so you know how much money you've paid after your entry fee.

Unless you really need something, stay on your stall and don't go round looking at other stalls or you'll come home with more than you went with.

Lots of carriers - people quite often take more if you offer a bag.

Take junk - you'll be amazed what people will buy (second-hand makeup, half-used candles).

Don't drop your prices until the crowds start to thin, and whatever you do, keep your prices high when people come round while you are still unpacking/before the buyers come in. They're more experienced sellers (or possibly traders) who'll sell your stuff on for more. Drop your price when you're packing up, so you don't have to take the stuff home - and make sure you've decided what you're prepared to let go for anything you can get for it, what you'd rather give to charity than let go too cheaply, and what's worth ebaying if you don't get a decent price for it.

If the weather's good, it can be a great day out, you can meet some great people as well getting rid of your junk. Good luck!

lincroft1710

Have done several boot sales - books don't sell especially well, although depends on what they are and price. Look at eBay for price comparison, but at boot sale will not achieve such good prices. Buyers expect to pay less than asking price so you'll have to haggle.Two points - don't accept stupid offers, but don't hold out for your price for the sake of a few pence and have to take item back home. Expect to sell less than 50% of your items, perhaps as low as 25%. Finally - when I calculated amount earned per hour for time spent sorting, packing, travelling, loading, unloading, attending, putting unsold items away, the net total was £3 per hour. Could you earn more doing paid work for those few hours.