Charity Carboot Sale?

Wolff

I am currently working in an independent charity/community shop, and have been there for 2 to 3 months now, and working in the back just a few weeks.

One thing I've noticed is whilst they do recycle damaged, unsellable and unsold items if they can, quite a lot seems to be binned when in my opinion there doesn't seem much wrong with it. i.e. a very minor mark, stain or chip. And to me it just seems a shame to see it all go to waste, even if they're recylcing it... it's only around 7p per kilo.

Whilst I understand this is common practice in charity shops and they can't be overwhelmed with donations which won't sell, an idea struck me.

What if all unsold items from the shop along with all donations with minor faults/marks were kept and taken to a car boot sale instead, and offered cheap? Since the items weren't paid for, there wouldn't be a loss in that respect. And once you cover the petrol, pitch fee and wage for whoever is selling them, they'd possibly make some healthy cash as oppose to the 7p per kilo they might otherwise receive.

What do you think? Would it be worthwhile suggesting this? Obviously I want to go to the carboot sale and sell them since I find that sort of stuff mini-business fun. And like I said I just feel so awful seeing all that good/reasonable quality stuff go to waste.

I just have a few things to ask...

In an average sized boot sale on an average weekend day, how much money could you be expected to make? If you were selling a variety of books, films, toys, bric-a-brac, wall pictures, clothes, etc.?

Since a loss wouldn't be made on the items and that there are minor faults or nobody bought them in the shop, it means very cheap/competitive prices could be offered. Do these sorts of stalls sell most of their items. (i.e. A family going to a car boot sale one time selling all their "junk" cheaply as oppose to traders or a car-boot sale regular who buys and resells at higher prices.)

Overall how does this idea sound? If it worked it would stop good items go to waste/recycling, raise a lot more money for the shop and of course I could get paid per hour for it and even sell some of my own stuff. So it would be a win-win situation. Does it sound practical?

Like I said the shop I work for is independent, so it wouldn't be like the chain charity shops which have a set of regulations and policies to stick to. It would just need discussion with the manager, etc. I'm not sure if it would be entirely practical from my side in terms of where I would store stuff and how I would get to the car boot sale, but it's just an idea for now.

soolin

I see no harm in suggesting it if someone is willing to give up 5-6 hours of their time to arrange it.

I found car boots a waste of time last year and the poor weather didn't help. I was lucky to give DVDs and CDs away, books were mainly just donated to Oxfam if they didn't sell and clothes rarely made more than 20p a go. I sell partly as a business as well (the organisers allow that at the ones I use) and it was only the large bulky stuff like china plant pots- glass bowls, dinner services etc that made more than £1 a go- and 5 hours in a soggy cold field for £25 (after petrol and entrance fees) really seemd a poor deal to me.

annie-c

OP, have you ever done a car boot sale yourself or attended one as a buyer? Boot sales vary, according to location/weather/season as to what will sell and for how much. There is a long thread on here with plenty of tips and shared experiences that would be a good place for you to start your research.

I think there may be some merit in your idea and, indeed, there are usually a few independent charities who sell at my local boot sales. But as a general rule, torn/stained clothes and chipped dishes do not sell well at all; books/films can fetch as little as 10p each and can often be overlooked completely; good quality clothes, toys, bric-a-brac and small furniture items seem to do best but usually at much lower prices than the average charity shop, since shoppers at boot sales are foregoing the 'luxury' of being undercover of real shops and generally want a bargain and are often shopping for things that they themselves will sell on or gift to others.

As a general rule, boot sales are a lot of work in terms of preparation and sticking the day out; you need a car, an entrance fee, a float and ideally at least one other person to help out if the day is to be comfortable; you are highly unlikely to make enough 'profit' to generate a living 'wage' for the seller as well as a cut for a third party, and it is not unknown for sellers to go home having barely covered their pitch fees on a bad day, let alone having a wadge of cash in their pockets.

As an example of a 'success' story, a lady I have donated stuff to via freecycle runs a small cat sanctuary from her home and she sells donated goods to raise funds. She enjoys car-booting so she considers it a 'day out' and expects no profit for herself. She has an eye for what will sell and what is worth sticking on ebay, and everything else she takes to a car boot sale and sells at 20p to £1 an item, counting every £20 she makes as a week's cat food or a vaccination or whatever. She has a great time and keeps her cat sanctuary ticking along, but if you asked her to work out her hourly rate, she would just smile and tell you how much pleasure she gets from it all. That is kind of as good it gets for most charity car booters, I think.

cestlavie

think that's a great idea if you can arrange. one of my locals is really picky and bin masses because they can't store or can't be bothered to send/give to other shops. it annoys me that so much stuff is going to waste - some of it's great stuff eg unchipped ceramics and perfectly good books.

porto_bello

Good on you for coming up with an idea like this, Wolff.

I'd like to think that the charity shop manager would be thankful for the suggestion. Not being tied to a chain should help.

Though I have to say, generally speaking, charity shop managers tend to be unimaginative. Sometimes fly-tipping outside charity shops becomes a real problem where I live and one suggestion was that whichever nearby charity shop was open could collect the items and sell them - as opposed to the items get ruined in the rain or being pilfered for non-charitable purposes...

However, all that happened was that staff from the various charity shops endlessly bickered over which charity should have the money any fly-tipped items raised, over which charity needed the money most, over which shop had been first in the High Street, etc etc etc.

The end result is fly-tipping continues as before and the many bag fulls of items simply get ruined in the rain or stolen, long before they get on the shelves! The local charity shops must be losing a fortune! :wall:

Whiteknight

Wolff wrote: »

I am currently working in an independent charity/community shop, and have been there for 2 to 3 months now, and working in the back just a few weeks.

One thing I've noticed is whilst they do recycle damaged, unsellable and unsold items if they can, quite a lot seems to be binned when in my opinion there doesn't seem much wrong with it. i.e. a very minor mark, stain or chip. And to me it just seems a shame to see it all go to waste, even if they're recylcing it... it's only around 7p per kilo.

Whilst I understand this is common practice in charity shops and they can't be overwhelmed with donations which won't sell, an idea struck me.

What if all unsold items from the shop along with all donations with minor faults/marks were kept and taken to a car boot sale instead, and offered cheap? Since the items weren't paid for, there wouldn't be a loss in that respect. And once you cover the petrol, pitch fee and wage for whoever is selling them, they'd possibly make some healthy cash as oppose to the 7p per kilo they might otherwise receive.

What do you think? Would it be worthwhile suggesting this? Obviously I want to go to the carboot sale and sell them since I find that sort of stuff mini-business fun. And like I said I just feel so awful seeing all that good/reasonable quality stuff go to waste.

I just have a few things to ask...

In an average sized boot sale on an average weekend day, how much money could you be expected to make? If you were selling a variety of books, films, toys, bric-a-brac, wall pictures, clothes, etc.?

Since a loss wouldn't be made on the items and that there are minor faults or nobody bought them in the shop, it means very cheap/competitive prices could be offered. Do these sorts of stalls sell most of their items. (i.e. A family going to a car boot sale one time selling all their "junk" cheaply as oppose to traders or a car-boot sale regular who buys and resells at higher prices.)

Overall how does this idea sound? If it worked it would stop good items go to waste/recycling, raise a lot more money for the shop and of course I could get paid per hour for it and even sell some of my own stuff. So it would be a win-win situation. Does it sound practical?

Like I said the shop I work for is independent, so it wouldn't be like the chain charity shops which have a set of regulations and policies to stick to. It would just need discussion with the manager, etc. I'm not sure if it would be entirely practical from my side in terms of where I would store stuff and how I would get to the car boot sale, but it's just an idea for now.

Sounds like a good idea in principle with you trying to raise a little more money for the charity. You don't mention if you are paid for the work you do in the shop or if you give your time freely I have highlighted in bold something from your original post which concerns me.

I am sure you could sell the idea to the shop manager but you are potentially leaving yourself open to all sorts of allegations if you are selling your own goods along with selling goods for the charity -

Would the stall have any sort of sign or note stating that money raised will be going to [insert charity]?

Would it be you or the charity that covers the cost of the pitch - what happens if the charity does not sell enough to cover the pitch but your own items do.

What if you go back to the store after the event with majority of the good stuff sold but very little money being returned after costs are deducted?

forgotmyname

Selling stuff like that though. Are you selling on behalf of the shop or buying the stock from them and selling it yourself?

Just wondering on the legal aspects when you sell something and they wish to claim from your / their insurance.

If they dont sell it in he shop there maybe a good reason.

I contacted them to donate some furniture, Gave a full description of each item. and they said no problem they will collect it.

Sorted everything out ready for them to take the items away without hassle.

They turn up and start inspecting everything. They start liting what they cannot take. Which seems to be everything thats not fairly new and expensive.

They cannot take the bed because the mattress/base dont match. Yet will take the mattress on its own. It was fairly new and not a cheap one.
But will they find a buyer with a base to match?

Wolff

Whiteknight wrote: »

Sounds like a good idea in principle with you trying to raise a little more money for the charity. You don't mention if you are paid for the work you do in the shop or if you give your time freely I have highlighted in bold something from your original post which concerns me.

I am sure you could sell the idea to the shop manager but you are potentially leaving yourself open to all sorts of allegations if you are selling your own goods along with selling goods for the charity -

Would the stall have any sort of sign or note stating that money raised will be going to [insert charity]?

Would it be you or the charity that covers the cost of the pitch - what happens if the charity does not sell enough to cover the pitch but your own items do.

What if you go back to the store after the event with majority of the good stuff sold but very little money being returned after costs are deducted?

I started off volunteering, but one of the staff members left and I was asked if I wanted to take the job, so of course I took it since I was looking for a job. And a part time wage is better than none at all. That said I do put a lot of my own time into it by doing computer stuff outside of my working hours which is unpaid.

The idea of me getting paid for it would be because... on my side it gives me extra hours as I currently don't have enough to recover some expenses/loan from this year. And then of course looking forward to next year when I will be a student again and may be living away from home. I HAVE done a couple of car boot sales before with my mum, and I do enjoy the whole process. I quite like the business-y aspect of it and it would give me some extra experience. On their side, if it worked out and I made a considerable amount more than £5-£6 per hour with additional petrol and pitch costs, then they'd be making more money from it. As they only get 7p per kilo from recyclying and also can't recycle everything. I just don't like seeing perfectly good or useable things getting thrown out even if they are getting recycled. So it seemed like a good idea we could both benefit from.

As for the sign thing. I do have a uniform. I was debating in my mind if it would be a good idea or not. Since the shop supports my town's community and all the carboot sales are in outsider towns. I'd obviously set my own stuff up on a side table if I were to sell my own stuff to make sure it was obvious it wasn't part of the charity. However, I don't have many things to sell anyway. I'm just talking about the occassional things I find lying around. Hypothetically speaking, if their stuff didn't sell and mine's did (the little amount that I have) then obviously I'd cover the cost. Otherwise the "charity" would cover the pitch. It's not technically a charity, but has a similar function to raise money and donate it to the community.

As for the "good stuff", take in mind the majority of the stuff would be things which didn't sell in the store or slightly damaged or marked goods/toys which you see everywhere at carboot sales both of which would be recycled for less money than they could sell for. If it was approved, I would obviously try it out for a day or two and if it wasn't very profitable, then I wouldn't go again.

The store itself tends to make around £200 income a day in the shop from people buying goods. There's usually around 2 or 3 paid staff in the shop at any one time. If it's just me selling a bulk of unsold items from the store for around half the price, would that not create a good/fast turnover of stock?

I'm still looking at it from all angles. Even doing it voluntarily just to get me out of the house and have it as a hobby. But just trying to decide if the concept is worth suggesting and trying out and the likelyhood of it being profitable. Petrol costs I can't see being more than £6 or £7. Might even get a lift! Pitch fees for carboot sales within practical distance are between £5 and £12. Hypothetically speaking, if I were to be there for 5 hours and be paid, that's £30. Add the pitch and petrol, that's up to around £45. If I was able to sell £100+ each time, then I reckon that would be a good deal for the shop. I'm not sure about the likelihood of raising that much though even if I'm able to sell all the stuff cheaply.

Wolff

PS. I should also add, I'm looking at this both with a business mind and a sentimental mind.

Business mind...
- What doesn't sell in the shop can be then sold at the carboot sale for cheaper prices. i.e. targetting a new market with a different pricing strategy. Some of the items in the shop seem perfectly good to me, but I often feel they are a bit overpriced for what someone might be willing to pay. So they don't get sold.
- There's books, toys, bric-a-brac, videos, clothes and also art work/prints in frames which are often sold. The art I think might be able to make quite a bit of money as oppose to being recycled whereas most car boot stalls won't have many wall hangings I don't think. There were nice paintings/prints which had been up for month which nobody had bought and were being sold at £20. They were too big to be recycled, so they were just gonna go to waste. I feel someone at a car boot may be willing to buy those things for £5-£15?
- Of course it raises additional funds for the store, more than they would from recycling if it works. And I would make additional money too.
- There will be a good variation in stock to attract all customers, as oppose to just mainly unwanted kids toys which the children have outgrown, or a bunch of clothes someone can no longer fit into. I feel generic stalls would get a lot more customers since people would take the time to look and expect cheaper prices than a collector's stall for example.

Sentimental mind
- Seeing good stuff go to waste which other people might want.
- Cuddly toys getting put in the rags bag for recycling! Cue Toy Story 3 incinerator scene!

annie-c

You need to be clearer on whether the shop you work for is a registered charity or not. That has implications for whether you can claim to be selling as a charity at the boot sale.

You also need to think through the implications for your employer of setting up a stall at a boot sale and paying you to run it. Your wages will need to be run through their books and matched with employers contributions, you and your vehicle will need to be insured, etc. Any income you make will be taxable income and will need to be declared.

You also need to visit some car boot sales locally and see what is selling. The stuff you are talking about is not uncommonly sold in my area. And often private stalls will be selling stuff that has been carefully used by one family. You will be competing against that with stuff that has already been rejected by charity shoppers. £5-15 for a random wall picture? Not unless it is of special interest. More like 50p to £1 for someone who wants to discard the print and re-use the frame.

Wolff

annie-c wrote: »

You need to be clearer on whether the shop you work for is a registered charity or not. That has implications for whether you can claim to be selling as a charity at the boot sale.

You also need to think through the implications for your employer of setting up a stall at a boot sale and paying you to run it. Your wages will need to be run through their books and matched with employers contributions, you and your vehicle will need to be insured, etc. Any income you make will be taxable income and will need to be declared.

You also need to visit some car boot sales locally and see what is selling. The stuff you are talking about is not uncommonly sold in my area. And often private stalls will be selling stuff that has been carefully used by one family. You will be competing against that with stuff that has already been rejected by charity shoppers. £5-15 for a random wall picture? Not unless it is of special interest. More like 50p to £1 for someone who wants to discard the print and re-use the frame.

It's not a registered charity I don't think. Hence it's not a "charity", it just has a similar function in terms of accepting donations and selling them in the shop. I only used the word "charity" to make it less confusing what I was on about.