Car boot sale advice - updated 2013

Miss_Laid

Tutes24 wrote: »

Hi there

Could anyone help me with pricing some thing please. Im wanting to do a cbs in afew weeks but i will admit im a complete novice with it all:

PS1 and PS2 Games - £1-2
DVD's - £1
Disney Cuddley toys - Depends on size 50p-£2
Board Games - Again depends on what they are 50p-£2
Annuals - 50p
Ladies Tops £1

Thank you

You can always start a bit higher and haggle

d57

Those prices sound exactly right to me, you will always find some people have no idea though. Last week at my local someone was trying to sell old counterfeit dvds for £3 each while the stall next to him was selling newer originals for £1!

You can normally tell by the tone of peoples voices whether they're willing to budge on prices too, when asking a price a lot of people will reply like they're asking you if the price is ok. These are the one's you can get a good bargain from

I try to take a good mix of items to sell whenever i do carboots, infact one week I didn't have much stuff to take except a few higher priced items so i had a mooch on ebay local, found a mixed lot of tat being sold as a joblot for a tenner and ended up making £70 back from it with enough for another week at the bootsale too! It also helped get people over to look at the more expensive stuff

soolin

My advice on car boots..make sure you check how well it has been advertised before you attend, if it doesn't look busy when you arrive then turn around and go home before you pay.

I did one this morning, £10 a pitch and i took the grand total of £7.25, my neighbour commented that there were possibly more sellers than buyers. What a waste of time.

loracan1

I did only my second car boot in 20 years on Sunday, ended up in some forlorn corner with about 5 other cars and just about broke even. Don't think any of the cars near me got much business and a couple of the things I sold, I sold to one of them. Not sure whether it's worth trying another or to just accept I'm not cut out for this lark.

soolin

I've made a decision, I'm doing the big car boot at Dunton tomorrow. I'm quite nervous as I am going on my own as the car will be packed out (it;s the stuff that I took to the little car boot last week where there were no buyers) so my assistants are driving there seperately to meet me and will have to park in the buyers bit.

I've got a float of loose change and pound coins (again left from last week) so I am all set.

Has anyone done Dunton (Essex) recently that has any observations that I might find useful?

jtz

soolin wrote: »

I've made a decision, I'm doing the big car boot at Dunton tomorrow. I'm quite nervous as I am going on my own as the car will be packed out (it;s the stuff that I took to the little car boot last week where there were no buyers) so my assistants are driving there seperately to meet me and will have to park in the buyers bit.

I've got a float of loose change and pound coins (again left from last week) so I am all set.

Has anyone done Dunton (Essex) recently that has any observations that I might find useful?

I've never done it but I know it's mahooosive! Lots of sellers and if you're lucky and the weather's good, lots of buyers too.
Good luck!

soolin

jtz wrote: »

I've never done it but I know it's mahooosive! Lots of sellers and if you're lucky and the weather's good, lots of buyers too.
Good luck!

It's stupid I know as in my 'professional' life I have to speak at conferences and I've even given interviews for obscure TV programmes, but give me something like this and I go to pieces. I've actually got a stomach ache worrying about whether I'll get muddled when they tell me where to park, or that my assistants will never find me.

I can't face sitting looking at all this stuff anymore though and having wasted £10 on a smaller car boot last week I have to go for it.

flipper_2010

I was really nervous about doing my first one on my own as well! But once I got there it was fine it was more boring than anything not having anyone to talk to, but as you've got people coming to meet you, you won't have that.

soolin

For anyone thinking of Dunton be careful what you take. The buyers are mainly dealers, they want stuff that can be resold. All the bits and bobs I took were ignored, all they wanted was stuff they could turn round for a profit.

I sold named and back stamped china, small collectables and porcelain. I took several sets of Brio trains none of which were even picked up off the table. I sold barely read modern hardbacks at 25p, paperback at 10p weren't even looked at.

It might be worth treating it as a collectors fair, price your items and don;t haggle. People either paid what I asked or they moved on just as though they were buying in a shop.

fairydiamond

My advice is ''don't be offended''

I do car boots all the time, and no matter what price you ask for something, you'll always get people who say ''What a joke!''...and that was for 50p for a DVD! Some people will never be happy.

Oh, and make sure you check all your stuff before you sell it. I didn't check one of my DVD cases, and someone paid 50p for it, started walking off and opened the case to find the DVD wasn't there. She rushed back and started shouting abuse at me...like I had intentionally tried to rob her. It was a simple mistake! But very embarrassing!