Car boot sale advice - updated 2013

Luvly.cuppa.T

Hi all,

Am doing a table top sale this Sunday and have been clearing out the house in preperation. Now I've no idea how different the selling/buying experience is at a table top to a car boot, but even in saying that I haven't done a car boot in over a decade at least.

I'm wondering what to do with some certain items (see below), like how to price them, or even to sell them at the table top, or perhaps somewhere else. FYI I don't do Ebay so don't see that as an option to sell there.

I have:
bubble console with about 5/6 catridges and books
2 x different leap pads (baby one and next age group up) again with a number of books
a kids bubble police car
Liverpool curtains and light shade

I have looked at Ebay for prices- should I use these as a guide to sell mine by?

I also have toys, clothes, games, books and other odds and ends.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

soolin

A word of warning, watch for thieves!

I had several items stolen this morning including my most expensive item. That item was still in the car, I had shown it to a dealer who had said they might come back later and buy it. A short while later as I was still unloading my boxes i realised it had gone, and it never turned up again.

System

I done a boot in Basingstoke yesterday and made £65, i love doing them, my prices are very low i dont want to take anything back apart from the boxes, i sell my videos for 50p, i had a old garden fork for 50p and someone said they would give me 20p, i sold it for 50p later, as was said before you need someone to go with you as i have a weak bladder!!!!! anyway great weather great day.

Raspberry_Swirl

Deleted_User wrote: »

I done a boot in Basingstoke yesterday and made £65, i love doing them, my prices are very low i dont want to take anything back apart from the boxes, i sell my videos for 50p, i had a old garden fork for 50p and someone said they would give me 20p, i sold it for 50p later, as was said before you need someone to go with you as i have a weak bladder!!!!! anyway great weather great day.

Where did you sell? I'm in Basingstoke and will probably wait till after Easter to do one as I'm still sorting stuff out. Did a Sunday morning at the Vyne last summer and found that to be quite busy there.

lsmann2000

hi everyone
i am new to boot sales and looking for some advice.... hopefully doing my first sale next saturday... have a considerable bundle of size 8 clothing in good condition which i was hoping to sell, however i have read on various sites that smaller sizes dont tend to do very well? other things i have for sale are baby bits and pieces (bouncer, play gym etc), toys in good condition, bric a brac and toiletries... just wondering what others experiences have been? have read through the thread which gives some great advice! many thanks, Linda

annie-c

In general, clothes don't do that well at boot sales unless you are prepared to take low prices for them. But if you display the m nicely on a clothes rack and let people rummage I've found all sizes will sell.

Same for kids toys - sell them cheap enough and they will go.

The main thing I have noticed is that it is best to have a complete mix of stuff on sale so that if a family walks past there is something for everyone to look at. Stalls that just sell clothes OR baby stuff can be pretty neglected by passers by.

John_Pierpoint

Some of us at these polyglot boot sales can be a bit "shy" - so have stuff that kids can buy for 20p - some kids will talk to anyone and then you can talk to their parents and find then something to buy.

Polyglot means multilingual I'll have a go at talking "pigin" to anyone.:D

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pidgin

soolin

lsmann2000 wrote: »

hi everyone
i am new to boot sales and looking for some advice.... hopefully doing my first sale next saturday... have a considerable bundle of size 8 clothing in good condition which i was hoping to sell, however i have read on various sites that smaller sizes dont tend to do very well? other things i have for sale are baby bits and pieces (bouncer, play gym etc), toys in good condition, bric a brac and toiletries... just wondering what others experiences have been? have read through the thread which gives some great advice! many thanks, Linda

The only way I could get rid of tagged clothes last Sunday was to reduce them all to 20p, although I did hold out for £1 for a pair of mens jeans from Burton.

jwil

Where are all these boot sales where everything is so cheap? I want to come and buy at them

At my local boot sales (South West) even the dealers will bite your hands off for books at 50p each, dvds and cds you can easily sell for £1-£2 each, clothes easily £1 or more per item. I know people who regularly sell used paperbacks - nothing special and they shift loads at £1 each!

You very rarely see books/cds/dvds/clothes for less than these prices and if they are the stalls will be cleared of anything half decent within minutes.

I want to pay 10p/20p for things

John_Pierpoint

Are these customers the wealthy retired or something?

If wealthy and retired is not now an oxymoron.

Taunton (?) is a bit of a long way for me drive on a Sunday morning.:rotfl:

I find that in "rich" areas it is possible to get higher prices BUT the buyers are picky. I might as well go through the bother of Ebaying individual items.
When trying to clear a house it is better to get rid of stuff at knock down prices, to buyers that are 50% migrants, if the alternative is to pay someone to take it away.

John.

oxymoron: A figure of speech in which two contradictory terms appear together for emphasis, for example, "deafening silence".