Car boot sale advice - updated 2013

brettcta

i think i've got the bug

turns out a bit of a wheeler dealer

Mrs_Boo_Boo

Excellent news
Yes did a boot sale with my mum last week which we hadn't done in ages.
We sell absolute crap and sell it cheap. Our motto is it's better getting 10p than it going to the tip.The best was a kitchen roll holder which I was going to throw away the day before for 10p. We have a 3 strikes and you're out policy. We don't make loads £30 last week taking out float and entry fee,but love the banter and people watching. It always amazes me what sells and what doesn't. My mum emptied the contents of her garage once! Oddments of wood,tools,hardware etc.

brettcta

we split our stall.

my aunt was selling jewellery (bought en masse from ebay job lots), shoes and clothes. she sold 26 pairs of shoes.

the majority of my sales were bought from other stalls, marked up and resold. also put some of the bought stuff on ebay and sold on there whilst at the car boot.

soolin

brettcta wrote: »

we split our stall.

my aunt was selling jewellery (bought en masse from ebay job lots), shoes and clothes. she sold 26 pairs of shoes.

the majority of my sales were bought from other stalls, marked up and resold. also put some of the bought stuff on ebay and sold on there whilst at the car boot.

I'm also a dealer, around 50% of my car boot stock is business now. Just make sure that your car boot allows dealers though, mine positively welcome us but some don't like us.

iheartbristol

Hi Soolin, thanks for directing me here.

I sell jewellery online (through Etsy) and thought I could bring all my pieces with me to try and sell them. I'll be charging full retail prices and would probably be willing to be haggled down to 50%. I know the deal with CB sales and that people are looking for bargains but at the same time it's a good opportunity for my pieces to be noticed.

So people's opinion, will the risk of having a few things stolen be made up for by the fact people might actually buy something? Or will I be better of just keeping it all at home? Prices would normally be £25 for one of my necklaces so I'd be willing to let them go for £12. I won't be disspointed if nothing sells, I'll just put them all back online again in the evening.
(I'd have everything in a seperate section of the table with some flyers)

Also, I have this: http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/50133762 it's got a 'fuchsia pink' seat and a black backrest. GOOD condition, abot a year old. Auction is in North Somerset, any ideas on what I should price it at and what I could expect to get for it?

soolin

As you are selling higher priced goods it might pay you to visit the car boot as a buyer to get a feel for prices. The boot I use now encourages small traders and are quite happy that some of us sell business stock (I deal in antiques and collectables) but you might want to double check that your car boot is happy with professional sellers. We did have a CB locally that actually required traders to prove they were registered with HMRC as they had been raided once to often, but I think that is extremely rare.

I also sell jewellery, mainly vintage and have rarely got more than £3-£5 for a set and even then I tend to only sell a piece once in a blue moon.

iheartbristol

Thanks for the tip.

I think I'll leave the more expensive 'Steampunk' pieces at home and just take all the brightly coloured (cheap) beaded things that I make. If you're not getting more than £3 to £5 per set I don't feel it's worth it. I make swarovski beaded cocktail rings costing about 3.50 each to make and I'll definitely take those on a punt. I'll be asking £4 for them (or £7 for 2) and if I don't get offered that I won't sell. They don't sell particularly well on etsy and I could use the money. (Plus they look more sparkly in real life and i hope to attract the magpies!)

soolin

Without giving too much away about one of my own businesses I would say that steampunk does badly at car boots as the age of the browsers is wrong. Steam punk goes very very well if you are prepared to pay real money for a stand or display at comic fairs, conventions and anything to do with sci fi that attracts younger people.

iheartbristol

Sci Fi conventions have been recommended to me. I just don't have enough pieces in my portfolio yet to warrant the cost of a stall; one day! I thought it might pique interest at a car boot being a bit different from the norm, but I see what you mean about ages of buyers. Cheap beads it is!

iheartbristol

Well it was a total washout! Started spotting with rain at the start, got there around 6.30, but wasn't too bad. People had come to buy and we sold a few things (I sold about £3 worth of DVDs/CDs at 50p each and some craft supplies). Then the spotting got bigger and we realised it wasn't going to stop. Then it got torrential and we gave up around 9am. It didn't stop until long after the boot sale itself was due to finish so at least we made the right decision and due to the downpour, the organisers didn't charge us the pitch fee.

On the bright side one of the people I went with bought the computer chair off me the evening before for £10 so I was pleased with that. Took advantage of the ebay free listings weekend last night and put a lod of stuff on there, threw things out that had been ruined by the rain, sent £18 worth of CDs/DVDs/Games to music magpie and put the rest in a plastic bag to go to the charity shop.

I tried!