Car boot sale advice - updated 2013

John_Pierpoint

ModernSlave wrote: »

I have been to the A3/Guildford (Nuthill Farm) one several times and been put off by thieving and fighting. The one in Shepperton is too small.

Please could you let me know your impressions of these ones for selling?

1. Surrey Giant - East Ewell
2. Hook Road Arena - Epsom
3. Apps Court Farm - Walton on Thames

Thanks in advance!

I've not been to Surrey this season, so my opinions might be out of date. I was selling house clearance using my estate car..

1. Surrey Giant - East Ewell
http://www.carbootjunction.com/car-boot-by-county-listing.php?id=7502
Have not been to this one.

2. Hook Road Arena - Epsom
This I found to be good:
Not on every week.
Too late for this year but it might be possible to cover Sunday and Monday bank holiday without unloading the car.
Some large local authority housing estates to provide plenty of buyers.
Get there early - a queue can develop of sellers cars and space might run out.

3. Apps Court Farm - Walton on Thames
Venue can move about (see my explanation in previous posting).
Very big and well organised - can handle a massive influx of sellers.
BUT as explained in my previous posting you can find yourself selling to relatively rich people - OK we all love a bargain but they tend to buy on quality not price. You bring your junk home again having had the star items bought.

If you have stuff you need to unload (as in house clearance) try

4. Wimbledon dog track car park.
http://www.remotegoat.co.uk/event_view.php?uid=2958
It is on hard standing and it is possible to shelter under the stadium.
Arrive early - can run out of space.
However the pitches are small unless you manage to be creative(ie get a corner pitch - sell off the bonnet as well as the boot - hang stuff on the perimeter wire mesh fencing etc.

5. Hounslow Heath.
0208 8903485 / 07891 265124 / 07990 616738
Decent sized pitch: able to sell from bonnet boot and all along the side of the car.
Nearly got mobbed by setting up the bonnet area as a bargain basement of " ........Don't ask the price everything is [STRIKE]£1[/STRIKE] [STRIKE]50p[/STRIKE] 20p ......" as the sale progressed and I continued to empty the car of the contents of cupboards.
The immigrant community quickly twigged the idea.

John_Pierpoint

johnson293 wrote: »

Wish us luck!

EDIT: Having read some other recent posts, have just reserved a clothes rail, cover for rail and a decorators table from Argos, as the wife says there are quite a few clothes to sell, so at least we can hang them and keep them dry if it rains.

The best way of presenting clothes is on TWO shop type rails and taping them together to make an "L". Beware of flimsy rails blowing over in a squall or when a couple of potential customers drag out a hanger at the same time. You might be able to hold the rail in place with bags of sand or tent pegs.

If you need to buy a table (I use a large sheet of plywood, that fell off a lorry plus two folding trestles but that does require a roof rack for transport) it is worth investing in the bigger better ones where the legs form a "V" shape, if you are intending to try several boot sales.

johnson293

Well, we have a load of stuff sorted for this sunday, including the following from in the house:

A number of pairs of Womens boots (virtually new)
A number of Handbags
Quite a lot of kids Clothing (boy)
Loads of Childrens books
A few Childrens toys/games (boy)
About 25-30 DVD's (all originals, but without original cases/covers)
2 digital cameras (both working)
2 or 3 mobile phones (all working)
A mix of hardback and paperback books

I also have loads of audio/video/computer cables and leads, including USB, Scart, Aerial, Power leads. Would it be worth throwing these into a box at say 20p or 50p each and just let people 'rummage'? Do cable like that sell at CBS?

Still have to get into the garage, as I know there are loads of books in there, and also a V-Tech kids learning console and games, and a Playstation 1 console, both in full working order, which may bring a few £ each.

We also have a box with quite a few Beatrix Potter colletable ornaments, which we bought for our son's nursery when he was a baby, but he's 8 now, and we have nowhere to put them, so are looking to sell them too.

We are realistic though, and not looking to make a fortune on any particular items, but moreso just to (hopefully) make as much as we can from selling/clearing as much as we can.

The Boot sale we are aiming for is Blaydon Rugby Club, near Newcastle, with a 6am start. Our son is staying at grandparents on saturday night, so just me and the wife doing it. Weather appears to be dry/bright up to now, so hopefully a good day for it too.

soolin

If the Beatrix Potter figures are a good make I would be tempted to list on ebay or even try a bricks and mortar auciton house for them instead.

Do a quick look at completed listings before you go

johnson293

soolin wrote: »

If the Beatrix Potter figures are a good make I would be tempted to list on ebay or even try a bricks and mortar auciton house for them instead.

Do a quick look at completed listings before you go

No, unfortunately they aren't the more expensive ones, they are the 'Border Fine Arts - World of Beatrix Potter Miniature Collection' ones. Think they were between £5 and £10 each bought new, and they don't seem to be selling for much on eBay.

soolin

johnson293 wrote: »

No, unfortunately they aren't the more expensive ones, they are the 'Border Fine Arts - World of Beatrix Potter Miniature Collection' ones. Think they were between £5 and £10 each bought new, and they don't seem to be selling for much on eBay.

Ah yes, Border fine arts- approx 25p each by the box load at auction, that's a shame. Car booters might not realise that though.

bacardi66

For those first time carbooters - a few tips from my first experience yesterday! Went to a sale in West London/Middlesex and was surprised what sold, what didn't and how much people haggle you down!

Wished I had taken: More carrier bags, we ran out early and quite a few buyers wanted bags. A flask of tea - it was chilly and as it was a busy sale it was hard for one of us to leave and go to buy a cuppa.

Sold well: toiletries and cosmetics (even ones which had been opened or weren't in boxes) men's and women's clothes, women's shoes, boots and sandals, tools like hammers & saws

Barely sold: books, hardback and paperback, DVDs & kids toys

And as for the haggling! We had priced most stuff up eg £2 for a pair of used but in good condition shoes (£50 new) the buyers were trying to get us down as low as 50p even though are prices were cheap to start with. Next time I think we will price higher.

We made £180 after paying pitch fees and had a good time - can't wait to do my next one it was great making money from stuff which would have ended up going to the 2nd hand shop or in the bin!

thanks to everyone on here for all the tips which came in handy.

johnson293

Did our Boot sale today, but didn't go the Blaydon one after hearing some not so favourable reports about it. Went to the one at Hexham instead, which also had a later start time (9:30 entry) and had a great day.

We didn't sell everything, but have stuff left for our next one, which we are planning for about 3 weeks time.

Stuff that sold well for us was kids toys - all of our sons Playmobile stuff went, along with a scalextric set and quite a few kids books.

Womens clothing sold well, and cosmetics and costume jewellery. Some boys clothes sold, but not as much as we hoped.

Overall, we made £135 profit, and its certainly whetted our appetite to do it again.

One thing we didn't plan on was the weather. We took our clothes rail with plastic cover and our jackets incase of rain.... it was a scorcher, and we both ended up slightly sunburnt! This probably helped with the crowds, and the boot sale was very busy.

As touched on above, one thing that amazes me is how people will walk away for the sake of 25 or 50p.

We were selling some M&S 'Lewis Hamilton' kids clothes, including a leather jacket. This jacket was only priced at £3 (original RRP was £50), but people didn't want to know.

We also had a boxset of kids books (about 20 in it) and we had marked it down from £5 to £3. A woman asked the price, and offered £2.50 - I said no, it was worth £3. She then decided she didn't want it, even when the person with her offered her the extra 50p for it. It was as if I'd insulted her!!

Anyway, looking forward to our next one, but will take to suntan lotion next time, incase the weather surprises us again!!

johnson293

Oh, and our Beatrix Potter stuff didn't sell well at all. Only one small piece sold, despite having quite a few out on display.

But we'll try again next time, and having had the experience yesterday, I already have some ideas for displaying/pricing certain items better.

I did notice though that once we priced quite a few items up, we began to lose the interest with people looking as they walked past but just moving on. Before pricing things up, they were coming over, looking and asking, and we could engage them better.

So definitely don't price too many things up.

soolin

johnson293 wrote: »

Oh, and our Beatrix Potter stuff didn't sell well at all. Only one small piece sold, despite having quite a few out on display.

But we'll try again next time, and having had the experience yesterday, I already have some ideas for displaying/pricing certain items better.

I did notice though that once we priced quite a few items up, we began to lose the interest with people looking as they walked past but just moving on. Before pricing things up, they were coming over, looking and asking, and we could engage them better.

So definitely don't price too many things up.

'Border Fine arts' is almost guaranteed to put any casual picker off unfortunately. I think it is a shame as some of the items are very nice, but they do tend to get churned out at bricks and mortar auctions at around 25p a piece by th ebox load.

I also find pricing does me no good at all, I think it depends on where you are selling though as some people report having prices helps them.