Car boot advice

skye_blue

Perhaps you should go to one to look around first and get a better idea of what its like, ask a few questions of the stall holders as they are usually a friendly bunch of people

firebubble

When you work out your prices ahead of time, consider what you need to make to turn an actual profit eg pitch cost, petrol, your time (?), coffees and bacon butties...compare that with your pricing (also allow for haggling). How much do you have to sell and at what price to turn a profit? 

Bear in mind what gets offered is often insultingly low (eg brand new item £40 with tags priced at £5, you'll be offered 20p), so don't be afraid to say no.

I love going to carboots, but gave up selling as I got better money selling my stuff online. 

kimp22

I did one on Saturday cost £10 to get in and made about £35. It was open to sellers at 8am  with buyers coming in at 9am by 11 everyone was packing up. It wasnt a big one only about 30 cars.
Going to try a bigger car boot in a few weeks.
I did have some one just asking if I had broke even because they where thinking of going he said on a good day he would expect to make a profit of £80 on the place he usually goes. But he had noticed people selling 3 t-shirts for a £1.

Kim

soolin

I’ve been watching a lot of YouTube videos about re selling on eBay and many sellers source their items from car boots. It might be worth looking at a few of those videos to see how they approach the sellers. I watched one yesterday , got to the car boot at about 5.30am and was immediately approaching new sellers arriving looking in their car boots offering money for stuff they pick out. This is what happens, you arrive , park up and the dealers swarm the car wanting to be first to rummage to get the best deals even before you have set your stall out.

It’s easy to get overwhelmed and take offers that are lower than you had wanted as it can be crowded and often very dark so you can’t always be absolutely certain what they are offering on. 

MSE_Laura_F

Now that nicer weather is on the horizon, let's have some more car boot selling tips please.

There are some ace tips in this thread from last year, including: ask questions of the stall holders, don't be tempted to buy more than you sell, plan your outgoings, bring a float of 50p and £1 coins, watch out for the descending vultures when you pull up.

Do you have any more?

I'd particularly like to hear how you display clothing. Would you iron things? Does anyone bring a rail and hangers?

strawb_shortcake

We've recently sold some clothes at a car boot, we had loads that we had been given, so just had boxes and let people rummage. We sold everything for 50p an item and did really well. The stall next to us wanted £5+ an item, it was all ironed and hung neatly and sold nothing - probably on part due to us selling cheaply. 

You'll also find people will look then, go away and Google what your selling to see what it's worth. If you don't know the value of an item spend some time researching before or whilst they are doing the same.

We are also loathe to take notes due to the number of forgeries that seem to float around car boots.

Tools sell really well. Saw a stall selling loads and loads of towels once or twice, the car was full of them, they sold out. No idea where they came from so I'm quite wary of what I'm buying and how legitimate it is.

wirdy

We always put out the slower-selling junk first & keep the choice items inside a box in the car until about an hour after setting up. By that time, the vultures have tutted & grunted at the meagre offerings for sale and cleared off to bother some other poor sap. Your choice items (tools, electronics, watches, electrical) WILL sell at a good price later on (quality will always sell) when you're not stressed out during the initial unpacking /setting up. This strategy has worked over multiple boot sales over the past 10 yrs. 

comeandgo

The field where I used to be involved with car boot sales could be wet and muddy.  I always took a few old carpet cuttings to stand on as I found standing on wet grass made my feet very cold.

GadgetGuru

wirdy said:

We always put out the slower-selling junk first & keep the choice items inside a box in the car until about an hour after setting up. By that time, the vultures have tutted & grunted at the meagre offerings for sale and cleared off to bother some other poor sap. Your choice items (tools, electronics, watches, electrical) WILL sell at a good price later on (quality will always sell) when you're not stressed out during the initial unpacking /setting up. This strategy has worked over multiple boot sales over the past 10 yrs. 

Never sold at a boot sale myself, but I thought it would be the other way round. Those who are genuinely more interested in purchasing would get there early to ensure they had first dibs at everything that's available before it sells. Those who are just browsing and not too bothered would come later in the day, when the 'good stuff' has already sold, to get last pickings and better bargains (from sellers who just want to shift stuff rather then take it back).
Then again, you've much more experience then me so whatever works!

jon81uk

IftiBashir said:

wirdy said:

We always put out the slower-selling junk first & keep the choice items inside a box in the car until about an hour after setting up. By that time, the vultures have tutted & grunted at the meagre offerings for sale and cleared off to bother some other poor sap. Your choice items (tools, electronics, watches, electrical) WILL sell at a good price later on (quality will always sell) when you're not stressed out during the initial unpacking /setting up. This strategy has worked over multiple boot sales over the past 10 yrs. 

Never sold at a boot sale myself, but I thought it would be the other way round. Those who are genuinely more interested in purchasing would get there early to ensure they had first dibs at everything that's available before it sells. Those who are just browsing and not too bothered would come later in the day, when the 'good stuff' has already sold, to get last pickings and better bargains (from sellers who just want to shift stuff rather then take it back).
Then again, you've much more experience then me so whatever works!

The vultures that are around earlier are other stallholders who are looking for people who don't know the value of an item and are hoping to get something cheap they can resell for a profit. Even if you know the value they would want to haggle down, whereas the public are more likely to offer a fair price as they aren't trying to resell.