Car boot sale or market tips?

Dammam

Why not just put the stuff on Ebay? At least you wont have to worry about your sales technique.

idiot_3

i would have thought that if you were selling a lot of items the fee you pay e bay would be more than entry to a car boot.

mrcow

Car boot tips:

Take a decorating table and cover it in a clean cloth to set up your stuff. Lay it out nicely so people don't rifle and ensure that everything is on display. I've seen many a seller just pile all their stuff on the grass and have expected people to buy from them! They've gone home empty handed.

Make sure all of your stuff is CLEANED and mended where necessary.

Buy a packet of little price tags, and price up everything before you go. Some people will haggle, but many people won't, and if there's no price, won't give it a second look. Take the stickers with you, so you can drop/up your prices throughout the morning as required.

Get there early I'm talking 5.30/6am and make sure that you have a flask of tea/bottle of drink and some sandwiches with you. (You DON'T want to be spending money whilst you're there).

Get a friend/relative to come along for moral support and help with setting up/packing away.

Take plenty of carrier bags and at least £20 of small change. Make sure that you know how much you've brought, so you can work out your earnings.

Don't be shy........I'm always amazed at the old cr*p that some people will buy. It's great fun, and as long as you make your pitch money back, then you've lost nothing.

For details of local car boots, best place is to check out your local papers. The pitch money will be about a tenner, so make sure that you have that handy.

Pack some sun cream, unless you want a sunburned face!

Take something secure to put your money in. A money belt is best, because then no one can run off with it.

Make colourful signs for any larger/more expensive items, with any useful information in bold letters.

Put a smile on your face, it will attract people to your stall.

Don't worry about vultures.......if people are flocking around your car, you can just lock the doors and wait for them all to p*ss off to the next pitch before you start setting up. If anyone is intimidating you, tell them to come back later. Remember, you are in control.

Don't be worried about taking anything back home with you. What doesn't sell today, will sell next week.

In this weather, I'd pack a collapsable chair and possibly an umbrella if you can fit it in the car, as it can get very hot. You'll probably be on your feet for a good 6 or 7 hours, and it can be tiring (but it's well worth it).

If you're there mainly to clear out junk, then take any reasonable offer. I usually price my stuff quite low (mainly becuase my mother has a house of old junk that I am trying to deplete for her!). You'll get a feel for pricing as you go along.

VERY important.....check all your notes.....especially twenties, as there are fakes around. I personally wouldn't acept a cheque from anyone....but it's your call.

The main thing is to ENJOY it. It's great fun, and think of all the clutter you're clearing!

Good luck.

Rave

You'll need to be a bit more specific than 'London' when asking for recommendations. It's a big place, and on any given weekend there'll be hundreds if not thousands of boot sales going on . Check the local papers; if you don't want to take a risk then most are free or very cheap to get into as a buyer, just go to a few one Sunday to scope out which is the best, then go back to that one the next week as a seller.

I've done one boot sale as a seller; I wasn't intimidated by vultures when I turned up at all even though we were pretty late. I sold about £25 quid's worth of stuff, pitch fee cost £12 so profit was £13- not much, but since it was stuff I'd otherwise have thrown away I couldn't complain. It paid for a night down the pub:).

angela110660

I am doing a car boot this weekend. How we hoard! Found a bag of baby and toddler clothes which were my daughter's - she is now 9 years old. Had a little sad moment looking at them but will sell them nevertheless and make her a couple of quid to save. Clothes are still in lovely condition and it is sad that I shall probably be lucky to get 50p per item from all the cheapskates that attend the carboots.

skintchick

I did a car boot and people wanted to pay 50p for brand new clothing with tags still on! One woman offered me £1 for a brand new unused leather purse and I told her I'd rather give it away to charity than sell it for that, and I called her cheeky!

IMHO they are not worth the effort of getting up at the crack of dawn just to make a tenner and take most of it home again. Try eBay, at least you can do it from home.

mountainofdebt

Must admit I thought of ebay as well....

One thing to remember if you do go down the ebay route is be realistic in your postage charges - don't forget to take into account your packing expenses. Also I don't accept paypal (cos of the charges when you withdraw your funds) and what I do is when payment has cleared, I sent it straight to a credit card so it IS clearing my debt, lol!

rchddap1

OH goes carbooting every other sunday morning. He loves it.

1. It get him out of my hair
2. Its gets rid of the old tat that we don't want (although OH has started collecting tat from various places to sell)
3. He usually comes back with some cash that we save in a pot for hols, birthdays, emergencies etc....

All the above tips are very good ones. The important one though is to take a smile and have fun. OH is a very chatty person and will make friends with his customers / victims.

Callisto

Hi, I agree with skint chick! I have tried selling at a couple of different car boot sales, but people aren't prepared to pay the money for new/good condition items. I barely covered the pitch fee at my last sale as people weren't willing to pay much for items!

If you have old stuff you just want out of the way, then by all means try a boot sale. However if you have good condition clothing (especially brand clothing), books, household items etc, try Ebay. If you don't have feedback though, it is best if you try and build some up by buying a few small things first, as many people are wary of zero feedback sellers.

amanda40

I was at a car boot sale last week - browsing. One of the 'tables' was full of tat - ornaments but a few good things mixed through . The woman had stuck rafle tickets to everythig and made it into a tombola - you bought a ticket for 50p or £1 and every ticket won a prize. I though it was a great idea and her stuff shifted really quick. She also had a lucky dip for the kids, with parcels all wrapped up in paper in a box of polysterine balls - the prizes were sweeties, wee toys etc, but again went down a storm with the kids. Maybe worth trying!