'How much for this love?' (Car Boot Sales)

Member Name: tafdog01

Product:	Car Boot Sales
Date:	26/08/09 (270 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap stuff

Disadvantages: It may break

Car boot sales, my family are split; I love them my husband can't stand them! It's actually a bit harsh to say he can't stand them because he likes selling at them, just not when I buy other peoples rubbish!
To be fair I have quite a lot of experience at these sales now, both selling and buying. I will try and bestow on you years of accumulated wisdom!

Selling: If you are a first timer try to visit the venue the week before (these are usually advertised in local papers) and get a feel for what prices things go for. You do not want to overcharge or undercharge for an item both are counterproductive. If you undercharge for something the buyer will often buy virtually your whole store for nothing, and if they are another stall holder they will then go and put it on their stall for twice the price. This can be really galling and happened to me the first few times. If you overcharge you can scare people off!
When you first get there quite often traders who do this sort of thing as their job will come over and start bombarding you with ' How much for this love ?' or 'Will you take a quid?' at this point it's easy to get overwhelmed and get pushed into letting something sell for nothing . If there's two of you one keep unpacking and the other sort out the traders, remember they want your stuff they'll have to wait.
If you are with a partner try and talk before hand about what price you hope to get for each item and what you really just want to get shut of. This will avoid the 'You sold it for how much?' argument later on! If you are not sure on how to price something have a look on ebay and then knock a bit off the price about 20%-30%, and remember most people will try and knock you down.

Most tables these days are around £7 and most venues aren't too strict and will let you put a clothes rail by your table for that as well. Try and take plastic carriers with you for people to put their purchases in and be aware that you'll need change for when you first start off. I would also avoid sticking prices on your items this seems to put people off.
As the day goes on you'll notice the crowds will ebb so adjust your prices accordingly if you don't want to go home with what you have got or if you don't have enough to do another car boot.

Buying: Recently venues have started to charge for entry to car boots, it's usually about 20p for adults or £1 per car so be prepared to pay. Also check out the start times as people often queue to be the first to the bargains so if your not that bothered leave it till 30 mins past opening and you 'll sail in .
Make sure that you look high and low; quite often people miss bargains hanging on car boots or in boxes on the floor. Again as with the selling if you are after something specific then price it on ebay before you go to avoid overpaying. If something is too expensive and you really want it, try again at the end of the trip, it may have gone but if not an hour is a long time in car booting terms and they may be inclined to reduce it again.

Bargains
Car boot sales really are worth it especially in these credit crunching times. People are more willing buy second hand and people are trying to sell to make some extra cash. Recently I've bought a Black and Decker strimmer rrp £40 for £3 in perfect order a bit dirty but that's all! I've also found a lot of books that people are selling for 20p 30p that are worth a lot more. My 2 best purchases were a child's book from the 1960's by a French author for 20p and it's worth approx £60! Not that I knew that at the time, I did however know it was worth more than 20p! A few weeks ago I bought a painting for £3 a print of Llandudno as I was staying with my mum and went to the car boot there. On closer inspection at home it was discovered it was the original and worth about £350! Obviously these are the best examples from 8 years of car booting -however last week my daughter picked up a Dora doll which I got her for £1 when I checked on Tesco website it was £25 all I did was wash it and shampoo her hair and it was good as new!

I realise car boots are not for everyone but I love them and if you are going to do one just to raise a bit of cash I hope my review has been useful to you.

Summary: Fab day out cheap as chips!