Big fear is in getting flustered, not knowing how to price ..price too high, get laughed at, give away for peanuts, come away upset, relieved it's over, then get home and realise the money tub's been stolen.....lol!
I made £200 at the last one I did a few weeks ago from selling a bunch of stuff that I don't and won't use.
My one tip is to know what you are selling. If you think you have items that are worth something but you aren't sure research first on the net. If people don't think you know what you are selling they will try to get it at a bargain price.
I sold a load of computer items at my last sale, including a 18 month old graphics card (I know about computers, built mine and then upgraded the card recently). Cost me £120, wanted £35 but would have sold it for £25 if it wouldn't budge. Was going to pop it on Ebay if I couldn't sell it at the car boot)
People, mainly men, assuming that I was a girl and didn't know anything were trying to tell me it was years and years old, you could no longer get drivers for it (I had downloaded all the most recent drivers off the Nvidia website and included them on a dvd) and it wouldn't work with W7 (it did, I had it on Vista and W7 ). One guy tried telling me the "connections were funny" and he would have to get converters which cost £10 each and offered me £5 for it.
I told him they weren't funny, they are DVI as opposed to the older VGA connections, there was a DVI cable in the box and a converter to VGA if needed. Which, even if there wasn't one only cost a couple quid at most. He wandered off with his tail between his legs and I eventually sold it to a nice Man for £30 which I was more than happy with.
The novice, and even some of the more experienced car booters who should really know better, will often make the classic mistake of NOT using price labels/stickers on their items for sale at car boot sales. Most buyers are not daft and are well aware they are being weighed up by the above type of seller as to what they will be prepared to pay. When an item is priced up, people know that is the price everybody is being asked to pay and not just them because they look as though they have a few bob. I absolutely hate it when I go to a car boot sale and nothing is priced up. This alerts me to the fact that this particular seller is more than likely out to fleece me if they can possibly get away with it. Be honest and up front with buyers - they will really appreciate it and you will sell more.
There are other reasons for pricing stuff up. You will soon get fed up with people asking ‘ how much is that mate‘ ? If a particular item is picked up and then replaced a few times, you can always lower the price later on. If your items are reasonably priced to begin with, you will eventually obtain the price you want or close enough to it in the end. Beware though, because there will be a few real cheapskates who want things for literally nothing, just ignore them and wait for the proper car boot buyers to appear. Don’t be greedy though, and then again don’t just give stuff away either - afterall, you’re not getting up at 4.30am on a Sunday morning for nothing!
I did a recent car boot sale, making well over £400. Most of my items were priced up, and people were just picking stuff up and saying I’ll have that thanks having seen the price clearly marked on the item. The woman selling next to me was also doing the same amount of trade, again items all priced up. The seller on the other side kept looking daggers at us, because they weren’t selling that much - and none of their stuff was priced up. All they kept on saying to people was ‘ that’s a collectors item is that ’ or ‘ I paid treble that when I bought it ’ and even ‘ I’m selling it for someone else ‘. People were just walking away, and the thing was they did have some fairly good items to sell. I also suspect some sellers are frightened of pricing up their goods because deep down they know they are overpriced and they will put buyers off if priced up.
Be ready to haggle a little, and don’t be offended or become nasty to prospective buyers who make you an offer - however ridiculous. Just politely decline their offer, or state the lowest price you will accept. I have often made reasonable offers at car boot sales to people on items for sale, and the odd one or two have turned quite nasty. This is usually because they are becoming increasingly frustrated that they are not selling that much which is probably because their prices are far too high in the first place. I just chuckle quietly to myself when that happens, because they’re the idiots who are losing sales through their greed and stupidity.
Remember the old saying - failing to prepare is preparing to fail. With that in mind, I would also advise taking plenty of carrier bags for sold items, a money float (Some notes/pound coins), radio, price labels, pens, sellotape, display cards, rain covers/tarpaulin, flask/drinks and sandwiches. You have to get the stuff ready and into your vehicle and get up very early, but it’s a great way to make some extra money and really good fun to - weather permitting!
The last post reminded me, make sure you know what you've got. I picked up a real bargain a few years ago because the seller didn't know what it was they'd got. I ended up buying 3 relatively rare collectable model horses worth around £50 each on ebay when I'd cleaned them up a bit and that was without any original packaging, the seller sold them to me with a couple of other toy ponies for £5, thought they'd be a nice toy for my younger cousins to keep down the farm it was only when I got home that I realised what I'd got.
Outdoor bootfairs are much better than indoor ones.
with outdoors, there are many more stalls, much more parking spaces ina field, e.t.c........
only downfall about an outdoor bootfair, is if the weather is absolute rubbish and raining - hardly anybody shows up - so the weather must be almost fantastic, or at least slightly warm.
I did one last December to raise some money for my son. I felt I had some quite good things to sell including dvds, playstation games, books, a tv and even a printer. It was disastrous - I paid £8 for the stall and only made £30 - it wasn't worth getting up at 6.00 am, the heavy lifting, the battling against the early birds who harrassed us.
I ended up giving most of the stuff to a charity and put the larger items on freecycle - they were snapped up in minutes!
I will never do one again, and prefer to give things to charity.
Outdoor bootfairs are much better than indoor ones.
with outdoors, there are many more stalls, much more parking spaces ina field, e.t.c........
only downfall about an outdoor bootfair, is if the weather is absolute rubbish and raining - hardly anybody shows up - so the weather must be almost fantastic, or at least slightly warm.
I prefer the outdoor ones too. Also the bigger ones with hundreds of sellers rather than smaller ones with 20 or so. They may say you have more competition but you also get a load more potential customers passing. And it isn't like you will all be selling exactly the same things.
Never bring anything home either. Find a charity shop and drop the lot off there. I guarantee you won't miss it.
From experience, if you bring stuff home again, it just takes up room in the garage or spare room and unless you pack it really well you end up with crumpled clothes and out of shape books which don't look good and nobody will buy them anyway.
I bought a Hotpoint Twin Tub washing Machine from a Car Boot Sale for £10.00, sold it the following week on Ebay for £107.00
There are two reasons for going to a car boot sale as a buyer, you can have a nice stroll around, see what crap people have brought that they no longer want, grab an over priced bacon buttie and hopefully leave with some cracking bargains.
The other is seeking out the true bargains, from the people selling who know no better, then popping it straight on Ebay when you get home. Sunday is the best day for selling on Ebay too.
I have never, ever, experienced anyone trying to steal from my stall or my car boot. Maybe that's because we've been to well staffed, well run boot sales, or because I'm 5'10" and 15 stones.
The early hagglers who descent on you will go away when given a firm but fair "no". They are hardly going to surround you and mug you.
Some punters will take the mickey with prices, but you are not obliged to sell to them. A couple of examples.
I had a milk saucepan and I wanted 50p for it. An Indian lady kept offering me 10p for it. I said it was only 50p to begin with and it's worth that. She still wanted it for 10p so I told her no, 50p or I'm not selling. She walked off. Later, a jolly African lady came round and asked how much. I said 50p and she got 50p out like that. She was happy with it.
I had a pair of speaker stands, only one used, the other still in its plastic. I assembled the one. I bought them for £10, I'd sell them for £4.One cocky guy kept offering me £3 for them. I wouldn't take it. He kept mocking me - "I'll be back at the end, you still won't have sold them and I'll have them for even less". An hour later, another guy came along and stood there for 2 minutes looking at the stand. Before I could quote him a price, he said "I'll take them for £5". Sold! and for a pound more that I wanted!
I would say have a look at the potential boot sale first, see how many people are buying, whats on offer and what people are selling items for.
Have a pasting table and a seperate blanket for stuff to be placed on, if you have clothes that are worth anything have a rack that people can look through.
Have a few items that will 'catch the eye' of the passing crowds.
Take some drink and food and something to sit on! Ideally do the sale with someone else so you can have a break now and then.
I would say have a look at the potential boot sale first, see how many people are buying, whats on offer and what people are selling items for.
Have a pasting table and a seperate blanket for stuff to be placed on, if you have clothes that are worth anything have a rack that people can look through.
Have a few items that will 'catch the eye' of the passing crowds.
Take some drink and food and something to sit on! Ideally do the sale with someone else so you can have a break now and then.
dont be afraid to say no to ridiculous offers!
And as someone else stated earlier, take plenty of carrier bags. People tend to buy if there's something for it to be put in and carried.
Comments
Suddenly Ebay seems so civilised.
My one tip is to know what you are selling. If you think you have items that are worth something but you aren't sure research first on the net. If people don't think you know what you are selling they will try to get it at a bargain price.
I sold a load of computer items at my last sale, including a 18 month old graphics card (I know about computers, built mine and then upgraded the card recently). Cost me £120, wanted £35 but would have sold it for £25 if it wouldn't budge. Was going to pop it on Ebay if I couldn't sell it at the car boot)
People, mainly men, assuming that I was a girl and didn't know anything were trying to tell me it was years and years old, you could no longer get drivers for it (I had downloaded all the most recent drivers off the Nvidia website and included them on a dvd) and it wouldn't work with W7 (it did, I had it on Vista and W7 ). One guy tried telling me the "connections were funny" and he would have to get converters which cost £10 each and offered me £5 for it.
I told him they weren't funny, they are DVI as opposed to the older VGA connections, there was a DVI cable in the box and a converter to VGA if needed. Which, even if there wasn't one only cost a couple quid at most. He wandered off with his tail between his legs and I eventually sold it to a nice Man for £30 which I was more than happy with.
There are other reasons for pricing stuff up. You will soon get fed up with people asking ‘ how much is that mate‘ ? If a particular item is picked up and then replaced a few times, you can always lower the price later on. If your items are reasonably priced to begin with, you will eventually obtain the price you want or close enough to it in the end. Beware though, because there will be a few real cheapskates who want things for literally nothing, just ignore them and wait for the proper car boot buyers to appear. Don’t be greedy though, and then again don’t just give stuff away either - afterall, you’re not getting up at 4.30am on a Sunday morning for nothing!
I did a recent car boot sale, making well over £400. Most of my items were priced up, and people were just picking stuff up and saying I’ll have that thanks having seen the price clearly marked on the item. The woman selling next to me was also doing the same amount of trade, again items all priced up. The seller on the other side kept looking daggers at us, because they weren’t selling that much - and none of their stuff was priced up. All they kept on saying to people was ‘ that’s a collectors item is that ’ or ‘ I paid treble that when I bought it ’ and even ‘ I’m selling it for someone else ‘. People were just walking away, and the thing was they did have some fairly good items to sell. I also suspect some sellers are frightened of pricing up their goods because deep down they know they are overpriced and they will put buyers off if priced up.
Be ready to haggle a little, and don’t be offended or become nasty to prospective buyers who make you an offer - however ridiculous. Just politely decline their offer, or state the lowest price you will accept. I have often made reasonable offers at car boot sales to people on items for sale, and the odd one or two have turned quite nasty. This is usually because they are becoming increasingly frustrated that they are not selling that much which is probably because their prices are far too high in the first place. I just chuckle quietly to myself when that happens, because they’re the idiots who are losing sales through their greed and stupidity.
Remember the old saying - failing to prepare is preparing to fail. With that in mind, I would also advise taking plenty of carrier bags for sold items, a money float (Some notes/pound coins), radio, price labels, pens, sellotape, display cards, rain covers/tarpaulin, flask/drinks and sandwiches. You have to get the stuff ready and into your vehicle and get up very early, but it’s a great way to make some extra money and really good fun to - weather permitting!
with outdoors, there are many more stalls, much more parking spaces ina field, e.t.c........
only downfall about an outdoor bootfair, is if the weather is absolute rubbish and raining - hardly anybody shows up - so the weather must be almost fantastic, or at least slightly warm.
I ended up giving most of the stuff to a charity and put the larger items on freecycle - they were snapped up in minutes!
I will never do one again, and prefer to give things to charity.
I prefer the outdoor ones too. Also the bigger ones with hundreds of sellers rather than smaller ones with 20 or so. They may say you have more competition but you also get a load more potential customers passing. And it isn't like you will all be selling exactly the same things.
From experience, if you bring stuff home again, it just takes up room in the garage or spare room and unless you pack it really well you end up with crumpled clothes and out of shape books which don't look good and nobody will buy them anyway.
There are two reasons for going to a car boot sale as a buyer, you can have a nice stroll around, see what crap people have brought that they no longer want, grab an over priced bacon buttie and hopefully leave with some cracking bargains.
The other is seeking out the true bargains, from the people selling who know no better, then popping it straight on Ebay when you get home. Sunday is the best day for selling on Ebay too.
Fair enough, I wasn't trying to be rude either.
The early hagglers who descent on you will go away when given a firm but fair "no". They are hardly going to surround you and mug you.
Some punters will take the mickey with prices, but you are not obliged to sell to them. A couple of examples.
I had a milk saucepan and I wanted 50p for it. An Indian lady kept offering me 10p for it. I said it was only 50p to begin with and it's worth that. She still wanted it for 10p so I told her no, 50p or I'm not selling. She walked off. Later, a jolly African lady came round and asked how much. I said 50p and she got 50p out like that. She was happy with it.
I had a pair of speaker stands, only one used, the other still in its plastic. I assembled the one. I bought them for £10, I'd sell them for £4.One cocky guy kept offering me £3 for them. I wouldn't take it. He kept mocking me - "I'll be back at the end, you still won't have sold them and I'll have them for even less". An hour later, another guy came along and stood there for 2 minutes looking at the stand. Before I could quote him a price, he said "I'll take them for £5". Sold! and for a pound more that I wanted!
That cocky guy never came back.
I would say have a look at the potential boot sale first, see how many people are buying, whats on offer and what people are selling items for.
Have a pasting table and a seperate blanket for stuff to be placed on, if you have clothes that are worth anything have a rack that people can look through.
Have a few items that will 'catch the eye' of the passing crowds.
Take some drink and food and something to sit on! Ideally do the sale with someone else so you can have a break now and then.
dont be afraid to say no to ridiculous offers!
And as someone else stated earlier, take plenty of carrier bags. People tend to buy if there's something for it to be put in and carried.