Discussion
Searched the forum and it would have been Holy Thread Resurrection from the date on some of the threads.
Anyway, went to my first ever car boot sale on Sunday. Council and what a zoo!
Reason for going was to scope it out - our study has become a dumping ground for our junk, and we need to get it emptied and decorated by July because Vikingette2 will be WFH 3 days a week in her sandwich placement. CBA with eBay or FB and possibly too good for the charity shop.
Observations:
(1) Everyone has to get drunk so that they are unable to walk in a straight line.
(2) You must bring your extended family and walk around 6 abreast.
(3) People walking their dogs need to stop letting the leash extend
(4) Semi-pros selling the same household tat as Poundland for the same prices.
(5) Tools and power tools are popular, as are baby stuff, bikes are popular but seem stolen.
(6) Every other person is an Eastern European - the Kabano stall was very popular.
(7) The state of 70% of stuff is appalling. How do people treat their stuff? For example a monitor that was so scratched it was opaque, and the piles of smashed toys. Nearly all the stuff I intend to sell is unmarked and has boxes.
(8) People leaving piles of unsold stuff on the grass and just driving off!
I think I need to try it once just to say I've done it, and never again.
Anyway, went to my first ever car boot sale on Sunday. Council and what a zoo!
Reason for going was to scope it out - our study has become a dumping ground for our junk, and we need to get it emptied and decorated by July because Vikingette2 will be WFH 3 days a week in her sandwich placement. CBA with eBay or FB and possibly too good for the charity shop.
Observations:
(1) Everyone has to get drunk so that they are unable to walk in a straight line.
(2) You must bring your extended family and walk around 6 abreast.
(3) People walking their dogs need to stop letting the leash extend
(4) Semi-pros selling the same household tat as Poundland for the same prices.
(5) Tools and power tools are popular, as are baby stuff, bikes are popular but seem stolen.
(6) Every other person is an Eastern European - the Kabano stall was very popular.
(7) The state of 70% of stuff is appalling. How do people treat their stuff? For example a monitor that was so scratched it was opaque, and the piles of smashed toys. Nearly all the stuff I intend to sell is unmarked and has boxes.
(8) People leaving piles of unsold stuff on the grass and just driving off!
I think I need to try it once just to say I've done it, and never again.
vikingaero said:
Observations:
(5) Tools and power tools are popular, as are baby stuff, bikes are popular but seem stolen.
Yeah, read all the stories about traders' vans getting broken into at night, then think again as to how there's so many tools and power tools available at the car boot...... (5) Tools and power tools are popular, as are baby stuff, bikes are popular but seem stolen.
You missed the part about people crowding around your car as you park up and going through your boot as you are trying to unload your stuff.
I used to go to quite a lot of car boots around 2010 when I used to look for things I could sell on eBay. It was pretty easy back then, people were quite happy to sell their collection of 90s consoles and games for a few pounds which I could then sell on for many multiples of that. You could buy sealed DVD boxsets for £1 and sell them for £10 to £15 (back when people still wanted DVDs.
My observations back then, things may have changed
1)There were certain people I saw at every single car boot I went to. One was looking for old military books and airfix models, one was looking for old train sets and one was there with a jewellers loupe looking for silver spoons. Eventually the organiser of one of the car boots I regularly went to started to recognise me and would point out people selling old consoles and computers.
2)Foreigners who seemed to come by bus and then leave with carrier bags of stuff.
3)Piles and piles of clothes and VHS tapes that nobody seemed to want.
4)Most people leave with the majority of the stuff they came with once the people like me had picked them clean of anything of any value.
I used to go to quite a lot of car boots around 2010 when I used to look for things I could sell on eBay. It was pretty easy back then, people were quite happy to sell their collection of 90s consoles and games for a few pounds which I could then sell on for many multiples of that. You could buy sealed DVD boxsets for £1 and sell them for £10 to £15 (back when people still wanted DVDs.
My observations back then, things may have changed
1)There were certain people I saw at every single car boot I went to. One was looking for old military books and airfix models, one was looking for old train sets and one was there with a jewellers loupe looking for silver spoons. Eventually the organiser of one of the car boots I regularly went to started to recognise me and would point out people selling old consoles and computers.
2)Foreigners who seemed to come by bus and then leave with carrier bags of stuff.
3)Piles and piles of clothes and VHS tapes that nobody seemed to want.
4)Most people leave with the majority of the stuff they came with once the people like me had picked them clean of anything of any value.
We wanted a few outdoor toys for our toddlers, gave the local one a quick go and gave up. It was mostly literal rubbish, stolen power tools or people selling new but weird stuff.
We also planned to get rid of a load of stuff and do a scope to see what to do
Everything seemed bonkers low in £, literally not worth my time
Now we sell anything with a bit of value online, the rest of the stuff gets put out the front with a free sign, always goes
There is a couple of car boots near us that are on weekdays, I can only imagine the stretched leggings and crushed Ugg boots there
We also planned to get rid of a load of stuff and do a scope to see what to do
Everything seemed bonkers low in £, literally not worth my time
Now we sell anything with a bit of value online, the rest of the stuff gets put out the front with a free sign, always goes
There is a couple of car boots near us that are on weekdays, I can only imagine the stretched leggings and crushed Ugg boots there
ThingsBehindTheSun said:
You missed the part about people crowding around your car as you park up and going through your boot as you are trying to unload your stuff.
I used to go to quite a lot of car boots around 2010 when I used to look for things I could sell on eBay. It was pretty easy back then, people were quite happy to sell their collection of 90s consoles and games for a few pounds which I could then sell on for many multiples of that. You could buy sealed DVD boxsets for £1 and sell them for £10 to £15 (back when people still wanted DVDs.
My observations back then, things may have changed
1)There were certain people I saw at every single car boot I went to. One was looking for old military books and airfix models, one was looking for old train sets and one was there with a jewellers loupe looking for silver spoons. Eventually the organiser of one of the car boots I regularly went to started to recognise me and would point out people selling old consoles and computers.
2)Foreigners who seemed to come by bus and then leave with carrier bags of stuff.
3)Piles and piles of clothes and VHS tapes that nobody seemed to want.
4)Most people leave with the majority of the stuff they came with once the people like me had picked them clean of anything of any value.
I used to do the same as you, but I started towards the end of the 90s when eBay was all just fields. I genuinely used to enjoy it. However apart from the occasional browse or clear out I haven’t bothered for years. A mix of eBay fees and people scanning everything with google lens to find out its value killed the opportunity for making money. Then they just became more and more miserable places to be I used to go to quite a lot of car boots around 2010 when I used to look for things I could sell on eBay. It was pretty easy back then, people were quite happy to sell their collection of 90s consoles and games for a few pounds which I could then sell on for many multiples of that. You could buy sealed DVD boxsets for £1 and sell them for £10 to £15 (back when people still wanted DVDs.
My observations back then, things may have changed
1)There were certain people I saw at every single car boot I went to. One was looking for old military books and airfix models, one was looking for old train sets and one was there with a jewellers loupe looking for silver spoons. Eventually the organiser of one of the car boots I regularly went to started to recognise me and would point out people selling old consoles and computers.
2)Foreigners who seemed to come by bus and then leave with carrier bags of stuff.
3)Piles and piles of clothes and VHS tapes that nobody seemed to want.
4)Most people leave with the majority of the stuff they came with once the people like me had picked them clean of anything of any value.
At the car shows/vintage rally type things there are always tool stands with the oldest/roughest/most useless tools available, the type of thing which came out your grandads shed when he died, having been last used in 1982.
I accept someone, somewhere, might be looking for the radiator hose from a 1970 Ford Pinto, but surely sticking it on eBay would attract a better audience than hoping the right person is walking past at 10am at a show in Stourbridge one Sunday morning.
I accept someone, somewhere, might be looking for the radiator hose from a 1970 Ford Pinto, but surely sticking it on eBay would attract a better audience than hoping the right person is walking past at 10am at a show in Stourbridge one Sunday morning.
I've had a lot of decent stuff from local car boot sales. I don't buy power tools from them, mainly because of the chances of it not working, some of the house clearance people have started bringing a generator to be able to demonstrate stuff working. I guess it depends on where you go - the majority of the people at the one I went to yesterday just seemed to be normal people trying to get rid of stuff. I'd be very frustrated with some of the buyers that I overhear - doesn't matter how cheap something is, some of them will always try to bid them down. Some of the things I buy aren't things I was particularly looking for, so I wouldn't necessarily think to go on eBay and search for them.
If you are not there when the gates open at about 5am you are wasting your time. All the good stuff goes in the first 15 minutes. Everything after that is all tat that nobody wants. That's why you get 50 people crowding around your car when you first turn up. The pro's are back home by 7am and listing their purchases on Ebay for 10x the price.
The traffic they cause can be problematic too. There's one run at the Park and Ride near Chelmsford on Sundays (when it doesn't run). The hold ups can run for a good few miles either way on the A12 and all the joining roads. How it's allowed to operate is beyond me.
A friend of ours used to buy up half used bottles of perfume and aftershave and flog these on eBay. Would regularly make a good few hundred each month.
The only time I've done one, we sold everything (including the trestle table) within 20 minutes of arriving at 5am. But the organisers wouldn't let sellers off the site until closing time (midday). Never again.
A friend of ours used to buy up half used bottles of perfume and aftershave and flog these on eBay. Would regularly make a good few hundred each month.
The only time I've done one, we sold everything (including the trestle table) within 20 minutes of arriving at 5am. But the organisers wouldn't let sellers off the site until closing time (midday). Never again.
StevieBee said:
The traffic they cause can be problematic too. There's one run at the Park and Ride near Chelmsford on Sundays (when it doesn't run). The hold ups can run for a good few miles either way on the A12 and all the joining roads. How it's allowed to operate is beyond me.
One of my local ones used to have cars parking on the verge causing all sorts of issues. A combined parking and iffy DVDs raid seems to have sorted it out, but around the same time the majority of sellers moved to the other sale where there is more parking space.droopsnoot said:
doesn't matter how cheap something is, some of them will always try to bid them down. .
Best one I ever saw went like thisBuyer: How much are these shoes?
Seller: £10.
B: I'll give you £5
S: No I really want £10
B: I can only do 5
Seller then looks at the shoes and says are you going to wear them yourself?
Buyer says yes.
Seller says well actually I'm in a good mood this morning you can have them for free.
The buyer just put them down without saying a word and walked off
. Very bizarre!
Edited by 123DWA on Monday 22 April 12:32
123DWA said:
droopsnoot said:
doesn't matter how cheap something is, some of them will always try to bid them down. .
Best one I ever saw went like thisBuyer: How much are these shoes?
Seller: £10.
B: I'll give you £5
S: No I really want £10
B: I can only do 5
Seller then looks at the shoes and says are you going to wear them yourself?
Buyer says yes.
Seller says well actually I'm in a good mood this morning you can have them for free.
The buyer just put them down without saying a word and walked off
. Very bizarre!
Edited by 123DWA on Monday 22 April 12:32
ThingsBehindTheSun said:
3)Piles and piles of clothes and VHS tapes that nobody seemed to want.
By the exit of the boot fair was a LWB Sprinter offering cash for clothes - the usual weigh and pay peanuts operation - for people with unsold stuff. He was doing a roaring trade.I went just to scope it out. I did see some cars where the owners locked up as they arrived and refused to unpack with the vultures circling.
I bought a nice lightly used caving bag for £8 (retail on eBay around £90) . It was £10 but the owner got fed up with someone wanting it for £3 and coming back constantly to argue his stance. Had a nice chat with the retired seller and offered him a trip underground if he wanted. That bargain and meeting the nice chap made the madness worthwhile.
We're quite regulars at our local but its a mix of dealers and locals. You can generally tell the decent people clearing out stuff they don't want, how they present the stuff, what they actually look like, their demeanour.
We buy clothes for the grandkids, you can get decent branded stuff really cheap, and some good wooden toys. There's a couple of good local nurserys sell plants cheaply, 4 for a tenner, the other traders tend to want top money for things.
Hit and miss. Often there's nothing, sometime you get a fair bit.
We buy clothes for the grandkids, you can get decent branded stuff really cheap, and some good wooden toys. There's a couple of good local nurserys sell plants cheaply, 4 for a tenner, the other traders tend to want top money for things.
Hit and miss. Often there's nothing, sometime you get a fair bit.
As far as I can see these days car boot sales are a complete waste of time.
Me and a friend went to the first one after covid. We thought that there would be loads of people clearing out the crap they've spent the last two years locked in the house with.
We both had a budget of £100 and the idea was to see who could make the most 'flipping' the stuff we bought.
My friend spent £2.50 on a burger. I spent nothing. We both came home empty handed. We got there early too. Most people were still setting up.
There wasn't a single thing worth having.
Racks of moth-eaten clothes. The old boy with the van full of rusty tools. A few boxes of DVDs and CDs. And lots of stalls selling dodgy cigarettes.
Every stall was full of the trash they can't sell on eBay. Find better stuff in the dustbins around the back of the charity shop.
Me and a friend went to the first one after covid. We thought that there would be loads of people clearing out the crap they've spent the last two years locked in the house with.
We both had a budget of £100 and the idea was to see who could make the most 'flipping' the stuff we bought.
My friend spent £2.50 on a burger. I spent nothing. We both came home empty handed. We got there early too. Most people were still setting up.
There wasn't a single thing worth having.
Racks of moth-eaten clothes. The old boy with the van full of rusty tools. A few boxes of DVDs and CDs. And lots of stalls selling dodgy cigarettes.
Every stall was full of the trash they can't sell on eBay. Find better stuff in the dustbins around the back of the charity shop.
r3g said:
If you are not there when the gates open at about 5am you are wasting your time. All the good stuff goes in the first 15 minutes. Everything after that is all tat that nobody wants. That's why you get 50 people crowding around your car when you first turn up. The pro's are back home by 7am and listing their purchases on Ebay for 10x the price.
This 100%. I would make sure I was there when it opened, I would immediately go around to each stall and quickly buy up the obvious good stuff. Other people are trying to do the same so you need to act quickly and it was always annoying to see another buyer with something good they had picked up as they had started at a different stall to you.Then it is a case of keeping an eye out for late sellers arriving and ensuring you are there as they are unpacking, I used to just ask if they had any old computers (the stuff I concentrated on) or Lego as they unpacked.
In between this I would walk around the other sellers taking my time, looking inside all boxes to mop up anything I had missed.
After an hour or so I would leave and in the evening list everything as I was watching TV that evening.
Monday morning my phone would go mad with sales, I could easily make £150 for a couple of hours work on a Sunday.
I was buying lose Mario and Zelda cartridges for 50p and selling them for £25. A carrier bag containing a Gameboy and games for £5 that I would sell for £50. I wish I had kept it all though as it is worth multiples of what I sold it for now.
The bargains were always from the milfy middle aged women turning up in an SUV wanting to get rid of all their Children's stuff.
Biggest bargain I ever missed was an old lady selling old dinky cars who sold a carboard box full of them for £20. The guy that bought them was literally running back to his car.
Edited by anonymous-user on Monday 22 April 13:59
123DWA said:
Best one I ever saw went like this
Buyer: How much are these shoes?
Seller: £10.
B: I'll give you £5
S: No I really want £10
B: I can only do 5
Seller then looks at the shoes and says are you going to wear them yourself?
Buyer says yes.
Seller says well actually I'm in a good mood this morning you can have them for free.
The buyer just put them down without saying a word and walked off.
Very bizarre!
I've been buying and selling hi-fi and audio gear since my teens and car boot sales were a huge part of this. I still sell at one, once a year the stuff that's not viable for eBay (if it's heavy but not worth much for example).Buyer: How much are these shoes?
Seller: £10.
B: I'll give you £5
S: No I really want £10
B: I can only do 5
Seller then looks at the shoes and says are you going to wear them yourself?
Buyer says yes.
Seller says well actually I'm in a good mood this morning you can have them for free.
The buyer just put them down without saying a word and walked off
. Very bizarre!
Edited by 123DWA on Monday 22 April 12:32
The Eastern Europeans are great as they love their tech gear, know what they're looking at and make fair offers. However, I've also had my fair share of oddball buyers, but the closest I came to injuring anyone was about two years ago, when an Indian gentleman saw my stall of audio gear and came up to ask if I had an amplifier for sale - I pointed him straight at a very decent Kenwood receiver (to clarify - a receiver is simply an amplifier with a built-in radio tuner) The ensuing conversation went something like:
Buyer: "No, I want amplifier"
Me: "It is an amplifier"
Buyer: "No, I want amplifier. It doesn't say amplifier"
Me: It's a receiver. This means it is an amplifier with a built-in tuner"
Buyer: "I want amplifier"
Me: It is an amplifier - look, here are the sockets on the back where you plug in a CD player, two cassette decks and a turntable, and here are the speaker sockets".
Buyer: "It doesn't say amplifier"
Me: "That's because it's a receiver. It's an amplifier with a built-in tuner. You're getting an amplifier with a free radio!"
Buyer: "No, I want amplifier"
Me: "IT IS AN AMPLIFIER!!"
Buyer: "No, I want amplifier"
At this point Mrs. D.R. is tapping me on the arm and looking concerned, so I took a deep breath and responded:
Me: "Ah, an amplifier. Sorry, I didn't bring any with me today"
Bloke walks off, casting odd glances back at me.
I wouldn't be at all surprised if he went home and told this nearest and dearest about the scammer at the car boot sale who tried to sell him something dodgy and completely unsuitable when all he wanted was an amplifier.
Oh, and to the OP - some simple advice. If you look at anything you're considering taking to sell and think "No-one would want that", make sure you bring it. It will be the first thing to sell!
Edited by Deranged Rover on Monday 22 April 16:52
Deranged Rover said:
123DWA said:
Best one I ever saw went like this
Buyer: How much are these shoes?
Seller: £10.
B: I'll give you £5
S: No I really want £10
B: I can only do 5
Seller then looks at the shoes and says are you going to wear them yourself?
Buyer says yes.
Seller says well actually I'm in a good mood this morning you can have them for free.
The buyer just put them down without saying a word and walked off.
Very bizarre!
I've been buying and selling hi-fi and audio gear since my teens and car boot sales were a huge part of this. I still sell at one, once a year the stuff that's not viable for eBay (if it's heavy but not worth much for example).Buyer: How much are these shoes?
Seller: £10.
B: I'll give you £5
S: No I really want £10
B: I can only do 5
Seller then looks at the shoes and says are you going to wear them yourself?
Buyer says yes.
Seller says well actually I'm in a good mood this morning you can have them for free.
The buyer just put them down without saying a word and walked off
. Very bizarre!
Edited by 123DWA on Monday 22 April 12:32
The Eastern Europeans are great as they love their tech gear, know what they're looking at and make fair offers. However, I've also had my fair share of oddball buyers, but the closest I came to injuring anyone was about two years ago, when an Indian gentleman saw my stall of audio gear and came up to ask if I had an amplifier for sale - I pointed him straight at a very decent Kenwood receiver (to clarify - a receiver is simply an amplifier with a built-in radio tuner) The ensuing conversation went something like:
Buyer: "No, I want amplifier"
Me: "It is an amplifier"
Buyer: "No, I want amplifier. It doesn't say amplifier"
Me: It's a receiver. This means it is an amplifier with a built-in tuner"
Buyer: "I want amplifier"
Me: It is an amplifier - look, here are the sockets on the back where you plug in a CD player, two cassette decks and a turntable, and here are the speaker sockets".
Buyer: "It doesn't say amplifier"
Me: "That's because it's a receiver. It's an amplifier with a built-in tuner. You're getting an amplifier with a free radio!"
Buyer: "No, I want amplifier"
Me: "IT IS AN AMPLIFIER!!"
Buyer: "No, I want amplifier"
At this point Mrs. D.R. is tapping me on the arm and looking concerned, so I took a deep breath and responded:
Me: "Ah, an amplifier. Sorry, I didn't bring any with me today"
Bloke walks off, casting odd glances back at me.
I wouldn't be at all surprised if he went home and told this nearest and dearest about the scammer at the car boot sale who tried to sell him something dodgy and completely unsuitable when all he wanted was an amplifier.
Oh, and to the OP - some simple advice. If you look at anything you're considering taking to sell and think "No-one would want that", make sure you bring it. It will be the first thing to sell!
Edited by Deranged Rover on Monday 22 April 16:52
Very clear in the advert what it was, a video and 20 pictures
Cash on collection from xyz - NO OFFERS
Some bloke messaged back and forth, I reminded him it was cash on and no offers
He turns up late and asks “where is the spare wheel and keys”
I said there is no spare and there are no locks so no keys
He grumbles away for a bit, then offers me half. I start putting it away and he eventually pays up and buggers off without testing the lights.
The lights were working in my video and on my van on the drive, i offered to test them on his car but he said his socket wasn’t working
Few hours later I get a bunch of abuse over IM calling me a scammer etc - I said “ok bring it back you can have a refund” as I had the measure of the spineless weasel
Never heard back from him
I’m guessing the gcse level electrical puzzle on his tow bar puzzled him and he got into a tizz
Had this sort of thing only a handful of times, but I often wonder if more timid people would back down
Spare tyre said:
I said “ok bring it back you can have a refund” as I had the measure of the spineless weasel
Never heard back from him
I’ve had a one or two chancers on eBay over the years complaining that something is wrong/missing/broken on something I’ve sold them that I know to be complete and working. They usually want a partial refund.Never heard back from him
In this case I always grovelling apologise but say that I wouldn’t want them to have to put up with something they’re not totally happy with and to please send it back to me for a full refund.
It’s amazing how they instantly go quiet after that.
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