Boot Drive

During a long-overdue sort-out in my office, I turned up some items that seemed too good to throw away, too large to eBay, too obscure to keep and equally unlikely to find a home with immediate neighbours or friends.

For some reason, my thoughts turned to a car boot sale. I have literally never been to one, either as buyer or seller. I always felt I could understand why so many people apparently enjoy these events but I had never personally felt a great urge to give it a try.

However, with Harry as a willing accomplice, I decided to give it a whirl. Starting with literally two or three items, I soon found that we had a whole car full. Once you start looking, car boot fodder is everywhere.

A quick google revealed a venue at Bedford hospital. However, when I called the organizer I discovered they were not running till September. Next stop, the local newspaper (I rarely read it, but I found plenty of sites). We settled on one near Barton.

Up at 6 on Saturday morning, we ventured out and found ourselves in a queue at the gate for the opening at 7am.

Before making the trip, I had done a little research online and picked up some advice from those with more care boot experience (that is, everyone).

We were warned about the dangers of being swarmed by expert buyers, and the risk of theft and so on.

In the event, the site at Barton turned out to be quite a small affair. There were only 25 cars or so selling, and almost all the buyers consisted of other sellers ! Chatting with our neighbouring booters, it seemed that this particular event was very new on the circuit and not established with the regulars.

Still, this was possibly a good thing as it gave us an easy ride for our first outing. Despite the lack of customers, we actually had a very good day, taking over £120. I think we may have sold more than all of the other pitches combined !

I’ve heard it said many times that “it’s incredible what sells at a car boot” and now I believe it ! There was literally rubbish for sale on many of the stalls.

We had the benefit of having a lot of high quality items to shift. The regulars, one feels, will find it tough to continuously source desirable items for low enough cost.

As far as pricing goes, I think I benefitted from having extremely low expectations. We had padded our stall with lots of books (which usually we send straight to the charity shops) and also over 100 DVDs that the boys never watch. Books, in particular, I did not expect to sell at all given the ubiquity of second hand booksellers.

So, each time we actually sold a book for 50p, I was quite pleasantly surprised !

We really did not have any “tat” on offer but it was surprising what items created interest, and which did not merit a first look.

Pricing wise, I can see that there are norms that operate. DVDs, for example, have a market-clearing price that is probably quite well established. However, even for such commodities and especially for other items, the real skill (I suspect) is to “play the player”.

One tip I picked up before going was NOT to put price labels on. This allows you to engage the potential buyer who has to enquire about price. It also allows you to change pricing according to time of day and other conditions.

The fact seems to be that many items will not sell at any price until you find the right buyer.

The right buyer, however, can be fairly indifferent to price (within reason). We also came to see that certain types of buyer are particularly valuable. For example, children who have been given £5 to shut them up feel a great need to spend it all as soon as possible !

Harry was a natural. He was genuinely helpful in seeking out “stock” at home, setting up the stall and in dealing with the customers. This was pleasing since he can be quite shy.

I was comfortable leaving him on his own at the stall for a while. I came back after a survey of the site to find Harry pointing out a couple of sales he had made. He also joked that he was sorry he had sold my stereo (one of our best items) for £3 by mistake. I knew he was joking (a) because even at a car boot it was obviously worth a lot more and (b) it was still sitting there on the table.

Five minutes later, the buyers came back to collect it as agreed !

Oh well. I was as guilty as Harry for under-selling over the weekend. And a happy customer is a valuable asset. Maybe the buyer felt bad about her coup, and she bought another £15 of stuff as much fuller prices.

We seemed to sell a good amount of stuff, but still had ¾ of a car full at the end. We decided to try again the next morning. We had been tipped off about a much busier site near Leighton Buzzard.

Our experience on the first day taught us that anything is worth trying to sell, so we easily used up the spare space in the car with more books, more toys and some highly speculative items: I filled up a box with left over mobile phone chargers, obsolete computer mice and freebie headphones etc. On Day 2, nearly all of these sold !

Billington car boot was more like what I imagined – well over 200 cars. We still did not suffer too much from vulture-experts or thieves. The only mishap we experienced was taking in a counterfeit £2 coin. It was a poor copy (obviously fake) so I have to suspect it was knowingly used. Still, one more lesson learned, quite cheaply.

After a second successful day (over £250 taken over the weekend), Harry and I are sufficiently hooked to want to try again in a few weeks. Now, I see bootable items everywhere. Nail it down, or else I am likely to try to sell it !