BS: Carbooting - anybody ever done it?

Subject: BS: Carbooting - anybody ever done it?
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 31 Oct 06 - 12:37 PM

I'm going to move house soon. and I seem to have a lot of books that I will bever read, vinyl I will never listen to, etc. so I am toying with taking it to a carboot sale - but I've never done anything like that before.

Have you any tips - about pricing, how to go about getting a pitch, when is the best time of year to do it - all that sort of thing.

Subject: RE: BS: Carbooting - anybody ever done it?
From: Bagpuss
Date: 31 Oct 06 - 12:47 PM

If you want to get rid of as much as possible, sell it cheap. But be aware that people like to haggle at car boots, so always quote a first price a bit above what you really want for it. You can usually get a feel for how much people are willing to pay by noting how much sells early on, and adjust you prices accordingly. Oh and people like it if you say you will throw in an extra item free if they buy a certain amount. People at car boots love to feel they are getting the best bargain. Also wander round a few before you do it to see how much other people sell similar items for.

I did this last time we moved house, and made about £100 for what was essentially junk to us. And if you are doing it in the winter, wrap up really warm. I would recommend spring or summer, personally, as they always seem to be busier then.

Bagpuss
As to getting a pitch, you usually just turn up at whatever time they quote and they direct you to a pitch.

Subject: RE: BS: Carbooting - anybody ever done it?
From: Ebbie
Date: 31 Oct 06 - 12:48 PM

I thought you were referring to the car boot one finds in parking lots. In Juneau, it's expensive- $50 in cash paid before the boot is removed.

Your kind of carbooting sounds much pleasanter.

Subject: RE: BS: Carbooting - anybody ever done it?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 31 Oct 06 - 12:55 PM

"Carbooting" is a new one on me too - my first thought was it might be some new term for "joyridng".

What do they call "car boot sales" in America anyway? Since where we say "boots" you say "trunks".

Subject: RE: BS: Carbooting - anybody ever done it?
From: Bill D
Date: 31 Oct 06 - 01:13 PM

We don't have a lot of those, so we don't call them much of anything. There are a few places where specific items are sold and bartered like that...mostly vehicle related stuff. [If other parts of this BIG country have different traditions, I am willing to be corrected. Things might well be done quite differently in Alabama than in Colorado or Minnesota).

Much more common are 'yard sales' (or garage sales or 'tag' sales) done on one's own property. This allows more and larger items to be displayed.

Also, there are laws in some places, limiting or forbidding sales on public property...etc.

Subject: RE: BS: Carbooting - anybody ever done it?
From: Wesley S
Date: 31 Oct 06 - 01:13 PM

They're called garage sales here in the south.

Subject: RE: BS: Carbooting - anybody ever done it?
From: Cathie
Date: 31 Oct 06 - 01:15 PM

Top Tips - including household stuff

1. You must pick the right venue.
2. Aim to get rid of everything - give bargains.
3. Have an interesting/central focus to attract people.
4. A box of cheap toys on the ground for kids to forage while adults browse.
5. Clothes go well if you are in an area with travellers or immigrants.
6. Make things looked cared for - plastic covering cusions etc
5. Plenty of change.
6. Plenty of supermarket carrier bags.
7. Serious collectors come browsing LPs early on. Know what to ask.
8. Books don't necesarily go that well - 5 for........
9. Try and get a pitch near entrance.

Hope there's something for you in the above.

Subject: RE: BS: Carbooting - anybody ever done it?
From: Ebbie
Date: 31 Oct 06 - 01:16 PM

'Tailgate' selling brings to mind: psssst! Wanna buy a watch?

Subject: RE: BS: Carbooting - anybody ever done it?
From: jeffp
Date: 31 Oct 06 - 01:23 PM

Swap Meets would be the US version, I think.

Subject: RE: BS: Carbooting - anybody ever done it?
From: Bill D
Date: 31 Oct 06 - 01:24 PM

Swap meets would indeed be the closest....often done indoors, though.

Subject: RE: BS: Carbooting - anybody ever done it?
From: Scoville
Date: 31 Oct 06 - 01:37 PM

Lots of outdoor swap-meets where the weather permits. but it depends on what you're swapping. Lots of car-parts swap meets around here, and those are usually outdoors since it's often large, dirty stuff.

Flea markets are usually a mixed bag of used and new stuff and often have a permanent or semi-permanent location and set of vendors. Yard sales, garage sales, rummage sales, tag sales, etc. are usually one person/family selling their unneeded stuff out on the driveway.

Tailgating is partying out of the back of your truck. (Or it's when the jerk in the car behind you is following you too closely, but that doesn't apply in this context.)

Subject: RE: BS: Carbooting - anybody ever done it?
From: catspaw49
Date: 31 Oct 06 - 01:42 PM

I was thinking sorta' like Fleamarkets.

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Carbooting - anybody ever done it?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 31 Oct 06 - 01:44 PM

Surely a garage sale would be from someone's garage - the point about boot sales is they take place on a car park or somewhere like that, with loads of different people. And most of the time they use tables rather than doing it direct from the boot.

I've seen a few of what I'd call a boot sale in feature films set in America, so they must happen.

An indoor boot sale here would be called a table top sale. Tobe distinguished from a jumble sale, because that's where everything is being sold for some charitable purpose, rather than individuals or families selling on their own behalf. And then there are bazaars which are different again.

Subject: RE: BS: Carbooting - anybody ever done it?
From: catspaw49
Date: 31 Oct 06 - 01:50 PM

.......or Rummage Sale.

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Carbooting - anybody ever done it?
From: jeffp
Date: 31 Oct 06 - 02:01 PM

Sometimes organizations sponsor multi-family "yard" sales, usually at a school parking lot, where you pay the organization for a space and you can sell your stuff. Advantage is lots of traffic (weather permitting). Disadvantage is if the weather is bad, you've already paid for your space and there are usually no refunds.

Subject: RE: BS: Carbooting - anybody ever done it?
From: Wolfgang
Date: 31 Oct 06 - 02:17 PM

Since we share our associations when we read this thread title:

I (seriously) thought this would be the English version of the nasty behaviour some of our young and bored show: Kicking indentations into the metal of parking cars.

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: BS: Carbooting - anybody ever done it?
From: Becca72
Date: 31 Oct 06 - 02:23 PM

I knew what was meant thanks to Jacqui being married to my father :-)
the closest thing we have here in Maine would be a Fleamarket, I think.

Subject: RE: BS: Carbooting - anybody ever done it?
From: GUEST
Date: 31 Oct 06 - 02:32 PM

Use wallpaper tables for setting your stuff out on. You can usually get three together to size out your pitch. Put a clean tablecloth or curtain on the tables - just looks better.

You can't choose your pitch. You get placed wherever the queue ends when you arrive.

The dealers will be rummaging through the boxes before you get them out of the box. If they offer you a stupid price just say it's too early to let it o for that. If they are interested they'll up it or come back.

Try and use sturdy boxes for taking the stuff in the car, then upturn them and you have extra room to lay out your goods. Put them in front of the wallpaper tables.

Definitely a box of toys etc for kids - 50p any item kind of thing. Place it low.

Old tools, decorating stuff, videos, costume jewellery etc all go like hot cakes. In fact anything you consider rubbish will be someone's idea of a bargain!

Subject: RE: BS: Carbooting - anybody ever done it?
From: GUEST, Topsie
Date: 31 Oct 06 - 02:43 PM

Don't do it alone. A friend of mine tried it and said stuff was going missing left, right and centre.

Subject: RE: BS: Carbooting - anybody ever done it?
From: Ebbie
Date: 31 Oct 06 - 03:21 PM

Don't try carboosting.

Subject: RE: BS: Carbooting - anybody ever done it?
From: autolycus
Date: 31 Oct 06 - 04:27 PM

Most of the car boot sales I've been to were in fields mor school playing fields.


   1. Turn up as early as possible. That's when dealers turn up to buy and they pay the best prices (as well as the worst).

   2. Start prices highish, and drop a long way after the initial rush is over. When you're unpacking, you might have people trying to get at stuff still in the car.

   3. If you're always buying top-of-the-range clothes, they'll go at higher prices cos they were expensive to begin with.

   4. Say your prices decisively. Nothing more aggravating to a buyer like me when I ask the price, and the sellers go all vague and even can't seem to decide.

   5. It might work to be bold and treat it like you're a street trader. "Get your TV here - I'm not asking £20, I'm not even asking £10 etc etc." More fun like that and you might attract custom.

   6. Lay it all out like it might be worth people paying attention to.

   7. Relate to your customers - don't treat them like they're rifff-raff.

   8. Be ready at every moment for someone to want your attention. Next most aggravating thing for a buyer is if the seller's attention is elsewhere than the customer and can't even seem to be attractable - one wonders what they think they're there for.

   9. Include what you know are bargains - that's also why nuyers turn up - don't disappoint them.

   10. More than one vital -toilet breaks, coping with the rush.

    11. As someone said, have plenty of carrier bags and change - they are part of your job.

   12. Look like you're enjoying yourself - buyers aren't attracted to misery - guts.

   13. Take your time over packing up - it's amazing how much you can sell once people see it's starting to go = maybe start,adagissimo, after the rush is over.

   14. Do you know selling technoques? e.g.if the customer says they'll think about it,ask them what they want to think about;if they quibble at the price, ask them what the last thing they bought for the same price.




      Enjoy.




    Ivor

P.S. Got any LPs of Mahler's music for sale?

Subject: RE: BS: Carbooting - anybody ever done it?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 31 Oct 06 - 04:31 PM

14. Do you know selling techniques? e.g.if the customer says they'll think about it,ask them what they want to think about;if they quibble at the price, ask them what the last thing they bought for the same price.

Selling techniques? - that'd put me right off buying. As it would in a shop.

Subject: RE: BS: Carbooting - anybody ever done it?
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 31 Oct 06 - 11:38 PM

We call them Garage Sales here - even if the stuff is draped over someone's inner-city front fence (very few garages in my area!) or on the footpath outside an apartment block.

A Garage Sale can also be held by a group of neighbours in a small street, like the one where a friend lives. They choose a date, advertise & drape stuff over the fences & footpath, & a great time is had by all.

We also have more organised sales run by Schools or Service clubs, where folks sell from their cars, but I'm not sure how they are organised.

sandra

Subject: RE: BS: Carbooting - anybody ever done it?
From: M.Ted
Date: 01 Nov 06 - 01:55 AM

These are the same as the fleamarkets --like the Berkeley Fleamarket, the Alameda Pennymarket, etc--where you pay a fee to pull your car or other vehicle into a parking place and lay out your stuff--

I actually met my guitar mentor, Uncle Albert, at his booth in the Berkeley Flea market--he always had a bunch of guitars, and people were always playing--he usually sold enough stuff to get through the next week and made music contacts, got jobs, and generally had a good time.

Subject: RE: BS: Carbooting - anybody ever done it?
From: Moses
Date: 01 Nov 06 - 03:54 AM

All the above .... and take something waterproof to cover your stuff quickly if it looks like rain.

Some DPM will do, it's transparent and lets buyers see your goods. You can whip it off as soon as the sun comes out again.

A groundsheet is good to put under your display table so you can display more goods underneath and not have to put them on wet/muddy grass.

Always have two of you for the busy time at the start. One to set up and one to watch the stuff you are unpacking. Lock all valuables in your car and use a "bum bag" to keep your takings and car keys in. Never leave cash unattended even for a moment.

Any jewellery should, if at all possible, be in a glass fronted display case or pinned to a sturdy mat of some kind. Most people are completely honest but the one or two who are not can really spoil your day.

If someone buys something and wants to leave it with you while they visit more stalls, lock it in your car and tell them when you are going to leave. Nothing worse than waiting an hour for them to return when you have had enough and just want to go home.

Anything left over that you really don't want to take home can be offered to the "charity shops".

Have a good time

Christine

Subject: RE: BS: Carbooting - anybody ever done it?
From: GUEST
Date: 01 Nov 06 - 04:11 AM

I would have to be scraping rock-bottom to sell my spare odds and ends, the nearest charity shop is a good alternitive, the third world is the beneficary.

Subject: RE: BS: Carbooting - anybody ever done it?
From: Bagpuss
Date: 01 Nov 06 - 04:49 AM

Another way to get rid of stuff you couldn't sell is to join the Freecycle community and find someone local who wants what you no longer has a use for. They will even come and pick it up. I have acquired some great items from it in the past and given away a lot of stuff too.

Bagpuss

Subject: RE: BS: Carbooting - anybody ever done it?
From: GUEST,Strollin' (at the Mill)
Date: 01 Nov 06 - 07:28 AM

There must be a lot of saddos around, my sense of self-respect forbids me from buying other people's crap. But hey-ho, it takes all sorts..............
S:0)

Subject: RE: BS: Carbooting - anybody ever done it?
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 01 Nov 06 - 09:26 AM

I spend aroung 30 weekends per year selling my artwork at outdoor art shows. It's not exactly the same clientelle as swapmeets, but some of the same principles apply. Here are a few things I've learned:

People don't like to be pressured, but they do like to be acknowledged. Try to greet everyone. A simple "hello" and a smile is usually sufficient. Your customer is there to shop, not talk to you. If he or she finds you to be a particularly compelling person, he or she will instigate further conversation.

Talk to young children. Nothing endears you to Mom or Dad quite like having them believe you think their kids ar cute.

Get some stickers of some sort and price everything where it is plainly visible. Many people simply won't ask how much an unpriced item is and will walk away.

If you're behind a table, either stand up or sit on a high stool of some sort so you're at the same level as your customer. On a subconscious level, rising up from a regular chair is a threatening gesture and it makes people feel uncomfortable. That's why most artists at art shows have bar-stool height director's chairs.

Subject: RE: BS: Carbooting - anybody ever done it?
From: Bagpuss
Date: 01 Nov 06 - 12:56 PM

Bee Dubya - at a car boot sale, almost nothing is priced... otherwise, good advice.

Subject: RE: BS: Carbooting - anybody ever done it?
From: GUEST
Date: 01 Nov 06 - 05:37 PM

Also 'the clientelle' at a car boot sale is the human race. There is no type.

Subject: RE: BS: Carbooting - anybody ever done it?
From: autolycus
Date: 02 Nov 06 - 02:40 AM

One person's 'crap' is another person's treasure




    Ivor

Subject: RE: BS: Carbooting - anybody ever done it?
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 02 Nov 06 - 05:28 AM

well not really, snapper up of unconsidered trifles, crap is crap.

its just the stuff that used to interest me, doesn't any more. And it would nice if somebody, who is still interested in that stuff, didn't have to pay the daft price that I did. Or maybe even more, cos theres been inflation since then.

Subject: RE: BS: Carbooting - anybody ever done it?
From: Rowan
Date: 03 Nov 06 - 03:03 AM

Sandra is right when she says they're called Garage Sales in Sydney; they're called that in much od southeastern Australia. In Alice Springs they're called Lawn Sales and, when an American family is returning home (Pine Gap is local to the Alice) they usually sell everything at such sales.

In Australia they're usually held on a Saturday and professional secondhand dealers usually time their arrival (no matter what time you advertise as the 'start time') at 7am, when many are unprepared and still trying to wake up and get their stuff organised. Use a carpenters' pouch (a bit like a sporran) as your till for the takings, as that allows you to keep your money safe, your change handy and you 'on the move' around your clobber.

They're popular here, so much so that many places have a rule about how many times/year you may set one up. I think it's once per year but I usually take my surplus stuff to Vinnies (St Vincent de Paul, and Catholic), the Sally Anns (or Salvos, ie Salvation Army) or The Smith Family (nondenominational) unless in Melbourne, when The Brotherhood (of St Lawrence, and Anglican) get a guernsey.

Enjoy yourself!

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: BS: Carbooting - anybody ever done it?
From: Ella who is Sooze
Date: 03 Nov 06 - 05:22 AM

just check your articles carefully (have a look on ebay and see if there's something similar to what you want to get rid off... Might be you get a better price for it if you ebay it. You can also see what price they are going for on ebay... not always a great way to tell, but a pointer.

I got caught out on this, I sold an item which was bought by a trader and sold for an unscrupulous price... silly me I know... but we live and learn.

I enjoyed it though, but be prepared for people to barter over something that is 20p, another good idea I saw some people doing, was putting items in to a box and marking it up as £3 the box lots and so on. Plants are ALWAYS popular, and go early, but be prepared to have an onslaught of vultures who want to see your wares before you've even opened the boot!

It is fun though. We took our camper van and made bacon butties, which proved a great attaction in getting people to our stall... the smell...the wafty bacon smell attracted them and we had offers to buy butties (which we couldn't do of course).

EWIS...