Hels

This is just an update on a previous thread I posted a while back on alternatives for selling your stuff at a carboot sale.

I hated the thought of having to spend days preparing for a boot sale. I hated the thought of having to get up at "stupid o'clock" for a boot sale. I hated the thought of having to sit in the middle of a field in the rain for a boot sale.

However, we did it yesterday! Spent most of the week sorting, packing, pricing and loading all of our bits and pieces to take them to a boot sale yesterday. Although it was bloody hard work and totally wiped us out physically, we actually had a very good day!

I will say though, how intimidating is it when you pull up to your spot and before you can even get out of your vehicle people are asking what you have in the back, can they have a look? While you are unloading people actually start helping themselves to your boxes and commence rummaging through. Some even helped us unload just so they could have a look through our stuff.

After a few hours, with some help from some friends of ours, quite a few laughs and some very dodgy looking characters, we came away having made about £350. In all accounts, not a bad days work.

I would definatly recommend it to anyone that has decided not to take all of their stuff abroad with them....

Hels
xxx


Only 23 sleeps till we go....weeeeeeeeee

tiredwithtwins

£350! wow...
what sort of stuff did you sell?

Hels

Umm....gawd. So much!! We took everything from a mig welder (got £30) to lots of plastic ware. Casserole dishes, books, videos, glasses and even a Christmas tree that by the end of the day we had renamed Bruce the Spruce and were trying to give it away

We were very lucky and had an excellent day, first fine day all week here. So I think people were out in force trying to catch some sun.

The mig welder was the most expensive single item and the cheapest were some of the plastic ware at about 20p for a container with a lid.

Wol

I did my third and last one last Sunday. The law of diminishing returns had set in, each returning less than the previous one!

The amazing thing is that you end up getting more for the rubbish that you are about to throw in the tip than the better items! It appears that most of the denizens of these sales will pay up to about £3 for something but not often more.

I DID offload three large cacti for a total of £25 though! They were probably worth hundreds........

House looks rather bare now - the computer desk went this morning. Roof tiles next. (Don't laugh, the rather odd family down the road sold theirs and spent a year under a big blue tarpaulin..........)

podgypossum

Well done Hels!!...every little bit helps


Personally, i prefer the Aussie/ NZ way of doing it with garage sales. This means you dont have to lug everything in your car then offload it and put back what you dont sell after.
Garage sales are very popular here. We held on in NZ just before we moved and made a small fortune on junk and plants ..and... just like UK you will get the sneaky ones turning up before the start trying to beat everyone else to it.

Hels

Rog....Yeah, it was amazing just what people were buying out of the stuff that were there....things I thought would go quick were still ther at the end...really amazing. Dont you get just the oddest people there tho?


PP...Oh I love garage sales, although if you were a buyer, the boot sale is alot easier as everyone is in one field, rather than having to trapse from one house to another. I remember having a garage sale once and advertised it to start at 8am. There were people standing in my front yard from 6am, talking at the top of their voices, in the hopes I would open up early so they could get the best deals. I purposely didnt.....

Badge

I made 400 quid in mine in London.

I couldn't shift it fast enough. I had so much gear I was mobbed as I was getting it out of the car - ''mind the paint work". I supposed I had interesting things like scuba knives, walking boots. The knife went to a bloke who looked like he fancied a new ''toy'' - a gentle old man in a cagoule..and was so pleased to see it was going for a tenner he had to have it...(the professional old sweats were all "you under priced that mate" etc. "I would have given you more etc".)

I even took pity on a young boy who only had 20 quid to buy a box set who was desperate to buy. (The old sweat shook his head again).

I was surrounded by stalls selling old babies clothes who didnt get a sale all morning and I had quite a crowd round mine. My barbour pockets was full of ten pound notes and coinnage. I sold all my mint condition videos and books all laid out in suitcases. I sold many books to an aussie who turned up - (and who I am still in contact with). I met him in Melbourne when he turned up from Adelaide.

Really got in to it. Highly recommended. And it settled my VISA card.

BM

Wol

You DO get the weirdest people, as well as the "normal" (whatever that is!)

Makes you realise just how ferally it is out there......